126 
W A.K.RAU Domestic Liee. 
appearance of the Warraus, their uncleanliness and indolence, I have 
already sketched in previous accounts: their inner nature completely 
corresponds with their outer appearance: their eyes and features only 
too distinctly show that their intellectual faculties are still slumber- 
ing. Immediate want urges them to its gratification, the next hour be- 
ing beyond reach of their mental ken. Mad jealousy and an implaca- 
ble thirst for revenge that persecutes single individuals just as much as 
it does whole tribes and societies, are the only passions which these 
crude children of nature give way to, and which, often controlled with 
calculating cunning for years, suddenly burst out and prove the source 
of bloody tragedies. All hurts pass unnoticed with none of their angry 
passions rising, but without ever being eliminated from their memory., 
The time that the Warraus do> not devote to hunting or fishing they 
spend idling in their hammocks, or playing with their hunting dogs; 
their only amusement, moreover, they find in their cane flute. Game 
and fish constitute their chief nourishment, though they do not disdain 
rats, monkeys, alligators, frogs, woraus, caterpillars, larvae and beetles 
They are surprisingly adept in catching fish, which they capture partly 
with hooks, partly with bow and arrow, or kill with light spears. If 
the capture prove greater than the requirement, some of them will sun- 
dry the surplus and bring it to town for sale, but such industrious ones 
are only rarely met with. Meat, under these skies, turns bad witliim 
two or three hours, and if they want to keep it awhile for further use 
so that, released from the chase, they can enjoy undisturbed rest, they 
build a small staging about four-foot high with cross pieces resting on 
the top of the four corner-posts stuck into the ground : they spread the 
flesh on this, the women keeping up a moderate fire beneath it for from 
i’ll to 24 hours. By this means the meat keeps good for some 5 to fi 
days, but dry and without nourishment — this is especially the case with 
four-footed animals. 
431. The Warrau it is true eats little at a time, but therefore all 
the more often. The usual hours for meals are fi and 10 o'clock of a 
morning, at noon, 3 in the afternoon, and the last one at sundown. Of 
these five meals the first and last are the most copious. The wives are 
only rarely permitted to eat in company with the men, and in the pres- 
ence of strangers are never vouchsafed this honour : I subsequently noted 
that this rule holds good among all the tribes. Game is cooked in the 
blood of the animal, and strongly seasoned with Capsicum. If weather 
permits, the Warrau takes his meal in front of his house. The wives 
place the dish on the ground, and close by, a sort of plaited plate, with 
the bread : after they have withdrawn, the men, squatting on their heels, 
range themselves around the steaming pot, steep the bits of bread into 
the brew and endeavour, with the help of their fingers, to pick the meat 
from out of the vessel. As the five fingers sufficiently suffice for this 
service, forks are naturally superfluous and unnecessary articles of lux- 
ury. As soon as one’s hunger is satisfied, he leaves the circle. When 
the last male member has “left the table,” the wives approach and must 
be content with what is left: they nevertheless know how to secure 
themselves against loss and accordingly make sure of Number One b(y 
means of a lot of little pots which, filled with tit-bits, are hidden 
