13 
i?. Schomburgk^ Dr. Phil. 
only exceeded by tbe care with which they were built but 
also by their neatness and cleanness. The pleasing impression 
made by their superior huts was increased still more by the 
appearance of the inhabitants, and the neatness of themselves 
and their children. 
Although the women being in the midst of the delicate 
work of baking and chewing bread, showed infallible signs 
that we should shortly be witnesses of a paiwari festival, 
made an agreeable effect upon us after a long intercourse 
with the less clean Warrau tribe. All the men, except the 
chief, were out hunting to procure the necessary game for the 
festival. The chief, an old man, received us with the utmost 
civility, and immediately gave orders to prepare one of the 
best huts for our abode during our stay. 
These people bore a nearer resemblance to us than those 
we had previously visited. Their figures were well-formed, 
their phsiognomies more regular than those of the Warraus. 
Over the whole female part of the inhabitants, and especially 
the younger ones, was spread such a natural, unaffected 
bashfulness which I found so often afterwards, and which, 
without a donbt, stood so much higher in its pure humanity 
than the unnatural prudery of an overstrained civilization. 
Here we met, amongst the fair sex, with truly perfect 
female forms, and amongst them, the palm of beauty was 
due to the twin daughters of the chief. Had the complexion 
of these truly plastic beauties not been so dark, and had the 
number been three, the illusion that the graces had gone 
astray into this world, and now came to meet us from the 
neat hut of the chief with delicate modesty, would have been 
excusable. But notwithstanding the brown complexion, and 
the number t w o, our surprise was not much less, because none 
of us had until now seen such perfect symmetry of form 
and feature, the charm of which was enhanced by the 
long black hair falling down over the beautiful shoulders. 
From friendly hands I had received, when leaving home, 
several ornaments, with the request to give them to the 
handsomest Indian girl I should meet : the two daughters of 
the chieftain, if not dead, most probably will wear the neck- 
laces and bracelets yet. 
The occupation in which we found the fair sex en- 
gaged did not, however, assist our imagination, for their 
cheeks were filled with cassava bread, and they chewed the 
same while performing their other household duties — from 
