1851.] 
ORNAMENTS. 
295 
! and are almost equal in beauty to a plume of white 
I ostrich feathers. The Indians keep these noble birds in 
great open houses or cages, feeding them with fowls (of 
which they will consume two a day), solely for the sake 
of these feathers; but as the birds are rare, and the 
I young with difficulty secured, the ornament is one that 
! few possess. Trom the end of the comb cords of mon- 
keys' hair, decorated with small feathers, hang down the 
back and in the ears are the little downy plumes, forming 
altogether a most imposing and elegant head-dress. All 
j these dancers had also the cylindrical stone of large size, 
the necklace of white beads, the girdle of oii9as’ teeth, the 
|l garters, and ankle-rattles. A very few had besides a most 
I curious ornament, the nature of which completely puzzled 
. me : it was either a necklace or a circlet round the fore- 
head, according to the quantity possessed, and consisted 
! of small curiously curved pieces of a white colour with 
j a delicate rosy tinge, and appearing like shell or enamel. 
They say they procure them from the Indians of the 
Japura and other rivers, and that they are very expen- 
I sive, three or four pieces only, costing an axe. They 
! appear to me more like portions of the lip of a large 
I shell cut into perfectly regular pieces than anything else, 
but so regular in size and shape, as to make me doubt 
again that they can be of shell, or that Indians can form 
them. 
; In their hands each held a lance, or bundle of ar- 
j 
i rows, or the painted calabash-rattle. The dance con- 
sisted simply of a regular sideway step, carrying the 
whole body round and round in a circle ; the simulta- 
neous stamping of the feet, the rattle and clash of the 
