512 
ON THE ABORIGINES 
beard for Indians, and the hair of the head is slightly 
crisp and wavy. They used formerly to go naked, but 
now the men all wear trowsers and shirts, and the wo- 
men petticoats. Their houses are grouped together in 
small villages, and are scarcely ever more than a roof 
supported on posts ; very rarely do they take the trouble 
to build any walls. They make no hammocks, but hang 
up three bands of a bark called “ invira,’’ on which 
they sleep ; but the more civilized now purchase of the 
traders, hammocks made by other Indians. They prac- 
tise scarcely any cultivation, except sometimes a little 
mandiocca, but generally live on wild fruits, and abund- 
ance of fish and game : their food is entirely produced 
by the river, consisting of the Manatus, or cow-fish, 
which is as good as beef, turtles, and various kinds of 
fish, all of which are in great abundance, so that the 
traders say there are no people who live so well as 
the Muras ; they have therefore no occasion for grava- 
tanas, which they do not make, but have a great vari- 
riety of bows and arrows and harpoons, and construct 
very good canoes. They now all cut their hair ; the old 
men have a large hole in their lower lip filled up with a 
piece of wood, but this custom is now disused. Each 
man has two or three wives, but there is no ceremony 
of marriage ; and they bury their dead sometimes in the 
house, but more commonly outside, and put all the 
goods of the deceased upon his grave. The women use 
necklaces and bracelets of beads, and the men tie the 
seeds of the India-rubber tree to their legs when they 
dance. Each village has a Tushaua : the succession is 
hereditary, but the chief has very little power. They 
