514 
ON THE ABORIGINES 
and their houses are of the rudest construction, being 
semicylindrical, like those of our gipsies, and so small, 
as to be set up on the sandy beaches, and carried away 
in their canoes whenever they wish to move. These ca- 
noes are of the rudest construction, having a flat bottom 
and upright sides, — a mere square box, and quite unlike 
those of all other Indians. But what distinguishes them 
yet more from their neighbours is, that they use neither 
the gravatana, nor bow and arrows, but have an instru- 
ment called a “ palheta,’^ which is a piece of wood with 
a projection at the end, to secure the base of the arrow, 
the middle of which is held with the handle of the pa- 
Iheta in the hand, and thus thrown as from a sling : they 
have a surprising dexterity in the use of this weapon, 
and with it readily kill game, birds, and fish. 
They grow a few fruits, such as yams and plantains, 
but seldom have any mandiocca, and they construct 
earthen pans to cook in. They sleep in their houses on 
the sand of the pray as, making no hammocks or clothing 
of any kind ; they make no fires in their houses, which 
are too small, but are kept warm at night by the number 
of persons in them. They bore large holes in the upper 
and lower lip, in the septum of the nose, and in the ears ; 
at their festivals they insert in these holes sticks, six or 
eight inches long ; at other times they have only a short 
piece in, to keep them open. In the wet season, when 
the prayas and banks of the river are all flooded, they 
construct rafts, of trunks of trees bound together with 
creepers, and on them erect their huts, and live there till 
the waters fall again, when they guide their raft to the 
first sandy beach that appears. 
