126 
POPULOUS DISTRICT. 
we were passing through a very populous district. What 
the actual number of inhabitants was it is impossible to say, 
but we seldom communicated with fewer than 200 daily. 
They sent ambassadors forward regularly from one tribe to 
another, in order to prepare for our approach, a custom 
that not only saved us an infinity of time, but also great 
personal risk. Indeed, I doubt very much whether we 
should ever have pushed so far down the river, had we not 
been assisted by the natives themselves. I was particu- 
larly careful not to do anything that would alarm them, or 
to permit any liberty to be taken with their women. Our 
reserve in this respect seemed to excite their surprise, for 
they asked sundry questions, by signs and expressions, 
as to whether we had any women, and where they were. 
The whole tribe generally assembled to receive us, and 
all, without exception, were in a complete state of nudity, 
and really the loathsome condition and hideous counte- 
nances of the women would, I should imagine, have been a 
complete antidote to the sexual passion. It is to be 
observed, that the women are very inferior in appearance 
to the men. The latter are, generally speaking, a clean- 
limbed and powerful race, much stouter in the bust than 
below, but withal, active, and, in some respects, intelligent ; 
but the women are poor, weak, and emaciated. This, 
perhaps, is owing to their poverty and paucity of food, and 
to the treatment they receive at the hands of the men; 
but the latter did not shew any unkindness towards them 
in our presence. 
