INDIAN FEMALES. 
300 
Jndkn has a fire near his hammock. The women are so 
chilly, that I have seen them shiver at church when the cen- 
tigrade thermometer was not below 18°. The huts of the 
Indians are extremely clean. Their hammocks, their reed 
mats, their pots for holding cassava and fermented maize, 
their bows and arrows, everything is arranged in the greatest 
order. Men and women bathe every day ; and being almost 
constantly unclothed, they are exempted from that unclean- 
liness, ol which the garments are the principal cause among 
the lower class of people in cold countries. Besides a house 
m the village, they have generally, in their conucos , near some 
spring, or at the entrance of some solitary valley, a small 
hut, covered with the leaves of the palm 'or plantain-tree, 
though they live less commodiously in the conuco, they love 
o retire thither as often as they can. The irresistible desire 
the Indians hare to flee from society, and enter again on a 
nomade life, causes even young children sometimes to leave 
heir parents, and wander four or five days in the forests, 
living on fruits, palm-cabbage, and roots. When travelling 
in the Missions, it is not uncommon to find whole villages 
almost deserted, because the inhabitants are in their gar- 
dens, or m the forests (al monte). Among civilized nations, 
the passion for hunting arises perhaps in part from the same 
causes: the charm of solitude, the innate desire of indepen- 
dence, the deep impression made by Nature, whenever man 
finds himsoli in contact with her in solitude. 
The condition of the women among the Chaymas, like that 
in all semi-barbarous nations, is a state of privation and suf 
,ermg. The hardest labour devolves on them. When we 
saw the Chaymas return in the evening from their gardens 
the man earned nothing but the knife or hatchet (machete)’ 
vith which lie clears his way among the underwood; whilst 
the woman, bending under a great load of plantains, carried 
one child in her arms, and sometimes two other children 
placed upon the load. Notwithstanding this inequality of 
condition, the wives of the Indians of South America appear 
o be in general happier than those of the savages of the 
iNorth. Between the Alleghany mountains and the Missis- 
sippi, w herever the natives do not live chiefly on the produce 
o the chase, the women cultivate maize, beans, and gourds ; 
and the men take no share in the labours of the field. Tn 
