SOUTH AMERICA. 
177 
curled. The women braid it up fancifully, some- THIKD 
thing in the shape of Diana’s head-dress in ancient 
pictures. They have very few diseases. Old age 
and pulmonary complaints seem to be the chief 
agents for removing them to another world. The 
pulmonary complaints are generally brought on 
by a severe cold, which they do not know how to 
arrest in its progress, by the use of the lancet. I 
never saw an idiot amongst them, nor could I per¬ 
ceive any that were deformed from their birth. Their 
women never perish in childbed, owing, no doubt, 
to their never wearing stays. 
They have no public religious ceremony. They Religious 
acknowledge two superior beings,—a good one, and and cere- 
a bad one. They pray to the latter not to hurt them, 
and they are of opinion that the former is too good 
to do them an injury. I suspect, if the truth were 
known, the individuals of the village never offer up 
a single prayer or ejaculation. They have a kind of 
priest called a Pee-ay-man, who is an enchanter. 
He finds out things lost. He mutters prayers to the 
evil spirit over them and their children when they 
are sick. If a fever be in the village, the Pee-ay- 
man goes about all night long, howling and making 
dreadful noises, and begs the bad spirit to depart. 
But he has very seldom to perform this part of his 
duty, as fevers seldom visit the Indian hamlets. 
However, when a fever does come, and his incanta¬ 
tions are of no avail, which I imagine is most com¬ 
monly the case, they abandon the place for ever, 
and make a new settlement elsewhere. They consider 
«/ 
N 
