THE AJIE 
imitated to perfection the sounds made by that amphibious 
animal. This was indeed strange, because the hippopota¬ 
mus did not exist in South America, nor has it ever been 
known to exist there. The women of the Bororos were 
in perfect terror of the ajie, which was supposed to 
appear sometimes, breaking through the earth. Per¬ 
sonally, I believed that the ajie was a clever ruse of the 
Bororo men, in order to keep their women at home when 
they went on hunting expeditions. Boys were trained to 
whirl round from the end of a long pole a rectangular, 
flat piece of wood attached to a long fibre or a string. 
Its violent rotation round the pole reproduced to per¬ 
fection the sounds of blowing and snorting of the 
hippopotamus. The whizzing of this device could be heard 
at astonishing distances. The credulous women were 
rendered absolutely miserable when they heard the un¬ 
welcome sounds of the ajie, and, truly believing in its 
approach, retired quickly to their huts, where, shivering 
with fright, they cried and implored to have their lives 
spared. 
The boy who whirled the magic tablet was, of course, 
bound to keep the secret of the ajie from the women. Let 
me tell you that one of the chief virtues of the Bororo 
men, old and young, was the fidelity with which they could 
keep secrets. The youngest children were amazing at 
keeping secrets even from their own mothers. There were 
things that Bororo women were not allowed to know. 
Boys attended the tribal meetings of men, and had never 
been known to reveal the secrets there discussed, either 
to their sisters or mothers. 
When I said it was a virtue, I should have added that 
that virtue was a mere development of an inborn, racial 
instinct. Young and old among the Bororo were ex¬ 
tremely timid and secretive by nature. They feared 
everybody; they were afraid of each other. It was 
sufficient to watch their eyes, ever roaming, ever quickly 
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