ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
in mourning from five to six months. The widow, at the 
death of her husband, was expected to tear each hair off 
her scalp, one by one, until her head remained as bald as 
a billiard-ball. She generally did it. 
The corpses of women were treated slightly differ¬ 
ently. When a woman died, she was buried pro tem. 
A feast was given to the tribe. The process of denudation 
having been given ample time to leave her skeleton clean, 
her bones were collected, and placed in a special basket, 
and then cremated. The ashes were scattered to the winds, 
and so were all her clothes, ornaments, chattels, smashed 
to atoms, and articles of food. Even fowls, if she 
possessed any, were destroyed. Usually they were eaten 
by her friends. 
The Bororos did not possess a sense of honour 
resembling ours. Theft was not considered dishonour¬ 
able, and was not looked down upon nor condemned by 
them. If a Bororo liked anything belonging to any one 
else, they could see no reason why he should not appro¬ 
priate it. That was their simple way of reasoning, and 
as no police existed among them such theories were easily 
followed. 
Taking something which belonged to a stranger was, 
in fact, rather encouraged, and in our experience we had 
to keep a sharp watch when Indians came to our camp, 
as things disappeared quickly. They seldom took the 
trouble to ask for anything; they just took it and ran 
away. 
The measurements of Bororo heads on the table 
opposite, taken, as an average, from several of the most 
characteristic types, will be found of interest, especially 
when compared with some from Papuan and Malay tribes 
of the Philippine and Sulu Archipelagoes, with whom 
they have many points in common. 
Due allowance must be made for the artificial deforma¬ 
tion of the cranium in the case of the Bororos. 
226 
