ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
I had no end of trouble in obtaining these measure¬ 
ments, as the Bororos would not hear of being measured. 
They were frightened of the nickel-plated calliper I used 
for the purpose. It was quite beyond them to understand 
why any one should want to know the length of their 
noses. In fact, although many, after a lot of coaxing, 
submitted to have other measurements taken, few of them 
would let me measure the nose. None at all would permit 
me to measure the length of their eyes, as they feared I 
would intentionally blind them. 
I met other tribes of Bororos as I went along, and 
I was able to add to the curious information already 
collected and given in previous chapters. It appeared 
that at the birth of a child the head, while the skull was 
still soft, was intentionally compressed and bandaged, 
especially at the forehead and back, so as to flatten it and 
produce an abnormal shape of the skull. In many cases 
only the hack of the head was flattened by the application 
of artificial pressure. The elongation was both upwards 
and sideways. This deformation was particularly confined 
to male children. 
When twins were born, one was killed or else left to 
die in the sun, as they believed that the other could not 
live, if both were left alive. Murder for them, in that 
instance, was a question of humanity. 
The Bororos had a perfect horror of natural death. 
They were terrified at the sight of a person dying. 
Therefore when one of their people was about to expire, 
they covered him up and placed him out of sight. If 
he or she under those circumstances delayed in departing 
this life, the departure was hastened by suffocation or 
strangulation. The Bororos were too restless, and could 
not wait too long for anything. 
They were easily suggestionized. Many of them 
would make excellent subjects for hypnotic experiments. 
The women particularly were extraordinarily sensitive to 
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