Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/376

 *i6 ON THE ABORIGINES

OJ

only turning grey with extreme old age. The men do not cut their hair, but gather it behind into a long tail, bound round with cord, and hanging down to the middle of the back, and often to the thighs ; the hair of the women hangs loose down their backs, and is cut to a moderate length. The men have very little beard, and that little they eradicate by pulling it out j men and women also eradicate the hair of the eyebrows, the arm-pits, and the private parts. The colour of the skin is a light, uniform, glossy reddish-brown.

They are an agricultural people, having a permanent abode, and cultivating mandiocca {Jatropha Manihot), sugar-cane {Sacchanan officinarum), sweet potatoes {Convolvulus Batatas), carra, or yam {Dioscorea sp.), pupunha palms {Guilielma speciosa), cocura (a fruit like grapes), pine-apples {Ananassa sativa), maize ( Zea Mays), urucii or arnotto {Bixa Orellana), plantains and bananas {Musa sp.), abios (Lucuma Caimito), cashews {Anacardium occidentale), ingas {Inga- sp.), peppers {Capsicum sp.), tobacco {Nicotiana Tabacum), and plants for dyes and cordage. All, even in the most remote districts, have now iron axes and knives, though the stone axes which they formerly used are still to be found among them. The men cut down the trees and brushwood, which, after they have lain some months to dry, are burnt ; and the mandiocca is then planted by the women, together with little patches of cane, sweet potatoes, and various fruits. The women also dig up the mandiocca, and prepare from it the bread which is their main subsistence. The roots are brought home from the field in large baskets called aturas, made of a climber, and only manufactured by these tribes; they are then washed and peeled, this last operation being generally performed with the teeth, after which they are grated on large wooden graters about three feet long and a foot wide, rather concave, and covered all over with small sharp pieces of quartz, inserted in a regular diagonal pattern. These graters are an article of trade in all the Upper Amazon, as they are cheaper than the copper graters used in other parts of Brazil. The pulp is placed to drain on a large sieve made of the bark of a water- plant. It is then put into a long elastic cylinder made of the outer rind, or bark, of a climbing palm, a species of Desmoncus : this is filled with the half-dry pulp, and, being hung on a cross- beam between two posts, is stretched by a lever, on the further