Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/397

 OF THE AMAZON. 353

Coatf (the Nasua coatimundi). Juruparf (Devils). Ipeca (Ducks).

Papunauas, the name of a river, a tributary of the Guaviare, but which has its sources close to the Isanna.

These tribes are much alike in all their customs, differing only in their languages ; as a whole, however, they offer remarkable points of difference from those of the river Uaupes.

In stature and appearance they are very similar, but they have rather more beard, and do not pull out the hair of the body and face, and they cut the hair of their head with a knife, or, wanting that, with a hard sharp grass. Thus, the absence of the long queue of hair forms a striking characteristic difference in their appearance.

In their dress they differ in the women always wearing a small tanga of turiiri, instead of going perfectly naked, as among the Uaupes ; they also wear more necklaces and bracelets, and the men fewer, and the latter do not make use of so many feather-ornaments and decorations in their festivals.

Each family has a separate house, which is small, of a square shape, and possesses both a door and windows ; and the houses are collected together in little scattered villages. The Isanna Indians make small flat baskets like those of the Uaupes, but not the stools, nor the aturas, neither have they the white cylindrical stone which the others so much esteem. They marry one, two, or three wives, and prefer relations, marrying with cousins, uncles with nieces, and nephews with aunts, so that in a village all are connected. The men are more warlike and morose in their disposition than the Uaupes, by whom they are much feared. They bury their dead in their houses, and mourn for them a long time, but make no feast on the occasion. The Isanna Indians are said not to be nearly so numerous, nor to increase so rapidly, as the Uaupes ; which may perhaps be owing to their marrying with relations, while the former prefer strangers.

The Arekainas make war against other tribes, to obtain prisoners for food, like the Cobeus. In their superstitions and religious ideas they much resemble the Uaupes.

The Macas are one of the lowest and most uncivilised tribes of Indians in the Amazon district. They inhabit the forests

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