Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/398

 354 ON THE ABORIGINES

and serras about the rivers Marid, Curicuriarf, and Urubaxf, and live a wandering life, having no houses and no fixed place of abode, and of course no clothing ; they have little or no iron, and use the tusks of the wild pig to scrape and form their bows and arrows, and they make a most deadly kind of poison to anoint them. At night they sleep on a bundle of palm-leaves, or stick up. a few leaves to make a shed if it rains, or sometimes, with "sipds," construct a rude hammock, which, however, serves only once. They eat all kinds of birds and fish, roasted or boiled in palm-spathes ; and all sorts of wild fruits.

The Macas often attack the houses of other Indians situated in solitary places, and murder all the inhabitants ; and they have even depopulated and caused the removal of several villages. All the other tribes of Indians catch them and keep them as slaves, and in most villages you will see some of them. They are distinguishable at once from the surrounding tribes by a wavy and almost curly hair, and by being rather lanky and ill-formed in their limbs : I am inclined, however, to think that this latter is partly owing to their mode of life, and the hardships and exposure they have to undergo ; and some that I have seen in the houses of traders have been as well-formed and hand- some as any of the other Indian tribes.

The Curetus are a nation inhabiting the country about the river ' Apaporfs, between the Japura and Uaupes. I met with some Indians of this tribe on the Rio Negro, and the only peculiarity I observed in them was, that their cheek-bones were rather more prominent than usual. From them, and from an Isanna Indian who had visited them, I obtained some information about their customs.

They wear their hair long like the Uaupes, and, like them, the women go entirely naked; and they paint their bodies, but do not tattoo. Their houses are large and circular, with walls of thatch, and a high conical capped roof, made like some chimney-pots, with the upper part overlapping, so as to let the smoke escape without allowing the rain to enter. They do not wander about, but reside in small permanent villages, governed by a chief, and are said to be long-lived and very peaceable, never quarrelling or making war with other nations. The men have but one wife. There are no pagds, or priests, among them, and they have no ideas of a superior Being. They cultivate mandiocca, maize, and other fruits, and use