To bathe _Maboigete_
To beat flat _Kihigwa_
To bind, sew _Tsiko_
To break wind _Nepo_
To bring _Tsate_
To call _Pibwa_
To catch hold _Dekeba_
To come _Dichabe_
To crush _Megwasako_
To cut, shorten _Gwatairo_
To drink _Mado_
To eat _Macho_
To go _Opeko_
To go away _Gwadipe_
To hang _Nehigwa_
To make, do _Mene_
To move _Chinye_
To open _Paiyeke_
To rain _Nihaba_
To rest _Paribe_
To run away _Imiba_
To scratch _Medonakons_
To search _Neku_
To see _Aktime_
To speak _Dibaje_
To strike _Kaboko_
To throw _Wago_
To tie _Chichi_
To wait _Ubi_
To wash _Nitie_
To work _Wakimei_
Where are you going? _Kia bwipe ite?_
Where do you come from? { _Kia-te itse?_
{ _Minekwe?_
Do not go away _Tsa petine_
Stand still _Tachure_
Sit down _Takebe_
Bring here _Chibahe_
Let us go _Mahu Mepei_
Leave me alone _Ubiédere_
Give me _Okedake_
Where (is it?) _Kia_
Whose (is this?) _Mu_
There is none _Tsa ikatine_
I do not know { _Ureta_
{ _Tsa quaha Kétine_
How many? _Muitemeko?_
What is the matter? } _Ina ichabie?_
What is hurting you? }
What are you called? _Muipa dimene?_
Are you willing? _Imeje?_
Cover it up _Gwatako_
Hold your tongue _Kéktere_
It is well _Imine_
Good-bye _Opeko_
APPENDIX VIII
_Oikommo_ is within the _hofo_,[451]
With our tribe there is _Oikommo_,
And whence cometh _Oikommo_,
And from where does he come?
He comes from the clouds,
From the clouds he comes;
And why does he come so far?
And why does he come?
In his land are no bread and few women
In his land is no bread;
And what is the name of the stranger,
And what is his name?
His name is Whiffena _Ri-e-i_,[452]
His name is Whiff-en-a,
And partly his name is Itoma,[453]
Itoma is also his name;
And what is he called by his man friends.
And what is his other name?
His privy name is _Ei-fo-ke_,[454]
_Ei-fo-ke_ is his privy name;[455]
And why is he called _Ei-fo-ke_?
FOOTNOTES
[1] My arrival in England was postponed to some months later through an
attack of beriberi.
[2] It was unknown to me till afterwards that Dr. Koch-Grünberg of Berlin
had, in 1904, ascended the Uaupes to, I believe, 71° west longitude.
[3] A rifle, where possessed, is never used against an animal but kept
for use against the white man.
[4] Turtle eggs are, curiously enough, not considered fœtal.
[5] For my share I had the honour to receive, through the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, the thanks of the French Government.
[6] Steamers have been on the Amazon since 1853, and navigation is
continuous throughout the year (cf. _Brazilian Year-Book_).
[7] I never saw the Andes actually from these districts, but the
suggestion is always there, they are seen in the mind’s eye; an ultimate,
if invisible, limit to what would otherwise seem more than illimitable.
[8] Wallace, p. 246.
[9] Spruce, ii. 379-380.
[10] Robuchon’s estimate of distances is 471 geographical miles from
Iquitos to the mouth of the Issa; thence to the Cotuhe, which he places
at 2° 53′ 12″ S. and 69° 41′ 10″ W., 150 geographical miles. From
the Cotuhe to the Igara Parana, 252 miles, a total distance of 873
geographical miles from Iquitos to the Igara Parana.
[11] Robuchon gives latitude 1° 43′ 9″ S., longitude 71° 53′ 36″ W.
[12] Spruce, i. 7, ii. 100.
[13] September to January is the hottest portion of the year, the heat
being at its worst in December. 90° would be extreme heat, and 70° the
lowest the mercury would probably reach; the average being from 75° to
85°. Robuchon is responsible for the statement that the temperature at
the mouth of the Cotuhe in September was 43° Cent. in the shade, but
that after a brisk shower it fell to 31°. The water of the Amazon has a
temperature of 81°; the Japura is a warmer river and reaches 85°. Wallace
gives the mean temperature of the Rio Negro water in September--that is,
during the hot season--as 86°, and the corresponding temperature of the
air as from 76° to 92.5°. The water, he considers, is probably never
less than 80° at any time. The temperature of the Uaupes has been noted
as invariably 76° at three to six feet below the surface (_Geo. Journ._,
1910, p. 683).
[14] The Amazon at its mouth is 158 miles across from bank to bank.
[15] This I take to be the _Yacitara_ mentioned by Spruce, i. 30.
[16] Wallace noted a butterfly frequenting “the dung of some carnivorous
animal” in Malacca, and remarks that many tropical butterflies suck
liquid from muddy places, “and are generally so intent upon their meal
that they can be easily approached and captured” (Wallace, _The Malay
Archipelago_, pp. 29, 114).
[17] Spruce, ii. 366.
[18] Bates, ii. 262.
[19] Spruce, i. 49.
[20] One tree is reputed to be so poisonous that no Indian will touch it.
See Maw, p. 294.
[21] These tribal houses differ from the communal long-houses of the Fly
Delta, British New Guinea, not only in shape, but in that there are no
platforms and no divisions for each family; the whole interior is open.
For description of Kiwai and Daudai long-houses see _Expedition to Torres
Straits_, iv. 112-117.
[22] _Maloka_ = Indian lodge or tribal house (lingoa-geral).
[23] _Manicaria saccifera_ (cf. Spruce, i. 56).
[24] Eugene André noted that two kinds were commonly used on the Causa,
the _mulato_, a kind of _Aroideae_, and the _murcielago_, which belongs
to the _Bignoniaceae_ family.
[25] Several kinds of palm-leaves are used for this purpose, and
whichever was most easily procurable in the district where the house
was built would be used by the tribe. Hardenburg mentions the leaves of
the _Phytelephas macrocarpa_, the vegetable ivory-tree, as in use among
the Witoto, and the _Bactris ciliata_ or Chonta palm for the posts and
rafters (p. 135). The leaves of the Bussu palm, _Manicaria saccifera_,
will make a thatch that lasts for ten or twelve years, by some accounts
(cf. Waterton, p. 479).
[26] Wallace, p. 341.
[27] This is architecturally interesting in view of Foucart’s theory of
the evolution of the Egyptian grooved stone pillar from wooden originals,
bundles of reeds.
[28] Simson mentions such a “door,” p. 237.
[29] Wallace, p. 341.
[30] Among the Jivaro one partitioned half of the house is kept for the
women (Orton, p. 171). There is no such distinction among the Issa-Japura
tribes.
[31] Cf. Wallace, p. 354.
[32] Crevaux has described the process. He watched an Indian “qui fait du
feu en roulant vivement un roseau dans une cavité creusée dans une tige
de roncon” (_Voyage dans l’Amérique du sud_, p. 214). Wallace mentions
this method among the Kuretu, _op. cit._ 355.
[33] If a jigger is removed at once with a needle it will not hurt, and
scarcely makes a puncture.
[34] Vampires in this country are few and far between, but Simson
mentions them as a plague at Agnano (Simson, p. 131).
[35] Bates, i. 246. For the taming of a full-grown _Coita_ see p. 247.
Another pet mentioned by Bates, a “strange kind of wood-cricket,” is also
unknown to me as a pet, and though I have often heard loud-voiced insects
of the cricket class they have never been in captivity (cf. Bates, i.
250).
[36] Cf. Martius, _P.R.G.S._ ii. 192.
[37] See Appendix.
[38] Deniker, p. 552.
[39] Marriage by capture was a Carib custom (Westermarck, p. 383). It is
unknown nowadays to the tribes south of the Japura.
[40] Partial couvade is found also among tribes in the north of America,
that is to say, certain things are tabu to the father after the child’s
birth. Cf. Dorsey, _Siouan Cults_, p. 511; Venegas, i. 94; Tylor, pp.
294-7.
[41] im Thurn, p. 173. Joyce locates the original Caribs on the upper
Xingu, from whence, he considers, they spread over Guiana and the lesser
Antilles (_South American Archæology_, p. 256). Rodway, on the authority
of Spanish chronicled Arawak information, suggests they were the original
inhabitants of the north-west coast, migrant from Mexico (_Guiana_, pp.
41, 45).
[42] _Ibid._ pp. 171-2.
[43] Crevaux, _Fleuves de l’Amérique du Sud, Yapura_, F. 5 et 7.
[44] Crevaux, _Vocabulaire français-roucouyenne_.
[45] Koch-Grünberg, _Journal de la Société des Américainistes de Paris_,
tome iii. No. 2 (1906).
[46] Koch-Grünberg, _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, xxxviii, 189.
[47] It must be remembered that I came to all these people from the
Witoto country.
[48] Crevaux, _Voyages dans l’Amérique du Sud_, p. 368.
[49] Martius, _Beiträge_, ii. 340.
[50] The Inca were called _Orejones_ by the Spaniards on account of the
large studs they wore in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110;
Ratzel, ii. 172.
[51] Simson, p. 210.
[52] Koch-Grünberg, _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, xxxviii. 188 (1906).
[53] Cd. 6266, pp. 9, 10, 12, 25, 26.
[54] Rice, p. 690.
[55] Wallace, p. 354.
[56] See Appendix.
[57] Hardenburg, _Man_, p. 134.
[58] This combination is of so exceptional a character that it is hardly
to be recognised as a definite trait of organisation, and it follows that
though such exceptional cases may point to a possible past unity of clans
as a tribe, these clans are now practically small tribes, being incapable
of combining for common action. The expressions language-group, tribe,
and tribesman are therefore more correct than tribe, clan, and clansman
would be.
[59] Cf. im Thurn, p. 185.
[60] This is exactly the reverse of the matrilocal customs related by Sir
Everard im Thurn.
[61] Or their artists and publishers.
[62] “The natives are ashamed, as they say, to be clothed” (Humboldt,
_Travels_, iii. 230; cf. also Wallace, p. 357). Clothes, in fact, are
often donned by savages at periods of license only. See Westermarck,
_History of Human Marriage_, chap. ix.
[63] There are several trees in these forests that supply the needed
fibrous bark. im Thurn suggests that the bark used is that of the
_Lecythis ollaria_, but Spruce states that tauari is made from the bark
of certain species of _Tecoma_ of the _Bignoniaceae_ order, and tururi, a
thinner bark-cloth, from various figs and _Artocarps_. Naturally natives
use the tree that is handiest when required (cf. im Thurn, pp. 194, 291;
Spruce, i. 27).
[64] Dr. de Lacerda in his journal for July 22, 1798, describes just such
a manufacture of bark-cloth carried on by the Muizas, who traded this
with their neighbours the Maraves. See _Land of Carembe_, R.G.S., 1873,
p. 71. Loin-cloths made from the bark of the _Artocarps_ are also found
among the Semang of Kedah and other wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula.
See Skeat and Blagden, i. 143-4, 157, 376, etc.
[65] A similar geographical progression has been noted among the women of
British New Guinea. See Williamson, _The Mafulu_, p. 28.
[66] Sandals known as _alparagatas_, with soles of plaited aloe-fibre,
are usually worn by travellers in the Amazons. These can be cleaned and
washed in the same way. See also Simson, p. 83.
[67] Wallace, p. 351.
[68] Feather ruffs are worn by Napo Indians, but not by these tribes.
[69] im Thurn, p. 305.
[70] One feather head-dress in my possession is made with rough cotton
yarn, obtained presumably by barter, for none of these tribes make cotton
yarn themselves, and it is very rarely to be found among them. The
feathers are bound into the hank with very fine fibre.
[71] _Oenocarpus distichus._
[72] Wallace, p. 351.
[73] According to Koch-Grünberg the Yahabana and other Kuretu-speaking
tribes part the hair in the middle and plait it with bast. After bathing,
the hair is dried, combed, and arranged with a bandage.
[74] Red was the favourite colour for a djibbeh. White ones were not much
liked.
[75] This corresponds with the bead _tanga_ described by Wallace, but the
Uaupes’ apron is “only about six inches square,” and these girdles or
garlands are two feet long or more (Wallace, p. 343).
[76] Value, I believe, about ninepence exchange or less.
[77] So uncommon is it that I was under the impression that it was
entirely unknown until I examined the necklace in question very carefully
after my return to England. Certainly I never saw any of these tribes
preparing cotton or making use of it in any way except in its natural
state to tip their blow-pipe arrows. String or yarn of any sort, except
the fibre thread, I always found to be absolutely unobtainable anywhere
throughout these districts.
[78] Possibly one of the _Histeridae_ mentioned by Bates, i. 211.
[79] _Pace_ Maw, p. 226.
[80] Belts of apparently similar minute plaiting are worn by the Mafula
of British New Guinea. These natives also wear armlets and leglets of the
same material, but not tightened to swell the muscles. The thread these
are made of is manufactured from vegetable fibre in the identical manner
employed by the Issa-Japura Indians (Williams, _The Mafula of British New
Guinea_, pp. 32, 53, 54).
[81] Compare illustration with pictures of ligatures in D. Rannie’s _My
Adventures among South Sea Cannibals_, pp. 80, 170, 179.
[82] The Spaniards called the Inca _Orejones_ on account of the large
studs worn by them in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110.
[83] Wallace states that all the Indians “have a row of circular
punctures along the arm” (Wallace, p. 345). These tribes have nothing of
the sort.
[84] Wallace describes the mark as “three vertical blue lines on the
chin” (Wallace, p. 345). This is not correct; _vide_ drawing.
[85] Crevaux, p. 264.
[86] The _Bixa Orellana_ (Spix and von Martius, p. 228).
[87] _Genifa americana_ (Spix and von Martius, p. 228).
[88] Hardenburg, p. 138.
[89] “Covering, if not used as a protection from the climate, owes its
origin, at least in a great many cases, to the desire of men and women
to make themselves mutually attractive” (Westermarck, p. 211). “Clothing
was first adopted as a means of decoration rather than from motives of
decency. The private parts were first adorned with the appendages that
were afterwards used by a dawning sense of modesty to conceal them”
(Johnston, _The River Congo_, p. 418).
[90] The result of this is that a traveller is forced to have women
as well as men in his escort, or he would find that half the services
required would not be rendered him. For instance, no male Indian will
prepare food, neither will he wash clothes, nor clean the cooking
vessels. This refers to the untouched districts, and must not be confused
with the forced “willingness” of the Rubber Belts.
[91] A. R. Wallace, p. 349.
[92] E. B. Tylor notes that the savage is often skilled in map-making as
a form of picture-writing (_op. cit._ p. 90), and quotes Prescott for
the existence of maps in Peru before Europeans reached South America
(Prescott, _Peru_, i. 116). Ancient maps or books like “rolled up palm
leaves” (Ratzel, ii. 169).
[93] See Chap. XVIII.
[94] _Pudenda maioris statuae muliebris nigra, labia maiora rubra picta
sunt; sed et in maiore et in minore statua vagina tam profunde perforata
est ut transitum ab vulva ad uterum suggerere videatur. Scrotum statuae
virilis nigrum, praeputium rubrum, pictum est; membrum autem ipsum,
quamvis quiescens, erectum tamen est et sic ad abdomen parallelum._
[95] See Chap. XVII.
[96] Keane tells of the Mojos valley natives that so uncommon is stone
in that district that if a man set out on a journey to the uplands where
stone is procurable he would be asked to bring some back as a curiosity
(Keane, p. 12). For some use of stone implements of the past still
employed among present-day peoples, see Mitchell, _Past in the Present_,
p. 12, etc.; Routledge, _With a Neolithic People_; Spencer and Gillen,
_Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 592-4, etc.; Skeat and Blagden,
_Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, i. 242, 296.
[97] Spruce mentions a white pitch obtained from _Icica_ trees, I never
saw any white pitch. These Indians use only black.
[98] Some tribes near the Napo also use circular shields of tapir hide,
p. 116.
[99] The use of the potter’s wheel was even unknown to the Incas (Joyce,
p. 193).
[100] Crevaux, p. 193.
[101] The caraipé tree is, according to Spruce and Bentham, one of the
_Licania_ genus of the _Chrysobalaneae_ order (Spruce, i. 13).
[102] Spruce, i. 14.
[103] The _Cerropia peltata_, according to Spix and Martius, p. 259.
[104] Tylor mentions the hammock as one of “the inventions which it seems
possible to trace to their original districts,” and states that it has
spread from South America and the West Indies “far and wide over the
world, carrying with it its Haitian name, _hamac_” (_op. cit._ p. 175).
It is interesting to note in this connection that a hammock is known as a
_hamaka_ among the Yakuna; the Tariana call it _hamaka_ or _amaka_; and
the Yavitero Indians call it _aimaiha_ (Koch-Grünberg, _Aruak-Sprachen
Nordwestbrasiliens und der angrenzenden Gebiete_, p. 65). The Baré
Indians call it _mi_; the Baniwa _bidzaha_ or _bisali_; the Siusi _pieta_
or _piete_; the Katapolitani change the _t_ to _d_ and have _pieda_; the
Kurutana call it _makaitepa_; the Uarekena say _soalita_ (Koch-Grünberg,
_op. cit._); while the Pioje call hammocks _jangre_ (Simson, p. 268). The
Witoto word is _kinai_ and the Boro _gwapa_.
[105] Hamilton Rice gives the distances between the meshes as the space
of thumb to little finger stretch for the Witoto, palm-length for the
Karahone, four fingers for the Cubbeo (p. 700). I knew the spacing
differed, but never heard that it was a tribal distinction.
[106] The palm employed is, according to Bates, an _Astrocaryum_ (Bates,
ii. 209). Wallace and im Thurn mention the _Mauritia flexuosa_ (A. R.
Wallace, p. 342; im Thurn, pp. 283, 290), which, according to Spruce,
“seems confined to the submaritime region” (Spruce, i. 15). He gives
_Bromelia karatas_, ii. 520. Spix and Martius give the Tucuma palm
(_Astrocaryum vulgare_) and others of the same genus (Spix and Martius,
p. 248).
[107] “A species of _Desmoncus_” (A. R. Wallace, p. 336).
[108] Women make both cassava-squeezers and graters. This may be a
coincidence, as I have seen men making the mats for the doorways, usually
women’s work.
[109] _Guilielmia speciosa._
[110] Spruce, ii. 447.
[111] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp.
668-9, and _Across Australia_.
[112] Any hard wood may be used, but cedar makes the best canoe. Hamilton
Rice says _cachicama_ (Rice, p. 691). Spruce mentions “a heavy laurel,
probably _Paraturi_,” used by the Tussari for making their _cascos_
(Spruce, i. 413). Bates mentions the _Itauba amarello_, “the yellow
variety of the stone-wood” (Bates, ii. 117). But all trees will not do,
for some will not open properly when they are fired (André, pp. 241-2).
[113] _Iriartea ventricosa._
[114] This is said to be the only kind of canoe used by the Auhishiri
(cf. Simson, p. 199).
[115] Viz. the Maca, the Guaharibo, and the Guahibo (Spruce, i. 477).
[116] Wallace, p. 358.
[117] For example, the Zaparo (Simson, pp. 169, 295); the Uaupes Indians
(Wallace, p. 349).
[118] Among other tribes this is not always the case. Manioc and banana
cultivation with the Rucuyens is carried on by the men (Ratzel, ii. 128).
[119] There is a wild species on some of the rivers, but the Indians make
no use of it (cf. Bates, i. 194).
[120] _Anauana sativa_ (Wallace, p. 336).
[121] Spruce, i. 180-81.
[122] Among the Issa-Japura tribes it is rather sustaining than
stimulating, _i.e._ it is not fermented.
[123] _Theobroma_, the food of the gods (Spruce, i. 79).
[124] I would suggest that _manioc_ is the true name for the plant,
_cassava_ for the “bread” made therefrom. _Mandiocca_ is only
American-Spanish for manioc.
[125] Bates i. 194, n.
[126] Spruce, i. 215.
[127] _Capsicum frutescens_ (Spix and Martius, p. 259). _Artanthe eximia_
and other _Artanthe_ and _Peperomia_ (Spruce, ii. 283-4).
[128] For processes of growing and preparation, see Markham, pp. 148-9.
[129] _Erythroxylon coca_ and _E. cataractarum_ (Spruce, ii. 446-8).
[130] Cf. E. B. Tylor, p. 170.
[131] An illustration in Sir H. Johnston’s _Liberia_, ii. 406, shows a
West African native climbing with only one ring and both arms and ankles
free. Bates mentions an Indian climbing with only one ring used for
the feet (Bates, ii. 196). The same method is to be found in Ceylon,
among the Malays, etc. (cf. Skeat and Blagden, i. 51, 62, 85; Tennant,
_Ceylon_, ii. 523; Partridge, _Cross River Natives_, p. 150, etc.).
[132] This is no uncommon thing among peoples of lower culture, but
that it does not of necessity follow as a corollary to life in the bush
is proved by some of the West African tribes who are most indifferent
sportsmen. This is the case among sundry of the peoples of the Northern
Territories of the Gold Coast, where a British official has before now
had to train his shikari, if he hoped for successful sport.
[133] The blow-pipe, the _gravitana_ in lingoa-geral, is known as the
_zarabatana_ among the Teffe tribes (Bates, ii. 236); the _bodoquera_
on the Napo. Koch-Grünberg gives the following names for it: _todike_,
Imitritä Miranya; _uataha_, Yavitero; _uilipona_, Uarekena; _uapana_,
Yukuna; _Mauipi_, Katapolitani; _mauipi_ or _moipi_, Siusi; _mauipi_ or
_mauipi_, Tariana (_Aruak-Sprachen_, p. 73).
[134] A species of _Arundinaria_.
[135] _Bactus ciliata._
[136] The wood used is _paxiaba-i_, the _Iriartea setigera_ (Spruce, ii.
522). This small palm grows from ten to fifteen feet high, with a stem
of an inch to two inches in diameter. When dry the soft inner pith is
removed, and the bore polished with a bunch of tree-fern roots pulled up
and down (Wallace, p. 147).
[137] _Jacitara_ (Bates, ii. 236).
[138] From the _arbol-del-lacre_ (Hardenburg, Man, p. 136);
_Pao-de-lacre_, _Vismia guianensis_ (Spruce, ii. 522).
[139] _Bombax_ (Wallace, p. 147); _Eriodendron sp._ (_Sterculiaceae_),
(Spruce, ii. 523; Bates, ii. 237).
[140] _Oenocarpus Batawa_ (Spruce, ii. 522).
[141] These blow-pipes appear to be similar to those still in use among
the Orang Kuantan Malays, of which a specimen is to be seen in the
British Museum. It is made of two grooved halves of a hard wood, bound
with cane, and coated with “a gutta-like substance” (Skeat, _Man_, 1902,
No. 108). This is, however, a shorter instrument than the Witoto or
Boro use, the measurements given being only 5 feet 2 inches for total
length, with an interior diameter of seven-sixteenths of an inch at the
mouthpiece and three-eighths of an inch at the muzzle-end. The blow-pipe
is found among all Malayan tribes. For distribution in the South Seas,
cf. map in Skeat and Blagden’s _Pagan Tribes_, i. 254.
[142] Deniker states that the Miranha hunt “like the ancient Quechuas by
means of nets stretched out between the trees, into which they drive,
with cries and gestures, the terrified animals” (Deniker, p. 561). I have
never seen or heard of such nets among them.
[143] Orton, pp. 169-70.
[144] Cf. method of poisoning adopted by natives of Torres Straits
(_Torres Straits_, iv. 159).
[145] _Jacquinia armillaris._ According to Spix and Martius _babasco_
poison is made from the leaves and blossom of the _Budleya connata_ (Spix
and von Martius, _Reise_, 1820, p. 98).
[146] Simson, p. 131.
[147] _Paullinia pinnata_ (_Sapindaceae_) (Spruce, ii. 523; Bates, ii.
82-3). Spruce also mentions _cunambi_, poison obtained from the roots of
_Ichthyothera cunambi_ (Spruce, ii. 520); and Yuca-raton, the root of
_Gliricidiae sp._ (Spruce, ii. 455).
[148] The frame is made of _timbo-titica_, _Heteropsis sp._ (Spruce, ii.
523).
[149] Such very hard wood is procurable, and so abundant is it that even
tribes like the Botucudo, who could use shell, stone, or metal, use wood
in preference, and many tribes prefer their lithic axes to metal ones.
The inference is obvious--these peoples are not, and never have been,
metal-using races, and poisoned wood suits sufficiently their purposes
for arrow-heads.
[150] Oakenfull, p. 30.
[151] Compare with customs of the Mafulu in British New Guinea
(Williamson, p. 179; _Fiji_, Thompson, p. 35).
[152] Clough, pp. 104-5; Wallace, p. 353.
[153] Partridge, _Cross River Natives_, p. 59; “Upper Congo Cannibals,”
_J.R.A.I._, xxiv. pp. 298-9.
[154] For example, Maw, p. 160.
[155] Wallace, pp. 346-7.
[156] Ratzel, ii. 138-9; Orton, pp. 171-2.
[157] See British Museum, Cambridge Museum, Munich Museum.
[158] Bates, ii. 132.
[159] I was never present at a cannibal feast. This information is based
on Robuchon’s account, checked by cross-questioning the Indians with whom
I came in contact.
[160] Johnson, _Liberia_, ii. 898.
[161] On the other hand earth-eating is prevalent among the Torres
Straits people, where salt is not rare. The pregnant woman eats it to
make her infant light in colour and strong and brave (_Torres Straits
Exped._, iv. 139).
[162] Crevaux, p. 287.
[163] Bates, ii. 195.
[164] _Ibid._
[165] Some tribes, for example the Jivaro (Simson, pp. 93-4), are said to
be more provident in this respect, but the Boro and Witoto groups are not
among them. Occasionally a store of pines may be made in October, when
pines are most plentiful, but this is all.
[166] It may be noted here that all the denizens of the forest, including
even the larger carnivora, are by popular report fruit-eaters, and are
specially fond of the wild alligator pear (cf. Spruce, ii. 362-3).
[167] _Tapirus americanus._
[168] All animals when wounded appear to take to water.
[169] _Coelogenys paca._
[170] _Hydrochaerus capybara._
[171] _Dasyprocta agouti._
[172] I captured some and brought them away as pets.
[173] Spruce, i. p. 182.
[174] _Dicotypes tajacu_ is the only one I observed in these parts, but
_D. labiatus_ is common in the bush. The peccary is called _kairooni_
by the Arawak; _mero_ and _emo_ by the Witoto according to the species;
_mene_ by the Boro; and _whinga_ by the Macusi.
[175] See Wood’s _Natural History_, “Mammals.”
[176] Oakenfull, p. 30.
[177] Turning turtles is prohibited by law in Brazil, but no law reaches
these wilds.
[178] The Indians of British Guiana who eat the turtles’ and iguana eggs,
also “will not touch the egg of a fowl” (im Thurn, p. 18).
[179] They do not, however, object to their food being decidedly “high”
(cf. Simson, p 115).
[180] In this they share the tastes of the Liberian women (cf. Johnston,
_Liberia_, ii. 954).
[181] Spruce, ii. 381.
[182] _Manihot aypi._
[183] The description given by Fr. Pinto in Dr. de Lacerda’s
eighteenth-century journal of the preparation of manioc flour by the
Murunda Kaffirs differs only from the Indian method in that the root is
not squeezed, merely soaked till “almost rotten,” then dried and pounded
(R.G.S., _The Lands of Cazembe_, 1873, p. 129).
[184] It would seem that the Boro use what is known in Brazil as _Farinha
de aqua_, and the Witoto make _Farinha secca_ (cf. Spruce, i. 11-12).
Brazilian arrowroot and tapioca are products of the manioc prepared in
different ways. Only the Boro and Menimehe make _Farinha de aqua_.
[185] “A mandiocca oven (called _budari_ in Barré)” (Spruce, ii. 477-8).
[186] Bates noted that he saw Indians on the Tapajos season this sauce
with ants in place of fish (Bates, i. 318-19).
[187] Wallace, p. 340.
[188] Simson mentions salt-licks in the neighbourhood of the Rio Salado
Grande (Simson, p. 238).
[189] The ashes of the drum tree (_Cecropia peltata_) “are saline and
antiseptic” (Spruce, ii. 447). “A kind of flour which has a saline taste”
is extracted from the fruits of the _Inaja_ palm (_Maximiliana regia_),
and the _Jara_ palm (_Leopoldinia major_), and the _Caruru_, a species of
_Lacis_ (Wallace, p. 340). _Cuaruru_ is given by Spruce as a native name
for _Pogostemon sp._; when this is burnt the ashes give salt (Spruce, ii.
520).
[190] Cf. _Torres Straits_, “The chief meal of the day is taken at night,
soon after sundown; the remains are eaten in the morning,” iv. 131.
[191] This is probably the puruma (_Puruma Cecropiaefolia Martius_)
mentioned by Bates (Bates, ii. 217).
[192] _Yerba Luisa_ (Simson, p. 61).
[193] This may be _Mimusops sp._ (_Sapotacae_) or _Callophora sp._
(_Aponcynaccae_) (Spruce, i. 50, 224; ii. 520). Bates, i. 69; Spruce, i.
51; Orton, pp. 288, 500, 581.
[194] _Caapi_ is known as _aya-huasca_, the drink of Huasca, the greatest
king of the Inca, to the Zaparo and other tribes farther west (Spruce,
ii. 424).
[195] Spruce, ii. 419-21.
[196] _Banisteria Caapi_ (Spruce, ii. 414).
[197] _Haemadictyon amazonicum_ (_ibid._ p. 415). This is only added by
the Uaupes tribes.
[198] Both _Manihot utilissima_ and _Manihot Aypi_ (Spruce, ii. 414).
[199] Cf. Tylor, pp. 179-80.
[200] _Paullinia cupana_ (Spruce, i. 180).
[201] _Guarana_, “_pro panacea peregrinantum habetur_” (von Martius), is
made from the roasted seeds. It is “almost identical in its elements with
theine and caffeine” (Spruce, i. 181). It is cultivated on the Negro as
an article of trade. According to Bates it is made from the seeds of a
climbing plant (_Paullinia sorbilis_) (Bates, ii. 134).
[202] _Coca Erythroxylon._
[203] Spix and von Martius, p. 153.
[204] Joyce, p. 97.
[205] Markham, _Peruvian Bark_, p. 151.
[206] According to Bates the leaves of the candelabrum tree (_Cecropia
palmata_) are used (Bates, ii. 211-12). Spruce has the _imbauba_ or drum
tree (_Cecropia peltata_) (Spruce, ii. 447). Markham gives the quinoa
plant (Markham, _op. cit._ p. 151).
[207] _Re_ effects. Spruce notes that it had little effect on him
(Spruce, ii. 448). One of my companions though “at first affected … with
slight nausea … soon became accustomed to it, and found it very useful on
many occasions” (Hardenburg, p. 137-8). This is interesting in relation
to my own continued intolerance. “In Peru its excessive use is said to
seriously injure the coats of the stomach” (Spruce, ii. 448). At Ega it
was regarded as a vice only to be indulged in secretly (Bates, ii. 211).
Markham, on the other hand, considers it “the least injurious, and the
most soothing and invigorating” narcotic (Markham, _op. cit._ p. 152). He
even recommends it as a preventative of loss of breath to Alpine climbers
(_ibid._ p. 153). With this I cannot concur.
[208] See Appendix for this and other notes.
[209] Spruce relates that a Guahibo told him, “With a chew of _caapi_ and
a pinch of _niopo_ … one feels so good! No hunger--no thirst--no tired!”
(Spruce, ii. 428).
[210] _Mimosa acaciodes_ (Bentham). “A species of Inga” (Bates, i. 331).
The seeds of _Acacia Niopo_ (Humbolt). _Piptadenia peregrina_ (L.)
(Bentham and Spruce, ii. 427).
[211] The Guahibo use no quicklime (Spruce, ii. 426).
[212] This is curious, but I can advance no reason.
[213] Or “a bit of the leg-bone of the jaguar, closed at one end with
pitch” (Spruce, ii. 427).
[214] And by the natives on the upper Orinoco (Spruce, ii. 423).
[215] “Two feet long and as thick as the wrist” (Spruce, ii. 420). It
“is smoked in the ordinary way”. A long cigar is also smoked on the
Equatorial Pacific coast, but “held in the mouth _at the lighted end_”
(_ibid._ p. 436). This is common amongst negroes.
[216] Like the eyes of a cocoanut--to allow passage to the budding
rootlets.
[217] Spruce, ii. 413-55.
[218] Bates, ii. 288.
[219] Also called _curari_, _ourali_, _worara_, _woorari_, _urari_,
_ervadura_. “A powerful South American arrow-poison occurring in commerce
as a blackish extract, somewhat resinoid in appearance,” used for
tetanus, hydrophobia, epilepsy (_Dict. Mat. Med._).
[220] _Strychnos castelmoeana_ and _Cocculus toxicoferus_ (Hardenburg, p.
136).
[221] “Many ingredients are used, such as several kinds of barks, roots,
peppers (_Capsicum_), ants, and the poison-fangs of snakes” (im Thurn, p.
311).
[222] Crevaux gives a long description of the preparation of this poison
(Crevaux, pp. 268-337).
[223] According to Bates, salt is considered to be an antidote for this
poison (Bates, i. 247).
[224] Bates, ii. 200. This agrees with Darwin, _Descent of Man_, i. 128.
[225] Dr. Galt considered “that there is no more fertile race than the
pure-blooded Indian of the Marañon” (Orton, p. 465).
[226] Menstruation has been known to commence in England at the age of
eleven, generally in cases of well-nourished blondes, and in exceptional
cases even earlier. It has been known to occur at nine years, but this
was induced by a severe accident. This is unknown among the forest
people. I made out the age of puberty to be not less than fifteen for
girls, and eighteen for boys, among the tribes I was with.
[227] Cf. Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. 179-80; Codrington, _The
Melanesians_, p. 228, etc.
[228] Tapir flesh is undoubtedly rich, and over-indulgence would have
evil effects upon any woman independent of other conditions, for equally
it would upset a man.
[229] A tribe in British Guiana, the Macusi, carry this idea even
further, and impose such restriction on a man before his actual marriage
(im Thurn, p. 222). I have never met with this.
[230] Wallace in his account of the Uaupes Indians states that “the women
are generally delivered in the house, and do no work for four or five
days” (Wallace, p. 345). This does not tally with the customs among the
Issa and Japura tribes, at least I never found it to be the case.
[231] These Indians adopt a sitting, _i.e._ continental (not English left
lateral) position for parturition.
[232] For similar treatment elsewhere see Schomberg, _Reisen in Britisch
Guiana_, ii. 66.
[233] Hardenburg, p. 135.
[234] I cannot help thinking that some infanticides may be due to the
fear by the wife that the husband would refrain from the fulfilment of
his _debitum conjugale_ did he find that it resulted in his having to
support an unduly increasing family.
[235] Infanticide is a subject open to unlimited misapprehension and
misrepresentation. Compare with the above, for instance, the statements
of a missionary among some of the Indian tribes farther south. Mr. Grubb
speaks of “a shrill cry of pain when a child perhaps has been cruelly
murdered” (_An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_, p. 17). A reviewer
with much knowledge and experience of Paraguay, remarks, “I never
remember hearing the women’s shrill cry of lamentation. The children are
killed almost immediately after birth, as secretly as possible, and no
one pays much attention to the fact” (Seymour H. C. Hawtrey, for R.A.I.).
This is certainly the case with the Issa and Japura groups.
[236] Among the Ucayali deformed children are killed because they “belong
to the devil” (Orton, p. 321).
[237] A similar practice is reported among the Kuni of British New Guinea
(Williamson, _The Mafulu_, p. 178).
[238] Among Zaparo tribes also this is the case (Simson, pp. 175, 183).
[239] _Early History of Mankind_, p. 247.
[240] This is one of the many supposed indications of a possible Asiatic
origin of these peoples, “remnants of a race driven into the mountains
by the present dwellers in the plains,” as Tylor says of the Miau-tsze,
who also practice the couvade (_op. cit._ p. 295). The practice is as
widespread as the performance of the medicine-man or shaman, though
not invariably an accompaniment of so-called shamanism or kindred
performances: for example the Arunta have medicine-men but do not
practise the couvade, the Basque people have couvade but no medicine-man.
[241] In support of this theory note that in Melanesia proper couvade
has only been observed “where the child follows the father’s kindred”
(Codrington, p. 228).
[242] According to one writer some Indians go so far as to remove all
weapons and furniture from the house (Clough, p. 104).
[243] With the Issa-Japura tribes the father is subjected to no such
torturing processes at the hands of his friends as are recorded of
other tribes and peoples, “in such sort that from being sick by pure
imagination they often make a real patient of him” (Tylor, _loc. cit._ p.
288 _et seq._; _J.A.I._ xviii. 248; cf. also Crevaux, Spix, and Martius,
p. 381; Schomburg, _Reisen in Britisch Guiana_, ii.).
[244] Bird names, as is commonly the case in South America, are attempts
to repeat the cry of the birds themselves. _Kweko_, for instance, is a
most suggestive name for a parrot. Birds, it may here be noted, very
seldom sing in Amazonia.
[245] See Brinton on this subject, _Religions of Primitive Peoples_, p.
196. Cf. Howitt, p. 739.
[246] Witoto.
[247] Boro.
[248] Cf. Tylor, _Early History of Mankind_; im Thurn, p. 220; Hodson,
_Naga Tribes_, p. 176; Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 139; Brinton, p.
195, etc.; Seligmann, p. 140; André, p. 16; Lang, _Origin of Religion_,
etc.
[249] See _Folklore Journal_; Mitchell, _Past in the Present_.
[250] Every Indian man has two names, his own name and his secret name
(name of genitalia). The latter is generally a significant name, and is
used in ribald jesting round the fire, _e.g._ “the _Okaina_ (a rodent)
went to the stream to bathe,” etc. etc., _ad nauseam_.
[251] The converse of this holds good elsewhere, for the names of the
dead are often tabu. See Rivers, _Todas_, pp. 625-6; Tylor, p. 142;
Brinton, pp. 94-5.
[252] Brinton, p. 197.
[253] _Pace_ Ratzel, ii. 128.
[254] Simson, p. 92; Ratzel, ii. 128.
[255] Markham, Clough, p. 104.
[256] Wallace, p. 360.
[257] According to Waitz the Carib medicine-man was accorded the _jus
primae noctis_ (_Anthropologie der Naturvölker_, iii. 382); Westermarck,
p. 76. Von Martius also attributes this custom to certain Brazilian
tribes, the chief, not the medicine-man, claiming the right (i. 113, 428,
485).
[258] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 52.
[259] Wallace, p. 355.
[260] This is quite usual of course. See Westermarck, pp. 445-7.
[261] Cf. custom among the Muskoks (Ratzel, ii. 125. See also im Thurn,
p. 221; Westermarck, p. 18).
[262] Wallace, p. 346.
[263] Westermarck puts the disparity of years at from five to six among
natives of Brazil (_op. cit._ p. 137; Spix and Martius, ii. 248).
[264] This invariably takes place in the forest, for no intimacy, even
between husband and wife, is ever permitted in the publicity of the
house. According to Westermarck a similar custom prevailed in Fiji (_op.
cit._ pp. 151-2), but this is denied by Thomson, _The Fijians_, p. 202.
[265] im Thurn, pp. 186, 221.
[266] As De Morgan remarked of a somewhat similar practice among the
Sakai of Perak, this is a form of marriage by purchase “modified by the
smallness of the price paid … a purely formal substitute” (_Bulletin de
la Société Normande de Géographie_, vii. 422; Skeat and Blagden, ii.
60-61).
[267] Or _potacea_, a nut of bitter taste the size of an acorn.
[268] See von Martius, i. 113. For similar instances cf. Westermarck, p.
151.
[269] This confirms the account given by Wallace, p. 346; von Martius, i.
600.
[270] See for similar etiquette, Alcedo-Thompson, _Dictionary of America
and the West Indies_, i. 416; E.R. Smith, _The Aurocanians_, p. 215;
Westermarck, pp. 383-4.
[271] This seems to be the same as the Hottentot custom (Kolben, _Present
State of the Cape of Good Hope_, i. 157).
[272] These are, I believe, the same ants that are used in the
manufacture of the _curare_ poison. They are fairly common. In
lingoa-geral they are called _tucaudera_.
[273] “The Carayas maintain quasi-husbands for widows at the public
cost, lest they should be a source of disturbance to the general peace”
(Ratzel, ii. 126). Widows are _repi_, prostitutes among some Melanesians
(Codrington, p. 235).
[274] See, for similar belief among the Zaparo, Simson, p. 174.
[275] For example, among the Bororo when the medicine-man has announced
that the patient will die in a given time, “if at the end of this time he
still lives, the executioner, sent of course by the priest, will suddenly
appear in the hut, sit astride his stomach, and strangle him to death”
(Cook, p. 55).
[276] See Joyce, p. 249.
[277] See _supra_, p. 151.
[278] The idea of blood crying for vengeance is familiar enough, and the
most universally-known example is that of the fratricide Cain informed
that his brother’s blood cried for vengeance from the ground (Gen. iv.
10).
[279] See _supra_, p. 31.
[280] “A microscopic scarlet _Acarus_” (Orton, p. 485).
[281] “To an Indian smallpox is certain death--the most dreaded enemy,
who has over and over again swept off entire tribes, and the name or
passing suspicion of which from youth up has always been trembled at and
fled from as from death itself” (Simson, p. 142).
[282] There are many varieties of this complaint. In one kind the
patient wastes away. With another it assumes the characteristics of
elephantiasis, the legs swell, the flesh becomes soft and podgy, the skin
unhealthy and white. It is said by the rubber-gatherers that a cure can
only be effected when the patient sees the sea, in other words through
complete change of air.
[283] Simson speaks of a “skin-disease common amongst all Indians of
the higher Marañon, called ‘carata.’ The skin is ‘scaly and blotched
all over with black’” (Simson, p. 178). This seems to be similar to
the “cutaneous disease” mentioned by Bates, except that he explicitly
mentions “the black spots were hard and rough but not scaly” (Bates, ii.
382). The Purupura Indians have also a skin complaint that causes them
to be “spotted and blotched with white, brown, or nearly black patches”
(Wallace, p. 357).
[284] I did myself, and so did my boy Brown and others of the party.
[285] André, pp. 16-110.
[286] Spix and Martius, p. 31.
[287] Simson, pp. 148, 194. A very common practice among Indians.
[288] Koch-Grünberg, pp. 134, 165.
[289] I do not mean the body of an infant killed at birth, which, as I
have said, is done as quietly and secretly as possible.
[290] “Primary urn-burial is characteristic in the main of the
Tupi-Guarani family” (Joyce, p. 270).
[291] For the same reason that prompted similar proceeding among the
Norsemen, an influence still alive in many parts of our own country. Cf.
Mitchell, _Past in the Present_. An instance is reported from Hampshire
within the last few years of a child’s toys being broken on its grave.
(Read, _Folklore Journal_, vol. xxii. p. 322.)
[292] Ratzel, ii. 155.
[293] Shaman is in more general use among Americans. It should be
remembered that the Zaparo, with whom Simson mentions the _shimano_
(Simson, pp. 174-5, 177), have had considerably more intercourse
with western civilisation than the tribes away from the Napo line of
communication.
[294] Vol. xxiv.
[295] “The chief ‘medicine’ of the Payes on the affluents of the Amazon,
both northern and southern, and on the Orinoco” (Spruce, ii. 436).
[296] Crevaux, p. 300.
[297] im Thurn, p. 312; Wallace, p. 347; Crevaux, p. 299.
[298] im Thurn, p. 368.
[299] Spruce mentions Barré Indians “sucking out the rheumatism” from
each other’s shoulders (Spruce, ii. 435).
[300] I am unable to say whether the medicine-man believes that an actual
stick has been literally in the patient’s flesh, or whether he believes
that the stick concealed in his mouth becomes a habitation for the
supernatural power causing the sickness, or if he merely does the whole
thing to impress his audience, and confirm their belief in his magical
powers. Quite possibly all these reasons combined in varying degrees are
present in any case. See Marett, _Anthropology_, p. 247.
[301] A boy “with epileptic tendency being preferred,” as im Thurn noted
was the case in British Guiana (im Thurn, p. 334).
[302] Waterton, p. 449.
[303] Cf. im Thurn, p. 349.
[304] Cf. Westermarck, p. 152.
[305] Spruce, ii. 430-31.
[306] I have never seen the medicine-man’s palm-leaf boxes mentioned by
Spruce, ii. 431.
[307] Among the Mungaberra the medicine-men “can and often do assume the
form of eagle-hawks,” and thus attack other tribes (Spencer and Gillen,
p. 533). It may be that the medicine-men of Indian tribes nearer the
mountains, where these birds have their habitat, assume the form of a
condor, as the medicine-man of the forest districts does that of the
jaguar, for the condor is “sacred throughout practically the whole of the
Andean region.” See Joyce, p. 175.
[308] The jaguar and the anaconda are both magical beasts. See Chap. XIX.
[309] Note: Among the Arunta the medicine-man has “a particular kind
of lizard distributed through his body, which endows him with great
suctional powers” (Spencer and Gillen, p. 531).
[310] See im Thurn, pp. 329-31.
[311] Spruce, ii. 432. Cf. Rochfort, _Histoire naturelle et morale des
Isles Antilles_, p. 472.
[312] Spruce, ii 431.
[313] That the words are now incomprehensible may have arisen from the
fact that the songs were originally intended only to recall things to
those already instructed, in the same way that Mexican picture records
“do not tell their stories in full, but only recall them to the minds
of those who are already acquainted with them” (E. B. Tylor, p. 96). As
instruction and memory lapsed the words would become mere gibberish.
Certainly all these tribes appear to have songs they can no longer
interpret. _La danse est accompagnée des chantes; je regrette de n’avoir
pu saisir le sens de leurs paroles_ (Crevaux, p. 104). There are old
dances with words no longer understood among the Tukano (Koch-Grünberg,
p. 254). This is, of course, by no means peculiar to the Amazonian
Indians. Some of the singing games played by children in British New
Guinea have words whose meanings are either obscure or lost (Barton,
_J.R.A.I._, p. 269). Among the Naga tribes the language of the songs “is
known in many cases to be now unintelligible to those who sing them”
(Hodson, _Naga Tribes_, p. 68). Corrobborees are passed from one tribe
to the other among the Australian natives, “the result is that the words
are, as a general rule, quite unintelligible to the performers” (Spencer
and Gillen, _Central Australia_, p. 281). Zulu charm songs are said to
be incomprehensible to the singers (Callaway, _Religious System of the
Amazulu_, p. 413). These instances might be multiplied, but they suffice
to show that this survival of words with lost meanings is world-wide.
As a curious contrast to this we find that the Spanish missionaries in
South America complained that they had great difficulty in getting their
converts to remember the Ave Maria and the Paternoster “seeing that
the words were mere nonsense to them” (Tylor, p. 96). It should not be
forgotten though, in this connection, that the potency of a word is in
inverse ratio to its incomprehensibility. Cf. Brinton, _Religions of
Primitive Peoples_, p. 92.
[314] Possibly there may be a second pine harvest and dance, but the
great feast takes place in October.
[315] Koch-Grünberg mentions the same among the Opaina.
[316] Koch-Grünberg.
[317] Maw describes quite a different arrangement in a dance at
Tabitinga. “The dancers were usually linked three together, one principal
character supported by two others, one on each side; and there were
generally two sets dancing at the same time, each set being followed by
women and children dancing or jumping in the similar manner” (Maw, p.
220).
[318] Koch-Grünberg mentions a dance among tribes north of the Japura
where the men and women dance together in pairs. The women do not wear
aprons, and at the end of the figure they disappear.
[319] Spruce, i. 313.
[320] One is irresistibly reminded of the clown, especially of the
comic man who usually puts in an appearance at military sports. It is
possible that this custom of dressing-up to secure attention when airing
a grievance is what has been mistaken by some writers for a part of the
dance. Sir Roger Casement, quoting Maw in the _Contemporary Review_,
September 1912, talks of “the masked men” as “a necessary part of each
performance.” It is certainly quite unknown to me, for I never saw or
heard of anything of the kind, though in the first edition of Bates’s
_Naturalist on the River Amazon_ the frontispiece of the second volume
gives a masked dance of the Tukuna, so I do not suggest that masked
dancers do not exist, only that they are not known among the tribes of
the Issa-Japura valleys.
[321] It must be remembered that Indians are extraordinarily generous,
or improvident, in the matter of food. I should never hesitate to
join a family party when feeding, without waiting for an invitation.
The complaint in question probably refers to a whole basket of manioc
bartered in the plantation, which transaction would belong to quite
another category.
[322] Crevaux gives an account of an initiation dance where the torture
applied is by means of the application of stinging ants to the naked
bodies of the neophytes (Crevaux, pp. 245-50).
[323] Koch-Grünberg, p. 188. The German doctor also gives an account of
a dance where boys and girls perform in couples. When the figures are
ended the couples withdraw into the forest, and night covers subsequent
proceedings. This takes place among the Yahuna of the Kuretu group. The
men of these tribes when summoned by drum to a dance leave their women
behind them.
[324] Bates, ii. 207.
[325] Manioc.
[326] Plantation.
[327] Manioc root.
[328] Cassava.
[329] What is it? what is it?
[330] It is good.
[331] As proof that this dance is borrowed, and not common to all the
tribes that dance it, is the fact that all tribes, whatever their
language-group, use the Muenane words for the answer.
[332] See Appendix.
[333] The individual in question was labouring under the most
extraordinary sexual excitement. This may have been due to coca
influence, to the lubricity of the song words, or to the intoxication due
to rhythmic movement. The first two possible causes are eliminated by the
fact that Indians are almost continually under the influence of the drug,
and that no song could be more lewd than the ordinary conversation of
these people.
[334] These Muenane riddle dances somewhat resemble the _Pirapurasseya_,
or fish dance, seen by Bates at Ega. The performers joined hands in a
ring and questioned the leader in the centre, who finally might try to
rush the ring, and when successful was succeeded by whoever might be
responsible for his escape (Bates, ii. 276). im Thurn’s description of a
Guiana animal dance also tallies more or less with these dances. See im
Thurn, p. 324.
[335] R. L. Stevenson, _In the South Seas_ (Pocket Edition, 1908), p. 100.
[336] “Dancing to the accompaniment of the human voice only. The word
_ballad_ is derived from this.” Ital. _ballare_ = to dance. See _Games,
Sports, and Pastimes_, by D. H. Moutray Read, in the new _Folklore
Handbook_.
[337] North of the Japura the tribes use what are known as _Yapurutu_
pan-pipes, which are usually played in pairs. The Tukana call them
_bupupo_ or _yapurato_ (Koch-Grünberg, p. 300).
[338] Cf. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 345, chap.
xi., etc. Bull-roarer too sacred for women to see in Muralug Island,
Torres Straits (_Expedition Torres Straits_, iv. 276; v. 217).
[339] Cf. Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_.
Sound supposed by women and children to be the voice of the great spirit
assisting at the boy’s initiation.
Also Howitt, pp. 594-5; Andrew Lang on “the Bull-roarer” in _Custom and
Myth_; Haddon, _Study of Man_, p. 309.
[340] See Koch-Grünberg; Humbolt, ii. 363; Nery, p. 261; Spruce, ii. 416;
Wallace, pp. 348-9.
[341] There are two in the British Museum on the top shelf in the South
American room.
[342] _Mauritia flexuosa._
[343] Cf. Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 517.
[344] The one exception being where parturition is imminent, and no
helpmate is available.
[345] See Appendix.
[346] Compare with identity of the white culture-hero of the higher South
American cultures, Quetzalcoatl of the Nahua, Uiracocha of Peru, Tsuma of
Venezuela. Note this being came from the East. See Joyce, p. 12. He is in
fact the _Atahocan_ of the Algonquin “remote from the world, to whom no
worship was paid”(Ratzel, ii. 144).
[347] According to the Malays’ anthropomorphic ideas concerning the
tiger, “the tiger-folk … have a town of their own, where they live in
houses, and act in every respect like human beings” (Skeat, _Malay
Magic_, p. 157). In Perak tigers with human souls live in similar
villages (Sir W. E. Maxwell, _J.R.A.S._, No. vii. p. 22). The natives of
Korinchi in Sumatra are credited with the power to assume tiger form at
will (Sir H. Clifford, _In Court of Kampong_, pp. 65-6).
[348] When Markham says of the Ticuna that “they fear the evil spirit,
and believe of the good one that, after death, he appears to eat fruit
with the departed and takes them to his home, this would seem to be a
distinct survival of missionary teaching, for these Indians were preached
to between 1683 and 1728.” Christian influence is also shown in their
naming ceremonies (Markham, p. 200).
[349] These holes in the heavy mould of the forest are caused by
subsidences. The Indians do not understand how they came to be, and
explain the fact by asserting they are the work of devils.
[350] Among the Kuretu the soul is believed to hover near the body for
one day after death, and then to flit away, and finally to retire to a
beautiful house at the source of a mysterious river.
[351] Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 52.
[352] im Thurn, p. 343. Cf. also Skeat, _Pagan Malay_, p. 47.
[353] See Simson, p. 175; Orton, p. 170.
[354] Cf. Spencer and Gillen, p. 498.
[355] This is so frequently the case among primitive peoples as hardly to
need amplifying. It is very general among the Indian races. See André, p.
16; im Thurn, pp. 158, 220.
The Algonquin hold that the mention of a man’s name offends his personal
deity (H. R. Schoolcraft, _Oneota_, pp. 331, 456; _Indian Tribes of the
U.S._ ii. 65). Australian natives only mention secret names in a whisper
(Spencer and Gillen, p. 139). See also note on names in Chap. XI.
[356] This belief is also held by the Dyaks. “Their theory is that during
sleep the soul can hear, see, and understand, so what is dreamt is
really what the soul sees. When any one dreams of a distant land, they
believe that his soul has paid a flying visit to that land” (E. H. Gomes,
_Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo_, p. 161). Howitt writes
of the South Australian native: “While his body lies motionless, his
spirit goes out of him on its wanderings” (Howitt, pp. 410-11). See also
Seligmann, p. 191.
[357] im Thurn, pp. 329, 343.
[358] See im Thurn, p. 349. In Australia “one black fellow will often
tell you that he can and does do something magical, whilst all the time
he is perfectly well aware that he cannot, and yet firmly believes that
some other man can really do it” (Spencer and Gillen, p. 130).
[359] Spruce relates a custom unknown to me practised by some tribes
when astray in the bush. The Indian when lost “names the Curupira, and …
twists a liana into a ring … throws it behind him … follows the direction
in which it has fallen” (Spruce, ii. 437-8). The Bororo use a bull-roarer
to drive the bad spirits off (W. A. Cook, _The Bororo Indians of Matto
Grosso_, p. 55).
[360] The Caribs of the Pomeroon river actually attempt to counter the
attack of epidemic sickness by blocking the forest tracks “to stop the
passage of the spirits” (im Thurn, p. 356). In Guiana disease is regarded
as an evil spirit that prowls around (Brett, _Indian Tribes of Guiana_,
p. 225).
[361] Bates, ii. 115.
[362] Jurupari is unknown south of the Japura. I can therefore give no
particulars or description from personal investigation and knowledge of
aught concerning this all powerful demoniac deity of the northern tribes.
[363] J. D. Pfleiderer, _Die Genesis des Mythus der indogermanischen
Völker_, p. 48.
[364] Elsewhere this appears not to be the case. See Bates, ii. 114.
[365] _Yacu_ = water, _mama_ = mother, _Mai d’agoa_ (Tupi). _Pachamama_,
the earth, was worshipped in Peru, and the Inca also reverenced
_Mamaccocha_, the sea mother (Joyce, pp. 154, 225).
[366] Bates mentions a boy at Ega being devoured by one of these huge
creatures (Bates, ii. 113-15).
[367] Clough, p. 60.
[368] For description see Wallace, pp. 127-8.
[369] Bates, ii. 264.
[370] For dance at tiger’s “wake” see Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 169.
[371] Cf. Darwin, p. 64.
[372] “They consider the sun as the fountain-head of majesty and power
and even of beneficence, and as the abode of the Great Priests who have
passed to the spirit world and fear him” (W. A. Cook, _op. cit._ p. 55).
[373] Occidente is on the left bank of the Igara Parana, a tributary of
the Issa.
[374] _Folklore Journal_, 1912, p. 314.
[375] Casement, _Contemporary Review_, September 1912, p. 325.
[376] Indians on the main river, however, according to Dr. Silva
Coutinho, “not only give names to a great number of celestial bodies
[stars], but they have legends about them” (Nery, p. 252).
[377] Markham, pp. 93-4.
[378] Poison.
[379] Narcotic.
[380] Spruce, i. 314. In South America manihot is propagated by means of
slips or cuttings; but in the Torres Straits the _manihot sp._ introduced
by the white man is grown from pieces of the old roots (_Exped. Torres
Straits_, iv. 149).
[381] Clough, p. 212; Humboldt, ii. 182; Oakenfull, pp. 34-5; im Thurn,
p. 375; Joyce, p. 167.
[382] im Thurn, p. 375.
[383] Humboldt, ii. 400-1; Chanoine Bernadino de Souza, _Para e Amazon_;
see Nery, pp. 8-9.
[384] Humboldt, pp. 88, 400.
[385] Spruce, ii. 561.
[386] Spruce wisely remarks on this point, “that the Spaniards had
been for two whole years among Indians who wore their hair long,” and
therefore were not likely to mistake men for women (Spruce, ii. 459).
[387] Nery, p. 6.
[388] The French traveller rejects the ἀ-, μαζός theory in favour of the
ἄμα ζώνη--bound with a belt (Nery, p. 2).
[389] Wallace, p. 343.
[390] “I have myself seen that Indian women can fight.… The women pile up
heaps of stones, to serve as missiles for the men” (Spruce, ii. 457-8).
This, _vide_ “stones,” is not possible in the Issa-Japura district.
[391] Where tribal differentiation of colour is so marked as among these
people it is only natural that tales should be told of some mythical
“white” folk.
[392] Crevaux, _Voyages dans l’Amérique du Sud_, p. 284.
[393] _Komuine_ = monkey (Boro).
[394] “So high”--demonstrated with the hand.
[395] These would be her natural protectors.
[396] Rubber latex. See Depilation.
[397] To hide the unsightliness.
[398] Of the chief’s daughter.
[399] This may be a folk-tale of the monkey-people stealing Indian women
for their mates. Cf. Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 185; Clifford, _Studies in
Brown Humanity_, p. 243.
But it should not be overlooked that the Boro depile most carefully,
while the Andoke medicine-man does not depile at all, and the Andoke
are mortal foes of the Boro. The Karahone also are said not to depile,
and on this score would be regarded by the Boro as no better than brute
beasts. So this story may be a traditional account of the actual rape of
a chief’s daughter by a hostile tribe, the Amazonian version of Helen and
Troy.
[400] Simson, p. 168.
[401] Spruce, i. 332. im Thurn relates of the Arawak Indians that “each
family is descended--their fathers knew how, but they themselves have
forgotten--from its eponymous animal, bird, or plant” (im Thurn, pp. 184,
376).
[402] The general principle is well known, and is now used both by the
authorities of the United States and of Great Britain. It consists in
giving to the vowels in native words their Italian significance, and to
the consonants that which they have in the English language.
[403] _Notes and Queries on Anthropology_ (1912), pp. 187-96.
[404] Simson, p. 94.
[405] Tylor, p. 25.
[406] Koch-Grünberg transliterates it as _ingetā_, or _ingétā_; and gives
_marā_ for good, _maringetā_, _marinyetā_, bad; _faréti_, fat; _faré
ingetā_, thin (_Die Uitóto Indianer_, pp. 10-11).
[407] Orton stated that the Zaparo “have no words for numbers above
three, but show their fingers” (Orton, p. 170). Simson gives words for
four and five as in use among those tribes, and after that _manunu_,
meaning “many-many” (Simson, p. 179).
[408] The reference to monkey or beast is due to the fact that the
Karahone do not depilate all body and face hair.
[409] Spencer and Gillen, _Across Australia_, ii.
[410] Cf. Ratzel, ii. 125.
[411] For example the Maca, the Guaharibo, and the Guahibo (Spruce, i.
477).
[412] _Vide_ Chap. VI. p. 101, where it is stated that the dug-out is not
the autochthonic boat of this country.
[413] These canoes, it must be remembered, are not affairs of everyday
manufacture. They are tribal possessions, not many in number, and needing
time, skill, and, above all, experience, to make successfully.
[414] For instance the wrong wood might have been chosen; some trees will
not open when heated (cf. André, pp. 241-2).
[415] _The Decadence of Useful Arts._
[416] There are no stones in this region it should be remembered.
[417] Wallace gives 5 feet 9 inches or 5 feet 10 inches as not uncommon
for the height of a Uaupes man (Wallace, pp. 335, 353), and the Isanna
as very similar. The Bugre are shorter, 5 feet 4 inches, and misshapen
in the leg (Oakenfull, p. 33). The Tukana, 160 to 170 centimetres
(Koch-Grünberg).
[418] I had no calipers, and the breadth in all cases is approximate
only, taken from point to point where it was individually greatest, not
where, as I subsequently discovered, scientific measurement decrees.
[419] Tukuya, two types dolichocephalic. Koch-Grünberg. Napo,
brachycephalic (Orton, p. 166). According to Orton the “long-headed
hordes” came from the south (Orton, p. 316).
[420] Bates noted that the Tapuyo have “small hands and feet” (i. 78),
and Orton mentions it as a characteristic of races of Tupi origin (Orton,
p. 316).
[421] The women are muscular in the neck, and will carry considerable
weights in baskets slung on a band passed round the forehead. They will
carry through the thickest bush as much as sixty pounds and more in
the same manner, their strength in lilting and carrying weights being
confined to the neck.
[422] Robuchon states that the women’s mammae are pyriform, and the
photographs show distinctly pyriform breasts with digitiform nipples.
I found them resembling rather the segment of a sphere, the areola not
prominent, and the nipples hemispherical.
[423] Orton and Galt, however, note that “one will sometimes find the
skin of the Indian rough, hard, and insensible, like the skin of the
larger lower animals” (Orton, p. 591). _Skin--Colour and Texture._--“Je
remarque que ces Indiens, comme les Roucouyennes et les Oyampis, out les
plis de la peau beaucoup plus saillants que chez les races blanches et
noires. Les plis du genou resemblent à une peau d’orange. Je voudrais
représenter exactement ces détails, qui m’intéressent au point de vue
anthropologique, mais je trouve la difficulté insurmontable. Il me vient
toutefois une idée; je fais barbouiller un Indien avec du roucou des
pieds à la tête, et, à moyen d’un papier mince que j’applique avec la
main, j’obtiens tous les détails de structure. Le roucou agit comme de
l’encre d’imprimerie. Avec un pen d’exercice je recueille les détails
anatomiques de toutes les parties du corps, et particulièrement des
pieds, des mains, du genou et des coudes. Il est à noter que la peau
d’enfant à la mamelle présente des plis aussi accentués que ceux d’un
blanc à l’âge adulte. La peau d’un jeune homme vue à l’œil me semble
grossie trois fois à la loupe” (Crevaux, p. 303). We have already noted
that there Issa-Japura tribes are free from the skin diseases that Napo
and other Indians frequently develop. This probably accounts for the
contradiction of my observances with the notes of other writers.
[424] See note on Depilation, p. 282.
[425] According to Wallace, though the Uaupes Indians remove facial or
body hair the Isanna tribes do not (Wallace, pp. 353, 356).
[426] Wallace, p. 354.
[427] I have found this amongst all people who sleep on the ground, I
take it, for obvious buffer reasons.
[428] Simson, p. 93.
[429] During menstruation women wash more frequently, with intent to
arrest as well as to hide their condition. A girl at such times will
bathe as often as twenty times in a day. The cold water acts as a styptic.
[430] Bates, i. 200.
[431] Simson, p. 234.
[432] Simson, p. 235.
[433] Four inches to fourteen inches in length (Keane, p. 551).
[434] Orton, pp. 482-3.
[435] Ratzel, ii 170.
[436] Oakenfall, p. 26.
[437] The only yellow free colour.
[438] Approximate measurements.
[439] Outer measurements not, as they should have been, from head of
fibula to top of great trochanter.
[440] _N.B._--As Case 2 was growing, further measurements will be useless
if not misleading. These were taken with the help of a medical man and
are therefore more correct than other measurements.
[441] _Neva_ = also sun, morning.
[442] _Navena_ = ghost, devil.
[443] _Bope_ = also disembodied soul.
[444] _Yaya_ = father.
[445] _Yaperikuli_ = heroes.
[446] Originally father or creator, not Great Spirit.
[447] Soul of father or parents.
[448] Soul of Evil.
[449] Heroes of the tribe.
[450] Also great-great-grandfather.
[451] House.
[452] _Ri-e-i_, white man.
[453] _Itoma_, sun.
[454] _Ei-fo-ke_, Turkey-buzzard.
[455] Privy name. Reference to the fact that all Indians have two names.
See p. 154 for note on _nomen penis sui_.
LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO
ALCOCK, FREDERICK, F.R.G.S.
_Trade and Travel in South America._ 2nd edit. London, 1907.
ANDRÉ, EUGENE, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., M.S.A.
_A Naturalist in the Guianas._ London, 1904.
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE.
_Native Races of the Pacific States._ 1875-76.
BANCROFT, EDWARD, and STEDMAN.
_Essay on Natural History of Guiana._ 1769.
BATES, HENRY WALTER.
_The Naturalist on the River Amazons._ 2 vols. London, 1863.
BRAZILIAN YEAR BOOK. 1908.
BRINTON, DANIEL G.
_Religions of Primitive Peoples._ London and New York, 1897.
CLOUGH, R. STEWART.
_The Amazons._ London, N.D.
CREVAUX, DR. J.
_Voyages dans l’Amérique du sud._ Paris, 1883.
_Fleuves de l’Amérique du Sud, Yapura._
_Vocabulaire français-roucouyennes._
DARWIN, CHARLES.
_Narrative of the Voyages of the Beagle._ 1839.
DENIKER, JOSEPH, SC.D. Paris.
_The Races of Man._ 1900.
ENOCH, C. REGINALD, F.R.G.S.
_The Andes and the Amazons._ London, 1907.
_Peru._ London, 1908.
FOUNTAIN, PAUL.
_The River Amazon._ London, 1914.
HARDENBURG, W. E.
_The Putumayo._ London, 1912.
_History of South America_, by an American. 1899.
HUMBOLDT.
_Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions by
the New Continent, 1799-1804._ 3 vols. Bohn edition. 1852-53.
IM THURN, SIR EVERARD F., K.C.M.G.
_Among the Indians of Guiana._ London, 1883.
JOYCE, THOMAS A.
_South American Archæology._ London, 1912.
KOCH-GRÜNBERG, DR. THEODOR.
_Aruak-Sprachen Nordwestbrasiliens und der angrenzenden Gebiete._
_Journal de la Société des Américainists de Paris._
_Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern: Reisen in Nordwest-Brasilien,
1903-1905._ 2 vols. Berlin, 1910.
_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie._
MARKHAM, SIR CLEMENTS R., K.C.B.
_Expeditions into the Valley of the Amazons._ Hakluyt Society, 1911.
_Peruvian Bark: Introduction of Chinchona Cultivation into India,
1860-1880._ 1880.
MAW, HENRY LISTER.
_Journal of a Passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic._ London, 1829.
NERY, BARON DE SANTA-ANNA.
_The Land of the Amazons._ London, 1901.
OAKENFULL, J. C.
_Brazil in 1909._ 1st edit. Paris, 1909.
ORTON, JAMES.
_The Andes and the Amazon._ New York, N.D.
RATZEL, F.
_History of Mankind._ 3 vols. Translated from 2nd German edition by
Sir A. J. Butler, M.A. London, 1897.
RICE, HAMILTON.
_Quito to Iquitos by the River Napo._
_Further Explorations in the North-West Amazon Basin. The River
Uaupes._
RODWAY, JAMES.
_Guiana: British, Dutch, and French._ London, 1912.
_In the Guiana Forest._ 1894.
SCHOOLCRAFT, H. R.
_Historical and Statistical Information respecting the History, etc.,
of the Indian Tribes of the United States._ Philadelphia, 1851.
SIMSON, ALFRED.
_Travels in the Wilds of Ecuador and Exploration of the Putumayo
River._ 1886.
SPIX, JOHN BAPTIST VON, and MARTIUS, C.F.P. VON.
_Travels in Brazil, 1817-20._ Translated by H. E. Lloyd. 1824.
SPRUCE, RICHARD, Ph.D.
_Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes._ 2 vols. London, 1908.
_The Great River. Notes on the Amazon and its Tributaries._
London, 1904.
TYLOR, E. B.
_Researches into the Early History of Mankind._ London, 1865.
VON MARTIUS, C. F. P.
_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie._
_Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas zumal
Brasiliens._
WALLACE, ALFRED R.
_A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro._ London, 1853.
_On the Rio Negro._ Pamphlet. 1853.
WATERTON, CHARLES.
_Wanderings in South America._ New edition. London, 1879.
WESTERMARCK, EDWARD.
_The History of Human Marriage._ 3rd edit. London, 1901.
WOODROFFE, JOSEPH F.
_The Upper Reaches of the Amazon._ London, 1914.
[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE NORTH WESTERN AFFLUENTS OF THE AMAZON
RIVER
BY CAPTAIN THOMAS W. WIFFEN.]
[Illustration: THE AMAZON RIVER WITH ITS NORTHERN AFFLUENTS
Compiled from various sources and corrected from observations BY CAPTAIN
THOMAS W. WIFFEN.]
INDEX
Agriculture--
crops, 104;
harvest, 193;
plantations, 103;
sowing, 104;
women’s work, 67, 102, 103-4, 105, 131
Amazons, legends of, 239-40
Animals--
characteristics, 243-4;
no domestic, 52, 102;
scarcity of, 128
Agouti, 127;
ant-bear, 127;
armadillo, 128;
bats, 51;
capybara, 127, 147;
deer, 128, 147;
dogs, 102;
jaguar, 36, 182, 185, 221, 231, 232, 244;
monkey, 52, 128;
paca, 127;
peccary, 128-9, 148;
tapir, 126-7, 147, 174, 244;
tiger (_see_ jaguar)
Anthropophagy--
dances, 204-5;
feasts, 119-23;
practices, 119;
reasons for, 120-21, 177
Arts and Crafts--
basket-making, 96-7;
carving, 91-2, 93, 211-12;
painting, 91 (_see_ Ornaments);
pottery, 62, 95, 96
Bates, Henry Walter, 52, 122, 125, 146, 199, 229, 232, 278, 280
Birds, 129;
shooting, 108, 109;
condor, 183-4;
parrots, 129
Birth--
customs, 146-52, 273 (_see_ Couvade);
of twins, 120, 150, 244
Boats--
how made, 100-101;
canoes, 29, 101, 265;
rafts, 101, 265
Bridges, 28-9
Brown, John, 3, 8, 9, 14, 38, 249, 253
Burial, 175-7, 224;
customs, 74, 81, 176, 226
Casement, Sir Roger, 234-5, 246
Cassava--preparation of, 132-4, 144;
grater, 99, 131-2;
squeezer, 98, 132;
Boro, 98, 132;
manufacture of, 98-9;
Witoto, 55, 98-9, 132
Cazes, Mr. David, 2
Charms, 234
Chiefs, 64-5, 67, 71, 193, 200, 244, 257, 258-9;
death of, 65, 70, 119, 176-177;
dress of, 71, 73, 76;
house of, 47, 64;
influence of, 64;
wife of, 73, 123, 159, 200-201;
women of, 64, 159-60, 163;
Katenere, 63;
Nonugamue, 63
Children, 88, 124-5, 135, 146-58, 208, 236, 257, 269, 276;
boys, 76, 108, 165;
capture of, 69-70, 274;
girls, 68, 157-8, 164-5;
marriage of, 162;
stealing by spirits and tigers of, 219-20, 224, 232;
treatment of, 155-8;
toys, 93, 108, 156
Chorrera, 4, 5, 6, 21
Climate, 22-4, 25
Clough, R. Stewart, 158
Coca, 104, 106, 135, 141-2, 179, 187;
effects of, 142-3, 264, 277;
preparation of, 141
Couvade, 55, 148, 151-3
Crevaux, Dr., 55, 57, 72, 87, 96, 240-41, 276
Dances, Chapter XV.;
complaints at, 196-7;
decoration and dress for, 75, 191;
effect of, 202-3, 204;
invitation to, 192, 253;
preparation for, 140, 191-2, 273.
Varieties--
animal, 201-2;
harvest, 193, 199-201, 208;
initiation, 197-9;
Jurupari, 157, 158, 198, 212-13;
riddle, 201-2, 209;
war, 203-5
Dancing-ground, 42, 102, 192, 194
Dancing staff, 193-4, 195
Dancing steps, 193, 194, 195-6, 203, 204
Death, 167, 168, 170, 173, 187;
how regarded, 61, 175, 178;
of chief, 65;
homicide, 118, 171-2;
infanticide, 146, 149-51, 170-71
Deniker, J., 54
Depilation, 120, 181-2, 241-2, 273, 281, 282
Disease, 168, 178, 186, 229;
chronic, 170;
infections, 169, 173;
mental, 169;
skin, 174, 175;
beriberi, 13, 174;
fever, 173, 188;
smallpox, 174;
sun-sickness, 173
Divorce, 165-6
Dress, 71-6;
ceremonial, 74;
travellers’, 15, 16;
men’s, 72, 73;
women’s, 72, 79;
breech-cloth, manufacture of, 73;
never removed, 74;
ligatures, 73, 77, 83, 84, 271.
_See_ Chief, Medicine-man, etc.
Drinks, 101;
fruit, 104, 139;
herb, 138, 277;
intoxicating, 139-41;
unfermented, 138-9
Drugs, 140, 175, 182-3, 187.
_See_ Poison, Snuff, etc.
Escort, 3, 5, 71;
management of, 4
Field of exploration, 17-18
Fire, 48-50, 133, 136;
by friction, 48;
method of making unknown, 48;
plan of, 49, 50
Fish, 130-31, 245, 279
Fishing, 112;
nets, 112;
poison, 113-14;
spears, 113
Floods, 22, 32;
traditions of, 238-9
Folk tales, 221-3, 231, 236-45;
animal stories, 243-4
Food, 50, 126, 128-30, 257;
difficulty of obtaining, 15, 38;
eggs not taken for, 130;
influence of, 121, 147-8;
preparation of, 68, 105, 135-6;
scarcity of, 120, 121, 126;
when eaten, 134-5;
animal, 128-9;
peppers, 105, 134;
pepper-pot, 129, 134, 135-6;
reptiles, 129;
salt, 124, 134;
sauces, 133-4, 139;
sugar, 104;
turtles, 129-30;
vermin, 130.
_See_ Cassava, Fish, Fruit, etc.
Forest--
birds in, 26;
description of, 26-8;
depressing influence of, 14, 35-6, 265, 266;
lost in, 37;
noises in, 34;
silence of, 34;
tracks in, 28;
travellers’ danger in, 29;
travelling in, 14, 34-5, 37
Fruit, 104, 135, 136-7
Games, 157;
singing, 208-9;
toys, 93, 108, 156
Geophagy, 124-5
Hair, 274, 282, 285;
how worn, 77-8, 274
Hammocks, 55;
how slung, 47, 50;
made by women, 97-9;
Witoto, 54, 91
Hardenburg, W. E., 62, 88, 149, 163
Head hunters, 122
Houses--
private, 47-8, 161;
temporary, 47;
tribal--
Maloka, 40-52;
construction of, 43;
light in, 49, 186;
plan of, 41, 43, 45, 46;
sites of, 42, 118;
thatch of, 43-4
Hunting, 104, 107-9, 110;
rights, 112;
traps, 110-11.
_See_ Weapons
Igarape Falls, 6
Implements--
household, earthenware, 133;
human bone, 123-4;
knives, 94;
pestle and mortar, 99, 141;
tools, 95, 214;
troughs, 99, 140-41
im Thurn, Sir Everard, 55, 76, 152, 239, 274
Indian--
beliefs, Chapter XVII.;
character, 4, 13, 61, 110, 156, 202, 236, 256-64, 275-6;
cruelty to infirm, 169-70, 257;
ethics, 65, 66, 68, 260-62;
kinship, 67, 244, 276;
life, 50, 236, 246, 276-7, 278;
origin not decadent remnants, 54, 264-6;
physical traits, 269, Appendices;
treachery, 4, 258, 259-60;
types, classification of, 53;
Neolithic, 94, 266;
voice, 207, 253-4;
woodcraft, 106-7
Indians, story of white, 240-41
Initiation, 157-8, 165;
dances, 197-9
Insects, 30, 52;
ants, 32, 33, 51, 97;
beetles, 82;
bees, 31, 51, 130;
butterflies and moths, 31-2;
flies, 30;
harvest boys, 31;
jiggers, 51, 173-4, 273;
lice, 130, 173, 273;
mosquito, 31, 51;
pium, 30-31, 51, 173;
sand-fly, 31;
spiders, 51;
ticks, 31, 273;
wasps, 31, 130
Joyce, Thomas A., 238
Jurupari, 229, 231.
_See also_ Dances
Koch-Grünberg, Dr., 46-7, 60, 77, 111, 121, 151, 159, 175, 188, 194,
198, 247, 251, 262, 275, 282
Language, Chapter XIX.;
drum, 215-216, 253;
gesture, 251;
groups, 56, 57, 247
Manioc, 68, 104-5, 237-8;
cultivation of, 104-5, 131;
preparation of, 98-99, 131-4
Map--Witoto, 92-3
Markham, Sir Clements, 158
Marriage, 60-61, 66-7, 103, 159-67;
arrangement of, 158, 159-60, 161;
betrothal, 162;
ceremonies, 160-164;
fidelity in, 69, 166-7, 262
Medicine-man, 140, Chapter XIV., 273;
dress of, 73, 95, 183;
functions of, 151, 153, 168-9, 175, 185-6;
influence of, 64;
magic powers of, 172, 178, 179-81, 182, 183-4, 185, 186-7, 188-9,
224, 228, 232;
poison made by, 144, 178-9;
succession of, 181-2
Music, 207-8;
instruments, 210-17;
castanets, 213;
drums, 204, 210, 214-17;
signal drums, 192, 214-17, 253;
flutes, 123, 192, 194, 195, 197, 204, 210, 211-12;
pan-pipes, 192-3, 204, 210-211;
rattles, 83, 64, 194, 195, 210, 213-14;
trumpets, 211-12;
whistles, 194, 212;
Jurupari, 212-213
Names, 56, 244, 248;
boys’ and girls’, 153;
not mentioned, 57, 153-4, 220, 226-7, 280
Nery, Baron de Santa-Anna, 239
Ornaments, 76;
beaded garlands, 79-80, 81, 191;
beads, 79-80, 82-3, 213;
bracelets, 82-3, 213;
combs, 77-8;
earrings, 85, 86, 275;
feather head-dress, 75-6;
feathers, 76-7, 83, 85, 86, 191;
labret, 86;
necklaces, 81, 82, 192;
nose-pin, 86, 275;
paint, 87, 192;
scarification, 66;
tattoo, 86, 87
Orton, James, 279, 280, 281
Palms, 30;
_Aeta_, 26;
_Astrocaryum_, 30;
_Chambiri_, 97;
edible varieties, 137;
_Iriartea ventricosa_, 29
Poisons, 91, 111, 116-17, 168-9, 219, 259-260;
preparation of, 144-5, 179
Proverbs, 259-60
Rainfall, 22
Reptiles, 33;
anaconda, 184, 231;
boa-constrictor, 36;
frogs, 129;
iguana, 129;
lizard, 184;
snakes, 129;
fear of, 30
Rice, Hamilton, 97
Rivers, Dr. W. H. R., 237, 266
Rivers--
Acre, 11;
Aiary, 198;
Amazon, 17, 18, 20, 33;
fascination of, 17, 205;
scenery of, 25;
soil of basin, 24-5;
Apaporis, 10, 59;
Avio Parana, 7, 8;
black water streams, 19;
Fue, 6;
Igara Parana, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 18, 58;
description of, 20;
Ira, 58;
Issa, 5, 17, 19, 24, 31, 58, 173;
description of, 19, 22;
fish in, 131;
Issanna, 140;
Japura, 6, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 33, 58, 70, 73;
camp on, 5;
scenery, 22;
Kahuinari, 7, 11, 13, 31, 58;
description of, 22;
journey up, 5;
Kara Parana, 18, 21;
Kuemani, 58;
Miriti, 74;
Napo, 18, 24, 222;
houses on, 44;
trip up, 2;
Negro, 18, 19, 104, 222;
Papunya, 8, 20, 58;
Tapajos, 113;
Tauauru, 58;
Tikie, 61;
Uaupes, 18, 59, 91, 112;
black water, 19;
description of, 18-19;
houses on, 46;
proposed journey up, 1, 2, 13;
Wama, 58;
white water streams, 19
Robuchon, Eugene, 20, 31, 46, 65, 86, 88, 89, 99, 119, 122, 123, 163,
210, 270, 272;
deserted by carriers, 7, 8;
disappearance of, 5-12;
dog “Othello,” 7, 8, 10, 11;
last camp of, 9, 10;
last message from, 8;
previously lost, 11;
relief expedition, 8, 11;
survivors of, 6
Route, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13
Rubber--
Belt, 3, 4, 11, 40, 72, 80, 91, 101, 174, 257;
gatherers, 2, 3, 48, 63-4
Simson, Alfred, 243, 250
Slaves, 5, 69-70, 124, 170, 263, 273.
_See_ Tribes, Maku
Snuff, 143, 179
Songs, 190, 196-7, 199-201, 206-10;
meaning of words lost, 190, 207-8
Spelling, 57, 248-9
Spines, 30, 35;
used for combs, 77
Spirits, 92, Chapter XVII.;
evil, 179, 185, 186, 218, 219-20, 223-5, 228-9, 233;
Good, 218-19, 221, 223, 224-5, 226;
appeared to man, 93, 221-3, 237-8;
land of, 225-6;
return of, 172, 176, 177, 182, 224-7;
transmigratory, 224-5, 227-8
Spruce, Richard, 19, 32, 33, 99, 101, 128, 140, 188, 238, 240, 244, 280
Stone--
absence of, 20, 24, 94, 265;
found at Chorrera, 21;
axes, 94, 260;
magic stones, 163, 184
Tabu, 90, 243;
birth, 121;
coca, 68, 105, 143, 152;
food, 121, 135, 147-148, 152, 155, 243-4;
medicine-man’s, 162;
removal of, 180;
tobacco, 68, 105, 143-4;
women’s, 68, 105, 123, 135, 140, 143-4, 147-8, 165, 197, 212-13,
240, 244
Teeth, 275;
necklaces of human, 81, 124;
painted black, 88
Theft, 171
Tobacco, 104, 105, 187;
ceremonial licking, 153, 163, 221, 259;
drinking, 65-6, 179;
not smoked, 143, 158;
preparation of, 143-4.
_See_ Tabu
Tobacco palaver, 46, 64, 65-6, 117, 165, 197, 222
Tobacco pot, 65, 144, 259
Trade, 61-2, 79, 91, 105-6, 108, 134, 144, 164, 217
Travelling in bush, 14, 15, 258-9;
dress, 75;
equipment, 15-16
Tree-climbing, method of, 106
Tribal Council, 65;
house (_see_ Houses, Maloka);
marks, 61, 66, 158;
signals, 253;
system, 62-5
Tribes, 54, 56, 57, 58, 256;
localities changing, 59, 62
Aiary, 198
Akaroa, 247
Andoke, 132, 133, 157, 162, 231, 273;
appearance of, 60, 269, 275;
cannibals, 120;
character, 257, 259, 277;
chief, 5, 65;
country of, 5, 58, 201;
dress of, 78;
language of, 14, 248;
manufactures, 108;
medicine-man, 73, 95, 178, 179, 182, 183, 184;
ornaments, 88, 89;
statistics, 59, 247
Apaporis, 74, 75, 116, 158, 175
Arekaine, 120
Arawak, 54
Auhishiri, 60
Bara, 59, 61, 108, 140, 157, 188, 282;
statistics, 247
Boro, 55, 56, 71, 104, 112, 127, 132, 133, 152, 153, 154, 162, 178,
216, 276;
appearance of, 58, 60, 61, 77, 269, 271, 274-5, 282;
beliefs of, 230-31, 234;
cannibals, 119;
character, 277;
chief, 63, 197;
dances, 194, 199-201;
dress, 75, 78, 83, 84;
folk-tales, 221-2, 241-2, 244;
houses, 44, 48;
language, 14, 220, 221, 247, 248, 251, 252, 253, and Appendices;
localities, 58;
manufactures, 91, 96, 108;
ornaments, 82, 85, 86;
statistics, 59, 247;
tribal marks, 87;
tribes, 9, 11, 12, 62;
women, 149
Botocudo, 129
Carib, 54
Catanixi, 101
Chepei, 6
Cobeu, 120
Coto, 58
Issa, 79, 124
Issanna, 140, 160
Japura, 59, 60, 75, 79, 116, 124
Jivaro, 115-16, 122, 158
Karahone, 55, 57, 61, 140, 174-5, 178;
appearance, 269, 274, 282;
character, 257-8, 259-60;
dress, 74, 77;
manufactures, 96;
ornaments, 87;
poisons made by, 91, 111, 118, 144, 168, 259-60;
slave boy, 5, 273;
statistics, 59, 62, 247;
women, 80
Kuretu, 104, 139, 140, 147, 150, 164, 176, 226;
appearance, 275, 281, 282;
character, 60;
country, 59, 75;
dress, 75;
houses, 48;
language-group, 58-9;
ornaments, 84, 86;
statistics, 247
Maku, 60, 61, 257, 262;
appearance, 269;
country, 59, 70;
slaves, 70
Makuna, country, 75;
dress, 75, 77;
houses, 44;
ornaments, 86;
statistics, 247
Menimehe, 10, 56, 61, 75, 115, 139, 140, 143, 144, 276;
appearance, 273, 274, 283, 284;
beehives made by, 51, 130;
character, 11;
country, 11, 58, 74;
dress, 74, 76;
language, 247, 248;
monkeys kept by, 52;
ornaments, 86;
pottery, 62, 91, 95;
shooting fish, 113;
statistics, 59, 247;
tribal marks, 61, 86, 158;
weapons, 95, 115, 116, 117, 194;
women, 10
Muenane, 56, 61, 235;
appearance, 77, 282;
character, 277;
country, 8, 63, 201;
dance, 201, 208-9;
language, 247, 248;
ornaments, 86, 275;
statistics, 59, 247
Napo, 58, 60, 74, 76, 82, 85, 112, 113, 116, 140, 174, 175, 211, 217
Nonuya, 56;
character, 277;
chief, 63;
country, 58, 63;
dress, 76;
houses, 44, 46;
language, 248;
statistics, 59, 247
Okaina, 56, 60, 99, 132, 188, 216, 235;
appearance, 269, 275, 282;
country, 56;
dances, 194;
dress, 81, 83;
language, 248;
ornaments, 89;
statistics, 59, 247;
tribes, 62
Opaina, 59;
country, 74;
dress, 75;
statistics, 247
Orahone, country, 58;
dress, 74;
houses, 46;
medicine-man, 73, 183;
name, 58, 85;
ornaments, 85, 88
Orahone, 60
Ouayana, 241
Pegua, 247
Piohe, 60
Resigero, 60, 61, 132;
appearance, 274, 282, 283, 284;
baskets for ants, 97;
cannibals, 120;
character, 277;
chief, 63-4;
country, 8, 58, 63, 201;
dress, 77;
language, 248;
ornaments, 86;
statistics, 59, 247
Rio Negro, 140, 221
Roucouyennes, 57
Saha, 247
Saka, 86
Tapajos, 113
Tikie, 61, 104, 111, 147, 159, 194, 247, 270, 274, 275
Tukana, 59, 61, 112, 135, 194, 195, 213, 234, 247, 270, 274, 275, 282
Tureka, 194
Turuka, 191, 194, 196
Tutapishco, 58
Tuyuka, 86, 143, 151, 254, 282;
houses, 47
Uacarra, 161
Uaenambeu, 160
Uaupes, 59, 76, 85, 116, 140, 143, 188, 198, 244, 248
Umaua, 74, 247
Witoto, 54, 55, 56, 57, 61, 71, 104, 115, 126, 132, 133, 151, 152,
153, 162, 178, 211, 231, 235;
appearance, 58, 60, 269, 270, 271, 274, 282;
arts, 92, 93;
character, 277;
country, 58;
dance, 209-10;
dress, 76, 63, 84;
fishing, 112, 113;
houses, 44, 46, 48;
language, 14, 72, 220, 221, 248, 250, 251, 252, 253;
language-group, 56, 247;
manufactures, 91;
ornaments, 82, 86, 88, 89;
statistics, 59, 60, 62, 247;
tribes, 6, 62, 93;
tree venerated by, 233;
women, 3, 149, 155, 223, 260, 275
Yahabana, 84, 86
Yahua, 247
Yahuna, 10, 116, 143, 194, 247
Yakuna, 86
Yuri, 56, 247
Zaparo, 226
Tylor, E. B., 152, 264
Vampires, 51-2
Vegetable life, 24-5, 26, 104, 130, 131
von Martius, Dr., 57, 264
Wallace, Dr. Russell, 1, 19, 44, 46, 60, 91, 101, 121, 134, 158, 160,
161, 197, 240, 275, 280
War, 61, 62, 117-19;
blood feuds, 61;
causes, 61;
dance, 203-5;
defensive, 5, 14, 118;
dress, 74;
preparations for, 5, 185;
prisoners in, 118-19, 120-21, 159-60;
strategy, 117
Waterton, Charles, 181
Weapons, 16, 115;
arrows and darts, 109, 115-17, 145;
blow-pipes, 91, 107, 108-9;
club, 115, 116, 194;
fish-spears, 113;
guns, 91, 115;
javelins, 111, 113, 115, 116, 145;
shields, 115, 119;
swords, 115, 116, 260;
traps, 110-11, 118
Women, 47, 51, 67-9, 195;
behaviour of, 262;
duties and work of, 90-91, 95, 96, 97, 98, 102, 134, 173-4, 263;
mothers, 147-55;
physical traits, 271-2, 282;
position of, 135, 159-160, 161, 164-5, 166, 240;
prostitutes, 159-60, 167;
widows, 167
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's The North-West Amazons, by Thomas Whiffen