effects, the performance is not one so often repeated as that of
ordinary snuff-taking. When the _niopo_ dust is laid to his liking,
another implement is brought into play, the construction of which it is
also necessary to describe. It is a “machine” of six to eight inches in
length, and is made of two quills from the wing of the _gaviao real_, or
“harpy eagle” (_Harpyia destructor_). These quills are placed side by
side for the greater part of their length, forming two parallel tubes,
and they are thus neatly whipped together by a thread. At one end they
are pressed apart so as to diverge to a width corresponding to the
breadth between the Mundrucu’s nostrils,—where it is intended they shall
be placed during the ceremony of snuff-taking.
And thus are they placed,—one end of each quill being slightly intruded
within the line of the septum, while the other end rests upon the snuff,
or wanders over the surface of the saucer, till all the powder placed
there is drawn up and inhaled, producing the convulsive effects already
detailed.
The shank-bone of a species of bird—thought to be a plover—is sometimes
used instead of the quills. It is hollow, and has a forking-tube at the
end. This kind is not common or easily obtained, for the niopo-taker who
has one, esteems it as the most valuable item of his apparatus.
Snuffing the niopo is not exclusively confined to the Mundrucu. We have
seen elsewhere that it is also a habit of the dirt-eating Ottomacs; and
other tribes on the upper Amazon practise it. But the Mahües, already
mentioned as the allies of the Mundrucus, are the most confirmed
snuff-takers of all.
Another odd custom of the Mundrucus is their habit of “tatooing.” I
speak of real tatooing,—that is, marking the skin with dots and lines
that cannot be effaced, in contradistinction to mere _painting_, or
staining, which can easily be washed off. The Mundrucus paint also, with
the _anotto_, _huitoc_, _caruta_, and other pigments, but in this they
only follow the practice of hundreds of other tribes. The true _tatoo_
is a far different affair, and scarcely known among the aborigines of
America, though common enough in the islands of the South Sea. A few
other Indian tribes practise it to a limited extent,—as is elsewhere
stated,—but among the Mundrucus it is an “institution;” and painful
though the process be, it has to be endured by every one in the nation,
“every mother’s son,” and daughter as well, that are cursed with a
Mundrucu for their father.
It is upon the young people the infliction is performed,—when they are
about eight or ten years of age.
The _tatoo_ has been so often described, that I should not repeat it
here; but there are a few “points” peculiar to Mundrucu tatooing, and a
few others, not elsewhere understood.
The performance is usually the work of certain old crones, who, from
long practice, have acquired great skill in the art.
The chief instrument used is a comb of thorns,—not a single thorn, as is
generally stated,—but a tier or row of them set comb-fashion. These
thorns are the spines of the “murumuru,” or “pupunha” palm (_Gullielmia
speciosa_). Humboldt states that this palm is smooth and spineless, but
in this the great, good man was in error. Its trunk is so covered with
thorns or spines, that when the Indians require to climb it—for the
purpose of procuring the valuable fruits, which they eat variously
prepared—they have to erect a staging, or rude sort of ladder, to be
able to get at them.
The comb, then, is pressed down upon the skin of the “tatooee,” till all
the points have penetrated the flesh, and a row of holes is laid open,
from which the blood flows profusely. As soon as this can be wiped off,
ashes of a burnt gum or pitch are rubbed into the wounds, which, when
healed, appear like so many dots of a deep bluish or black color. In
this way the young Mundrucus, both boys and girls, get those regular
rows of dotted lines, which traverse their forehead and cheeks, their
arms and limbs, breasts, and bodies in such eccentric fashion. It has
often been asked how these lines of dots were carried over the skin in
such straight and symmetrical rows, forming regular parallel lines, or
other geometrical patterns. The “comb” will explain the mystery.
The tatoo, with a few strings of shell-beads or necklaces, and bracelets
of monkey and jaguar teeth, is all the dress which is permitted to the
Mundrucu belle. In Mundrucu-land it is the reverse of what is practised
among civilized people: the men are the exponents of the fashions, and
keep exclusively to themselves the cosmetics and bijouterie. Not
contented with being tatooed, these also _paint_ their bodies, by way of
“overcoat,” and also adorn themselves with the bright feathers of birds.
They wear on their heads the beautiful circlet of macaw plumes, and on
grand occasions appear in the magnificent “feather dress,” so long
celebrated as the peculiar costume of the tropical-forest Indian. These
dresses their women weave and border, at a sacrifice of much tedious
labor. They also ornament their arms and legs with rows of feathers
around them, the tips turned upward and backward.
The tatooing is confined to the Mundrucus proper,—their allies, the
Mahües not following the practice, but contenting themselves with a
simple “coat” of paint.
It is difficult to say what motive first inducted human beings into this
singular and barbarous custom. It is easier to tell why it is still
followed, and the “why” is answered by saying that the Mundrucus
“scarify” themselves, because their fathers did so before them. Many a
custom among civilized nations, but little less ridiculous, if we could
only think so, rests upon a similar basis. Perhaps our modern abominable
hat—though it has a different origin—is not less ludicrous than the
tatooed patterns of the savage. Certainly it is quite equal to it in
ugliness, and is likely to rival it in permanence,—to our sorrow be it
said. But even _we_ deal slightly in the tatoo. Our jolly Jack would be
nobody in the forecastle without “Polly,” in blue, upon his
weather-beaten breast, and the _foul anchor_ upon his arm.
But the Mundrucu baptizes his unfortunate offspring in a still more
savage fashion. The tattoo may be termed the _baptism in blood_,
performed at the tender age of ten. When the youth—fortunately it does
not extend to the weaker sex—has attained to the age of eighteen, he has
then to undergo the _tocandeira_, which deserves to be called _the
baptism of fire_!
This too merits description. When the Mundrucu youth would become a
candidate for manhood, a pair of “gloves” is prepared for him. These
consist of two pieces of a palm-tree bark, with the pith hollowed out,
but left in at one end. The hollow part is of sufficient diameter to
draw over the hands loosely, and so long as to reach up to mid-arm,
after the fashion of gauntlets.
The “gloves” being got ready, are nearly filled with ants, not only the
venomous red ants, but all other species, large or small, that can
either bite or sting, of which tropical South America possesses an
endless variety. With this “lining” the “mittens” are ready for use, and
the “novice” is compelled to draw them on. Should he refuse, or even
exhibit a disposition to shrink from the fiery trial, he is a lost man.
From that hour he need never hold up his head, much less offer his hand
and heart, for there is not a maiden in all Mundrucu-land that would
listen to his softest speech. He is forever debarred from the pleasure
of becoming a benedict. Of course he does not refuse, but plunging his
hands into the “mittens,” into the very midst of the crawling host, he
sets about the ceremony.
He must keep on the gloves till he has danced before every door in the
village. He must sing as if from very joy; and there is plenty of music
to accompany him, drums and fifes, and human voices,—for his parents and
relatives are by his side encouraging him with their songs and gestures.
He is in pain,—in positive agony,—for these venomous ants both sting and
bite, and have been busy at both, from the very first moment. Each
moment his agony grows more intense, his sufferings more acute, for the
poison is thrilling through his veins,—he turns pale,—his eyes become
blood-cast,—his breast quivers with emotion and his limbs tremble
beneath him; but despite all this, woe to him if he utter a cry of
weakness! It would brand him with an eternal stigma,—he would never be
suffered to carry the Mundrucu lance to battle,—to poise upon its point
the ghastly trophy of the _Beheaders_. On, on, through the howling
throng, amidst friends and relatives with faces anxious as his own; on
to the sound of the shrill-piping reed and the hoarse booming of the
Indian drum; on till he stands in front of the cabin of the chief! There
again the song is sung, the “jig” is danced, both proudly prolonged till
the strength of the performer becomes completely exhausted. Then, and
not till then, the gloves are thrown aside, and the wearer falls back,
into the arms of his friends, “sufficiently punished!”
This is the hour of congratulation. Girls gather round him, and fling
their tatooed arms about his neck. They cluster and cling upon him,
singing his song of triumph; but just at that crisis he is not in the
mood for soft caresses; and, escaping from their blandishments, he makes
a rush towards the river. On reaching its bank he plunges bodily in, and
there remains up to his neck in the water, till the cooling fluid has to
some extent eased his aching arms, and tranquillized the current of his
boiling blood. When he emerges from the water, he is a man, fit stuff
for a Mundrucu warrior, and eligible to the hand of a Mundrucu maiden.
It may be remarked that this terrible ordeal of the Mundrucus, though,
perhaps, peculiar among South-American Indians, has its parallel among
certain tribes of the north,—the Mandans and others, as detailed by
Catlin, one of the most acute of ethnological observers.
The _scalp trophy_, too, of the Northern Indian has its analogy in a
Mundrucu custom—that which distinguishes him most of all, and which has
won him the terrible title of “Beheader.”
This singular appellation is now to be explained.
When a Mundrucu has succeeded in killing an enemy, he is not, like his
northern compeer, satisfied with only the skin of the head. _He must
have the whole head_, scalp and skull, bones, brains, and all! And he
takes all, severing the head with his knife by a clean cut across the
small of the neck, and leaving the trunk to the vulture king. With the
ghastly trophy poised upon the point of his lance, he returns triumphant
to the malocca to receive the greetings of his tribe and the praises of
his chief.
But the warlike exploit requires a memento—some token by which he may
perpetuate its fame. The art of printing does not exist among the
Mundrucus, and there is no _friendly_ pen to record the deed. It has
been done,—behold the evidence! much clearer than often accompanies the
exploits of civilized heroes. There is the evidence of an enemy slain;
there is the grim, gory voucher, palpable both to sight and touch—proof
positive that there is a dead body somewhere.
Of course, such evidence is sufficient for the present; but how about
the future? As time passes, the feat may be forgotten, as great deeds
are elsewhere. Somebody may even deny it. Some slanderous tongue may
whisper, or insinuate, or openly declare that it was no exploit after
all—that there was no dead man; for the vultures by this time would have
removed the body, and the white ants (_termites_) would have equally
extinguished all traces of the bones. How, then, are the proofs to be
preserved? _By preserving the head!_ And this is the very idea that is
in the mind of the Mundrucu warrior. He is resolved not to permit his
exploit to be buried in oblivion by _burying the head_ of his enemy.
That tongue, though mute, will tell the tale to posterity; that pallid
cheek, though, perhaps, it may become a little shrivelled in the
“drying,” will still be smooth enough to show that there is no _tatoo_,
and to be identified as the skin of an enemy. Some young Mundrucu, yet
unborn, will read in the countenance of that grinning and gory witness,
the testimony of his father’s prowess. The head, therefore, must be
preserved; and it is preserved with as much care as the cherished
portrait of a famous ancestor. The cranial relic is even _embalmed_, as
if out of affection for him to whom it belonged. The brains and
eye-balls are removed, to facilitate the process of desiccation; but
false eyes are inserted, and the tongue, teeth, and ears, scalp, skull,
and hair, are all retained, not only retained, but “titivated” out in
the most approved style of fashion. The long hair is carefully combed
out, parted, and arranged; brilliant feathers of rock-cock and macaw are
planted behind the ears and twisted in the hanging tresses. An
ornamental string passes through the tongue, and by this the trophy is
suspended from the beams of the great malocca.
It is not permitted to remain there. In some dark niche of this
Golgotha—this Mundruquin Westminster—it might be overlooked and
forgotten. To prevent this it is often brought forth, and receives many
an airing. On all warlike and festive occasions does it appear, poised
upon the point of the warrior’s lance, and even in peaceful times it may
be seen—along with hundreds of its like—placed in the circular row
around the manioc clearing, and lending its demure countenance to the
labors of the field.
It is not a little singular that this custom of embalming the heads of
their enemies is found among the Dyaks of Borneo, and the process in
both places is ludicrously similar. Another rare coincidence occurs
between the Amazonian tribes and the Bornean savages, viz. in both being
provided with the blow-gun. The _gravitana_ of the American tribes is
almost identical with the sumpitan of Borneo. It furnishes a further
proof of our theory regarding an original connection between the
American Indians and the savages of the great South Sea.
The Mundrucu is rarely ill off in the way of food. When he is so, it is
altogether his own fault, and chargeable to his indolent disposition.
The soil of his territory is of the most fertile kind, and produces many
kinds of edible fruits spontaneously, as the nuts of the _pupunha_ palm
and the splendid fruits of the _Bertholetia excelsa_, or juvia-tree,
known in Europe as “Brazil-nuts.” Of these then are two kinds, as
mentioned elsewhere, the second being a tree of the genus
_Lecythys_,—the _Lecythys ollaria_, or “monkey-pot” tree. It obtains
this trivial name from the circumstance, first, of its great pericarp,
almost as large as a child’s head, having a movable top or lid, which
falls off when the fruit ripens; and secondly, from the monkeys being
often seen drawing the seeds or nuts out of that part of the shell which
remains attached to the tree, and which, bearing a considerable
resemblance to a pot in its shape, is thus very appropriately designated
the pot of the monkeys. The common Indian name of the monkey-pot tree is
_sapucaya_, and the nuts of this species are so called in commerce,
though they are also termed Brazil-nuts. They are of a more agreeable
flavor than the true Brazil-nuts, and not so easily obtained, as the
_Lecythys_ is less generally distributed over the Amazonian valley. It
requires a peculiar soil, and grows only in those tracts that are
subject to the annual inundations of the rivers.
The true Brazil-nuts are the “juvia” trees of the Indians; and the
season for collecting them is one of the _harvests_ of the Mundrucu
people. The great pericarps—resembling large cocoa-nuts when stripped of
the fibres—do not open and shed their seeds, as is the case with the
monkey-pot tree. The whole fruit falls at once; and as it is very heavy,
and the branches on which it grows are often nearly a hundred feet from
the ground, it may easily be imagined that it comes down like a
ten-pound shot; in fact, one of them falling upon the head of a Mundrucu
would be very likely to crush his cranium, as a bullet would an
egg-shell; and such accidents not unfrequently occur to persons passing
imprudently under the branches of the Bertholetia when its nuts are
ripe. Sometimes the monkeys, when on the ground looking after those that
have fallen, become victims to the like accident; but these creatures
are cunning reasoners, and being by experience aware of the danger, will
scarce ever go under a juvia-tree, but when passing one always make a
wide circuit around it. The monkeys cannot of themselves open the great
pericarp, as they do that of the “sapucuya,” but are crafty enough to
get at the precious contents, notwithstanding. In doing this they avail
themselves of the help of other creatures, that have also a motive in
opening the juvia shells—cavies and other small rodent animals, whose
teeth, formed for this very purpose, enable them to gnaw a hole in the
ligneous pericarps, hard and thick as they are. Meanwhile the monkeys,
squatted around, watch the operation in a careless, nonchalant sort of
way, as if they had no concern whatever in the result; but as soon as
they perceive that an entrance has been effected, big enough to admit
their hand, they rush forward, drive off the weaker creature, who has
been so long and laboriously at work, and take possession of the prize.
Neither does the Mundrucu nut-gatherer get possession of the juvia fruit
without a certain degree of danger and toil. He has to climb the tallest
trees, to secure the whole crop at one time; and while engaged in
collecting those upon the ground, he is in danger of a blow from odd
ones that are constantly falling. To secure his skull against accidents,
he wears upon his head a thick wooden cap or helmet,—after the fashion
of the hats worn by our firemen,—and he is always careful to keep his
body in an upright attitude, stooping as seldom as he can avoid doing
so, lest he might get a thump between the shoulders, or upon the spine
of his back, which would be very likely to flatten him out upon the
earth. These Brazil-nuts furnish the Mundrucu with a portion of his
food,—as they also do many other tribes of Amazonian Indians,—and they
are also an item of Indian commerce, being collected from among the
different tribes by the Portuguese and Spanish traders.
But the Mundrucu does not depend altogether on the spontaneous
productions of the forest, which at best furnish only a precarious
supply. He does something in the agricultural line,—cultivating a little
manioc root, with plantains, yams, and other tropical plants that
produce an enormous yield with the very slightest trouble or attention;
and this is exactly what suits him. A few days spent by the little
community in the yam patch—or rather, by the women and children, for
these are the agricultural laborers in Mundrucu land—is sufficient to
ensure an abundant supply of breadstuff for the whole year. With regard
to flesh-meat he is net so well off, for the domestic animals, and oxen
more especially, do not thrive in the Amazon country. In Mundrucu land,
the carnivorous jaguar, aided by flies and vampire bats, would soon
destroy them, even if the Indian had the inclination to raise them,
which he has not.
Instead of beef, therefore, he contents himself with fish, and
occasionally a steak from the great tapir, or a griskin of _manati_.
Birds, too, furnish him with an occasional meal; but the staple article
of his flesh diet is obtained from the _quadrumana_,—the numerous
species of monkeys with which his forests abound. These he obtains by
shooting them down from the trees with his bow and arrows, and also by
various other hunting devices.
His mode of cooking them is sufficiently peculiar to be described. A
large log fire is first kindled and permitted to burn until a sufficient
quantity of red cinders are produced. Over these cinders a grating is
erected with green saplings of wood, laid parallel to each other like
the bars of a gridiron, and upon this the “joint” is laid.
Nothing is done to the monkey before its being placed on the gridiron.
Its skin is not removed, and even the intestines are not always taken
out. The fire will singe off the hair sufficiently to content a Mundrucu
stomach, and the hide is broiled and eaten with the flesh. It is thus
literally “carne con cuero.”
It may be observed that this forest gridiron, or “barbecue,” as it is
properly termed, is not an idea exclusively confined to South America.
It is in use among the Indians of the north, and various uncivilized
tribes in other parts of the world.
Sometimes the Mundrucu does not take the trouble to construct the
gridiron. When on the march in some warlike expedition that will not
allow time for being particular about the mode of cooking, the joint is
broiled upon a spit over the common fire. The spit is simply a stick,
sharpened at both ends, one of which impales the monkey, and the other
is stuck into the ground. The stick is then set with a lean towards the
fire, so as to bring the carcass over the blaze. While on the spit the
monkey appears in a sitting position, with its head upward, and its long
tail hanging along the sapling,—just as if it were still living, and in
one of its most natural attitudes, clinging to the branch of a tree! The
sight is sufficiently comical; but sometimes a painful spectacle has
been witnessed,—painful to any one but a savage: when the young of the
monkey has been captured along with its dam, and still recognizing the
form of its parent,—even when all the hair has been singed off, and the
skin has become calcined by the fire,—is seen rushing forward into the
very flames, and with plaintive cry inviting the maternal embrace! Such
an affecting incident has been often witnessed amid the forests of
Amazonia.
We conclude our sketch of the Mundrucus, by stating that their form of
government is despotic, though not to an extreme degree. The “tushao,”
or chief, has considerable power, though it is not absolute, and does
not extend to the taking of life,—unless the object of his displeasure
be a slave, and many of these are held in abject bondage among the
Mundrucus.
The Mundrucu religion resembles that of many other tribes both in North
and South America. It consists in absurd ceremonies, and appeals to the
good and evil spirits of the other world, and is mixed up with a vast
deal of quackery in relation to the ills that afflict the Mundrucu in
this life. In other words, it is a combination of the priest and doctor
united in one, that arch-charlatan known to the North-American Indians
as the “Medicine-man,” and among the Mundrucus as the “Puge.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CENTAURS OF THE “GRAN CHACO.”
I have elsewhere stated that a broad band of independent Indian
territory—that is, territory never really subdued or possessed by the
Spaniards—traverses the interior of South America, extending
longitudinally throughout the whole continent. Beginning at Cape Horn,
it ends in the peninsula of the free _Goajiros_, which projects into the
Caribbean Sea,—in other words, it is nearly 5,000 miles in length. In
breadth it varies much. In Patagonia and a portion of the Pampas country
it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and it is of still wider
extent on the latitude of the Amazon river, where the whole country,
from the Atlantic to the Peruvian Andes,—with the exception of some
thinly-placed Brazilian settlements,—is occupied by tribes of
independent Indians. At either point this territory will appear—upon
maps—to be interrupted by tracts of country possessing civilized
settlements. The names of towns and villages are set as thickly as if
the country were well peopled; and numerous roads are traced, forming a
labyrinthine network upon the paper. A broad belt of this kind extends
from the Lower Parana (La Plata) to the Andes of Chili, constituting the
upper provinces of the “Argentine Confederation;” another apparently
joins the settlements of Bolivia and Brazil and again in the north, the
provinces of Venezuela appear to be united to those of New Granada.
All this, however, is more apparent than real. The towns upon the maps
are in general mere _rancherias_, or collections of huts; some of them
are the names of fortified posts, and a large proportion are but
ruins,—the ruins of monkish mission settlements long since gone to
destruction, and with little else than the name on the map to testify
that they ever had an existence. The roads are no roads at all, nothing
more than tracings on the chart showing the general route of travel.