The Whole Of These People, Men As Well As Women, Went Entirely Naked.
Though Of Rather Small Stature, They Are Exceedingly Well Proportioned,
Their Complexion Being Reddish Brown, Like The Hair Of Lion; But If They
Were Always Clothed, They Would In My Opinion Become As White As Our
People.
They have no hair on any part of their bodies, except on the head,
where it is long and black; especially the women, who wear their long
black hair in a very comely manner.
Their faces are by no means handsome,
being broad like the Tartars, and they allow no hair to remain on their
eyebrows or eyelids, nor on any other part of their bodies, as already
mentioned, it being esteemed by them quite beastly to have hair remaining
on their bodies. Both men and women are amazingly agile in walking and
running, as we frequently experienced, the very women being able to run
one or two leagues at a stretch with the utmost ease, and in this exercise
they greatly excelled us Christians. They are likewise wonderfully expert
swimmers, in which the women excel the men and we have seen them swim two
leagues out to sea without any aid whatever. Their arms are bows and
arrows, which are more craftily made than ours; and, being destitute of
iron or any other metal, they arm the points of their arrows with the
teeth of wild beasts or fishes, often hardening their ends in the fire to
make them stronger. They are most expert archers, hitting any thing they
aim at with wonderful precision; the women also, in some places, being
excellent archers. Their other arms are a kind of very sharp lances or
pointed stakes, and clubs, having their heads very nicely carved. They are
chiefly accustomed to make war against their neighbours speaking a
different language; and as they give no quarter, unless to such as are
reserved for the most horrid tortures, they fight with extraordinary fury.
When they go to battle they are accompanied by their wives, not to assist
them in fighting, but on purpose to carry their provisions and other
necessaries; and one of their women will carry a greater weight on her
back for a journey of thirty or forty leagues, than a strong man is able
to lift from the ground, as we have often seen. They have no regular
captains or commanders in their wars; and although any one may assume the
office of leader, they always march onwards without any order whatever.
Their wars do not originate in any desire of extending their power or
territory, neither from any inordinate lust of dominion, but from ancient
enmities, transmitted from one generation to another; and when asked the
cause of these enmities, their only answer is that they are bound to
revenge the death of their ancestors. These people living in perfect
liberty, are not subjected to any kings or rulers, and are chiefly excited
to war when any of their tribe happens to be slain or made prisoner. On
such occasions, the elder relations of the slain person or of the prisoner
go about among the huts and villages, continually crying out, and urging
all the warriors of the tribe to make haste and accompany them to war,
that they may recover their friend from captivity, or revenge his death.
All being moved to compassion and revenge by these incitements,
immediately prepare for war, and march away in haste to the assistance of
their friends.
These people have no laws, or any idea of distributive justice, neither
are malefactors ever punished among them. Parents even neither teach nor
chastise their children. We have sometimes seen them conferring together
among themselves in a strange manner. They seem very simple in their
discourse, yet are they very cunning and shrewd. In speaking they are
neither loud nor loquacious, using accents similar to ours, but squeezing
as it were most of their words between the teeth and the lips. They have a
great number of dialects, as at every hundred leagues distance we found a
different language, the different tribes not understanding each other.
Their manner of feeding is very barbarous, as they have no fixed periods
for eating, but just as inclination or opportunity offers, whether by day
or night. When taking food they recline on the ground, using neither
table-cloths nor napkins, as they have no linen or any other kind of cloth.
Their food is put into vessels of earthen ware, manufactured by themselves,
or into half gourd shells instead of dishes. They sleep in large net
hammocks made of cotton, suspended at some height; and however
extraordinary or disagreeable this custom may appear, I have found it
exceedingly pleasant, and much preferable to the carpets which we use.
Their bodies are very clean and sleek, owing to their frequent bathing.
When about to ease nature they are at great pains to conceal themselves
from observation, yet are very indecent in discharging their urine, which
they would do at any time, both men and women, while conversing with us.
They observe no law or covenant in regard to marriage, every man having as
many wives as he pleases or can procure, and dismissing them at pleasure,
and this license is common both to men and women. They are little addicted
to jealousy, yet much given to lust, in which the women far exceed the men.
From motives of decency I here omit describing the expedients they put in
practice for satisfying their inordinate desires. The women are very
prolific, and do not shun labour or fatigue while pregnant. Their
deliveries are attended with little pain, so that they are able
immediately afterwards to go about their usual occupations in perfect
health and vigour; going in the first place to wash themselves in the
nearest river. Yet such is their proneness to cruelty and malignant spite,
that if exasperated by their husbands, they take a certain poison in
revenge, which kills the foetus within them, so that they afterwards
miscarry, by which abominable practice vast numbers of their children are
destroyed.
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