The Wife Of The Chief Immediately Tore Off A Branch Of The
Feather Palm Growing Beside Her, And, Certainly Within A Minute, Made
A Basket, Into Which She Placed A Small Gourd.
Going to the other
side of the clearing, she commenced, with the agility of a monkey, to
ascend a long sapling which had been laid in a slanting position
against a tall palm tree.
The long, graceful leaves of this cabbage
palm had been torn open, and the heart thus left to ferment. From the
hollow cabbage the woman filled the gourd, and lowered it to me by a
fibre rope. The liquid I found to be thick and milky, and the taste
not unlike cider.
Prescott tells us that Atahuallpa, the Peruvian monarch, came to see
the conqueror, Pizarro, "quaffing chicha from golden goblets borne by
his attendants." [Footnote: Este Embajador traia servicio de Senor, i
cinco o seis Vasos de Oro fino, con que bebia, i con ellos daba a
beber a los Espanoles de la chicha que traia." - Xerez.] Golden
goblets did not mean much to King Atahuallpa, however, for his palace
of five hundred different apartments is said to have been tiled with
beaten gold.
In these Guato Indians I observed a marked difference to any others I
had visited, in that they permitted the hair to grow on their faces.
The chief was of quite patriarchal aspect, with full beard and mild,
intelligent-looking eyes. The savages inhabiting the Chaco consider
this custom extremely "dirty."
Before leaving these people I procured some of their bows and arrows,
and also several cleverly woven palm mats and cotton fans.
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