If The
Family Is Wealthy This Will Be Served In A Heavy Silver Cup And
Bombilla, Or Sucking Tube, Of The Same Metal.
After this drink and
a bite of chipa, a strangely shaped, thin-necked bottle, made of
sun-baked clay, is brought, and from it water is poured on the hands.
The towels are spotlessly white and of the finest texture.
They are
hand-made, and are so delicately woven and embroidered that I found
it difficult to accustom myself to use them. The beautifully fine
lace called nanduti (literally spider's web) is also here made by
the Indian women, who have long been civilized. Some of the
handkerchiefs they make are worth $50 each in the fashionable cities
of America and Europe. A month's work may easily be expended on such
a dainty fabric.
The women seem exceptionally fond of pets. Monkeys and birds are
common in a house, and the housewife will show you her parrot and
say, "In this bird dwells the spirit of my departed mother." An
enemy, somehow, has always turned into an alligator - a reptile much
loathed by them.
In even the poorest houses there is a shrine and a "Saint." These
deities can answer all prayers if they choose to. Sometimes, however,
they are not "in the humor," and at one house the saint had refused,
so he was laid flat on the floor, face downwards. The woman swore
that until he answered her petition she would not lift him up again.
He laid thus all night; whether longer or not I do not know.
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