Meat was
seldom eaten by them, but this was probably because of its scarcity,
for when we killed an ostrich they clamored for a share.
Reptiles of
all kinds, and even caterpillars, are devoured by them when hungry.
The Caingwas are under the average height, but use the longest bows
and arrows I have ever seen. Some I brought away measure nearly seven
feet in length. The points are made of sharpened iron-wood, notched
like the back of a fish-hook, and they are poisoned with serpent
venom. Besides these weapons, it was certainly strange to find them
living in the stone age, for in the hands of the older members of
the tribe were to be seen stone axes. The handles of these primitive
weapons are scraped into shape by flints, as probably our savage
forefathers in Britain did theirs two thousand years ago.
Entering the low, narrow doorway of one of the bamboo frame houses, I
saw that it was divided into ten-foot squares by corn-stalk
partitions a yard high. These places, like so many stalls for horses,
run down each side of the hoga. One family occupies a division,
sleeping in net hammocks made of long, coarse grass. A "family man"
usually has bands of human hair twisted around his legs below the
knees, and also around the wrists. This hair is torn from his wife's
head. Down the centre are numerous fires for cooking purposes, but
the house was destitute of chimney.
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