The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-06-13
BRAZILIAN WONDERS.
Trophies Secured by Ernest Morris,
the Young Indianapolis Natural
ist, From the Wilderness
of Brazil.
Description of the Country, People,
Etc.
New York SUM-

DFOOkiyn, ldSt nlgns, dDn Slckly door OF q
tropical plant pervaded the room. Ernest
is 20 years old. sat in tattered suit at small
table. An attendant, who introduced the
reporter removed from each head white
cloth, and exposed the grim, tattooed faces
of men and women. They had been pre-
served lifelike from six months to two or
three years. The teeth were gone,
the eyes had been pulled out, and
balls of black wax, but the hair hung
as natural as on the living human head.
These heads explained Mr.. Morris, be
longed to South American Indians and
were preserved by the Mundurucu nation as
our native Indians preserve scalps among
their trophies of war. They are the first
that have ever been brought to this country,
and the first, believe, that were ever taken
from South America, except three which
were picked up by traders from a civilized
tribe of Indians. Two of these were taken to
France and one to Engl mo. l returned on
Sunday from my second trip to the Brazlls,
and | have in these heads my proof that
penetrated a region in the south of Brazil
where the face of white man had not been
seen before. The Rio Tapajos which is a
tributary to the Amazon, is well known. 1t
has for its tributaries the Rio San Manuel,
the Rio Juenna and the Rio Curruru. Pro-
lessor Hart never went above Itainba, on the
Rio Tapajos, and when / got there l was
warned to stop. There were % falls to
ascend, and l was told that the region was
wild, the tribes of Indians savage, and the
climate almost fatal to the white man, as no
trade winds swept up the Tapajos, as on the
Amazon.
II got a Mundurucu boy and boat and
determined to see the country which no
naturalist had ever seen. passed up the
falls and went up the Rio Curruru, jour-
ney of six days. Then leaving the boat
started with my boy across the campos to
look up these wild tribes. The country
through which we went was a
wild waste OF prairie with here
and there islands of jungles rich
in tropical foliage After we had proceeded
for two days and a half, living on monkeys,
parrots and macaws, suffering everything
from the bites of swarms of insects, we saw
signs OF the savage tribes. was proceeding
ahead and prospecting when suddenly
heard a crackle in the bushes and saw six
naked savages with their bows drawn and
their white pointed arrows aimed at my
shrIeked out in the language my
guide had taught me, Don't shoot
a friend. a brother / at once APP
preached them with the gewgaws of which
| had a stock, and bought their bows for
knife and few pocket mirrors. They con-
Quoted me into their village, but before the
other savages welcomed me they sent me
out some dawn cakes, which / could smell
before they reached me- These were very
offensive, but was told that if L did not eat
them, the chief would not permit me to
come to the village. / ate, but il was a
forced meal. | am told that this food, which
is made up in a quantity and kept in cakes.
can be smelled ten miles off, but i do not
believe this.
of these Mundurucus. They have no
employment and they seem to live to
make war on the FIVE tribes about
them, which inhabit the coun-
try between the San Manuel and the Juenna.
Only one of these tribes 80 far as l could
learn, are cannibals. These eat the brains
of their enemies. The Mundurucus are
men Of large stature. They let their hair
grow very long, and, as you will observe
from these heads of their neighbors, the
hair is soft They shave their foreheads,
pushing the hair back as far as possible.
They are entirely nude; but the chiefs and
the warriors, when they go to battle, wear
about their loins girdle. which is made of
the shell of a nut, cut to about the size and
shape of a lead pencil point, drilled through
with fish bone. and strung by the thou
pth of a tree. They wind this girdle
round and round their bodies, using
up two or three hundred feet of the string
in one girdle There are no marriages
among them. The women live together in
one part of the village and the men in an
other. Each man is at liberty every morn
ing to select any woman he wants for the
day, but the chief has always the first choice.
The weapons of war consist of an Indian
club and bow and arrow. The warriors are
unerring in their aim. The barb of the
arrow is made of a curved bone taken from
a monkey. Both of its points are exposed,
so that when il is driven into the flesh it is
impossible to draw it out without greatly
increasing the wound. Much time is
make an attack on the enemy they at
once seize the wounded and dead of their
foe, and speed away with them. At a proper
distance they cut the head off of each body
close to the shoulders, rake out the brains
and all the flesh they can and then hasten
back to their own village to begin the work
of preservation before the flesh begins to
mortify. The teeth of the heads are all
pulled out for necklaces The eyes are
plucked out, and then the heads are smoked
over fire made of carrocopowpow root,
which has the property of making dead
flesh crumble. Ii was very difficult for me
to learn the name of the root and | was
wholly unable to find the tree from which it
was taken. ] managed to steal one piece of
il from the hut where 1t was concealed.
AS the smoke of the root acts on the
flesh it shrinks the skin to the
bone, so that the skin of the neck
draws over the base of the head like the
head of drum. The hole that remains in
the center is left open to receive the ebony
stick, on which each warrior carries a head.
When the hair is too long it is cut off for the
decoration of the bows. The eyes are filed
with this black wax, in which these parallel
white fish bones are placed, in imitation of
the natural eye. These heads are used to
decorate the huts of the village. They last a
lifetime, and as they accumulate they are
buried. They are priced very little after
their annual feast. which lasts two or three
days, and as l happened there then l was
able to buy these for few trinkets."
Each one of the CHASTITY trophies, over
which the young naturalist grew so enthu-
al had c.ail Of trina fastanad into