Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1892-12-03
BRAZILIAN INoiAAs.
Chara cteristic and ustonns of Some OF th
south Americas Tribes.

of the earth, not excepting the Dig.
gers" of lower California and the tribes
Of Terra del Fuego. The Botocudos,
who are most noted, have advanced far
enough to till small patches of land.
live in huts. raise cattle and weave mats
for sale The Portuguese gave them
their singular name from the word |
botogue, meaning a barrel-bung-from |
their habit Of wearing large, round |
disks of wood in their ears and under |
lips This fashion used to go SO far |
that in middle life many of them had
stin under lips projecting five or six
inches, holding plug as big as the top
Of n coffee cup OF late years the ems
| tom is mostly discontinued but both
sexes still go perfectly naked, except
those living in the near neighborhood
of white settlements. The men varnish
themselves all over with bright yellow
paint made from the bark and gum OF a
species of palm; and the women dress
up" as some civilized ladies' do, by ap-
plying few strcaks of white and
red to their faces, arms and bosoms-
Though many of the Botocudos are
now practically civilized, we are assured
that those of the far interior are yet
cannibals to the extent of eating their
captives taken in war. Like the Greeks
of the Homeric age, they consider 1t
the greatest of evils to lie unburied
after death; so they delight in making
flutes and trumpets of their enemies
bones. / have the questionable pleas
ure of owning one of these ghastly
trophies, which has five holes and is or
| namented with tufts of red and yellow
| feathers attached to the bone by
strings; but it requires somebody more
courageous than your correspondent to
fnssf x-sal s<.1
by personal experiment.
There is another Brazilian tribe,
whose name l do not remember, who
are an almost exact counterpart of the
| Pucblos of Mexico and Arizona-sim-
| pie, peaceful and industrious. They
| live near the coast, and are doubtless
| descenda nts OF those Pinzon and other
| early voyagers first encountered But
unfortunately they are few in number
and rapidly dying out, for among their
fierce neighbors the Turn unto
| him the other cheek also" princi-
pie is disastrous to life and prop
erty. There are many scattered
tribes of unreclaimed savages, most of
whom are wandering cannibals and all
implacably hostile. Perhaps the most
interesting among these tat safe dis
tauce) are the Mundrucus. or "Bchcad-
crs," who, with their allies, are said to
number between twenty and thirty
| thousand They live up the Madura
Tapajos, Rio Negro, and other tributa-
| RIGS OF the hmuZ1n, IN palm-Icaf nuts
| set around a central malocca-the latter
not the dwelling of a chief, as might be
supposed, but rather grand council
chamber, fortress, arsenal, and general
| pow-wow room. In il are deposited
those horrible trophies-the preserved
heads of their enemies-which have
| given to the Mundrucus their terrible
title of "Beheaders." Unlike the Jiveros
of southeastern Ecuador, they do not
extract the skull, but by some savage
process of embalming keep the cranial
relic as nearly entire as possible, insert
ing false eyes, made of bits of shell or
polished quartz, the long hair combei
out and carefully decorated with strings
of rocixcocli and macaw fea theirs, feath-
cr earrings in the ears, and dyed strings
passed through the tongue 10y which
to suspend it from the rafters.
In peaceful tunes hundreds of
these are ranged around the walls of
J the molocca or set in rows around the
mandioca fields to keep the ghosts away
J that might otherwise injure the grow
; ing food; and on warliRe and festive
occasions they are trotted out on the
points of the warriors spears. Strange
! to say, the Dyaks of Borneo have a sim
! ilaIeeustom of preserving their enemies
head, aud are provided with blow-guns,
! almoA identical with those of South
: Americans
Like most other Amazonian Indians,
! the Mundrucus cultivate a little man
dioca, corn and pantains. They know
how 10 prepare farina meal from the
: mandioca, and also to brew a sort of in
toxicant resembling chicha. They have
> gourd vessels, some Of them quantity
carved, rude pots of baked clay and
utensils OF wood and stone. Their ca
4 noes are followed tree trunks, and be-
= sides the blow-guns for killing birds,
: they have BAN boo spears with poisoned
: points, and arrows tipped with the
i deadly curare. by the way, the latter
{ is now generally conceded to he neither
|, n vegetable poison nor the venom OF
: serpents, as WAS formerly supposed, but
= the putrid matter from dccayed human
Q bodies, the arrows being stuck into a
g fostering corpse and left until soaked
full of the deadlicst poison known. -
= Fannie i. Ward, in Chicago Inter Ocean
a PRETTY SLOW TOWN.
!, He Thought Cholera might wake It Up
Z But Tie Was Not sure Of 1t
n He wore a faiut smile of pleasur,
e when he walked into the downtown
e drug store, unbuttoned his coat ans
e leaned with an air Of expectancy
d against showcase.
Can DO anything for you?" asked a
. clerk.
: We'll, maybe you can aud maybe
YOU can't" answered the other, care
A fully removing a sPeck from his coat
> sleeve Il don't know" he added, re
:, fiectively.
= Anything in my power III be glaC
/ L IL