Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-12

(iUi river. They are call
ed The t3untusa In
dams. Early expIor-
ers put on record vague descriptions OF
them. saying that they were white, with
red hair. There is no truth in that 1t Is
q fact that they live IN extraordinary COM
munal shelters, each village occupying a
single shed. which may he 100 feet long and
thirty feet wide. protecting 80 or more in
dividuals from the gun and tropical rains
possible manner its tent roof thatche1 with
palm and plantain leaves. The ridaa pcie
is twenty feet above the ground: The In
vtded on into stalls. each Of which Is oc-
cupied by a family. Under the dirt floor
the dead are buried. by which ingenious
plan the survivors have their defunct reIa
tives always with them. Elongated hci-
lows, where the loosened earth has sunk.
mark the graves. The shelters are fire.
which suck the blood Of the savages at
night.
A Light Toilet.
The men are naked, except for q breech-
clout made from the inner bark Of q tree,
which is beaten out into a soft cloth. The
women wear nothing but a strip OF the
same material wound about the waist and
tucked in so insecurity that II is continual
ly coming undone. Some of the young fe-
males are quite good looking; they are all
very small. The children are wholly nude,
backs commonly. with nothing to hold them
but their grip. The women do most OF the
work. such as carrying plantains from the
IKE nets. The men are jealous and follow
their wives around to see that they do not
get into mischief
which comes from partly decayed plantains
and huge bowls Of a drink called "chicha-"
whose most Important occupation it is to
chew ripe plantains, expectorating from
time to time into receptacles provided for
allowed to ferment. thus becoming q frothy
preparation OF disagreeable 'odor. II is
ese ssay to .enhs ss tender y sss
every day Of their lives. they 60 N out ut % %
or IL am. give up the rest of their time
to orgies.
A Good-Natured People.
Apparently they never quarrel, being the
most good-natured Of wild people. There
are plenty of plantains and plenty Of old
women to do the chewing. so that there
il never any lack OF intoxicants. They dip
the "chicha" out Of the bowls with half
cslibashes. which serve for drinking cups.
The beverage has such gas.producing prop
critics that savage who has INDUCED in
the point Of bursting. The hays are usu-
ally toothiess because plantains contain
aes which sons f the
with cscao-butter. which within the last
few years has become known to the civil
make T il BY boiling the eaeao seeds. skim
ming of the oil which rises to the surface.
They are an sE5cT,turs1 people, FrG ewing
tains Having no metals they cut away
Snfe1i like ms cRa Of hard wood. they
have q few stone hatchets. which they
picked UP in streams but these implements
posed to be thunderbolts. These people
manufacture fish lines. hammocks and very
make bowls and cups of clay. Their arrows
and wrapped at both ends with swine q
is fastened a sharp point OF black wood
that Is very hard. Their bows are Of the
same black wood which is i sne 9th kind
rows.
Setting Traps for Game.
They set pitfalls with sharp sticks stuck
up in the bottom for wild hogs and tapirs.
The latter are nocturnal animals and very
difficult to capture otherwise. The savages
know how to make other kinds Of snares,
and they do some fishing with the bow and
arrow. They have killed off nearly all of
the monkeys in their neighborhood. being
very fond Of their flesh. They viii not eat
SON that they wear so few clothes is sim
ply that they have no means OF obtaining
more complete garments The climate is
Clothing, the temperature never falling be.
low 20 degrees. Nevertheless, they would
glad to 1.le for
ticabie. Mr.. c. W. Richmond, the govern
ment ornithoiogist who visited them, found
Of Of trousers Without much Of the legs LETT
for q coat.
white Man q Curiosity.
1t took him nine days to get UP the
shaggy Rio Frio with canoe and paddlers
to where these people dwell They had
only seen one other white man In many
years. Naturally they were very curious
about him. His shirt being open in front,
| they rubbed his skin with their fingers to
make sure that its Wilderness was not ar
| tificial. One savage prted his mouth open
Of his front teeth. jabbering excitediy
he could not understand their questions.
Mr.. Richmond would look the Individual
| in the eye and begin reciting the Declare
ton Of Independence This method was
| nodding his head at Intervals as X he un-
derstood. The buckles on the visitors sus-
penders excited great establishment their
use appearing unimaginable.
They obtained from Mr.. Richmond all Of
other small articles. He saw one young
man with a raw wound on his foot, still
pleeQlng, from the bite OF a vampire bat.
| Strange to say, this blood-sucking creature
usually does not wake up its victim. but
performs its operation Of phlebotomy with
| out rousing him to consciousness. The
! same fellow had been bitten in the leg
| three months earlier by a poisonous snake
| and the limb had wasted away In conse,
| Quence so as to be useless The only do
mesticated animals seen in the VILLAGES
were young peccary and a 'kinkaiou''-
| the latter a soft-furred nocturnal mammal.
| as big as a cat The Indians had drums
made out of hollow logs with iguana skin
stretched over one end. To one OF them
| the visitor gave an old steel machete
| tribe. " --S
This region was first penetrated by Span-
| ish rubber hunters about forty years ago
| They stole some of the children OF the saw
] ages and war followed. They killed the
Guatusas whenever they could and the
Indians trapped them by filling the woods
| with pitfalls. The chief of the Indians
| was killed. and since then they have had
| no ruler or head man. There are about
| fifteen villages Of them in all. each settle
| beers rather more than 1000 souls
Their Social Customs.
| In the communal dwellings each family
seems to be entirely independent, and all
| of them live most harmoniously together
| When one Of the young men is old enough
to marry, very commonly he steals a girl
| and carries her away into the woods per-
| haps remaining absent for months. Mean
while her afflicted relatives get over their
annoyance at the occurrence, and eventual
| " he returns with the woman. In that
! peieh horhood ~ hot Wv n