Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-24

Of the nose they put a stick about an inch
long and a quarter Of an inch thick. which
stack through each They paint their
faces and bodies in gaudy colors with vege-
table dyes, and 1t Is in this they show
their dandyism most forcibly: When they
their time painting themselves and ar
ranging their hair. O. ----,% - = -
On one canoe voyage we had with US
two old ''bogas.' who were the greatest
handles of this primping people. Every
fifteen or twenty minutes they would stop
the canoe, jump out and wash themselves
thoroughly. Then they would renew their
paint and go ahead. : When they arrived at
the end of the days journey. tired and
hungry, instead of hurryIns TO light fire,
cook dinner and make themselves COM
Portable for the night. they would first
spend an hour painting themselves and
doing up their hair. go --- -.--.'
ine A.,.la t..,lil, The foot up to the calf of
the leg with some red vegetable dye which
protects them from insect bites. On this
foundation they create fine decorative
scheme in blue and black The body and
lace are also painted.
What Pleased the Yaris Most.
OF all trade goods, what pleased the
Yaris most was an article never intended
for them We took with us some blue ink
in tablet form, intending to melt it to write
our diaries with. One of the Indians took
up d ldDIel uipped IL III ."dtcl anu wv"
some lines on his body with it. He was
overjoyed when he found that these lines
did not wash off readily. like his own vege-
table dyes. After that these tablets were
our most valuable coin
The women of the tribe have very deli
cate noses and fine hair. Like the men.
they most clearly in their per-
sons and their habits and attentive
modest and vrtuous. Through their upper
lip they thrust two thorns, each being
inch and half or two inches long. They
do not adorn themselves so much as the
men or waste SO much time in dandyism.
Both men and women have remarkably
small feet and hands.
The chief wears a necklace of tigers
teeth. to indicate his rank, and also three
ga1ly-colored feathers in cOronet made OF
the plumage of birds. Unlike most savage
chiefs. he is not a fat, lazy. dissipated
brute. He is the cleverest and hardest
working man in the tribe His children
wear necklaces of monkeys teeth and his
chief assistants, or bodyguard, also wear a
few monkeys teeth.
During SIX months of the year, when the
river is high the entire tribe lives in the
big house. and during that time the men
and women do not cohabit. When the
rivers fall and leave great sandbanks eX-
posed each family builds a little hut Of
sticks and leaves one Of the SandbankS,
and the husband and wife then live to-
gether. AS a natural consequence, nearly
all the children of the tribe are born about
the same Time. "A CNllQleSS woman is re-
garded as very unfortunate person. She
is dosed with mixture made chiefly of the
scraped claws of the giant armadillo,
which is supposed to remedy her misfor-
tune
Clean and Orderly.
Perfect cleanliness and order prevail in
the big house. One day we were smoking
cigars there, and carelessly dropped some
ash on the floor. Immediately one of the
women came along and carefully swept up
every particle into a palm leaf The tribe
has good ideas of sanitation, and, in conse-
quence, their health is always excellent.
In the evening the house is lighted by oil
procured from turtles eggs.
During our stay the Yaris behaved Splen-
didly. They could not do enough for US.
We could only communicate by signs. but
they showed great intelligence in compre-
hending our wishes. When they understood
that we wanted butterflies they went out
into the jungle and brought us basketfuls,
but, unfortunately, all were crushed and
useless.
Our "bogas,' on the return journey, were
a man and his wife and child. The family
love they displayed was pretty and touch
Ing.
On our way back to Ca1i we were at
tackled by about forty Indians, who had
evidently not heard Of our friendship with
the tribes. They fired scores of poisoned
arrows at us from their blowpipes but. for-
tunately, they were on the bank and our
canoe was in midstream. Some of the ar
rows stuck in the canoe, but we were not
hit. We padded out of danger without re-
turning their fire r s-- - 49, Do. 'r-.
Cali was safely reached last June, after
many exciting adventures. and from that
place came up to New York. The doctor
went to England, where he is now making
preparations for another journey into the
UNEMPLOYED interior of central South Amer
lea.