The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-09-07
Strange Savages in South America
Mystery Of the Roarsr which No woman Ever Allowed to See
Cincinnati Enquirer.)


The survivors of past generations of
aborgines still barbaric in their Gus
toms, to the popular mind, are located
in Africa or in the far east. The new
world is commonly supposed to be free
OF human relics Of a thousand years
ago. Yet, in the heart of South
America, near the southern border of
Brazil, there exist at present tribes of
savages not as advanced in ciViliZa-
ton as the red men met by Columbus
or the prehistoric Virginians found by
Captain John Smith on these shores.
A trip among these so-called Indians
Of South America, made by w. A.
Cook partly in the interest Of the bu-
reau Of American ethnology, is de-
scribed in a recent publication of the
Smithsonian institution, in which he
tells Of the Bororo Indians Of Matte
Crosse, Brazil, a people strange to the
descendants Of Europeans.
Mr.. Cook made this adventurous
trip in company with Senior Antonio
Candida de Carvalho, a Brazilian eX-
plorer of large experience and influ-
ence, and with him collected many ma
tive implements, ornaments and other
objects which have since been for
warded and placed with other ethno-
National museum.
Indians Gathered.
He describes his journey through the
wilderness to a rough ranch belonging
to Senior de Carvalho near a BOrorO
village. He says:
LAS soon as our arrival became
known, our ranch, scarcely more than
an open shed, began to fill rapidly
with our painted friends of all ages
and sizes and both sexes, who came
to observe US and to see the marvellous
things we had brought them from our
enchanted world. They pour in upon
us regularly at the break of day and
stay faithfully until the shadows of
night begin to deepen, and though
coming and going constantly we al
ways have our full complement If
we open one Of our pack-mule trunks
our visitors are on the, alert TO handle
whatever may strike their fancy. If
we eat every mouthful of food is close
ly scrutinized, and whatever we may
do is observed with the closest atten-
ton. They recline on our boxes.
sprawl ON our tables, lean against the
posts, squat on the ground and bunch
down around our pot as it boils, al
ways leaving a patch of paint wher-
ever they sit or lean. Some smoke,
others lazily pick and eat the kernels
from a roasted ear of corn, others nib
BILE the white cheese-like heart of a
diminutive palm that furnishes a con-
siderable part of their food; the boys
devour bits of fish roasted black. or
shoot at a stick or a stump with their
crude bows and arrows. Just outside
the door men gossip, vacantly gazing,
but never once toward the one they
address, or they ask us a few questions
in the limited language that we know
in common. The women and children
usually form an outer fringe to this
group. Whenever there is prospect of
obtaining beef our congregation is at
once largely increased. They never
steal anything that is distinctively
ours, though they viii take anything
we have bought of them if they have
an opportunity.
They Wear Bangs.
THE long. straight, coarse black
hair of both males and females hangs
in a tangled mass about their Shout
ders. except above the forehead, where !
it is kept chopped off TO form bangs. |
Nearly all the single young plaster |
these bangs with sort of red putty |
made from the small yellOwish-red |
fruit of the burity palm and fish OIL |
and the same paste is used to paint |
the entire body. Boys and girls who |
are esteemed by their parents also |
have the foretop arranged in this way, |
and a few of the latter who are re-
garded with special favor have it |
plated with a layer of beautiful red |
feathers. One woman was covered |
with white feathers from head to foot |
with a brilliant plume in her hair |
All young men and boys wear sus- |
pended from hole in the lip, bored |
during infancy a kind of chain called |
nogodau about six inches long, made |
of flat oval-shaped bits of she'll ter |
minating in red feather. The older |
men have a plug in this hole, for if |
left open it causes difficulty in drink
ing"
The village itself. according to Mr..
Cook, is just as strange. He says:
There were thirty huts in the vii
lage that encircled in a very irregular
way, facing i'm every direction, very
large hut that stood in the center and
was called baehytu. Bae (by) is the
name Of the ordinary family hut. This
baehytu is the bachelors hall, the
headquarters of all the unmarried men,
the workshop where the men make
weapons and ornaments and instru
ments, the dining room, the town
hall where most public functions oc-
cur and the club where visitors are
received and entertained. The bae-
hytu is entered through an opening
at each end, like a hole in a hay
stack, and within is always dark,
gloomy and foul smelling.
To Keep Out Flies.
THE family huts are mostly like a
roof resting on the ground, and strong
~ resemble an old haystack with a
hole eaten in each end, though occa-
sionally the hut is raised a little and
woven palm branch tongues form a
basket-like wall. Deep gloom reigns
within these huts. They are made
dark that they may be free from flies
and are dens of rubbish and filth.
Stuck to the roof are bows and bun
dies of arrows, war clubs. fishing gear
and instruments and ornaments not in
use at the moment. The occupants of
this human lair are sprawled on
palm leaf rug. with a log of wood four
inches in diameter for pillow. and
or gnawing an ear of corn. a
bit Of fish or vegetable or sitting
making beads, arrows or other objects
or kneeling by the little fire preparing
food. When the filth becomes unbear-
able or disease is prevalent they do
not trouble to clean house. but simply
a abandon and burn the old and build
a new one on a clean spot Usually
o,,+;rn villa pa r,op--ac =,