Arizona republican., 1908-12-06

vicinity of this tribe, and many mur- ders resulted. The Peruvian govern ment has now forbidden the practice and the specimens, becoming more scarce, are commanding higher prices. have known of them selling for $50 to s200 in gold, and rather a poor specimen was recently sold in Iquitos for $50. In the Rio UegrO and Oronoco regions there is said to exist a tribe which prepares entire bodies in this manner, and in the Putumayo district they are said to retain in natural size, by a system of smoking, the heads Of enemies slain in battle I have seen teeth, shin bones and other parts of skeletons thus treasured
 The United States national museum. which is a branch of the Smithsonian Institution, contains specimens of na- tive heads prepared in this manner.
 All the tribes of Peruvian Indians probably possess individual customs of greater or less variety but, so far as is known, no one has as yet made They have in common, however. many practices strange to Americans of the twentieth century.
 At Least Fifty Languages.
 These dark brOwnish people. though divided naturally into at least fifty main tribes, for the most part speak independent languages with many di- alects. Some of the tribes can count as five, a very few even to ten, but most of them use only the fingers in expressing numbers greater than one They live, for shelter from the ex- cessive rains. in rude shacks of poles covered with a matching of palm leaves, sometimes hastily constructed, but at other times built very cleverly and strongly, much in the shape of a small circus tent
 Earth Eeaters.
 The Indians of Peru subsist entirely on the yucca, bananas, corn, fish and the flesh of birds and game from the forests. Stones and hardwuCds are used for grinding and cr'isb'us and earthenwaro pots. etc. are used for boiling, roasting and fr, ing. In only a few localities is salt 10 be found, and even ti.en it is generally used in 9 mixture with hot wIlI peppers. Some of tne tribes that live on the Amazon and Ucayali eat earth from certain deposits 0InOwn by the Inca word kulpa), which contains a pro- portion of salt. This scarcity of salt and the natural craving of the sys- tenn for this mineral have been the means of making the eating of this earth vice similar to the cocaine or opium habit When taken in such quantities the stomach of the indi- vidual becomes much distended and death eventually results from it.
 The rather insignificant looking yucca, a shrub which grows ordinarily to a height of from four to six feet. is probably the most practical and useful of all the vegetal products of this region. The root of this plant. which resembles somewhat our sweet potato. is really the staff of life" for the savage Indian household. Baked, it serves as a substitute for bread; fried or boiled. it is as good as our potato; kneaded into a dough and baked with minced meats, fruits, etc, it makes a splendid pastry while the juice, after treatment by certain pro- cesses, is made into masato, the bev- craze common to nearly all the tribes of Peru.
 Polygamy.
 All of the tribes also practice pO- lygamy, mans standing and wealth being determined by the number of wives he may have, though this num- Der rarely exceeds ten. TEe wives are taken by the men with little cere-