POSITION AND NUMBER OF THE MUNDURUCÚ TRIBE — THEIR GENERAL APPEARANCE — MODE OF TATTOOING — SKILL IN FEATHER WORKING — FEATHER SCEPTRES AND APRONS — HEAD PRESERVING — THE TRIUMPHAL FEAST AND WARRIOR’S PRIDE — TRAINING OF THE WARRIOR — THE ORDEAL OF THE “GLOVES” — INTELLIGENCE OF THE MUNDURUCÚS — THE HEALING ART — ENCHANTED CIGARS — COLLECTING SARSAPARILLA — THE GUARANA TEA — THE PARICA SNUFF AND ITS OPERATION — THE SNUFF TUBE — COOKERY AMONG THE MUNDURUCÚS.

The largest, most warlike, and most powerful of the Amazonian tribes is that which is known by the name of Mundurucú.

Formerly, they used to inhabit the country on the southern bank of the great Amazon River; but since their long and valiant struggle with the Portuguese, they have moved considerably southward, having conceded to their new allies the more northern portion of their territory. Since that time, they have been on very good terms with Europeans, and a white man of any nation is sure to find a welcome when he comes among the Mundurucús. This feeling does not extend to the negroes and mulattoes, the dark skin arousing the anger of the Mundurucú as a white skin excites his friendship.

The color of the Mundurucús is warm coppery brown; their hair is thick, black, and straight, and with the men is cut short, except a long fringe, which is allowed to hang over the forehead. Their features are good, the lips being thin, the forehead tolerably high and arched, and the general contour of the face oval. Unfortunately, they disfigure themselves by a tattoo which is just as elaborate as that of the Marquesans, but without its elegance.

The Mundurucú seems to have no idea of a curved or scroll-like pattern, and contents himself with tracing straight lines and angles. One favorite plan is, to cover the whole body with a sort of trellis-like pattern, the lines crossing each other diagonally in some, and at right angles in others. One man, seen by Mr. Bates, had a large black patch on the centre of his face, covering the bottom of the nose and mouth, while his body was decorated with a blue checkered pattern, and his arms and legs with stripes.

At first it seems strange how the people can draw the lines with such regularity. It is managed, however, easily enough by means of the peculiar form of the tattooing instrument. This, instead of being very small and made of bone, is of considerable size, and is in fact a comb made of the sharp thorns of the pupunha palm set side by side. With this instrument there is no difficulty in producing straight lines, as all that the operator has to do is to lay the points of the comb on the skin, tap it sharply until a row of little holes is made, and then rub into the wounds the charcoal pigment.

Besides the tattoo, they use paint in profusion, and adorn themselves with lovely ornaments made of the feathers of the macaw, the toucan, and other native birds. There are other tribes which use similar decorations, specimens of which we shall presently see. They are perhaps the best savage feather workers in the world, displaying an amount of artistic taste which is really astonishing. Their feather sceptres are beautiful specimens of native art. They are about three feet in length and three inches in diameter, and are made by fastening on a wooden rod the beautiful white and yellow feathers from the breast of the toucan. At the top, the sceptre expands into a wide plume, composed of the long tail-feathers of the trogons, macaws, and other birds. In order to preserve these sceptres in their full beauty, they are kept in cylindrical bamboo cases until they are wanted. These decorations are only used on festival days, which are determined by the will of the Tushaúa or chief of the tribe. On these occasions the women prepare great quantities of “tarobá,” which is exactly the same as the mudai of the Araucanians, and they go on drinking, singing, and dancing until all the liquor is exhausted.

The illustration No. 7 on page 1231, gives some idea of the mode of feather working, and the kind of pattern employed by the Amazonian aborigines, though the plain black and white can give no idea of the gorgeous coloring and artistic arrangement of the hues. For this reason, I have been obliged to limit the illustrations of the elaborate feather work of these natives, and only to give a few examples, where form, as well as color, is exemplified.

The body of this apron is made of cotton strings, plaited into a netting, so close that it resembles a woven fabric, while they are allowed at the upper part to be loose, and parallel to each other. Beginning at the bottom of the apron, we have first a row of jetty black feathers, upon which is a tolerably broad band of bright yellow. The ground-work of the rest of the apron as far as the base strings is made of scarlet feathers, crossed by two narrow yellow bands, and the curious double pattern in the middle is yellow above and blue below. The sides and top are edged by a belt of black monkey fur.

Among the upper edge of the base strings are a number of the elytra or wing cases of the gorgeous Buprestis beetle. They are loosely strung in a row by their bases, and not only look splendid when the light of the sun shines on them, but rattle at every movement, so as to keep time to the steps of the dancers, for whom such ornaments are chiefly made. These wing cases are used also for children’s rattles.

Like many other warlike savages, the Mundurucús perpetuate the memory of valiant deeds by preserving a trophy of the slain enemy. Indeed, this is the only way in which it is possible to preserve the accounts of their valor, and the Mundurucús follow in this respect the example of the Dyaks, by cutting off and preserving the head of the dead man. When a Mundurucú has been fortunate enough to kill an enemy, he cuts off the head with his bamboo knife, removes the brain, soaks the whole head in a bitter vegetable oil, called “andiroba,” and dries it over a fire or in the sun. When it is quite dry, he puts false eyes into the empty orbits, combs, parts, and plaits the hair, and decorates it with brilliant feathers, and lastly passes a string through the tongue, by means of which it can be suspended to the beams of the malocca or council-house, where it remains except on festival days. When, however, the chief gives orders for a feast, the proud owner of the head arrays himself in his most magnificent suit of feathers, fetches his prize from the malocca, fixes it upon the point of his spear, and parades himself before his companions in all the glory of an acknowledged brave.

One of these preserved heads is shown on page 203, drawn from a specimen in the possession of A. Franks, Esq., of the British Museum. In order to show the ordinary kind of feather headdress which is worn by the Mundurucús, a portrait of a chief is also given on the same page, so that the contrast between the living and preserved head is well marked.

The value which a Mundurucú attaches to this trophy is simply inestimable. As none except acknowledged warriors are allowed to contend against the enemy, the fact of possessing a head proves that the owner has passed triumphantly through the dreadful ordeal of the gloves. It is very remarkable that we find two totally distinct races of men, the Malay and the Mongol, possessing exactly the same custom, and reckoning the possession of a head as the chief object in life.

It is quite impossible that the Dyak of Borneo and the Mundurucú of Central Southern America could have been geographically connected, and we must infer that the custom took its rise from the love of approbation inherent in human nature. In all countries, whether civilized or not, renown as a warrior is one of the chief objects of ambition. In civilized countries, where a literature exists, this renown is spread and conserved by means of the pen; but in uncivilized lands, some tangible proof of success in war must be required. In this head the necessary proof is obtained, for its existence shows that the owner has killed some man or other, and the form or absence of the tattoo is a proof that the slain man was an enemy and not a friend.

The successful warriors are so proud of their heads that they will often remove them temporarily from the malocca, and place them on the fence which surrounds their crops, so that the women, who are working in the field, may be cheered by the sight of their relative’s trophies. Of late years, either this custom has fallen into abeyance, or the people are unwilling to exhibit their trophies to a white man, for Mr. Bates, who spent so much time with them, never even saw a preserved head, or could hear of one being used.

Like many other natives, the Mundurucús have to pass through a horribly painful ordeal before they can be admitted into the rank of men. There is a strange, weird-like character about the whole proceeding.

The reader must know that South America possesses a great number of ants, many of which sting most horribly. There is, for example, the muniri ant, a great black insect, as large as a wasp and with as venomous a sting. Then there is the fire ant, whose bite is just like a redhot needle piercing the flesh, together with many others. These ants are made the instruments by which the courage of the lad is tested.

On the appointed day, the candidate for manhood and the privilege of a warrior, goes to the council-house, accompanied by his friends, who sing and beat drums to encourage him. The old men then proceed to the test. They take two bamboo tubes, closed at one end and open at the other, and place in each tube or “glove” a number of the fiercest ants of the country. Into these tubes the wretched lad thrusts his arms, and has them tied, so that they cannot fall off. The drummers and singers then strike up, and the candidate joins in the song.

Accompanied by the band and his friends, he is taken round the village, and made to execute a dance and a song in front of every house, the least symptom of suffering being fatal to his admission among the men. In spite of the agony which he endures—an agony which increases continually as the venom from the stings circulates through his frame—the lad sings and dances as if he were doing so from sheer joy, and so makes the round of the village. At last he comes in front of the chief’s tent, where he sings his song for the last time, and is admitted by acclamation to be a man. His friends crowd round to offer their congratulations, but he dashes through them all, tears off the gloves of torture, and plunges into the nearest stream, to cool his throbbing arms.

This fearful test of manhood, called “The glove dance,” is represented on page 1218.

The Mundurucús seem to be an intelligent race of savages, as may be seen from Mr. Bates’s account of the interest which they displayed in a book of illustrations.

“To amuse the Tushaúa, I fetched from the canoe the two volumes of Knight’s ‘Pictorial Museum of Animated Nature.’ The engravings quite took his fancy, and he called his wives, of whom, as I afterward heard from Aracú, he had three or four, to look at them: one of them was a handsome girl, decorated with necklace and bracelets of blue beads. In a short time others left their work, and I then had a crowd of women and children around me, who all displayed unusual curiosity for Indians.

“It was no light task to go through the whole of the illustrations, but they would not allow me to miss a page, making me turn back when I tried to skip. The pictures of the elephants, camels, orang-outangs, and tigers seemed most to astonish them, but they were interested in almost everything, down even to the shells and insects. They recognized the portraits of the most striking birds and mammals which are found in their own country; the jaguar, howling monkey, parrots, trogons, and toucans.

“The elephant was settled to be a large kind of tapir; but they made but few remarks, and those in the Mundurucú language, of which I understood only two or three words. Their way of expressing surprise was a clicking sound made with the teeth, similar to the one we ourselves use, or a subdued exclamation, Hm! Hm!

“Before I finished, from fifty to sixty had assembled; there was no pushing, or rudeness, the grown-up women letting the young girls and children stand before them, and all behaved in the most quiet and orderly manner possible.”

Like other savage tribes the Mundurucús place great faith in their medicine men, or “pajes,” as they are termed. These men are supposed to exercise a power over evil spirits, especially those which cause sickness, and which take the visible form of a worm or some such creature.

When a Mundurucú is ill, he sends for the paje, who goes through the gesticulations common to all the tribe of medicine men, until he has fixed upon some spot wherein the evil spirit has located itself. He then makes a huge cigar, by wrapping tobacco in folds of tanari, i. e. the inner bark of a tree, which is separated into layers and then beaten out like the bark cloth of Polynesia. Several trees, especially the monkey-root tree (Lecythis ollaria), furnish the tanari, the best being able to furnish a hundred layers from one piece of bark.

The smoke from the cigar is blown for some time upon the seat of the malady, and after a while the paje applies his lips to the spot, and sucks violently, producing out of his mouth the worm which has done the mischief. On one occasion, when a paje had operated on a child for a headache, a white man contrived to get possession of the “worm,” which turned out to be nothing but a long white air-root of some plant.

These people have, however, some genuine medicines. In the first place, they know the use of sarsaparilla root, and gather it in large quantities for the market. The root, or rather the rhizome, of a species of Smilax is the well-known sarsaparilla of commerce.

The natives collect it during the rainy season, when the roots can be easily torn out of the wet earth. After washing the roots carefully, the gatherers store them under shelter until they are quite dry, and then make them up into bundles of uniform size, for the convenience of packing. These bundles are rather more than three feet in length, and about five inches in diameter. They are tied up very tightly with the sipo, a kind of creeper, and sold to the traders.

Another medicine known to them is the guarana. It is made from the seeds of a climbing plant belonging to the genus Paullinia. The seeds are roasted in their envelopes, and then taken out and pounded between two stones. The powder is mixed with water so as to form a stiff paste, which is moulded into squares and left to dry. When used, the vegetable brick is scraped into water, about a teaspoonful going to the pint, and the medicine is complete. It has a stimulating effect on the system. Like strong tea, it repels sleep, but is so valuable in the intermittent fever of the country that in the Brazilian settlements it obtains a very high price.

There is another very remarkable medicine, which, though not used by the pure Mundurucú tribe, is in great favor with the Cuparis, a sub-tribe of the same nation. This is a sort of snuff, called paricá, which is prepared and used after the following manner. The seeds of a species of ingá (a plant belonging to the Leguminous Order) are dried in the sun, pounded in wooden mortars, and the dust put into bamboo tubes.

When the people determine to have a bout of snuff taking, they assemble together and drink various fermented liquors until they are half intoxicated. They then separate into pairs, each having a hollow reed filled with the paricá snuff. After dancing about for some time, they blow the snuff into the nostrils of their partners so as to make it produce its full effect.

The action of the paricá is very singular. Sometimes it is so violent, that the taker drops on the ground as if shot, and lies insensible for some time. On those who are more used to it the effect is different. It causes for a time the highest excitement, driving off the heaviness of intoxication, and imparting a lightness and exhilaration of spirits, causing the taker to dance and sing as if mad, which indeed he is for a time. The effect soon subsides, and the men drink themselves anew into intoxication.

The Muras, a quarrelsome and savage tribe, with whom the Mundurucús are at perpetual feud, are the most confirmed paricá takers. The Mauhés, a neighboring tribe, use it as a means of repelling ague in the months between the wet and dry seasons, when miasma always abounds.

They keep the powder in the state of dried paste, and when they wish to use it, scrape it into a flat shell, spreading it very carefully with a little brush made from the hair of the great ant-eater. They then produce the snuff-taking apparatus. This is made of two eagle quills tied side by side for part of their length, and diverging at one end to such a distance from each other that the extremities will go easily into the possessor’s nostrils. The shape of the instrument is very much like that of the letter Y.

Inserting the diverging ends into his nostrils, the Mauhé places the other end on the powder, and draws it through the quills, the end travelling over the shell until every particle of the powder has been taken. Sometimes the snuff taker employs, instead of the quills, the bone of a plover’s leg. This instrument, however, is very rare, and cannot easily be procured, the possessor esteeming it to be a most valuable piece of property. It is remarkable that the paricá, under different names, is used in places a thousand miles apart.

The cookery of the Mundurucús is very simple. They make cassava bread and tapioca, after a fashion which will be presently described, and feed on yams, plantains, and similar vegetables. Animal food is obtained by hunting, and chiefly consists of the monkeys with which the South American forests abound. When a monkey is to be eaten, it is cooked in one of two ways. Should there be time, a large fire is made and allowed to burn nearly down, so that there is little or no smoke. Over the red embers a number of green sticks are laid parallel to each other, just like the bars of a gridiron, and on these bars the monkey is placed just as it is killed, the skin never being removed, and the interior seldom cleaned.

There is even a simpler plan than this, which is employed when the Mundurucú has no time to build a large fire. He makes up as large a fire as he can manage, impales the monkey on a stick sharpened at each end, and fixes the stick diagonally in the ground, so that the body of the monkey hangs over the fire, just as a soldier cooks or rather burns his rations by impaling the piece of meat on his ramrod. Very little cooking is required by these people, who are content if the skin is well calcined and the flesh not quite raw.

The Mundurucú can also procure fruits that are capable of preservation, so that he need be in no fear as to suffering from lack of provisions. The chief fruits are the “nuts” of the Lecythis and the Bertholetia. The fruit of the former tree is popularly known as “monkey-cup,” because the hard envelope which encloses the seeds has a movable lid, that falls off when the fruit is ripe, and enables the monkeys to draw the seeds out of their case.

The fruit of the Bertholetia is familiarly known as the Brazil nut. A number of these nuts are enclosed within a very thick and hard pericarp, which has no lid, though there is a little hole at the top through which the seeds can be seen. When the fruit is ripe, it falls to the ground with such force that if it were to strike a man on the head it would instantly kill him. One of these fruits in my collection measures exactly a foot in circumference, and, though very dry, weighs nine ounces. The reader may imagine the force with which such a fruit would fall from the height of a hundred feet or so.

To guard themselves against accidents, the Mundurucús always wear thick wooden caps when they go after the Brazil nuts, and are careful to walk very upright, so as not to be struck on the back or the nape of the neck.