enances, though their
flowing hair and painted faces and legs and bodies gave them an
extravagantly savage appearance, increased by their teeth being
blackened, and by the bead ornaments which they wore round their necks,
ankles, and wrists. The men wore a long loose robe, and the women one
of shorter dimensions. There was little neatness in the internal
economy of their dwellings. At the end farthest from the door was the
fire-place, surrounded with pots and jars of many sizes. On each side
were raised platforms for bed-places, and pieces of beaten bark for
bedding, covered with musquito curtains. Bows, arrows, lances,
_pacunas_ or blow-pipes, were hung to the posts or rafters, an axe and a
knife in some cases: bowls made from calabashes, earthen jars to hold
chica, water and young turtles; a few blocks of wood for seats, a few
baskets, a ladder to reach to the roof, a wooden trough in which
_masata_ is made, and a rude sort of loom, complete the furniture; from
which list must not be omitted the lady's dressing box which contains
her paints and brushes, as well as her trinkets. The centre of the
house is always left unoccupied, as beneath it are buried the members of
the family who die, the living thus becoming the guardians of the dead.
They gave us an abundant repast off _vaca marina_ or _manatee_, called
in English a sea-cow (a curious fish which I must describe), turtle,
monkeys, and a variety of vegetables and fruits.

Our friends were great fishermen as well as sportsmen. The next morning
I accompanied some of them in their canoes to catch a _vaca marina_.
They watched for the animal till his snout appeared above water, when
they killed it with their spears. In appearance it was something like a
huge seal; but it has no power to leave the water. It was about twelve
feet long, with a large muzzle armed with short bristles, and small eyes
and ears. It had two thick fins and a longish thick tail; was very fat,
and of a dark blue colour. To bring it home a canoe was sunk under its
body; and when bailed out, it floated it up with perfect ease. The meat
was in taste something between pork and beef. A large quantity of oil
was extracted from the blubber.

Turtle flesh forms one of the principal articles of food of the people
living on the banks of the rivers; and a very valuable oil is also
extracted from the eggs, of which one female lays a hundred and fifty in
a season. It is used instead of butter.