he would, without fail,
be taken as the expiatory victim.

They are faithful in marriage, and have but one wife. When a young
man has made his choice, his friends or his parents make a demand for
the young girl; a refusal is never given. A day is chosen; and on the
morning of that day the young girl is sent into the forest, where she
hides herself or not, just as she pleases, and according as she wishes
to be married to the young man who has asked her. An hour after her
departure, the young man is sent to find out his bride. If he has the
good luck to find her, and to bring her back to her parents before
sunset, the marriage is concluded, and she becomes his wife without
fail; but if, on the contrary, he returns to the camp without her,
he is not allowed to renew his addresses.

Among the Ajetas old age is highly respected. It is always one of
the oldest men who governs the assembled body. All the savages of
this race live, as I have stated, in large families of from sixty to
eighty persons. They ramble about through the forests, without having
any fixed spot for their abode; and they change their encampment
according to the greater or less quantity of game which they find in
various places.

While thus living in a state of nature altogether primitive, these
savages have no instrument of music, and their language imitating,
as I have stated, the cries of monkeys, has very few sounds, which
are extremely difficult for a stranger to pronounce, how much soever
may be his eagerness to study them. They are excellent hunters, and
make a wonderful use of the bow. The young negroes, however little,
of each sex, while their parents are out hunting, amuse themselves on
the banks of the rivulets with their small bows. If by chance they
see any fish in the translucent stream they let fly an arrow at it,
and it is seldom that they miss their aim.

All the weapons of the Ajetas are poisoned; a simple arrow could not
cause a wound so severe as to stop a strong animal, such as a deer,
in its course; but if the dart has been smeared with the poison known
to them, the smallest puncture of it produces in the wounded animal
an inextinguishable thirst, and death ensues upon satisfying it. The
hunters then cut out the flesh around the wound, and use the remainder
as food, without any danger; but if they neglect this precaution,
the meat becomes so exceedingly bitter that even the Ajetas themselves
cannot eat it.

Never having given c