es, in relation to the rite, of the nations on the banks of
the Quilato and the Uru, as well as those dwelling along the streams
that empty into the Apure. The same is said of the Guamo and of the
Othomacos Indians; according to Gumilla, many of these Indians, in
addition to the rite of circumcision, inflicted a number of cuts on the
arms, legs, and over the body, to a degree that amounted to butchery,
the child being reserved for this inhuman treatment until the age of ten
or twelve years, that he might, by his greater powers of resistance and
of recuperation, stand some chance of escaping alive from the ordeal.
The friar mentions that in 1721 he found a child dying from this
treatment, the wounds having become gangrenous and the child dying of
pyaemia; prior to the operation the children were stupefied with some
narcotic drink, and were insensible during its performance.[19]

Besides circumcision, the Americans practiced several other operations
that bore an analogy to the operation of infibulation, a procedure
common to the Orient and to early Europe, and so ancient that, like
circumcision, its source is in the misty clouds of antiquity. It
consisted in introducing a large ring, either of gold, silver, or iron,
through an opening made into the prepuce, the free ends being then
welded together. Females were treated likewise, the ring including both
labia. In some countries an agglutination of the parts induced by some
irritant or a cutting instrument answered the purpose among females.
Dunglison mentions that the prepuce was first drawn over the glans, and
then that the ring transfixed the prepuce in that position; that the
ancients so muzzled the gladiators to prevent them from being enervated
by venereal indulgence. The ancient Germans lived a life of chastity
until their marriage, and to their observance of a chaste life can be
attributed the superior physical development of the race, as both males
and females were not only fully developed, but were not enervated by
either sexual excess or inclinations before having offspring, which were
necessarily robust and healthy. To obtain the same results in a nation
given to indolence and luxury, and lax in its morality, some physical
restraint was required, and we therefore find the practice of
infibulation coming from the warm countries to the East. The ancients
not only infibulated their gladiators to restrain them from venery, but
they also subjected their chanters and s