ed the compliment with equal force. Nothing could exceed the
good-humour with which these proceedings were carried on. One of the
men was scarcely able to walk, after the punishment; but, in general,
after a few lashes they drank paiwari, and returned to the main body of
dancers, from which fresh couples were continually falling out to test
each other's mettle.

At length, on a signal from the master of the house, the dancing ceased,
and all the men, arranging themselves in procession, went round the
building with slow and measured steps, the plank and the wooden images
being carried before them.

After this they arranged themselves near the grave, and one of them
chanted something in a low voice, to which the others answered at
intervals with four moans by way of chorus. The articles carried in
procession were then taken to a hole previously dug in the earth, and
buried there. Two or three men appointed for the purpose then drew
forth their long knives, and rushing in among the dancers, snatched the
whips from them, cut off the lash from each, and buried them with the
other articles.

THE GUARANIS.

The tribes of the Guaranis, or Waraus, who once inhabited the eastern
side of the continent, from the La Plata to the Orinoco, still exist,
sunk still lower in barbarism even than formerly. So little do they
care for clothing, that even the females wear only a small piece of the
bark of a tree, or the net-like covering of the young leaf of the
cocoa-nut or cabbage-palm; while their appearance is squalid in the
extreme. They still, however, exhibit the characteristics which
distinguished them in days of yore,--readiness to yield to
circumstances, to labour for wages, and to receive instruction from the
white man. Thus they have continued to exist whilst more warlike tribes
have been exterminated. They cultivate cassava and other vegetables.
From the former they make the intoxicating paiwari--the cause of many
savage murders among them. They depend greatly on the pith of the
mauritia, or ita, as it serves them for bread; while of other parts of
the tree they construct their dwellings.

The younger people possess good features--some of them wearing thin
pieces of silver suspended from the cartilage of the nostrils. They are
generally short, stoutly built, and capable of great exertion. They are
much sought after for labourers. They are also noted for making the
best and largest canoes in the country, and with