imbing plant, whose tendrils reached to the tops of the
highest trees. It had beautiful violet-coloured flowers, an inch long,
and Don Pablo saw that it was a species of _bignonia_. Guapo called it
"chica." When in fruit it carries a pod two feet in length, full of
winged seeds. But Guapo said it was not from the seeds that the dye was
obtained, but from the leaves, which turn red when macerated in water.
The colouring matter comes out of the leaves in the form of a light
powder, and is then shaped into cakes, which sell among the Indians for
the value of a dollar each. This colour has a tinge of lake in it, and
is prized even more highly than the anoto. Indeed, red dyes among all
savage nations seem to hold a higher value than those of any other
colour.

Another dye-tree was the "huitoc." This one is a slender tree, about
twenty feet high, with broad leaves shooting out from the stem, and nuts
growing at their bases, after the manner of the bread-fruit. These nuts
resemble black walnuts, and are of a russet colour outside; but the pulp
inside, which produces the huitoc, is of a dark blue, or purple tint.

The "wild indigo tree," was also seen growing in the woods, with a leaf
narrow at the base, and broad at the extremity. With these and many
other dyes the Indians of the Montana paint their bodies in fantastic
modes. So much are they addicted to these customs, that, among the
Indians who labour at the missions, some have been known to work nearly
a month to procure paint enough to give their body a single coat, and
the missionaries have made a merchandise of this gigantic folly. But the
paint is not always to be looked upon in the light of a mere folly, or
vanity. Sometimes it is used to keep off the "zancudos," or mosquitoes,
so numerous and annoying in these regions.

Another singular tree was observed, which Guapo called the "marima," or
"shirt-tree." The use of this he explained. The tree stands fifty or
sixty feet high, with a diameter of from two to three. When they find
them of this size, the Indians cut them down, and then separate the
trunk into pieces of about three feet long. From these pieces they strip
the bark, but without making any longitudinal incision, so that the
piece of bark when taken off is a hollow cylinder. It is thin and
fibrous, of a red colour, and looks like a piece of coarsely-woven
sack-cloth. With this the shirt is made, simply by cutting two holes in
the sides to admit the arms, and