or thirty of them--men,
women, and a few children. Kermit, after the manner of honest folk in
the wilderness, advanced ostentatiously in the open, calling out to
give warning of his coming. Like surroundings may cause like manners.
The early Saxons in England deemed it legal to kill any man who came
through the woods without shouting or blowing a horn; and in
Nhambiquara land at the present time it is against etiquette, and may
be very unhealthy, to come through the woods toward strangers without
loudly announcing one's presence. The Nhambiquaras received Kermit
with the utmost cordiality, and gave him pineapple-wine to drink. They
were stark naked as usual; they had no hammocks or blankets, and their
huts were flimsy shelters of palm-branches. Yet they were in fine
condition. Half a dozen of the men and a couple of boys accompanied
Kermit back to our camp, paying not slightest heed to the rain which
was falling. They were bold and friendly, good-natured--at least
superficially--and very inquisitive. In feasting, the long reeds
thrust through holes in their lips did not seem to bother them, and
they laughed at the suggestion of removing them; evidently to have
done so would have been rather bad manners--like using a knife as an
aid in eating ice-cream. They held two or three dances, and we were
again struck by the rhythm and weird, haunting melody of their
chanting. After supper they danced beside the camp-fire; and finally,
to their delight, most of the members of our own party, Americans and
Brazilians, enthusiastically joined the dance, while the colonel and I
furnished an appreciative and applauding audience. Next morning, when
we were awakened by the chattering and screaming of the numerous
macaws, parrots, and parakeets, we found that nearly all the Indians,
men and women, were gathered outside the tent. As far as clothing was
concerned, they were in the condition of Adam and Eve before the fall.
One of the women carried a little squirrel monkey. She put it up the
big tree some distance from the tents; and when she called, it came
scampering to her across the grass, ran up her, and clung to her neck.
They would have liked to pilfer; but as they had no clothes it was
difficult for them to conceal anything. One of the women was observed
to take a fork; but as she did not possess a rag of clothing of any
kind all she did do was to try to bury the fork in the sand and then
sit on it; and it was reclaimed without diffi