re carried off as victims.
Many horrible accounts of this barbarous tribe were related by the
missionaries centuries ago, when romantic stories and exaggerations of
every kind were the order of the day; but the most recent
communications of the missionaries from Ocopa confirm the fact, that
in the year 1842, the Casibos continued to be savage Anthropophagi. It
is worthy of remark that they never eat women, a fact which some may
be inclined to attribute to respect for the female sex. It is,
however, assignable to a different feeling. All the South American
Indians, who still remain under the influence of sorcery and
empiricism, consider women in the light of impure and evil beings, and
calculated to injure them. Among a few of the less rude nations this
aversion is apparent in domestic life, in a certain unconquerable
contempt of females. With the Anthropophagi the feeling extends,
fortunately, to their flesh, which is held to be poisonous.

The languages spoken by the wild Indian tribes are very various. From
the Maranon to Omaguas, Quichua, the language of the Incas, is spoken.
On the left bank of the Ucayali the dialect of the Panos prevails. On
the right bank the Cascas, the Sinabus, and the Diabus, preserve their
own idioms, which are so different that those races are reciprocally
unable to communicate with each other. On Upper Ucayali evidences of
common origin are said to be apparent between the Simirinches, Campas,
Runaguas, and Mochobos. But on this subject no accurate conclusions
can be formed; for the accounts given by the missions in early periods
were very imperfect, and most of the races are so intractable that it
has since been impossible to collect correct information. According
to the accounts of travelled missionaries which I had the opportunity
of examining in the convent of Ocopa, it appears that, besides the
Quichua, the idioms spoken by the Panos, Cascas, Simirinches, and the
Chunchos, may be set down as dialects of decidedly different origins.

The mode of living among all these Indians is very much the same. War
and hunting in summer, and repairing their warlike weapons in winter,
are the occupations of the men. The women cultivate the fields, lay up
the stores of provisions, fish, spin and cook. Their clothes are of the
most simple kind. Many of the races wear no clothing, and have their
bodies wholly or partially bedaubed with paint. The men of some races
wear a kind of shirt without sleeves, a