de there are two holds for the arm; the edge is
adorned with colored feathers.

The Indians of the races above noticed seldom live in villages, but
chiefly in huts scattered through the forests. Sometimes they construct
a few of their dwellings near together, and so form a hamlet. Their huts
are either quadrangular, oblong, or circular. The walls consist of
strong stems of trees, bound together by twining plants; and the roof is
of palm leaves laid over a skeleton of reeds. The entrance, which is on
the side opposite to the prevailing wind, is left open, and but seldom
protected by a door. At Chanchamayo I saw a very simple kind of hut
among the Chunchos. It resembled an open umbrella with the handle stuck
in the earth. The single wall, which also formed its roof, consisted of
eight long reeds: they spread out below in the form of a fan, standing
obliquely on the earth, and fastened to three stems of trees. On this
simple skeleton were laid lengthways the leaves of the omero, a kind of
palm. A strong stem fixed firmly in the earth, extended obliquely to the
middle of the inner side of the wall, and two thinner stems on each
side, served as supports for this frail building. According to the
direction of the wind the hut is turned round.

The Indian huts all stand detached from each other, and they are seldom
divided internally into apartments. They occupy very little ground,
never more than sixty square feet of superficies. In the principal
settlement of an Indian race, the huts are scattered over a circuit of
some miles in the forests.

Any form of government is a thing quite unknown to most of the Indios
Bravos of Peru. Uniformity of speech, manners, and arms, unite together
a number of Indians, who thus form a race, but there is among them no
bond of subjection, or of duty to any government, either voluntarily
chosen, or self-constituted. Among the inhabitants of Lower Ucayali,
however, the oldest, or the bravest individuals of each race are either
publicly, or silently recognised as chiefs. Respect to age prevails only
among a few of the races, as the Setebos, Mayorhunas, and Panos. Among
others, as the Campos, Casibos, and Cunchos, the old are put to death.
It is a general custom of the wild Indians to kill their aged prisoners
immediately on their being captured.

Social meetings among these races are of rare occurrence. Gloomy,
reserved, and distrustful, the Indian is only at ease in the circle he
has himself