t it was impolite to refuse any dish that was put in front of me,
no matter how repugnant. One day the Chief ordered me to come over to
his family triangle and have dinner with him. The meal consisted of
some very tender fried fish which were really delicious; then followed
three broiled parrots with fried bananas which were equally good;
but then came a soup which I could not swallow. The first mouthful
almost choked me,--the meat which was one of the ingredients tasted
and smelled as if it had been kept for weeks, the herbs which were
used were so bitter and gave out such a rank odour that my mouth
puckered and the muscles of my throat refused to swallow. The Chief
looked at me and frowned, and then I remembered the forest from which
I had lately arrived and the starvation and the terrors; I closed my
eyes and swallowed the dish, seeking what mental relief I could find
in the so-called auto-suggestion.

But I had the greatest respect for the impulsive, unreasoning nature
of these sons of the forest. Easily insulted, they are well-nigh
implacable. This incident shows upon what a slender thread my life
hung. The friends of one moment might become vindictive foes of
the next.

Besides the head-Chief there were two sub-Chiefs, so that in case of
sickness or death there would be always one regent. They were plainly
distinguished by their dress, which consisted mainly of fancifully
arranged feather belts of _arara_, _mutum_, and trumpeter plumes
covering the shoulders and abdomen. These articles of dress were made
by young women of the tribe: women who wanted to become favourites of
the Chief and sub-Chiefs. They often worked for months on a feather
dress and when finished presented it to the particular Chief whose
favour they desired.

The Chiefs had several wives, but the tribesmen were never allowed to
take more than one. Whenever a particularly pretty girl desired to
join the household of the Great Chief or of a sub-Chief, she set to
work and for months and months she made necklaces of alligator teeth,
peccary teeth, and finely carved ivory nuts and coloured pieces of
wood. She also would weave some elaborate hammock and fringe this
with the bushy tails of the squirrels and the forest-cats, and when
these articles were done, she would present them to the Chief, who,
in return for these favours, would bestow upon her the great honour
of accepting her as a wife.

There seemed to be few maladies among these people; in