tions. They were seldom faithful to their wives--at least, for any
length of time.

The Bororos were not prolific. They frequently indulged in criminal
practices in order to dispose of their young--either by strangulation at
birth or soon after, or by drugging their women before the birth of the
child. The young, when allowed to live, took milk from their mothers
until the ages of five or six years. The parents were extremely kind to
their children; indeed, they were extraordinarily good-natured and
considerate. Eight days after birth they perforated the lower lip of male
children and inserted a pendant, taking that opportunity to give a name
to the child. The lobes of the ears were only perforated at the age of
ten or twelve.

It was only at the age of about twenty that men were allowed to marry.

I found among the Bororos an interesting custom which I had seen but once
before--in Central Asia, on the slopes of the Himalaya Mountains, among
the Shoka tribesmen. I am referring to the "clubs"--called by the Bororos
_Wai manna ghetgiao_. There the young men and girls went not only with
the object of selecting a wife or husband, but also to get thoroughly
acquainted and see if the mate selected were suitable or not. The men sat
on one side of the club-house--a mere hut--the women on the other. In a
way, these clubs prevented hasty marriages, for the men were given plenty
of time to study their prospective brides and the girls their future
husbands. Curiously enough, in the Bororo country it was generally the
woman who proposed to the man. When the official engagement was made the
man proceeded to the hut of his sweetheart and brought a gift of food for
her and her mother. If the gifts were accepted there was no other
formality to be gone through, and the matrimonial ceremony was indeed of
the simplest kind. The man took away the girl to his hut and they were
man and wife.

The _cuisine_ of the Bororos was not attractive to European palate, ears
or eyes. One of the favourite dishes of the Bororos, served on grand
occasions, was the _mingao_, or Indian corn chewed up into a paste inside
their mouths by women and then displayed before the guests in earthen
pots filled with fresh water, in which it was then cooked.

The Bororos maintained that the sun, _Cervado_, and the moon, _Ittary_,
were two brothers, both being males.

They believed in a superior Being--the essence of goodness and
kindness--a Being who will never gi