er
bones were collected, and placed in a special basket and then cremated.
The ashes were scattered to the winds, and so were all her clothes,
ornaments, chattels, smashed to atoms, and articles of food. Even fowls,
if she possessed any, were destroyed. Usually they were eaten by her
friends.

The Bororos did not possess a sense of honour resembling ours. Theft was
not considered dishonourable, and was not looked down upon nor condemned
by them. If a Bororo liked anything belonging to any one else, they could
see no reason why he should not appropriate it. That was their simple way
of reasoning, and as no police existed among them such theories were
easily followed.

Taking something belonging to a stranger was, in fact, rather encouraged,
and in our experience we had to keep a sharp watch when Indians came to
our camp, as things disappeared quickly. They seldom took the trouble to
ask for anything; they just took it and ran away.

The measurements of Bororo heads in the table on page 261, taken, as an
average, from several of the most characteristic types, will be found of
interest, especially when compared with some from Papuan and Malay tribes
of the Philippine and Sulu Archipelagoes with whom they have many points
in common.

Due allowance must be made for the artificial deformation of the cranium
in the case of the Bororos.

I had no end of trouble in obtaining these measurements, as the Bororos
would not hear of being measured. They were frightened of the
nickel-plated calliper I used for the purpose. It was quite beyond them
to understand why any one should want to know the length of their noses.
In fact, although many, after a lot of coaxing, submitted to have other
measurements taken, few of them would let me measure the nose. None at
all would permit me to measure the length of their eyes, as they feared I
should intentionally blind them.

[Illustration: Bororo Children.]

[Illustration: Bororo Women.]

I met other tribes of Bororos as I went along, and I was able to add to
the curious information already collected and given in previous chapters.
It appeared that at the birth of a child the head, while the skull was
still soft, was intentionally compressed and bandaged, especially at
the forehead and back, so as to flatten it and produce an abnormal shape
of the skull. In many cases only the back of the head was flattened by
the application of artificial pressure. The elongation was both upwards
and