No individualism—Effect of isolation—Extreme reserve of Indians—Cruelty—Dislike and fear of strangers—Indian hospitality—Treachery—Theft punished by death—Dualism of ethics—Vengeance—Moral sense and custom—Modesty of the women—Jealousy of the men—Hatred of white man—Ingratitude—Curiosity—Indians retarded but not degenerate—No evidence of reversion from higher culture—A neolithic people—Conclusion.
No individualism—Effect of isolation—Extreme reserve of Indians—Cruelty—Dislike and fear of strangers—Indian hospitality—Treachery—Theft punished by death—Dualism of ethics—Vengeance—Moral sense and custom—Modesty of the women—Jealousy of the men—Hatred of white man—Ingratitude—Curiosity—Indians retarded but not degenerate—No evidence of reversion from higher culture—A neolithic people—Conclusion.
We find in all savage races, peoples of the lower cultures, that there is no differentiation of individualism, that is to say all members of the race or group are at approximately the same level. This is what we know as a “low state of civilisation.” It has been suggested that such dead level, the lack of all initiative, of progress in short, is due to the absence of religion, of ideals or gods, through which true enthusiasm only is engendered. A religious ideal undoubtedly tends to progress, and with the exception of patriotism—which, after all, is a religious ideal—is the main influence. It is a case of cause and effect, however, for the effect of environment must not be overlooked. Local conditions initiate progress and may cause enthusiasm for an ideal, the effect and, at the same time, the potent accelerator of such progression.
It is an extraordinary but undeniable fact that the Indian is individually wise yet racially foolish, individually intelligent, racially inept. This may be due entirely to geographical control, to the peculiar characteristics of the social environment. The greatest incitement to human progress, intercommunication, is denied in the Amazon wilds. True, there are the rivers, but the value of rivers and waterways in this respect is negatived by custom. Existing conditions make this necessary, for in isolation alone is protection to be found for any tribe.
We find, then, the group system, where the community is everything, the individual nothing, blocking the path of progressive evolution to a very great extent among the forest Indians of South America, as it has done among the native tribes of Australia. The individual can gain nothing for himself, he can only work for the greater glory of the group, and has therefore no intimate incentive for strenuous advancement. A tribe has little or no opportunity for progress when it consists of but a few hundred members, and is practically isolated from all other tribes, except for the hardly intellectual shock of war, or perhaps the occasional intrusion of some wandering barterer, a member of possibly a hostile tribe, who is tolerated on account of the necessary articles which he brings, things that cannot be manufactured by the tribes he visits.
The Indian is hedged about with a constricting environment against which he can scarcely be said to battle. He accepts with the resignation of the East, and knows nothing of the restless rebellion that makes for Western amelioration and progress. What the Indian lacks is not intelligence but character, that is to say will-power. The Indian is brave, he endures pain and privation with the greatest stoicism, he can be doggedly obstinate, but only in exceptional cases can he rise above his fellows to anything approaching individuality and strength of mind.
The dominant characteristic of the Indian is a profound and nervous reserve. The extreme nervousness of his manner is due undoubtedly to wholesale indulgence in coca. It affects all the conditions of social intercourse. It makes the Indian character extraordinarily negative. Enthusiasm is to seek in Amazonia. The Indian never expresses violent joy or fear. A shock is more likely to raise a laugh from him than a cry. He will submit to much, he will bear greatly, but it is easy to provoke a laugh against even a fellow-tribesman. An Indian will invariably laugh at another’s discomfiture. But with a stranger all Indians are taciturn, and they will have little or nothing to say to him if he be a white man.
Outside the narrow limit of the tribe the Indians possess no altruistic feelings, no sympathy with strangers. They look upon every man as a definite, or at least a possible enemy. The gentle Indian, peaceful and loving, is a fiction of perfervid imaginations only. The Indians are innately cruel. They certainly have no true kindliness for animals; every animal is a foe, as I have elsewhere noted. The Maku children are especially cruel to them, but cruelty to the dumb brute is universal among the tribes. On the other hand, intra-tribal hospitality is without end. I have given a single biscuit to a boy and seen him religiously divide it into twenty microscopic pieces for all and sundry. But they are quite improvident so far as the morrow is concerned. If a family is threatened with famine the whole party will walk over to another house, make themselves at home, eat and drink without the slightest hesitation, without even craving invitation so to do. The reason is obvious. The host of to-day may be the guest of to-morrow. I have seen, however, a hunting party doing their best to eat a whole tapir, with the evident desire to finish the feast before the arrival of another, and possibly a less successful, hunting party. Otherwise division of spoil is absolutely equal, except that the chief by right has the greatest share.
The Indian is not always a hospitable host where other than his own tribe or language-group is concerned. Vague tales have penetrated even to his well-guarded ignorance of the customs of the Rubber Belt, of the servitude of his fellows. He hates the white man and mistrusts him. The Andoke are invariably surly in their attitude towards him. There are tribes—the Karahone, for instance, on the northern bank of the Japura—who refuse all attempts whatsoever at intercourse. They will neither receive presents nor ambassadors. If the explorer persist despite the rejection of his overtures he will find poisoned stakes sunk in his path. He will be harassed in all his doings. When at length he attains to the tribal head-quarters he will find a house indeed, and perhaps food, but no warriors, no women, no children The fire will still be burning within themaloka, but the tribe has vanished, leaving no track, no sign of its whereabouts.The Indian’s “Not at home” is no mere social euphemism. It is a demonstrated fact.
When the stranger finds such silent evidence of the tribal attitude toward his presence, it behoves him to take steps very promptly for his protection. He may be certain that the natives, though hidden, are covering his every action. If he, or one of his party, show himself, a flight of poisoned arrows whistles forth from the bush. Then follows a siege that tries the nerves of the stoutest campaigner. The hidden enemy, the noiseless weapons, menace from every tree. It is almost certain death to stop in the open. Within the house is a shelter little more dependable. The natives pierce the thatch with fire-javelins, with tiny spears bearing blazing tufts of hemp or cotton, and sooner or later the great structure will catch fire. There follows the imposed rush into the clearing, and the quick butchery by that unseen but ever-watchful enemy.
Later comes the dance of triumph and the feast of the victims.
Against such an enemy, in such a situation, the resources of civilisation are of little avail. A wretched little dart steeped in the tribal war-poison may be fragile as a reed, but fired from the near shelter of the bush it is as effective as a Mauser bullet.
When travelling among these Indians it is necessary in order to gain their respect to do as they do. I have emphasised this throughout. The traveller must cross the most nerve-racking bridge without help, he may have no hammock in which to be carried. This is a striking contrast to what I have met with in parts of Africa, where to walk is taken as a sign of unimportance; the man who does so cannot in native eyes be what they would call in India a “burra sahib.” I have also noted that the student of life must conform in all things that may be with the customs and habits of the tribesmen with whom he wishes to associate. In a land wherepiais the supreme law, deviation from custom can be only regarded as criminal.
When an Indian house is reached the chief comes out with a party of his warriors. The burden of proof restswith the invading European. He advances to the chief with his interpreter, and must make declaration of friendship. If the explanation of his appearance be accepted, the Indian laughs and may slap his visitor vigorously on the back, after the usual custom of the native in South America welcoming the stranger. Together they then proceed to the house, and the chief calls his woman and orders food to be provided for the strangers. The white man on his part tenders whatever he has brought by way of presents—beads, gun-cartridges, a small-tooth comb, or a knife.
When the evening meal is finished the chief stalks into the centre of themaloka, which has hitherto been untenanted, like the arena of a circus before the performance begins. A great fire is made up, and about it the men of the tribe squat on their haunches. The chief explains to them the presence of the stranger, and takes counsel on the question of his entertainment. As he describes his intentions he falls into a rhythmic chant, and his followers assent with deep-chestedHuhh!All this is a lengthy business, but the tribe eventually arrive at a common decision. The chief then bends forward to the tribal tobacco pot that has been placed midway among the group. Into this he solemnly dips a tobacco stick, and conveys a little of the liquid to his tongue. Man after man bends forward round the circle, and each in turn dips his splinter of wood into the pot to notify his assent. It is a sign of tribal agreement as binding as the Lord Chancellor’s seal on a document of state. With it the tobacco palaver is concluded and the Indians seek their hammocks for sleep.
The Indian’s treachery is proverbial. I may mention on this point two sayings—there are hundreds similar—which illumine this phase of the character and customs of the tribesmen. The Andoke says, relevant to the Karahone, “If your spirit wander (sleep) in the hammock of amonkeyorbeastIndian, it wanders always.”[408]The meaning is this, the Karahone appear to have a real and exact knowledge of virulent poisons. It is related that they cansaturate a hammock with some narcotic which the victim does not discover, thus ensuring his death or destruction. They also burn fires under the hammock of those they wish to remove from the world, and stifle them with a narcotic smoke.
Another proverbial remark runs: “If a Karahone give you a pineapple, beware.” This refers to the Karahone’s playful habit of presenting poisoned pines. The Boro have a similar saying: “Take a pine from an enemy and die,” but this is due to the recognition of the fact that an Indian is never so dangerous as when simulating hospitality that is treacherous in the extreme.
Perhaps the Indian trait that soonest strikes, and most indelibly impresses the observer, is his charming altruism in the community of the family or tribal group, his wild misanthropy towards other tribes. His ambition is to live undisturbed with his family in the deep recesses of the forest. He asks only to be let alone.
In a region where land is free for all to take who will, and personal belongings are few—and invariably buried with the owner—laws of inheritance there can be none. But the law of possession is strict, and the penalty is death. There can be no toleration of theft, as on account of the publicity in which the Indians live it may be effected with such ease. The punishment for theft has therefore to be drastic, final. The victim may kill the thief. I was told that this is done by hacking at the culprit’s head with a wooden sword or a stone axe. This savours of ceremonial sacrifice. But though to steal from a member of the tribe is to steal from the whole community and therefore a crime, there is no bar against stealing from the stranger. They will do so unblushingly. I remember once missing a pair of scissors. On searching I discovered a Witoto woman stealing them. But she swore she had never put them in her basket, though they were found there!
There is very distinctly a dualism of ethics, one law for the tribe, and another law for all who are not members of it. To kill a fellow-tribesman is to injure the tribe by destroying one of its units. Sin against the individual is of no importanceexcept in so far as injury to any one person is injury to a unit of the tribe, to be punished by the law of retaliation in kind if the offender be of another tribe. Sin against another tribe is no sin except in the eyes of the tribe sinned against; then for its members it becomes not the sin of the individual doer but of his whole community. It is the tribe and not the individual that would be held guilty for any offence committed by one of its members. For instance if a Boro killed a Menimehe, vengeance may be taken by the dead man’s tribe on all or any of the members of the Boro tribe concerned.
Vengeance is primarily a matter for the individual principally affected. A man considers it a disgraceful thing not to be able to avenge himself, and will therefore never apply to the chief for tribal help. On the other hand the chief and the tribe will sometimes take up a quarrel and make it their own. This is a common custom amongst small communities, an affront to any one of the community being a personal attack upon every other member, though it is not necessarily avenged by all unless the affronted one is himself unable to compass revenge.
Members of a tribe sometimes quarrel, though rarely, but at times a fight commences in which others join, till eventually it becomes a “set to” between two families. On the whole I am inclined to say that the natives of the Amazons are the least quarrelsome people I have ever met.
It would be wrong to state that these people have no moral sense, because a slavish adherence to custom in itself is moral. That is to say they possess a moral code. However that does not entail any right or wrong as we know it, but onlypia, that is “what our forefathers thought and did,” in other words tribal usage, which may be translated by what we call “good form.” There are no words in the Indian tongues for virtue, justice, humanity, vice, injustice or cruelty. These are unknown to the tribes who differentiate only with the equivalents for good and bad. Points like this earmark the ethics of a people. The curious negative character I have already noted is carried out here also. Again there is recognition of the moral law of conjugalfidelity in that there is definite punishment for infidelity—the ordeal of the stinging ants. Punishment infers transgression of a law or code. It is not sufficient to say that in this case it is due to the extraordinary jealousy of Indian husbands, for the penalty is imposed on both husband and wife, the retribution is due to public opinion not personal revenge. Before marriage the men take the tribal prostitutes—the Maku girls and to some extent the unattached women—openly, but after marriage this is not the case. Incest is unknown among them, and in that term I include promiscuous intercourse among any of the members of a household. The antipathy to this lies only between those living under the same roof, it does not extend to consanguineous individuals who are members of different households.
The women are extraordinarily modest in their behaviour. Their eyes rarely leave the ground in the presence of a stranger. I had one woman in my party who never spoke to me, or even looked in my direction, the whole time we were together. After much dancing, I have seen the women, succumbing to dance stimulation, show their preference for certain men in the dancing party by placing their hands on their shoulders, an act in obedience to the impulse of the moment. In fact after dancing for a length of time they become comparatively boisterous and irresponsible. But even at the height of excitement there is nothing markedly rude in the dance, when one allows for the fact that sexual suggestion is not to be included in that category in Indian ethics. Even on this point they have their limitations, for Koch-Grünberg relates that when talking to some Desana Indians on sexual subjects, the conversation was stopped by them till the women were sent away. After their departure the men talked freely and broadly. This I did not remark among the Indians I visited, in fact sexual matters appeared to be discussed freely and lewdly by both sexes, and even by young children.
The Indians under the range of discussion most certainly possess the greatest racial antipathy towards the white man. This is noticeable among the women especially, for they willnever admit to their own people if they have ever had any dealing or connection whatsoever with the white man.
Gratitude among Indians is unknown—at least to me. Take this example: I had Indians who had been slaves, who had elected to come with me, or at least had evinced no repugnance at the idea, with whom I had shared all the food at my disposal, stinting myself often to ensure their gratitude—as I thought—caring for them, doctoring and curing them when sick, till eventually I became fond of them. But on the main river at the first opportunity they ran, apparently at the suggestion of one of their own tribe, the Peon of a rubber-gatherer. What arguments were used I know not—perhaps that I was a devil, that my real motive was to fatten them for culinary purposes. The fact remains they left me, to all appearances, willingly.
This stealing of Indians is a well-recognised source of amusement on the Amazon river, and the victims of such loss—who of course perpetrate the same sort of outrage on others directly opportunity permits—are so indolent, so lethargic, that they will not cross a river to recover the stolen. The custom is the more prevalent on account of the character of the Indian. He will always leave one white man to go to another. He is always on the alert to run, to go elsewhere. This is true of Indians enslaved by other Indians, to a limited extent. Unless they are well treated and identified with the tribe they will run, only to be again enslaved by others, or put to death. The matter is hard to explain. It simply is in the blood. It isPia, as Brown remarked. It is their custom. They do it “just for so.”
Another point about the Indian is that he must always be kept up to the work in hand. The women toil unceasingly, but the men are only too ready to seize any excuse to cry off a job. They spend their time mainly in mooning around. Obtaining food is their chief occupation. But when an Indian is kept up to his work he works hard and well.
Though the Indian attitude at first is invariably stoical they are not lacking in inquisitiveness. Their curiosity wasenormously aroused by many of my possessions. It is hard to say what will evoke their wonder. I have seen an Indian evince no interest in a steam-boat, but show the most extraordinary interest in my jackboots, and be greatly occupied with the problem of how I got into them. A walking-stick was an unanswerable conundrum to them, it never occurred to their minds that I could use it as an assistance in walking. My eyeglass, my camera, were mysterious devils that could read into their hearts and filch their souls, as I have already noted. My watch, with an alarm to it, struck consternation to their simple minds. My phonograph, that reproduced records of dancing which were repeated on reversal, raised shouts of wonder. An Indian in a down-river town saw nothing to excite him in a tram, and took a ride thereon quite unconcernedly, but the women’s hats were exciting, and at the sight of a man on a bicycle his astonishment was unbounded: it was “man on spider-web!” Horses are unknown in these regions, and there is no possibility of the majority of the Indians seeing any one on horseback. I could only get a mule as far as the first big river, but beyond the bush became too dense. Otherwise I fancy their amazement would equal that of the Australian natives when they saw the beast come in two on the man dismounting.[409]
Decadent the Indian may be, and thanks mainly to his inveterate cocainism he undoubtedly is, but that he is the degraded descendant of a higher race is a theory that I beg leave to doubt entirely. According to von Martius the standard of ethics rises or falls with the increase or decrease of a tribe. He based his theory on the fact that the most corrupt Coeruna and Nainuma were nearly extinct. It is possible to argue that they were dying out because they were corrupt,[410]rather than they were corrupt because they were dying out. Sir Roger Casement appears to have accepted the theory expounded inVergangenheit und Zukunft der amerikanischen Menschheit. But Tylor remarks, “I cannot but think that Dr. Martius’ deduction is the absolute reverse of the truth.” Certainly the theoryof the Indians’ regression is, I consider, entirely erroneous. I see nothing to suggest it. On the contrary it appeared to me that in spite of the awful handicap of their environment, these tribes were slowly evolving a higher standard of culture. There is no evidence of their having reverted from a higher culture. A people who once knew how to produce fire by friction do not easily forget that method to rely on the clumsy processes of fire-carrying. Men who have smoked tobacco are not very likely to content themselves, nor would their offspring be contented, with merely sucking it. People who knew the simple method of preparing yarn with a spindle would only revert in exceptional cases to the slow and even painful process of rolling fibre on the naked thigh, and that in a land where cotton is abundantly to hand on every side. The tedious method of plaiting and tying by hand would hardly, one imagines, be substituted for weaving. A race that has once worked metal and relapsed to the use of stone without even more exceptional and definite reasons for that relapse, is no more likely in fact than it is recorded—so far as I am aware—in history.
Examples are known of peoples who have forgotten one useful art, for material and utilitarian, or social, or magico-religious reasons; but a people who have allowed some half dozen to disappear is unknown to me. Yet these Indians carry fire, lick tobacco, roll fibre on the thigh, and though they make use of an embryo loom—the two posts between which their hammocks are plaited—have not appreciated its potentialities. Some of the Amazon tribes,[411]though surrounded by canoe-building peoples, can only make rafts; the secret of the dug-out, if ever known to them,[412]has been forgotten. But it is possible that an isolated section of the original canoe-builders—as we have seen these tribes today are all isolated sections—may for some reason have had no need to construct a canoe for such lengths of time that the method of fire-heating and burning, especially of forcing the hot trunk open, had through disuse been at least partiallyforgotten.[413]Presume that they failed in their attempt to build one for some reason,[414]and it was found that a raft would do momentarily in its place, the original skill and knowledge might easily die out in a generation. Therefore the absence of canoes alone would be no convincing argument. Nor must it be forgotten, as Dr. Rivers has pointed out,[415]that other causes besides defective memory and lack of practice may result in the entire disappearance of even useful arts. But I repeat hardly of so many among all these tribes in common.
Everything points to the conclusion that these tribes found their way to the forest in a very primitive condition. The forest has arrested, it has stunted their growth, but it has not plunged them back from later cultures to the Stone Age. The stones themselves deny it,for stone is not the natural substitute for iron in these regions.[416]Whence the tribes came hither, and when, in whatsoever far back age of our earth’s story, they were a Neolithic people—hardly that, a people emerging from the unsettled conditions of the Paleolithic hunter, agricultural but not yet pastoral, and such they have remained throughout the centuries.
Physically, as may be judged from the accompanying tables, there is a wide margin for dissimilarity among these tribes. Their appearance is nearly as varied as their speech, more so in fact, in that there is much diversity of type even among individuals of the same speaking-group. I have seen a Boro as dark as a Witoto, while his fellow-tribesmen may be yellow as a Chinaman. It is, of course, possible that the darker Boro are sons of Witoto women. The custom prevalent in all the tribes of adopting the young children captured from their enemies, makes of necessity for great changes in type even in one household, so that despite the preference for group endogamy that undoubtedly exists there are few households where cross-breeding is not in evidence.
In stature the Indian is small, which I take to be a result of depression due to his forest environment; but the body is well-balanced and upright. Among the tribes I visited the Andoke as a speaking-group were, so far as I could observe, the largest in build and the tallest. The Okaina may possibly come into the same scale. The Karahone represent the mean, while the Maku are invariably small, a low class and badly-fed people. The average measurements of the tribes are best gathered from the types tabulated. I made the average height to be for men 5 feet 6 inches; and for women 4 feet 10 inches.[417]I certainly remember one case of a man among the Andoke nearly 6 feet high, but can recall no other. The women were never much over the average of the female type. I give my measurements for what they are worth, but unfortunately I did not know the correct way in which they should have been taken; they weremade with a centimetre rule, but not on the correct anthropometrical principles. The Indians stood against the side of the house to be measured, and I registered their height by the simple process of placing the ruler on the head and measuring its distance from the ground.[418]
The bone of the Indian’s skull is thick, and both dolichocephalic and brachycephalic types are in evidence.[419]
The Indian does not run to fat, rather is he inclined to be thin, but strong, muscular and healthy, with rounded outline and finely-developed chest. The Witoto, however, though broad and strong, fail in the limbs, their legs especially lack development. On this point my observations tally with Robuchon’s notes. The Tukana have a magnificent physique. The Andoke, though some are tall, with large frames, as a group incline more to breadth of both face and figure. The tribes of the Tikie are of a low grade.
The Indians as a rule, have hands of an average size, with stumpy fingers, and short, spatulate nails. Constant manual labour of some sort would seem to keep the nails naturally of a normal length. I never remember seeing an Indian pare his nails, but fear this is a point that may have escaped my observation. The men’s arms are frequently distorted, and the shoulders gain an artificial breadth by the use of ligatures to swell the muscles of the upper arm by means of constriction.
The natural symmetry of the Indian’s person is further enhanced by slight hips, flat buttocks. The abdomen seldom protrudes though the navel is prominent, but not to the same extent as is found among negroes.
PLATE LI.1 & 2. WITOTO TYPES. 3. WITOTO FROM KOTUE RIVER
PLATE LI.
1 & 2. WITOTO TYPES. 3. WITOTO FROM KOTUE RIVER
The men generally have large feet,[420]with long toes. Both men and women have very prehensile toes, and will pick up objects off the ground with their feet rather than trouble to stoop. They are flat-footed.
The Indian does not extend his legs when he walks, as Europeans do. He moves rather with the action of an unathletic woman. His step is on an average about two-thirds of an ordinary man’s thirty-inch pace. The foot is of necessity raised well above the ground, on account of the lianas which would trip the slovenly walker. This does not make for rapid progression. But though he walks more slowly than the white man, the Indiancan keep up a jog-trot of about five miles an hour for tremendous distances. Moreover his wind is far better than any white man’s. At a push, to get away from hostile neighbours for example, he is capable of going sixty miles a day. In ordinary circumstances he walks nowhere, except about the house and compounds. Consequently he has developed a different set of muscles from the ordinary pedestrian.
As the Boro are more harassed than the Witoto they march as a rule in silence, while the Witoto are noisy generally; but a march in country that might prove hostile is done in silence by every tribe for obvious reasons. In friendly country the Indians go along chattering and joking, or in silence, just as the spirit moves them: there is no rule. The necessity for walking in single file, and the invariable difficulties of the route, do not, however, altogether encourage conversation. These restricted paths have a further influence upon the Indian. Often enough it is necessary to place one foot directly in front of the other in order to find any footway at all. This is the probable reason, or one of the reasons, why the men walk with a straight foot, a specially needed precaution on the narrow bridges, that are merely formed of single trees. The women walk in rather a stilted fashion, with the toes turned inwards at an angle of some thirty degrees, on account of the tight ligatures they wear below the knee and above the ankle, which cause the calf to swell to enormous proportions, as has been noted. This may not inconceivably have a contracting effect in the angle of the foot. It is regarded as a sign of power if the muscles of the thighs are made to come in contact with each other when walking.
That the men run and jump well is due to their good wind, but they have no pace, and could easily be outstripped over a limited course by an average white man in good condition. But the women neither run nor jump with any facility, as they all suffer from varicose veins, caused by the ligatures to some extent, but also by the burdens they carry, and from labouring in the fields when in a condition unsuited to such physical exertion. As weights are carried on the back suspended by a strap across the forehead, the tendency to stoop or grow round-shouldered is counteracted, for the pull of the strap brings the head back, and the strain is taken by the muscles of the neck.[421]Water is always carried in vessels balanced on the head, and though theAmazonian Indian may not have the superb carriage of her sisters in the East, yet the young girls at least are very well set up, though with advancing age a lifetime of field work and burden-bearing may bow the elder women till they walk, as described by Robuchon, “in an inclined position.”
The Indian woman has generally a beautiful figure, well proportioned and supple, with high, straight shoulders. Untrammelled by dress she is graceful and free in her actions. Before marriage the women have very small breasts, but after they have borne a child the breasts develop considerably. Old women, probably on account of poorer nourishment, are very flat-chested, and one never sees a woman with very pendent breasts. In the older women they atrophy.[422]
There is great individuality in the faces of the Amazonian Indians. A tribe is no herd of sheep, differentiated only to the experienced eye of the shepherd; the dissimilarities of countenance are immediately apparent, and even to the most casual observer Indians show marked variety of face and colour and feature. Like all savages the Indians admire most the lightest coloured skins. The divergence of colour is both tribal and racial; and as a rule it will be found that the higher the type the better the physical development, and the greater the mental capacity, the lighter will be the skin. On account of the saturation of the atmosphere the Indians mostly have skins of a good texture. I never found rough skins on Indians in these districts.[423]Of all the tribes the Menimehe have the lightest complexions, and they are invariably fatter and in better condition than the surrounding tribal groups.
PLATE LII.COMBS—1. ANDOKE COMB WITH NUTSHELL CUP FOR RUBBER LATEX2. WITOTO COMB3. BORO COMB
PLATE LII.
COMBS—1. ANDOKE COMB WITH NUTSHELL CUP FOR RUBBER LATEX
2. WITOTO COMB
3. BORO COMB
I have mentioned the custom of covering a new-born infant with rubber milk either for warmth or to protect the skin; the women daub themselves with gum and a yellow clay because it is supposed to preserve the skin; but none of these peoples use any oil for lubricating purposes, and they are free from any noxious-smelling secretion. The smell of a negro they consider most offensive, but do not extend this dislike to the white man. The Indian owes his immunity from this unpleasant trait in part because he does not perspire at all freely, perhaps to difference of glandular secretion, and in part to frequent ablutions. Yet, though even a dirty people like the Witoto will bathe at least three times a day and most tribes far more often, these Indians, as has already been noted, are by no means free of body parasites. Head lice may be said to be universal, and in addition jiggers and the red tick that drops off leaves in the forest and burrows under the human skin, there is another burrowing parasite that invades the human body to lay its eggs, which is extremely common among these people. One is apt to be infested with these pests merely from touching an Indian, certainly by lying in an Indian hammock. The parasite causes considerable irritation, and the local remedy is to apply babasco juice.
Except in the case of a medicine-man, who never depilates, hair is looked upon as dirt; therefore it is always removed, only the hair of the head being permitted to grow. Depilation is usually done just before a dance. The method of removal adopted is to cover the hirsute parts with rubber latex. This is allowed to dry, so that a grip can be obtained and the hair removed simply with the forefinger and thumb or by means of two small pieces of cane. Two persons will, as far as facial hairs are concerned, depilate one another. It is universally considered a sign of cleanliness to remove all the body hairs, and even to pull out the eyebrows and eyelashes.[424]That the eyebrows are not removed for æsthetic purposes is proved by the fact that the effect is promptly reproduced with paint. It is not easy to get information with regard to the removal of body hair,[425]but I was able to obtain a little from a Karahone slave boy who was with an Andoke tribe I met. He told me that the Karahone did not depilate the hair of the face. This is the one exception among these tribes.
On the authority of Schomburgh, im Thurn states that occasionally when there is great demonstration of grief at a burial “the survivors crop their hair.” So far as my experience went none of the Indians of the Upper Amazons ever “crop” the hair close, except that of young girls when danger threatens. Should there be any reason to suppose that some man is inclined to steal a girl, her hair might be closely cut as a preventive measure to save the child from being kidnapped, for a hairless woman is looked upon as a social outcast among the tribes. The young Indians have long hair that often reaches to below the small of the back, but this length does not continue, and it is a varying quantity among the adults.
The hair is uniformly scattered over the scalp, and is coarse in texture, lank, and very abundant. Baldness is unknown, and greyness, as with the negroes, is very rare. I have only seen grey hair on a few people of apparently unusual age. In colour it is almost uniformly black, a red- not a blue-black, which gives it an occasional brown glint. Some of the children are lighter-haired, but such a variation as red hair is unknown, though in the sunlight the women’s hair may take a reddish gleam. Both women and children have finer hair than the men, and with young children it is often quite downy. As a rule it is straight, but among the Tukana wavy hair is more evident.
Among the greater part of these peoples the hair is not cut, either by the men or women. The Karahone men cut their hair to the shoulders; the Boro women, and in some cases the men, trim theirs round very much as is often seen among our small girls. Sometimes the Witoto women trim their lank locks. This is done with a knife if they have one, otherwise it is singed. With the Menimehe and Karahone it grows very low on the forehead. The Tikie tribes have most untidy and ill-kept hair.
Owing to race—possibly of Mongoloid origin—and to the prevalence of depilatory customs, the men have scanty beards, if any.
On the whole these Indians hold their own in the matter of good looks, even the lowest types are not repulsive in appearance. I mean, of course, to the eye of the stranger, not according to their individual standard of beauty. In feature both the various language-groups and the tribes of each group show many grades. It may be taken as usual that with a lighter skin the nose and lips are thinner than among those with darker colouring. The Boro and the Resigero, both comparatively light-skinned groups, have thin lips. This naturally follows from what I have already said as to colour and type, the higher type possessing, as would be expected, the more refined features. The Boro,taken as a group, are the best looking, many of them are very handsome, and some of the Andoke also are notably well favoured in appearance. “Noble” is Koch-Grünberg’s decision on the question of the Tukana tribesmen’s appearance. The Okaina, also, must be classed as good looking.
PLATE LIII.BORO TRIBESMAN FROM THE PAMA RIVERA MENIMEHE CAPTIVE
PLATE LIII.
BORO TRIBESMAN FROM THE PAMA RIVER
A MENIMEHE CAPTIVE
It seems somewhat of a contradiction after this to remark that a squint is so common a trait among these tribes that one cannot but notice immediately any one with normal eyes. This is, however, with the exception of the Tukana, very prevalent among all these tribes. The eyes are not large, and are deeply set. They are black in colour with occasional yellowness of the eyeball, but never to the degree seen in the bilious eye of the negro. Both eyesight and hearing are very acute. In the bush, or in the dark, the tribesmen have most penetrating sight, and can distinguish details at a glance where the ordinary white man can see nothing of any description. In the sun, or any strong light, their sight is inferior.
It is difficult to judge what an Indian’s ears would be like if left to Nature’s fashioning, as they are invariably distorted to more or less degree by artificial means. They are frequently prominent, and do not appear to be set close to the head in any case. The large ear-plugs will pull the lobe of the ear half-way down the neck and more. Nose-boring is not carried to so disfiguring an extent. The Boro, especially the women of those tribes, bore the wing of the nose—a custom peculiar to this people—as well as the septum, which is also bored by Muenane and Witoto women, but the nose pins are small, and do not distort the feature as the ear-plugs do the ear. The Tukana’s nose has naturally large alæ. The tribes on the Tikie also have broad noses, with prominent cheek-bones, a characteristic noted by Wallace among the Kuretu.[426]
The Indian’s chin is narrow, small, rounded, and, especially in the case of the women, retreating. There is no dimple or cleft. The teeth are big and even, and very rarely found projecting.
The Indian’s expression is stolid enough ordinarily, but when talking he has much play of feature, and he will gesticulate freely under the influence of coca. Among the tribes to the south of the Japura a man will look a stranger straight in the face, but north of that river the native has a more furtive glance. The Indian’s gaze is intense.
They are never demonstrative of affection, and, though they will touch a white man as a salutation, never touch each other. By this I mean that when friendlily disposed an Indian wouldreturn a white man’s salute, the offer of the hand, but no Indian would grasp a fellow-tribesman’s hand, or put an arm around his neck. Kissing is unknown among these people. Crevaux records that he saw children among the Calina kiss to show affection, but the nearest approach to an embrace I ever witnessed was a slap on the shoulder, probably under the shoulder-blade, which is the salutation between great friends. Mothers of course fondle their children, and I have even seen a woman with her arm round her husband, but such an exhibition is considered barely decent. Neither do they exhibit grief by weeping. The girl children cry occasionally, but no child ever screams; and adults may whine but never shed tears.
As regards brain-power, the Boro group are the most intelligent, with the possible exception of the Menimehe. I invariably found the Boro exceedingly anxious to learn from me anything they judged might be of utility to themselves. They evinced a definitely intelligent interest, not to be confounded with the ordinary curiosity of the untaught. Among all these peoples the power of mental development ceases after they have attained puberty.
One limitation that is to be noticed with all of them is their inability to grasp any chronological data. They have nothing in the way of a tally of any description, and in speaking use the vaguest expressions only for reckoning. It is my opinion, based on observation of the number of generations still living at any one time, that these people live to an advanced age. They grow elderly at from twenty-five to thirty years, and may, under favourable conditions, live another half-century or more. This is borne out by the fact that I found occasionally a man with grey hair—a sign in all coloured peoples, and I believe in Mongoloid peoples, of great age. But no Indian can give any information as to his own age, or the age of his children. For him age is non est, time of little value. He cannot tell you when he came to the neighbourhood in which you find him, though obviously only a year or two may have been passed there. His day is regulated to some extent by the rising and the setting of the sun, portioned only by its height in the heavens. If but occasion serve, one or other of the warriors, drunk with coca, will talk the whole night through, excitedly recounting some folk-tale, or endlessly boasting his feats in the hunt or on the war-path. The interruption is not resented by his comrades, nor does it seem to interfere with their slumber. Indians, in fact, never appear to sleep much, or rather they sleep little and often, as chance offers. Night is no more the time of repose than day, except in so far as darkness puts a stop to certain of theiravocations. When sleeping on the ground an Indian curls up on one side with his knees to his chin, or he sleeps on his stomach, seldom lying on the back.[427]
Though, as has been noted, they sleep with no wrap or covering, these Indians are most sensitive to climatic changes. They are decidedly susceptible to a difference of locality, and, more than this, in a land where the extreme contrast of temperature is no more than twenty degrees throughout the year, with an average of half that total, they are affected by even slight variations of temperature. They fear the cold of the early morning, and, accustomed as they are to the half-lights of the forest, they dislike sunshine, and prefer to keep in the shade, fearful of sun-sickness if exposed to the sun.
It has been suggested by some travellers that the curious habit of the Indians of inducing sickness every morning by means of a feather was based on the idea that any food which was retained in the stomach all night must be unwholesome and ought to be removed immediately.[428]I have often seen the Indians do this, but always put it down to a desire to rid the stomach of the non-absorbent constituents of the coca powder, as only the men, who alone may take coca, resort to this practice. The Indian in the early morning drinks an infusion of herbs, as I have already mentioned, which induces the removal of such substances by vomiting, although not taken primarily for this purpose.
Sickness is also secured with the fingers after a prohibitive quantity of cahuana has been drunk, as afore noted, during a big dance. Having imbibed to his utmost capacity, the Indian adopts this simple expedient to enable him to drink again.
The tribes of the upper Amazons are, comparatively with others, very cleanly. But it is only comparatively. The Boro are the cleanest, and the Witoto unquestionably the most dirty. Immediately on rising all Indians resort to the river, but except among the Boro and the Resigeros, who rub themselves with sand, the performance can hardly be called washing, it is simply bathing. The Nonuya and Muenane are cleanly, like the Resigero. Even the Andoke, though they use no sand, are cleaner than the Witoto, for this tribe never wash, and only take a dip two or three times a day, while at least five times is the ordinary rule with the majority.[429]
The first duty of the morning is a visit, as has been said, to the bathing-place. Thither troop the old and the young, both male and female, to wash and revive in the water. They do not attempt to rub their bodies dry, but are content to let the moisture evaporate when they emerge from the stream. When on a march or out hunting Indians will always bathe in any water available on the route. They go in streaming with perspiration, but seem to suffer no ill-effects. Bates has described them as “taking merely a sitz-bath” like a dog,[430]but they seemed to me to bathe as any ordinary person would who went into the water to get cool.
After returning from war the Indians bathe scrupulously before they re-enter the house. It is in the nature of a ceremonial washing, and possibly is a subconscious act of purification, though the Indians, when asked the reason, told me only that it waspia, our custom. In fact lustration with the Indian is too frequent an action to keep any ceremonial significance it may ever have had.
It follows as a matter of course with people so familiar with water that one and all are expert swimmers. The Indian of the Amazons invariably swims as naturally as he walks, and with as little tuition. From the hour of his birth he has been conversant with the river, and in a climate where the temperature of the water varies but little from 75° to 80° or more, he regards a dip as his chief solace. He never passes a stream without taking advantage of its proximity to bathe, and the fact that he may have recently fed, or that he is perspiring freely, does not hinder him from a plunge, and makes no difference to his enjoyment.
In swimming the Indian paddles like a dog, and does not attempt to attain to anything approaching the breast-stroke of the European, nor does he extend the legs widely. He flexes the legs sharply upon the trunk, and, suddenly stretching them in a straight line, drives the body forward. The stroke is not a tiring one, and the native is capable of undergoing long immersion without suffering exhaustion, but the speed he can acquire is not remarkable. For that matter there are no reasons why the Indian should desire to make rapid progression. Swimming to him is an adjunct to bathing, or a means to cross a stream; its finer developments trouble him not at all. In the muddy rivers of the Amazons there is nothing to tempt the native to dive, nor are there suitable places to jump off the banks. The Indian slips in as best suits the occasion, and does not aspire to exhibition feats, or to water games.