Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/396

and they do not dwell in villages, like the more advanced sections of the Tupí stock; but each family has its own solitary hut. They are quite harmless, do not practise tattooing, or perforate their ears and noses in any way. Their social condition is of a low type, very little removed, indeed, from that of the brutes living in the same forests. They do not appear to obey any common chief, and I could not make out that they had Pajés, or medicine-men, those rudest beginnings of a priest class. Symbolical or masked dances, and ceremonies in honour of the Juruparí, or demon, customs which prevail amongst all the surrounding tribes, are unknown to the Caishánas. There is amongst them a trace of festival-keeping; but the only ceremony used is the drinking of cashirí beer, and fermented liquors made of Indian-corn, bananas, and so forth. These affairs, however, are conducted in a degenerate style, for they do not drink to intoxication, or sustain the orgies for several days and nights in succession, like the Jurís, Passés, and Tucúnas. The men play a musical instrument, made of pieces of stem of the arrow-grass cut in different lengths and arranged like pan-pipes. With this they while away whole hours, lolling in ragged bast hammocks slung in their dark, smoky huts. The Tunantins people say that the Caishánas have persecuted the wild animals and birds to such an extent near their settlements that there is now quite a scarcity of animal food. If they kill a Toucan, it is considered an important event, and the bird is made to serve as a meal for a score or more persons. They boil the meat in earthenware kettles filled with Tucupí sauce, and eat it with