“The children of both sexes wear no covering; men and women roll a piece of cloth round their loins, or envelope themselves in a cloak made from the skins of wild animals. Necklaces and bracelets of glass beads or small shells form the ornaments of the females, while in some tribes the men twine round their bodies long white rows of beads, composed of little fragments of shells rounded like buttons, and strung together at regular intervals.”
Machicuys.—Dr. Demersay does not share the opinion expressed by M. d’Orbigny that the Machicuys may be nothing more than a tribe of the Tobas, whose language they perhaps speak. According to the first-named traveller, the tongues of the two nations are different, and other distinctions separate them.
“The Machicuys,” says Dr. Demersay, “are more sedentary in their habits, are greater tillers of the soil, and are endowed with less fierce manners than the Lenguas, but they resemble them in the extraordinary dimensions of the lobe of the ears as well as in their weapons and method of fighting. Azara says that they differ in the shape of their barbote, which is said to resemble that of the Charruas. To reiterate an observation we have already made, we say that none of the Machicuys we have seen showed any marks of the opening intended for the reception of this savage ornament, which they are abandoning, after the example of the Brazilian Botocudos, whilst certain tribes of the ancient continent religiously preserve it. In the same way the Berrys, a black nation on the borders of the Saubat, a tributary on the right bank of the Nile, pierce their lower lip, in order to insert a piece of crystal more than an inch long.
“In height, formation, and proportions the Machicuys are similar to the Lenguas, and like them they have small eyes, broad faces, large mouths, flat noses, and wide nostrils. Their hair is allowed to hang loosely, and its thick curls partly cover their faces and fall on their shoulders.
“The language of these nations, like that of all the Indians of the Chaco, is strongly accentuated and full of sounds that require an effort to be forced from the nose and throat; it contains double consonants extremely difficult to pronounce.”
Moxos and Chiquitos.—The interior and, to some extent, central regions of South America lying north of the Chaco, have been called by the Spaniards the “Provinces of the Moxos and Chiquitos,” from the names of the two principal families of Indian race living in these countries.
The Moxos inhabit vast plains, subject to frequent inundations and overrun by immense streams, on which they are constantly obliged to navigate in their boats. They are the ichthyophagists of the river districts of the interior.
The land of the Chiquitos is a succession of mountains inconsiderable in height, covered with forests and intersected by numerous small rivers. They are husbandmen and have fixed abodes.