Note.—The letters should be pronounced as in Spanish.
The Huitotos are a well-formed race, and although small are stout and strong, with a broad chest and a prominent bust, but their limbs, especially the lower, are but little developed. Their hair, long and abundant, is black and coarse, and is worn long by both sexes. A peculiar custom is that of pulling out the eyebrows, eyelashes, and the fine hairs of the other parts of the body. That repugnant sight, a protruding abdomen, so common among the “whites” and half-breeds on the Amazon, is very rare among these aborigines.
Among the women the habit of carrying their young on their backs makes them adopt an inclined position, which they conserve all their life. Their feet are turned inwards, and when they walk their thighs generally strike against each other as though they were afraid. Notwithstanding these defects, it is not rare to find among these women many really beautiful, so magnificent are their figures and so free and graceful their movements.
The men, on the contrary, walk with their feet turned outwards; but when crossing a log or a tree which serves as a bridge over a stream they turn them inwards, in this way obtaining greater stability and avoiding slipping. The big toes of their feet are endowed with great flexibility, and they use them to pick up things from the ground.
Among the men certain physical organs are compressed and tied up, and never reach their normal development. The women suffer few abnormalities; their breasts are periform and always prominent, even among the old, in which case they diminish in volume, but never hang down.
