The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

258 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA.
search of ipecacuanha and other medicinal plants. Skilled weavers and workers
in straw or fibre, they make excellent baskets, panniers, textile fabrics, hannnncks,
and various other objects, which they sell to the settled populations of the
plains.
A more savage people are the Bororos, who formerly occupied the Upper Jauru
and Cabacal valleys, but who are now stationed on the banks of the S. Lourenco,
in the colony of Thereza Christina. These rude natives, who add to their fierce
expression by daubing the face red and slitting the lips, are firm believers in the
transmigration of souls. They regard themselves as the brothers of the parra-
keets, who are never killed ;
but the vultures receive the souls of departed negroes,
while great sorcerers pass into the bodies of bright coloured fishes. Shooting stars
are supposed to portend the death of some member of the tribe.
The central parts of ]Matto Grosso at the foot of the plateaux are occupied by
the Guatos, some of whom are still in the wild state. They are physically a fine
race, resembling Europeans more than the other aborigines. Formerly they wore
a lip ornament like that of the Botocudos, and still deck themselves with neck-
laces of jaguar and crocodile teeth, but dispense with all clothing except in the
neighbourhood of the white settlements. The Guatos, whose uame appears to
mean " Watermen," are unrivaUed boatmen, passing a great part of their exis-
tence on the lakes and rivers, and living chiefly on the jacare crocodile and wild
rice. To this diet is attributed the odour of musk which they emit. The Guatos
are so expert in taming wild animals and birds that they seem to have the power
of charming them. Although nominal Christians, they are said still to gather in
sacred places, especially the summit of the Serra de Dourados and the islands of
Lake Uberaba.
Although of different speech, the Guanes of the Taquary and iliranda Valleys
are, perhaps, akin to the southern Guaycurus. At present they are little better
than serfs, employed by the white settlers to collect drugs, build boats, plant
manioc, beans, bananas, and the sugar cane. They also distil rum, and weave a
cotton fabric of such close texture as to be perfectly waterproof. In these pa tinoes,
as they are called, the warp is completely concealed by the weft.
The Guanes no longer paint their bodies, mutilate their ears and other mem-
bers ; but none of these practices had fallen into abeyance before the second half
of the present century. Till recently, the Laianos, a sub-tribe dwelling in the
vicinity of Miranda, covered the whole body with white, red, or black paint-
ings, executed with remarkable delicacy. Some of the designs represented
various animals, to which the artist endeavoured to impart a fierce look, doubt-
less in order to terrify the enemy. They worshipped the constellation of the
Pleiads. The Guane language is extremely soft, but without any energy, and
every sentence usually terminates in a prolonged sound, which, to strangers,
resembles a groan. The Guane is evidently not the language of a free people.
In the southern districts, near Paraguay, dwell various tribes who have received
the collective name of Guaycuru, a term said to mean " Runners." They are the
same people whom the Guarani called Mbaya, " Terrible," or " Bad," and to whom