Those inhabitants, like beasts of prey, traverse the forest, and while
they neither encroach on their neighbours territories, nor are at war
with another tribe, enjoy freedom in the most extensive sense of the
word. In stature they are of a middle size, neither so tall nor yet so
low as some Europeans. To appearance they are strong and well made; yet
they are totally unqualified for that heavy burden or tedious labour
which the vigorous and firm nerves of Europeans enable them to undergo.
None of them are deformed, deformities of nature being confined to the
ages of art and refinement. Their colour is brown, and their skin shines,
being varnished with bears fat and paint. To appearance the men have no
beards, nor hair on their head, except a round tuft on its crown; but
this defect is not natural, as many people are given to believe, but the
effect of art, it being customary among them to tear out such hair by the
root. They go naked, except those parts which natural decency teaches the
most barbarous nations to cover. The huts in which they live are foul,
mean and offensive; and their manner of life is poor, nasty and
disgustful. In the hunting season they are eager and indefatigable in
pursuit of their prey; when that is over, they indulge themselves in a
kind of brutal slumber, indolence and ease. In their distant excursions
they can endure hunger long, and carry little with them for their
subsistence; but in days of plenty they are voracious as vultures. While
dining in company with their chieftains, we were astonished at the vast
quantity of meat they devoured. Agriculture they leave to women, and
consider it as an employment unworthy of a man: indeed they seem
amazingly dead to the tender passions, and treat their women like slaves,
or beings of an inferior rank. Scolding, insults, quarrels, and
complaints, are seldom heard among them: on solemn occasions they are
thoughtful, serious, and grave; yet I have seen them free, open and merry
at feasts and entertainments. In their common deportment towards each