other Tapouyas. They are mostly of the middle stature, with broad shoulders,
large chests, and delicate hands and feet. Their eyes are mostly small, black and
piercing; the nose is short, straight and expanded at the nostrils. The whole
face is large, and occasionally somewhat flattened. Their color is a reddish
brown, much darker in some instances than others, and in some examples almost
white. In other respects these people resemble the other nations of the American
continent. But they have, in common with several tribes of Paraguay, the
horrible custom of slitting the lower lip, and wearing in the opening thus made
a round or oval piece of wood, which gives their physiognomy a frightful
expression, which is heightened by the almost constant flow of saliva from the
aperture.
With respect to the moral character of the Botocudos, there is little, perhaps
nothing, to admire. “ Being in no degree guided by the moral principle, and
uncontrolled by the laws which restrict civilised man within the limits of social
order, these barbarians follow the impulses of sense and instinct like the jaguars
of the forest. The outbreakings of their demoniac passions, and especially their
revenge and jealousy, are as terrible as they are sudden and unexpected.” The
most trifling incident is sufficient to excite their anger, which can never ,be
appeased except by the death of the offender.
It will be of course inferred that their wars are constant and sanguinary.
They contend with all the surrounding nations, whether of the European or
Indian race, and their hatred to some adjacent tribes is so implacable, that they
never spare man, woman or child. Though now nearly exterminated, they
remain, as a nation, unconquered and unconquerable.
Nevertheless, unlike their neighbors, the Charruas, the Botocudos have their
hours of mirth, and enliven their indolence with songs and dances: and with all
their savage attributes it is due to them to state, that they have in some instances
shown lasting gratitude to those who have befriended them.*
PLATE XV.
BOTOCUDO OF BRAZIL.
Being extremely desirous to obtain a drawing of one of the skulls of these
singular people, I wrote for that purpose to his Highness, Maximilian Prince de
Wied-Nieuwied, celebrated for his scientific researches in both Americas. My
See Voyage au Brésil, par S. A. S. Maximilien, Prince de Wied-Nieuwied, T. II, p. 207, &c.