Republican Herald

Miscellaneous Selections.

The Amazons.—The result of the most diligent inquiries, which Dr. Martin and his companions could make, has been to convince them, that all the accounts we have of the far-famed race of Amazons are a pure invention. At Ocellana, on the Kingu, which is said to have been their chosen seat, the party were enabled to form an acquaintance with a wandering tribe of Muras Indians:

"In no quarter," says their narrative, "did we find the wretched condition of the American savage so melancholy and loathsome." Every thing betokened, that even the first of nature's wants are satisfied in a way very little removed from that of the brute creation. Their hut, constructed of short trunks of trees, and covered with rushes and palm leaves, is furnished with a low doorway, which serves also for window and chimney, and is scarcely longer than a swinging mat made from the peeled bark of a tree. They had no household gear whatever. The female was quite as sparingly clad as her husband and children; the expression of their countenances was wild, and fitful, and disgusting; and even a sense of freedom did not suffice to lend a smile to a breadth of features haggard and overshaded with heaps of flowing tresses. Every one of their women bore, both in their faces and on their bodies, the traces of brutal treatment. In person, they were broad moulded, extremely fleshy, and of middling stature; their complexion was generally a deep brown: they had scarcely any hair except upon the head, but, in the male, it was discernible on the upper lip; and he rendered his gloomy physiognomy still more terrific by the insertion of three immense hog's teeth into his upper and nether lips. They prepare a species of tobacco, which, on the occasion of a festival, is blown into the nostrils by means of hollowed bones, and produces temporary insanity as well as brutal drunkenness; but this is after the men have interchanged tokens of amity, by scourging themselves in pairs with leathern straps until their very blood gushes out. It is difficult to discover any motive for this practice. Whilst among these Indians, we had an opportunity of observing, that the custom of eating earth really exists: clay is the substance used, in conjunction with the Mandiocca, or fish; it is introduced as a supplementary dish. We were told, that this custom is widely prevalent; and the only reason which could be given for it was, that it was comfortable to the stomach."—Spix and Martin's Travels in Brazil.