Men and women wore their hair long and untrimmed as far as I could observe.  The older and more experienced of the tribesmen would have quite elaborate head-gear, consisting of a band of mutum plumes, interspersed with parrot-tail feathers, while the younger hunters wore nothing but a band of the mutum plumes.  The body was uncovered, save by a narrow strip of bark encircling the waist.  A broad piece, woven of several bark-strips into a sort of mat, protected the lower anterior part of the abdomen.  The women wore no clothing whatever.

Their colour was remarkably light.  Probably nothing can designate this better than the statement that if a Mangeroma were placed alongside of an Italian, no difference would be noticeable.  Their cheek-bones were not as high as is usual with tribes found on the Amazon; they seemed to come from a different race.  Their eyes were set straight without any tendency to the Mongolian slanting that characterises the Peruvian caboclos and the tribes of the northern affluents.  The women had unusually large feet, while those of the men were small and well-shaped.  The general appearance of a young Mangeroma was that of a well-proportioned athlete, standing about five feet ten in his bare feet.  No moccasins, nor any other protection for the feet, were worn.

The supply of wourahli poison had run low and three wourahli men were to go out in the forest to collect poison plants, a journey which would require several days to complete.  This occasion was set as the time of my departure.

It was a rainy morning when I wrapped my few belongings in a leaf, tied some grass-fibres around them, and inserted them in the large pocket of my khaki-coat.  The box with the gold dust was there, also the boxes with the exposed photographic plates.  Most of the gold had filtered out of the box, but a neat quantity still remained.  One of my servants—­a handsome girl—­who, excepting for the labial ornaments, could have been transformed into an individual of quite a civilised appearance by opportunity, gave me a beautiful black necklace as a souvenir.  It was composed of several hundred pieces, all carved out of ebony nuts.  It had cost her three weeks of constant work.  I embraced and was embraced by almost everybody in the maloca, after which ceremony we went in procession to the canoe that was to take me down to the Branco River.  The Chief bade me a fond farewell, that forever shall be implanted in my heart.  I had lived here weeks among these cannibal Indians, had enjoyed their kindness and generosity without charge; I could give them nothing in return and they asked nothing.  I could have stayed here for the rest of my natural life if I had so desired, but now I was to say good-bye forever.  How wonderful was this farewell!  It was my opportunity for acknowledging that the savage heart is by no means devoid of the feelings and sentiments that characterise more elevated, so-called civilised individuals.