As all singers have the fault which Horace complains of in them, namely, that when they once begin, they will never leave off; the two chaunters are admonished to conclude their song, by women who stand around, separated from the men, and who signify to the vocal pair, after they have sung about a quarter of an hour, that it is time to desist, by repeated percussion of their lips, and by pronouncing the little words _Kla leyà_, it is enough. With this admonition, they immediately comply, and conclude the magnificent commemoration of their mighty deeds with _Gramackka aka`m_: Such then we are. Another pair then succeeds to the former, and in this manner the singing is protracted till the morning. Then, indeed, the scene is changed, the drinking commences, and their dry and weary throats are refreshed with that American nectar made either of honey, or the alfaroba. The women, and the unmarried men are excluded from these drinking-parties, though the latter are allowed to drink mead in private, as the women to drink pure honey, and eat the raw alfaroba. To seek honey in the woods for making this drink, is the business of the men, but the whole labour of preparing it falls upon the women, who have to knock down the alfarobas from the trees, to carry them home on horseback, to pound them in mortars, to pour water on them, and to dress the hides which serve to hold the liquor. The method of their construction is this: the feet are cut off, the hide is made square; its four sides are then raised to the height of two spans, so that it receives at the bottom any liquor that you may pour in, and holds it without spilling a drop. Honey, or the alfaroba steeped in water, obtains the desirable degree of acidity quicker, or slower, according to the state of the atmosphere, and ferments, in a certain way, without the addition of any thing else. The Abipones approach those vessels every now and then, and ascertain, by the smell, whether that honeyed beverage has attained its proper state. _Layam ycham_; It will soon ferment, they cry as they go away. Till at length some one comes, who, judging by his nose, declares that it has gained the necessary acidity. This being given out, they all flock to the appointed place. Those leathern vessels, full of foaming mead, are each brought by the hands of six or eight girls, who lay down their burden, and return home without speaking a word to the drinkers. Before the first vessel is quite exhausted, another is brought, to that is added a third, then a fourth, and so on. I did not in the least wonder to see the women so alert and industrious in performing these useful offices, because the more diligent they are, the higher character they obtain amongst their countrymen, and the greater favour do they gain from their husbands. It must be confessed, however, that the Abipones, when they sup and dine in private, drink nothing but water. I _have_ known Abipones who abstained from fermented