They take little care of the sick, and when hope is given up the patient is left alone to die. The Peruvian Indians have a similar custom. Amongst the Serranos, when a sick person does not soon show signs of recovery, a family meeting is called, and a fixed sum is voted for his cure, say twelve or twenty reals. When this amount has been spent, the patient is removed from his couch and laid upon a hide on the ground outside the house. A child is posted to fan him and keep off the flies, and only water is given him till he dies. The Tinguianes formerly buried their dead in pits dug under their houses, after subjecting the corpses to a baking or drying process, and on certain days in the year food was placed near the tombs for the souls of the dead to partake of. Those who are converted have of course to bury their dead in the cemetery, and to pay a fee to the priest. They share the idea that seems to prevail amongst all Malays, that the soul is absent from the body during sleep, and that consequently it is dangerous and wicked to awake anybody suddenly. The most dreadful thing that can happen to anybody, therefore, is to die whilst sleeping, leaving his soul wandering about. Their most desperate curse is to wish that this may happen to an adversary. This seems to reach a higher level of cursing than the oaths of the Tagals which I have previously mentioned. The usual respect for ancestors is shown, and any weapons or ornaments which have belonged to them are carefully preserved as valued heirlooms. The names of an ancestor must, however, on no account be pronounced by his descendants, so that if any necessity arises to answer a question which involves mentioning the name of one, a friend not related to the person enquired about must be called in to answer. Monsieur de la Gironière visited these people, and describes them as men of good stature, slightly bronzed, with straight hair, regular profiles, and aquiline noses. The women truly beautiful and graceful. They appeared to him to resemble the people of the South of France, except for their costume and language. The men wore a belt and a sort of turban made from the bark of the fig-tree. Their arms consisted of a long lance, a small axe, called aligua, and a shield. The women wore a belt and a narrow apron which came down to their knees, their heads being ornamented with pearls, and grains of coral and gold were fixed amongst their hair. The upper parts of their hands were painted blue, and they wore plaited sheaths ornamented with beads on their fore-arms; these sheaths strongly compressed the fore-arm, being put on when the women were young, and they prevented the development of the fore-arm, whilst causing the wrists and hands to swell. This is a beauty amongst the Tinguianes as the little foot is amongst the Chinese.