The Huitotos are a well-formed race, and although small are stout and strong, with a broad chest and a prominent bust, but their limbs, especially the lower, are but little developed. Their hair, long and abundant, is black and coarse, and is worn long by both sexes. A peculiar custom is that of pulling out the eyebrows, eyelashes, and the fine hairs of the other parts of the body. That repugnant sight, a protruding abdomen, so common among the "whites" and half-breeds on the Amazon, is very rare among these aborigines. Among the women the habit of carrying their young on their backs makes them adopt an inclined position, which they conserve all their life. Their feet are turned inwards, and when they walk their thighs generally strike against each other as though they were afraid. Notwithstanding these defects, it is not rare to find among these women many really beautiful, so magnificent are their figures and so free and graceful their movements. [Illustration: A HUITOTO INDIAN RUBBER GATHERER. [To face p. 152.] The men, on the contrary, walk with their feet turned outwards; but when crossing a log or a tree which serves as a bridge over a stream they turn them inwards, in this way obtaining greater stability and avoiding slipping. The big toes of their feet are endowed with great flexibility, and they use them to pick up things from the ground. Among the men certain physical organs are compressed and tied up, and never reach their normal development. The women suffer few abnormalities; their breasts are periform and always prominent, even among the old, in which case they diminish in volume, but never hang down. The custom of mutilation is very common among all the male Huitotos. Those of the Caraparaná and the Upper Igaraparaná--the two principal tributaries of the Central Putumayo--perforate the dividing wall of the nose, and stick through the orifice a tube of _junco_, often as thick as a lead-pencil, while the inhabitants of the central portion of the Igaraparaná pierce the whole lower extremity of this organ with variously coloured tubes and feathers, sometimes vertically traversing the lower lip with others. All have a long, thick rod, often adorned with curious carvings, stuck through the lobe of the ear. These Indians are humble and hospitable to a marked degree, except a few of the more remote sub-tribes, who are still free and independent and not yet in contact with the rubber-collectors. Indeed, Serrano informed me that the first Colombian settlers in this region, who had arrived here penniless, ill, and despairing, had been warmly welcomed by the Huitotos, plied with food, given women, and made far more comfortable than they had ever been in their own country. Serrano's Yabuyanos at La Reserva served us splendidly, for they were always cheerful, willing, and reliable. They called Serrano their father, and, indeed, treated him as such.