For so much as we learned of their manner of life and customs, it was that they go entirely naked, as well the men as the women.  They are of medium stature, very well proportioned:  their flesh is of a colour that verges into red like a lion’s mane:  and I believe that if they went clothed, they would be as white as we:  they have not any hair upon the body, except the hair of the head, which is long and black, and especially in the women, whom it renders handsome.  In aspect they are not very good-looking, because they have broad faces, so that they would seem Tartar-like:  they let no hair grow on their eyebrows, nor on their eyelids, nor elsewhere, except the hair of the head:  for they hold hairiness to be a filthy thing:  they are very light footed in walking and in running, as well the men as the women:  so that a woman reeks nothing of running a league or two, as many times we saw them do:  and herein they have a very great advantage over us Christians:  they swim (with an expertness) beyond all belief, and the women better than the men:  for we have many times found and seen them swimming two leagues out at sea without anything to rest upon.  Their arms are bows and arrows very well made, save that (the arrows) are not (tipped) with iron nor any other kind of hard metal:  and instead of iron they put animals’ or fishes’ teeth, or a spike of tough wood, with the point hardened by fire:  they are sure marksmen, for they hit whatever they aim at:  and in some places the women use these bows:  they have other weapons, such as fire-hardened spears, and also clubs with knobs, beautifully carved....  Warfare is used amongst them, which they carry on against people not of their own language, very cruelly, without granting life to any one, except (to reserve him) for greater suffering.

Their dwellings are in common:  and their houses (are) made in the style of huts, but strongly made, and constructed with very large trees, and covered over with palm-leaves, secure against storms and winds:  and in some places (they are) of so great breadth and length, that in one single house we found there were 600 souls:  and we saw a village of only thirteen houses where there were four thousand souls:  every eight or ten years they change their habitations:  and when asked why they did so:  (they said it was) because of the soil, which, from its filthiness, was already unhealthy and corrupted, and that it bred aches in their bodies, which seemed to us a good reason:  their riches consist of birds’ plumes in many colours, or of rosaries which they make from fishbones, or of white or green stones which they put in their cheeks and in their lips and ears, and of many other things which we in no wise value:  they use no trade, they neither buy nor sell.  In fine, they live and are contented with that which nature gives them.  The wealth that we enjoy in this our Europe and elsewhere, such as gold, jewels, pearls, and other riches, they hold as nothing:  and altho they have them in their own lands, they do not labour to obtain them, nor do they value them.  They are liberal in giving, for it is rarely they deny you anything, and on the other hand, liberal in asking, when they shew themselves your friends.