182 THE PALM TREE. 



sipds or forest creepers; the leaves are those of the 

 Carana palm. The door of the house is a framework 

 of thin hard strips of wood neatly thatched over ; it 

 is made of the split stems of the Pashiiiba palm. In 

 one corner stands a heavy harpoon for catching the 

 cow-fish; it is formed of the black wood of the 

 Pashiiiba. By its side is a blow-pipe ten or twelve 

 feet long, and a little quiver full of small poisoned 

 arrows hangs up near it; with these the Indian pro- 

 cures birds for food, or for their gay feathers, or even 

 brings down the wild hog or the tapir, and it is from, 

 the stems and spines of two species of Palms that 

 they are made. His great bassoon-like musical in- 

 struments are made of palm stems ; the cloth in which 

 he wraps his most valued feather ornaments is a fibrous 

 palm spathe ; and the rude chest in which he keeps 

 his treasures is woven from palm leaves. His ham- 

 mock, his bow-string and his fishing-line, are from 

 the fibres of leaves which he obtains from different 

 palm trees, according to the 'qualities he requires in 

 them, the hammock from the Miriti, and the bow- 

 string and fishing-line from the Tucum. The comb 

 which he wears on his head is ingeniously constructed 

 of the hard bark of a palm, and he makes fish-hooks, 

 of the spines, or uses them to puncture on his skin 

 the peculiar markings of his tribe. His children are 

 eating the agreeable red and yellow fruit of the 

 Pupunha or peach palm, and from that of the Assai 

 he has prepared a favorite drink, which he offers you 

 to taste. That carefully-suspended gourd contains 

 oil, which he has extracted from the fruit of another 



