328 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
two. And so it proved to be. We saw no more of 
them. Major Coutinlio says that, in certain Amazonian 
tribes, the Indian bridegroom is subjected to a singular 
test. On the day of his marriage, while the wedding 
festivities are going on, his hand is tied up in a paper 
bag filled with fire-ants. If he bears this torture smilingly 
and unmoved, he is considered fit for the trials of matri- 
mony. 
Yesterday we arrived at Pedreira, a little village con- 
sisting of some fifteen or twenty houses hemmed in by 
forest. The place certainly deserves its name of the 
" place of stones," for the shore is fringed with rocks 
and boulders. We landed at once, and Mr. Coutinlio 
and Mr. Agassiz spent the morning in geologizing and 
botanizing. In the course of our ramble we came upon 
an exceedingly picturesque Indian camp. The river is now 
so high that the water runs far up into the forest. In such 
an overflowed wood, a number of Indian montarias were 
moored ; while, on a tract of dry land near by, the Indians 
had cleared a little grove, cutting down the inner trees, 
and leaving only the outer ones standing, so as to make 
a shady, circular arbor. Within this arbor the hammocks 
were slung ; while outside were the kettles and water- 
jugs, and utensils of one sort and another. In this little 
camp were several Indian families, who had left their 
mandioca plantations in the forest, to pass the Christmas 
festa in the village. I asked the women what they did, 
they and their babies, of which there were a goodly num- 
ber, when it rained ; for a roof of foliage is poor shelter 
in these tropical rains, descending, not in drops, but in 
sheets. They laughed, and, pointing to their canoes, said 
they crept under the tolda, the arched roof of palm-thatch 
