192 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
heads. They make quite a procession at morning and 
evening; for the river water is not considered good, and 
the town is chiefly supplied from pools and little stream- 
lets in the woods. Many of these pools, very prettily 
situated and embowered in trees, are used as bathing- 
places ; one, which is quite large and deep, is a special 
favorite ; it has been thatched over with palm, and has 
also a little thatched shed adjoining, to serve as a dressing- 
room. 
Yesterday we passed an interesting morning at a school 
for Indian children a little way out of the city. We were 
astonished at the aptness they showed for the arts of civiliza- 
tion so uncongenial to our North American Indians : it re- 
minded one that they are the successors, on the same soil, 
of the races who founded the ancient civilizations of Peru 
and Mexico, so much beyond any social organization known 
to have existed among the more northern tribes. In one 
room they were turning out very nice pieces of furniture, 
chairs, tables, book-stands, <fcc., with a number of smaller 
articles, such as rulers and paper-knives. In another room 
they were working in iron, in another making fine fancy 
articles of straw. Besides these trades, they are taught 
to read, write, and cipher, and to play on various musical 
instruments. For music they are said to have, like the 
negro, a natural aptitude. In the main building were 
the school-rooms, dormitories, store-rooms, kitchen, <fec. 
We were there just at the breakfast hour, and had the 
satisfaction of seeing them sit down to a hearty meal, 
consisting of a large portion of bread and butter and a 
generous bowl of coffee. I could not help contrasting the 
expression of these boys, when they were all collected, 
with that of a number of negro children assembled to- 
