304 RECOLLECTIONS OF BRAZIL. 



announce the time of her prayer ; and on the death-like stillness of 

 the forest, the evening hymn now breaks with beautiful effect 



" Fading, still fading, the last beam is shining ; 

 Ave Maria ! Day is declining ; 

 Safety and innocence fly with the light, 

 Temptation and danger walk forth with the night. 

 From the fall of the shade, till the matin shall chime, 

 Shield us from danger, and save us from crime." 



AVE MARIA ORA PRO NOS. 



And now the vampire-bats, eager for their nightly meal, are seen 

 flitting about, their horrid forms thrown out in strong relievo, by the 

 scintillations of myriads of fire-flies, that fly about like ignis fatui, 

 while the moon rises in all the bright effulgence of a tropical clime, 

 radiantly tipping with silver the graceful tops of the cocoa-nut trees, 

 and bathing in a flood of light the wood-crowned heights of the lake, 

 or river, in the lustrous bosom of which, are reflected the magnificent 

 constellations of the southern hemisphere. Insensible, indeed, must 

 he be, who can gaze unmoved on such a scene as this. 



It is in these forests that we behold our fellow man in his primi- 

 tive state, even as he was at the birth of creation. The names of the 

 Brazil tribes are scarcely known in Europe but to the Portuguese, 

 who divided all the savage tribes of Brazil into two classes, viz. : 

 Those who inhabit the sea-coast, who are somewhat civilized, and who 

 are called Caboclos, or Indias Mansos, domesticated Indians ; and 

 those of the interior, still in a state of the rudest barbarism, styled 

 Topayos, or " Indias bravos." The former, when the Europeans 

 discovered the country, inhabited the sea-coast, and were divided into 

 numerous tribes, who did not materially differ in manners and lan- 

 guage ; they all fattened up their prisoners, killed them on some great 

 festival with a club, beautifully ornamented with feathers, and then 

 devoured them. As their language was spoken along the whole ex- 

 tent of coast, from Para to St. Paulo, it was called the lingua geroel, 

 and in fact it is the language that has given names to all the animals, 

 plants, rivers, &c. in Brazil.* 



The first class, according to this division, having changed their 

 mode of life, have necessarily lost their original character. But this 

 observation does not apply to the Topauyas, who still live in a state 

 of nature, and are divided into several tribes, who are distributed 

 over the vast Empire of Brazil, in the following order : In Minas 

 Geraes, Ceroados, Coropos, Puris, Botocudos, Macuanis. In Bahia 

 and Porto Leguro, Machacolis, Capoxos, Catauyos, Carires, Sabujos, 

 Cacamacaens, Masacaros, Province of Peauli, Grecos. Of Para and 

 Rio Negro, Apoyencecros, Purecameraens, Muras, Mundrucas, Man- 

 cixos, Canna Merim, Passes, Quri, Tocana, Tapuga, Marania Juri, 

 Tapoca, Cutenos, Catuquinos, Uarucu, Tupenambros. Like the 



* The Jesuit Vasconsellos, in his Noticias Curiosas do Brazils, mentions that 

 such was the passion of the Indians to partake of the flesh of their enemies, that 

 when there was not sufficient to give a small portion to each of the tribe, broth 

 was made of the flesh to make it go farther. 



