RECOLLECTIONS OF BRAZIL. 309 



to yellowish white. Some of them, the ' Botoculos,' are nearly white, 

 and among this tribe blue eyes are by no means uncommon. They 

 are all of middling stature, with broad shoulders., strongly built, but 

 without any appearance of muscle ; in fact, a general conformation of 

 features and person more or less characterises them all such as a 

 small forehead, a round flat Tartar face, thick lips, ^lat nose, small 

 black eyes, with thick lank black hair, that lias not the slightest 

 tendency to curl. At the first aspect, the Aboriginal Brazilian, 

 appears to be mild and innocent, but on a more attentive view one 

 discovers in his countenance something wild, distrustful, and sudden. 

 All the Brazil tribes go quite naked, and paint their bodies with the 

 die of the Jenepapos and the Racron tree ; the latter is of a bright 

 red colour, and imparts a ferocious expression to the countenance. 

 The body is painted sometimes entirely black, and at others, all 

 white and half-black ; but the custom that exists among some of 

 them of mutilating the countenance is extraordinary, and gives them 

 an expression of which no description can adequately convey an idea. 

 Thus the Botocodas make a incision in the lower lip, and in the lobe 

 of the ears, into which they insert round pieces of wood, by which 

 means the lower lip is brought up to the tip of the nose, and the ears 

 are distended to the very shoulders. Nothing can be more hideous 

 than the appearance of the Botocuda when he removes this singular 

 ornament, for it then hangs down and discovers the lower teeth. 

 The Mouras insert on each side of the upper lip two large Onza teeth, 

 which have the appearance of natural tusks, while another is fixed in 

 the chin, and hangs down like the imperial of a modern dandy. The 

 Maxurunas, a tribe who live on the banks of the Javari, in the 

 Capatania of Grand Para, near the borders of Peru, tattoo the face, 

 on each side of the nose, and in the lobe of the ears round pieces of 

 wood are fixed ; the lips are also tattoed with the thorns of the palm 

 tree, and at each angle of the mouth a large Arara feather is stuck. 

 The Juris again dye the face blue from the mouth upwards to the 

 eyes. The Juris Topocas wear beautiful ornaments made of fea- 

 thers, arranged in the most picturesque manner ; and round their 

 necks a profusion of necklaces made with the teeth of wild animals. 



Although there is a striking resemblance among all the Brazilian 

 tribes in respect to their genius, character, manners, and particular 

 customs, as similar as though they formed but one nation ; the greatest 

 diversity of language, on the other hand, exists among them. This is 

 extremely remarkable, as they are not dialects of certain original lan- 

 guages, for so widely do they differ, that the Indians of different 

 tribes do not understand each other ; they are all extremely imperfect 

 in their structure, extending only to the denomination of such objects 

 as strike their organs of vision, but incapable of expressing any ab- 

 stract idea. It is to this cause that we have remained so singularly 

 in the dark respecting the Aborigines of Brazil, for such is the im- 

 perfection of their language that it is impossible to elicit any satis- 

 factory information from them. 



The temperament of the Indian is almost wholly undeveloped, and 

 appears as phlegm : all the powers of the soul, and the more re- 

 fined pleasures of the senses are in a state of lethargy. Insensible to 



