192 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [June, 



and about an inch in diameter. They are ground round, and 

 flat at the ends, a work of great labour, and are each pierced 

 with a hole at one end, through which a string is inserted, to 

 suspend it round the neck. It appears almost incredible that 

 they should make this hole in so hard a substance without any 

 iron instrument for the purpose. What they are said to use is 

 the pointed flexible leaf-shoot of the large wild plantain, 

 triturating with fine sand and a little water ; and I have no 

 doubt it is, as it is said to be, a labour of years. Yet it must 

 take a much longer time to pierce that which the Tushaiia 

 wears as the symbol of his authority, for it is generally of the 

 largest size, and is worn transversely across the breast, for 

 which purpose the hole is bored lengthways from one end to 

 the other, an operation which I was informed sometimes 

 occupies two lives. The stones themselves are procured from 

 a great distance up the river, probably from near its sources at 

 the base of the Andes ; they are therefore highly valued, and 

 it is seldom the owners can be induced to part with them, the 

 chiefs scarcely ever. I here purchased a club of hard red wood 

 for a small mirror, a comb for half-a-dozen small fish-hooks, and 

 some other trifling articles. 



A portion only of the inhabitants arrived that night, as when 

 traders come they are afraid of being compelled to go with 

 them, and so hide themselves. Many of the worst characters 

 in the Rio Negro come to trade in this river, force the Indians, 

 by threats of shooting them, into their canoes, and sometimes 

 even do not scruple to carry their threats into execution, they 

 being here quite out of reach of even that minute portion of 

 the law which still struggles for existence in the Rio Negro. 



We passed the night in the malocca, surrounded by the 

 naked Indians hanging round their fires, which sent a fitful 

 light up into the dark smoke-filled roof. A torrent of rain 

 poured without, and I cmld not help admiring the degree of 

 sociality and comfort in numerous families thus living together 

 in patriarchal harmony. The next morning Senhor L. suc- 

 ceeded in persuading one Indian to earn a " saia " (petti- 

 coat) for his wife, and embark with us, and so we bade adieu to 

 Assai Parana (Assai river). On lifting up the mat covering 

 of our canoe, I found lying comfortably coiled up on the top 

 of my box a fine young boa, of a species of which I possessed 

 two live specimens at Gufa : he had probably fallen in unper- 



