328 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



two. And so it proved to be. We saw no more of 

 them. Major Coutinho 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. Coutinho 

 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 



