308 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



to one another derisively, when they want another sipo, 

 " Hand me a nail." The ridge-pole of this chief's house 

 could not have been less than twenty-five to thirty-eight feet 

 high, and the room was spacious in proportion. Hammocks 

 were hung in the corners, one of which was partitioned off 

 by a low wall of palm-thatch ; bows and arrows, guns and 

 oars, hung on the walls or were leaning against them, and 

 adjoining this central apartment was the mandioca kitchen. 

 There were a number of doors and windows in the room, 

 closed by large palm-mats. The house of the chief stood 

 at the head of a line of houses differing from his only in 

 being somewhat smaller ; they made one side of an open 

 square, on the opposite side of which was a corresponding 

 row of buildings. With a few exceptions these houses 

 were empty, for the population gather only three or four 

 times in -the course of the year, at certain festival seasons. 

 Generally they are scattered about in their different sitios, 

 attending to their plantations. But at these fetes they 

 assemble to the number of several hundred, all the dwell 

 ings are crowded with families, and the square in the centre 

 is cleared of grass, swept and garnished for their evening 

 dances. Such festivities last for ten days or a fortnight ; 

 then they all disperse to their working life again. At 

 this time there are not more than thirty or forty persons 

 in the village. The most interesting object we saw was 

 their church, which stands at the head of the square, 

 and was built entirely by the Indians themselves. It is 

 quite a large structure, capable of holding an assembly 

 of five or six hundred persons. The walls are of mud, 

 very neatly finished inside, and painted in colors made 

 by the Indians from the bark, roots, and fruits of certain 

 trees, and also from a particular kind of clay. The front 



