364 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1901. 



Guama, :i little river running into the bay on the west side of Para. 

 These Indians are probably now living within 150 miles of the city, 

 but a visit to them would require a strong party and several weeks' 

 time in ascending rapids and dragging canoes. 



In 1873 1 had visited the wild tribes of the upper Purus River and 

 had found them within reach of steam navigation, so I decided that 

 this place, though so distant, was the most favorable for my work. 



After getting as much information as possible from Para merchants 

 and residents who had visited the Purus, I took passage up the Ama- 

 zon on an English steamer, and after four days' voyage reached 

 Manaos, at the mouth of the Rio Negro and 1,000 miles from the sea. 

 Since my former visit Manaos had grown from an Indian village to a 

 city of 30,000 people, the capital of the Brazilian State of Amazonas, 

 with street cars and electric lights. Five ocean steamers were at 

 anchor in the Rio Negro in front of the city, and a fleet of river 

 steamers engaged in trade with the Madeira, Purus, Rio Negro, 

 Juriia, etc. 



I was fortunate in getting passage on one of these, the Antonio 

 Olyntho, which was about to sail for Acre, on the Bolivian frontier, 

 and intermediate ports on the Purus. 



Two days' steam up the Amazon brought us to the mouth of the 

 Purus, now, the 1st of March, rapidly rising with the daily rains. 

 The great sand bars had disappeared and the water was alread} 7 setting 

 back into the low timber behind. The Purus is noted for its crooked 

 course, there being a decided bend at every 2 or 3 miles distance, and 

 at every bend a great sand bar. These occur with such regularity 

 that the inhabitants are accustomed to reckon distance by so many 

 pravas (sand bars). The banks are generally low, at this season just 

 above water, but now and then the river would strike the high land 

 on one side or the other, this showing generally in bluffs of red clay, 

 some of them LOO feet above the river. 



For several hundred miles of the Puriis' lower course the forests 

 produce but little rubber and nuts, the staples of the country, and 

 settlements are seen only at long intervals. These settlements consist 

 usually of palm-thatched barracks occupied by fishermen, turtle hunt- 

 ers, and wood choppers from Para and Manaos. At one of these the 

 steamer drew near the bank, the landing plank was run out to the 

 shore, and two or three cords of dried fish (pirarucu), in great bundles, 

 were brought on board and added to our means of subsistence. At 

 another 50 great river turtles were purchased and the crew sent on 

 shore to bring them from the turtle corral, a shallow pond surrounded 

 by paling. The turtles were thrown on their backs along the sides of 

 the deck, where they lay kicking and sprawling until they also were 

 added to our limited bill of fare. 



As we approached the mouth of the Tapaiia, though to the unprac- 



