INDIAN TRIBES OF BRAZIL. 37l 



corn, now ripe und dry, with the ripe cars hanging on the stalks; 

 among- this a crop of manihot was planted :l nd just beginning to grow. 

 Near one side of the field stood three large open sheds of palm thatch, 

 and before these a motley crowd of men. boys, and dogs awaited us. 

 These were the Jamamadi we were seeking. (Plate 2.) 



They knew Senor Joao and most of them came forward and shook 

 hands. Some of these were clothed solely in the tanga, others had 

 some bit of civilized clothing, a shirt or a pair of trousers, and one 

 young fellow had on an old Derby hat. The young men had just 

 come in from the hunt, and blowguns and hows and arrows lay scat- 

 tered about on the ground. The older women remained under the 

 sheds tending their babies or cooked at open fires on the ground. The 

 younger ones seem to have fled to the woods at our coming. The old 

 chief sat in his hut awaiting us. Another younger chief sat squatting 

 on his heels on the ground, naked but for his tanga. and a big red 

 macaw's feather stuck through the septum of his nose and standing 

 out at one side of his face. He was weaving a big basket of vines to 

 serve as a cage for a large gray monkey which had just been brought 

 from the woods and lay at his side, tied hand and foot, snapping and 

 growling at everything near. Several tame monkeys and an opossum 

 were running about the village. A tire was burning on the ground 

 beside the shed we approached, that of the old chief, and one of the 

 women was sitting beside it scraping the roots of sweet manihot, and 

 these were soon cooking in a little clay pot. As soon as it was cooked 

 the dish was brought to me, while the others parched and ate the ripe 

 corn at the lire. This parched corn with game seemed to be the pres- 

 ent food of the Jamamadi. The old chief on being asked when they 

 would have plenty of sweet manihot, made the shrill cry of the cicada 

 as answer; that is, that in the dry season when the cicada sang they 

 would feast on the manihot. 



Senor Joao spoke "lingoa geral," which was understood by the 

 older men of the tribe. The old chief, under whose roof we had 

 taken shelter, was generally called " Schau Assiic," contracted from 

 Tuchaua Assucar, meaning Chief Sugar, but he gave his name in his 

 own language as "Komlneh'," the final syllable being a curious sinned 

 aspirate which was hard to attain. The younger child' was called 

 "Kitanueh'." They were all much interested in our attempts to get 

 a list of words of their language. When we set them to counting 

 we found they appeared to have but three name- for numbers, 

 "one," "two." and "ten." Three was ■•one." "two:" four. " two," 

 " two,'" etc. 



As soon as the cooking was done Schau Assiic seated himself at the 

 tire and began making snuff by toasting green tobacco leaves until 

 they were dry and grinding them in a lit tie mortar and mixing this 

 with ashes. Soon all the men and larger boys were taking snuff. Kadi 



