40 PARA, Cuap. II. 
do not feel keenly, the emotions of joy, grief, wonder, fear, and so forth. 
They can never be excited to enthusiasm; but they have strong 
affections, especially those connected with the family. It is commonly 
stated by the whites and negroes that the Tapuyo is ungrateful. 
Brazilian mistresses of households, who have much experience of 
Indians, have always a long list of instances to relate to the stranger, 
showing their base ingratitude. They certainly do not appear to 
remember or think of repaying benefits, but this is probably because 
they do not require, and do not value, such benefits as their would- 
be masters confer upon them. Ihave known instances of attachment 
and fidelity on the part of Indians towards their masters, but these are 
exceptional cases. All the actions of the Indian show that his ruling 
desire is to be let alone; he is attached to his home, his quiet mono- 
tonous forest and river life ; he likes to go to towns occasionally, to see 
the wonders introduced by the white man, but he has a great repugnance 
to living in the midst of the crowd; he prefers handicraft to field labour, 
and especially dislikes binding himself to regular labour for hire. He is 
shy and uneasy before strangers, but if they visit his abode, he treats 
them well, for he has a rooted appreciation of the duty of hospitality ; 
there is a pride about him, and being naturally formal and polite, he acts 
the host with great dignity. He withdraws from town as soon as the 
stir of civilisation begins to make itself felt. When we first arrived at 
Para, many Indian families resided there, for the mode of living at that 
time was more like that of a large village than a city; as soon as 
river steamers and more business activity were introduced, they all 
gradually took themselves away. 
These characteristics of the Parad Indians are applicable, of course, 
to some extent, to the Mamelucos, which now constitute a great 
proportion of the population. The inflexibility of character of the 
Indian, and his total inability to accommodate himself to new arrange- 
ments, will infallibly lead to his extinction, as immigrants, endowed with 
more supple organisations, increase, and civilisation advances in the 
Amazon region. But, as the different races amalgamate readily, and 
the offspring of white and Indian often become distinguished Brazilian 
citizens, there is little reason to regret the fate of the race. Formerly 
the Indian was harshly treated, and even now he is so in many parts of 
the interior. But, according to the laws of Brazil, he is a free citizen, 
having equal privileges with the whites; and there are very strong 
enactments providing against the enslaving and ill-treatment of the 
Indians. The residents of the interior, who have no higher principles 
to counteract instinctive selfishness or antipathy of race, cannot com- 
prehend why they are not allowed to compel Indians to work for them, 
seeing that they will not do it of their own accord. ‘The inevitable 
result of the conflict of interests between a European and a weaker 
indigenous race, when the two come in contact, is the sacrifice of the 
latter. In the Para district, the Indians are no longer enslaved, but 
they are deprived of their lands, and this they feel bitterly, as one of 
them, an industrious and worthy man, related tome. Is not a similar 
state of things now exhibited in New Zealand, between the Maoris and 
the English colonists? It is interesting to read of the bitter contests 
