Cuap. II. A PET BIRD. 41 
that were carried on from the year 1570 to 1759 between the Portuguese 
immigrants in Brazil, and the Jesuit and other missionaries. They 
were similar to those which have recently taken place in South Africa, 
between the Boers and the English missionaries, but they were ona 
much larger scale. The Jesuits, as far as I could glean from tradition 
and history, were actuated by the same motives as our missionaries ; 
and they seemed like them to have been, in great measure, successful 
in teaching the pure and elevated Christian morality to the simple 
natives. But the attempt was vain to protect the weaker race from the 
inevitable ruin which awaited it in the natural struggle with the stronger 
one ; which, although calling itself Christian, seemed to have stood in 
need of missionary instruction quite as much as the natives themselves. 
In 1759 the white colonists finally prevailed, the Jesuits were forced to 
leave the country, and the 51 happy mission villages went to ruin. 
Since then, the aboriginal race has gone on decreasing in numbers 
under the treatment which it has received ; it is now, as I have already 
stated, protected by the laws of the central government. 
On our second visit to the mills, we stayed ten days. There is a 
large reservoir, and also a natural lake near the place, both containing 
aquatic plants, whose leaves rest on the surface like our water lilies, but 
they are not so elegant as our nymphe, either in leaf or flower. On the 
banks of these pools grow quantities of a species of fan-leaved palm-tree, 
the Carand, whose stems are surrounded by whorls of strong spines. 
I sometimes took a montaria, and paddled myself alone down the creek. 
One day I got upset, and had to land on a grassy slope leading to an 
old plantation, where I ran about naked whilst my clothes were being 
dried on a bush. The creek Iritiri is not so picturesque as many others 
which I subsequently explored. ‘Towards the Magoary the banks at the 
edge of the water are clothed with mangrove bushes, and beneath them 
the muddy banks, into which the long roots that hang down from the 
fruit before it leaves the branches strike their fibres, swarm with crabs. 
On the lower branches the beautiful bird Ardea helias is found. This 
is a small heron of exquisitely graceful shape and mien ; its plumage is 
minutely variegated with bars and spots of many colours, like the wings of 
certain kinds of moths. It is ditficult to see the bird in the woods, on 
account of its sombre colours and the shadiness of its dwelling-places ; 
but its note, a soft long-drawn whistle, often betrays its hiding-place. 
I was told by the Indians that it builds in trees, and that its nest, 
which is made of clay, is beautifully constructed. It is a favourite 
pet-bird of the Brazilians, who call it Pavad (pronounced pavaong), or 
peacock. I often had opportunities of observing its habits. It soon 
becomes tame, and walks about the floors of houses, picking up scraps 
of food, or catching insects, which it secures by walking gently to the 
place where they settle, and spearing them with its long slender beak. 
It allows itself to be handled by children, and will answer to its name 
“ Pavad! Pavad!” walking up with a dainty circumspect gait, and 
taking a fly or beetle from the hand. 
We made several shorter excursions in the neighbourhood. There 
was a favourite young negro slave named Hilario (anglicised to Larry), 
