62 THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETA. Cuap. IV. 
to induce the canoe-men of his neighbourhood to engage with us, but it 
was a vain endeavour. The people of these parts seemed to be above 
working for wages. They are naturally indolent, and besides, have 
all some little business or plantation of their own, which gives them a 
livelihood with independence. It is difficult to obtain hands under any 
circumstances ; but it was particularly so in our case, from being 
foreigners, and suspected, as was natural amongst ignorant people, of 
being strange in our habits. At length, our host lent us two of his 
slaves to help us on another stage—namely, to the village of BaiaO, where 
we had great hopes of having this, our urgent want, supplied by the 
military commandant of the district. 
September 2nd.—The distance from Vista Alegre to Baiad is about 
twenty-five miles. We had but little wind, and our men were therefore 
obliged to row the greater part of the way. The oars used in such 
canoes as ours are made by tying a stout paddle to the end of a long 
pole by means of woody lianas. The men take their stand on a raised 
deck, formed by a few rough planks placed over the arched covering in 
the fore part of the vessel, and pull with their back to the stern. We 
started at 6 a.m., and about sunset reached a point where the west 
channel of the river, along which we had been travelling since we left 
Cametd, joined a broader middle one, and formed with it a great 
expanse of water. The islands here seemed to form two pretty regular 
lines, dividing the great river into three channels. As we progressed 
slowly, we took the montaria, and went ashore, from time to time, 
to the houses, which were numerous on the river banks as well as 
on the larger islands. In low situations they had a very unfinished appear- 
ance, being mere frameworks raised high on wooden piles, and thatched 
with the leaves of the Ubusst palm. In their construction another 
palm-tree is made much use of—viz., the Assai (Euterpe oleracea). The 
outer part of the stem of this species is hard and tough as horn; it is 
split into narrow planks, and these form a great portion of the walls 
and flooring. ‘The residents told us that the western channel becomes 
nearly dry in the middle of the fine season; but that at high water, 
in April and May, the river rises to the level of the house-floors. The 
river bottom is everywhere sandy, and the country perfectly healthy. 
‘The people seemed to be all contented and happy, but idleness and 
poverty were exhibited by many unmistakable signs. As to the 
flooding of their island abodes, they do, not seem to care about that 
at all. They seem to be almost amphibious, or as much at home on 
the water as on land. It was really alarming to see men and women 
and children, in little leaky canoes laden to the water-level with bag 
and baggage, crossing broad reaches of river. Most of them have 
houses also on the terra firma, and reside in the cool palm swamps of 
the Ygapo islands, as they are called, only in the hot and dry season. 
They live chiefly on fish, shellfish (amongst which were large Ampul- 
lari, whose flesh I found, on trial, to be a very tough morsel), the never- 
ending farinha, and the fruits of the forest. Amongst the latter the fruits of 
palm-trees occupied the chief place. The Assai is the most in use, but 
this forms a universal article of diet in all parts of the country. The 
fruit, which is perfectly round, and about the size of a cherry, contains 
i 
