100 CARIPL AND THE BAY OF MARATO. Cuap. V. 
wild on the banks of many of the tributaries of the Amazons, which they 
have never reclaimed, although they have adopted the plant introduced 
into the country by Europeans.* 
In the evening we had more visitors. The sounds of pipe and 
tabor were heard, and presently a procession of villagers emerged from 
a pathway through the mandioca fields. They were on a_ begging 
expedition for St. Thomé, the patron saint of Indians and Mamelucos. 
One carried a banner, on which was rudely painted the figure of St. 
Thomé with a glory round his head. The pipe and tabor were of the 
simplest description. ‘The pipe was a reed pierced with four holes, by 
means of which a few unmusical notes were produced, and the tabor 
was a broad hoop with a skin stretched over each end. A deformed 
young man played both the instruments. Senhor Raimundo received 
them with the quiet politeness which comes so natural to the Indian 
when occupying the position of host. The visitors, who had come from 
the Villa de Condé, five miles through the forest, were invited to rest. 
Raimundo then took the image of St. Thomé from one of the party, 
and placed it by the side of Nossa Senhora in his own oratorio, a little 
decorated box in which every family keeps its household gods, finally 
lighting a couple of wax candles before it. Shortly afterwards a cloth 
was laid on a mat, and all the guests were invited to supper. The fare 
was very scanty; a boiled fowl with rice, a slice of roasted pirarucu, 
farinha, and bananas. Each one partook very sparingly, some of the 
young men contenting themselves with a plateful of rice. One of the 
apprentices stood behind with a bowl of water and a towel, with which 
each guest washed his fingers and rinsed his mouth after the meal. 
They stayed all night: the large open shed was filled with hammocks, ~ 
which were slung from pole to pole ; and on retiring, Raimundo gave 
orders for their breakfast in the morning. 
Raimundo called me at two o’clock, when we embarked (he, his 
older apprentice Joaquim, and myself) in a shady place where it was so 
dark that I could see neither canoe nor water, taking with us five dogs. 
We glided down a winding creek where huge trunks of trees slanted 
across close overhead, and presently emerged into the Murucupi. A 
few yards farther on we entered the broader channel of the Aitittiba. 
This we crossed, and entered another narrow creek on the opposite side. 
Here the ebb-tide was against us, and we had great difficulty in making 
progress. After we had struggled against the powerful current a 
distance of two miles, we came to a part where the ebb-tide ran in the 
opposite direction, showing that we had crossed the water-shed. The 
tide flows into this channel or creek at both ends simultaneously, and 
meets in the middle, although there is apparently no difference of level, 
* Many useful vegetable products have been reclaimed, and it is to the credit of the 
Indians that they have discovered the use of the Mandioca plant, which is highly 
poisonous in the raw state, and requires a long preparation to fit it for use. It is 
cultivated throughout the whole of ‘lropical America, including Mexico and the West 
India Islands, but only in the plains, not being seen, according to Humboldt, higher 
than 600 or 800 metres, at which elevation it grows on the Mexican Andes. I 
believe it is not known in what region the plant originated ; it is not found wild in 
the Amazons valley. 
