Cuap. IX. THE CUPAR/{ 233 
August 2nd.—Left Aveyros, having resolved to ascend a branch river, 
the Cupari, which enters the Tapajos about eight miles above this village 
instead of going forward along the main stream. I should have liked 
to visit the settlements of the Munduruct tribe, which lie beyond the 
first cataract of the Tapajos, if it had been compatible with the other 
objects I had in view. But to perform this journey a lighter canoe than 
mine would have been necessary, and six or eight Indian paddlers, 
which in my case it was utterly impossible to obtain. There would be, 
however, an opportunity of seeing this fine race of people on the Cupari, 
as a horde was located towards the head waters of this stream. The 
distance from Aveyros to the last civilised settlement on the Tapajos, 
Itaituba, is about forty miles. The falls commence a short distance 
beyond this place. Ten formidable cataracts or rapids then succeed 
each other at intervals of a few miles ; the chief of which are the Coaitd, 
the Buburé, the Salto Grande (about thirty feet high), and the Montanha. 
The canoes of Cuyaba tradesmen which descend annually to Santarem 
are obliged to be unloaded at each of these, and the cargoes carried by 
land on the backs of Indians, whilst the empty vessels are dragged by 
ropes over the obstructions. The Cupari was described to me as flow- 
ing through a rich moist clayey valley, covered with forests and 
abounding in game; whilst the banks of the Tapajos beyond Aveyros 
were barren sandy campos, with ranges of naked or scantily-wooded 
hills, forming a kind of country which I had always found very unpro- 
ductive in Natural History objects in the dry season, which had now 
set in. 
We entered the mouth of the Cupari on the evening of the following 
day (August 3rd). It was not more than 100 yards wide, but very deep : 
we found no bottom in the middle with a line of eight fathoms. The 
banks were gloriously wooded ; the familiar foliage of the cacao growing 
abundantly amongst the mass of other trees, reminding me of the 
forests of the main Amazons. We rowed for five or six miles, generally 
in a south-easterly direction, although the river had many abrupt bends, 
and stopped for the night at a settler’s house, situated on a high bank, 
and accessible only by a flight of rude wooden steps fixed in the clayey 
slope. The owners were two brothers, half-breeds, who with their 
families shared the large roomy dwelling ; one of them was a blacksmith, 
and we found him working with two Indian lads at his forge, in an open 
shed under the shade of mango trees. They were the sons of a 
Portuguese immigrant, who had settled here forty years previously, and 
married a Munduruci woman. He must have been a far more 
industrious man than the majority of his countrymen who emigrate to 
Brazil now-a-days, for there were signs of former extensive cultivation 
at the back of the house, in groves of orange, lemon, and coffee trees, 
and a large plantation of cacao occupied the lower grounds. 
The next morning one of the brothers brought me a beautiful opossum, 
which had been caught in the fowl house a little before sunrise. It was 
not so large as a rat, and had soft brown fur, paler beneath and on the 
face, with a black stripe on each cheek. This made the third species 
of marsupial rat I had so far obtained: but the number of these 
animals is very considerable in Brazil, where they take the place of the 
