564 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



distinct circles, one close to an- 

 other. Every one leant forward, 

 the right arm resting on the small 

 of the back, the left hanging 

 down straight; they shook the 

 right leg, and in this attitude they 

 danced and sung; their singing 

 was wonderfully sweet, and at in- 

 tervals they stamped with the 

 right foot, and spat upon the 

 ground. In the middle of each 

 circle were three or four Pnyes, 

 each holding a maraca in one 

 hand, and a pipe, or rather hol- 

 low cane, with jietun in the other ; 

 they rattled the oracles, and blew 

 the smoke upon the men, saying, 

 Receive the spirit of courage, that 

 ye may conquer your enemies. 

 This continued two hours. The 

 song commemorated their ances- 

 tors ; they mourned for them, but 

 expressed p, hope, that when they 

 also were gone beyond the moun- 

 tains, they should then rejoice 

 and dance with them : it then de- 

 nounced vengeance upon their 

 enemies, whom the maraca had 

 declared they should soon conquer 

 and devour. The remainder of 

 the song, if the Norman inter- 

 preter is to be credited, related to 

 a rude tradition of the deluge. 



The authority of their piiests 

 and oracles was, however, to be 

 confirmed by other modes of divi- 

 nation. They consulted certain of 

 their women who had been gifted 

 with the power of predicting fu- 

 ture events. The mode of con- 

 ferring this power was thus: The 

 Paye fumigated the aspirant with 

 petiin, then bade her cry as loud 

 as she could, and jump, and after 

 a while whirl round, still shout- 

 ing, till she dropjied down sense- 

 lessly. When she recovered, he 

 affirmed that she had been dead, 



and he had brought her back to 

 life, and from that time she was a 

 cunning woman. When these 

 women also had promised victory, 

 the last appeal was to their 

 dreams. If manj- of the tribe 

 dreamt of eating their enemies, it 

 was a sure sign of success; but if 

 more dreamt that they themselves 

 were eaten, the expedition wa$ 

 given up. 



About the middle of August 

 Konyan Bebe set out with thirty 

 canoes, each carrying about eight- 

 and-twenty men : Hans was taken 

 with them ; they were going to- 

 wards Bertioga, and meant to lie 

 in wait and catch others, as they 

 had caught him. Every one car- 

 ried a rope girt round him, with 

 which to bind the prisoners whom 

 they should take. They were 

 armed with a wooden weapon, 

 called the inacana : it was from 

 five to six feet long ; its head 

 shaped like the bowl of a spoon, 

 except that it was flat ; this blade 

 was about a foot wide in the 

 widest part, about the thickness 

 of the thumb in the middle, and 

 brought to an edge all round. 

 Such an implement, made of the 

 iron-wood of Brazil, was not less 

 tremendous than a battle-axe ; 

 and they wielded it so skilfully, 

 that De Lery remarks, a Tupi- 

 namba thus armed would give two 

 swordsmen enough to do. Their 

 bows were of the same wood, 

 which was either red or black, 

 longer and thicker than what were 

 used in Europe, nor could any 

 European bend them. They used 

 a plant, called tocon, for a string, 

 which, though slender, was so 

 strong, that a horse could not by 

 fair pulling break it. Their ar- 

 rows wpre above a full cloth-yard 



