402 



ANNUAL REGISTER, I817. 



whom I conversed, and they were 

 very many, appeared to know that 

 their ancestors had been obliged 

 to work as slaves. 



The instances of murder com- 

 mitted by Indians are rare. They 

 are pilferers rather than thieves. 

 When they can, they eat immo- 

 derately ; but if it is necessary, 

 they can live upon a very trifling 

 quantity of food, to which their 

 idleness often reduces them. They 

 are much addicted to liquor, and 

 will dance in a ring, singing some 

 of the monotonous ditties of their 

 own language, and drink for 

 nights and days without ceasing. 

 Their dances are not indecent, as 

 those of Africa. The mulattos 

 consider themselves superior to 

 the Indians, and even the Creole 

 blacks look down upon them ; 

 " he is as paltry as an Indian," 

 is a common expression among 

 the lower orders in Brazil. They 

 are vilely indifferent regarding the 

 conduct of their wives and daugh- 

 ters ; lying and other vices at- 

 tached to savage life belong to 

 them. Affection seems to have 

 little hold upon them ; they ap- 

 pear to be less anxious for the 

 life and welfare of their children 

 than any other cast of men who 

 inhabit that country. The women 

 however do not, among these 

 semi-barbarians, perform the prin- 

 cipal drudgery; if the husband is 

 at hon)e, he fetches water from 

 the rivulet and fuel from the 

 wood ; he builds the hut whilst 

 his wife takes shelter in some 

 neighbour's shed. But if they tra- 

 vel, she has her young children to 

 carry, the pots, the baskets, and the 

 excavated gourds, whilst the hus- 

 band takes his wallet of goat-skin 

 and his hammock rolled up upon 



his back, his fishing-net and his 

 arms, and walks in the rear. The 

 children are washed on the day of 

 their birth in the nearest brook or 

 pool of water. Both the men and 

 the women are cleanly in many of 

 their habits, and particularly in 

 those relating to their persons ; 

 but in some other matters their 

 customs are extremely disgusting ; 

 the same knife is used for all pur- 

 poses, and with little preparatory 

 cleaning is employed in services 

 of descriptions widely opposite. 

 They do not reject any kind of 

 food, and devour it almost with- 

 out being cooked -, rats and other 

 small vermin, snakes and alliga- 

 tors, a:e all accepted. 



The instinct, for I know not 

 what else to call it, which the 

 Indians possess abote other men, 

 in finding their way across a wood 

 to a certain spot on the opposite 

 side without path or apparent 

 mark, is most surprising ; they 

 tiace footsteps over the dry leaves 

 which lie scattered untler the 

 trees. The letter-carriers, from 

 one province to another, are most- 

 ly Indians, for from habit they 

 endure great fatigue, and will 

 walk day after day, with little 

 rest, for months together. I have 

 met them with their wallets made 

 of goat-skin upon their shoulders, 

 walking at a regular pace, which 

 is not altered by rough or smooth. 

 Though a horse may outstrip one 

 of these men for the first few 

 days, still if the journey conti- 

 nues long, the Indian will, in the 

 end, arrive before him. If a cri- 

 minal has eluded the diligence of 

 the police officers, Indians are 

 sent in pursuit of him, as a last 

 resource. It is well known that 

 they will not take him alive ; each 



man 



