THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



Till 



among the minor chiefs, and then wait three 

 or four months for repayment in produce. 



A rapid change is taking place in the 

 habits of these Indians through frequent in- 

 tercourse with the whites, and those who 

 dwell on the banks of the Tapajos now sel- 

 dom tattoo their children. The principal 

 Tushaua of the whole tribe or nation, named 

 Joaquim, was rewarded with a commission 

 in the Brazilian army, iu acknowledgment of 

 the assistance he gave to the legal authorities 

 during the rebellion of 1835-6. It would be a 

 misnomer to call the Mundurucus of the Cu- 

 pari and many parts of the Tapajos, savages ; 

 their regular mode of life, agricultural habits, 

 loyalty to their chiefs, fidelity to treaties, and 

 gentleness of demeanor, give them a right to 

 a better title. Yet they show no aptitude for 

 the civilized life of towns, and, like the rest 

 of the Brazilian tribes, seem incapable of any 

 further advance in culture. In their former 

 wars they exterminated two of the neighbor- 

 ing peoples, the Jumas and the Jacares ; aud 

 make now an annual expedition against the 

 Pararauates, and one or two ofcher similar 

 wild tribes who inhabit the interior of the 

 land, but are sometimes driven by hunger 

 toward the banks of the great rivers to rob 

 the plantations of the agricultural Indians. 

 These campaigns begin in July, and last 

 throughout the dry months ; the women gen- 

 erally accompanying the warriors to carry, 

 their arrows and javelins. They had the dia- 

 bolical custom, in former days, of cutting off 

 the heads of their slain enemies, and preserv- 

 ing them as trophies around their houses. I 

 believe this, together with other savage prac- 

 tices, has been relinquished in those parts 

 where they have had long intercourse with 

 the Brazilians, for I could neither see nor 

 hear anything of these preserved heads. 

 They used to sever the heads with knives 

 made of broad bamboo, and then, after tak- 

 ing out the brain and fleshy parts, soak it in 

 bitter vegetable oil (andiroba), and expose it 

 for several days over the smoke of a fire or 

 in the sun. in the tract of country between 

 the Tapajos and the Madeira a deadly war 

 has been for many years carried on between 

 the Mundurucus and the Araras. I was told 

 by a Frenchman at Santarem, who had visited 

 that part, that all the settlements there have 

 a military organization. A separate shed is 

 built outside each village, where the fighting 

 men sleep at night, sentinels being stationed 

 to give the alarm with blasts of the Ture on 

 the approach of the Araras, who choose the 

 night for their onslaughts. 



Each horde of Mundurucus has its paje or 

 medicine man, who is the priest and doctor ; 

 fixes upon the time most propitious for at- 

 tacking the enerhy ; exorcises evil spirits, 

 and professes to cure the sick. All illness 

 whose origin is not very apparent is supposed 

 to be cawsed^by a worm in the part affected. 

 This the paje pretends to extract ; he blows 

 on the seat of pain the smoke from a large 

 cigar, made with aii air of great mystery by 

 rolling tobacco in folds of Tauari, and then 

 sucks the place, drawing from his mouth,- 



when he has finished, what he pretends to bo- 

 th e worm. It is a piece of very clumsy 

 conjuring. One of these pajes was sent for 

 by a woman in John Aracu's family, to> 

 operate on a child who suffered much from 

 pains in the head. Senhor John contrived 

 to get possession of the supposed worm after 

 the trick was performed in our presence, and 

 it turned out to be a long white air-root of 

 some plant. The paje was with difficulty 

 persuaded to operate while Senhor John and 1 

 were present. I cannot help thinking that he, 

 as well as all others of the same profession, 

 are conscious impostors, handing down the 

 shallow secret of their divinations and tricka 

 from generation to generation. The institu- 

 tion seems to be common to all tribes of In- 

 dians, and to be held to more tenaciously than 

 any other. 



I bought of the Tushaua two beautiful 

 feather sceptres, with their bamboo cases. 

 These are of cylindrical shape, about three 

 feet in length and three inches in diameter, 

 and are made by gluing with wax the fine 

 white and yellow feathers from the breast of 

 the toucan on stout rods, the tops being orna- 

 mented with long plumes from the tails of" 

 parrots, trogons, and other birds. The Mun- 

 durucus are considered to be the most expert 

 workers in feathers of all the South Ameri- 

 can tribes. It is very difficult, however, to- 

 get them to part with the articles, as they 

 seem to have a sort of superstitious regard 

 for them. They manufacture head-dresses, 

 sashes, and tunics, besides sceptres ; the 

 feathers being assorted with a good eye 

 to the proper contrast of colors, and the 

 quills worked into strong cotton webs wov- 

 en with knitting sticks in the required 

 shape. The dresses are worn only dur- 

 ing their festivals, which are celebrated,, 

 not at stated times, but whenever the Tu- 

 shana thinks fit. Dancing, singing, sports, 

 and drinking appear to be the sole objects 

 of these occasional holidays. When a day is. 

 fixed upon, the women prepare a great quan- 

 tity of taroba, and the monotonous jingle is 

 kept up, with little intermission, night ami 

 day, until the stimulating beverage is fin- 

 ished. 



We left the Tushaua's house early the next 

 morning. The impression made upon me by 

 the glimpse of Indian life in its natural state 

 obtained here, and at another cluster of 

 houses visited higher up, was a pleasant one, 

 notwithstanding the disagreeable iuciclent of 

 the Pararauate visit. The Indians me litre- 

 seen to the best advantage, having relin- 

 quished many of their most barbarous prac- 

 tices, without being corrupted by to> close 

 contact with the inferior whites aud half- 

 breeds of the civilized settlements. The 

 manners are simpler, the demeanor more gen. 

 tie, cheerful, and frank, than among the In- 

 dians who live near the towns. I could not 

 help contrasting their well-fed condition, aud 

 tli3 signs of orderly, industrious habits, with 

 >!)e poverty and laziness of the Bemi-civilized 

 ,}" mle of Altar d& ChaO. I do not think that 

 Wift mtnxluction of liquors has been the cause 



