784 



THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



caapoeira of various ages, the sites of old 

 plantations. The only fruits of our ramble 

 were a few rare insects and a Japu (Cassicus 

 cristatus) a handsome bird with chestnut and 

 saffron-colored plumage, which wanders 

 through the tree-tops in large flocks. My 

 little companion brought this down from a 

 height which I calculated at thirty yards. 

 The blow-gun, however, in the hands of an 

 expert adult Indian, can be made to propel 

 arrows as to kill at a distance of fifty and 

 sixty yards. The aim is most certain when 

 the tube is held vertically, or nearly so. It 

 is a far more useful weapon in the forest than 

 a gun, for the report of firearms alarms the 

 whole flock of birds or monkeys feeding on 

 a tree, while the silent poisoned dart brings 

 the animals down one by one, until the 

 sportsman has a heap of slain by his side. 

 Noce but the stealthy Indian can use it 

 effectively. The poison, which must be 

 fresh to kill speedily, is obtained only of the 

 Indians who live beyond the cataracts of the 

 risers flowing from the north, especially the 

 Rio Negro and the Japura. Its principal in- 

 gredient is the wood of the Strychnos toxi- 

 fera, a tree which does not grow in the humid 

 forests of the river plains/ A most graphic 

 account of the Urari, and of an expedition 

 undertaken in search of the tree in Guiana, 

 has been given by Sir Robert Schomburgk.* 

 When we returned to the house after mid- 

 day, Cardozo was still sipping cauim, and 

 now looked exceedingly merry. It was fear- 

 fully hot : the good fellow sat in his ham- 

 mock with a cuya full of grog in his hands ; 

 Ms broad honest face all of a glow, and the 

 perspiration streaming down his uncovered 

 breast, the unbuttoned shirt having slipped 

 half way over his broad shoulders. Pedro- 

 uassii had not drunk much ; he was noted, 

 as I afterward learned, for his temperance. 

 But he was standing up, as I left him two 

 hours previously, talking to Cardozo in the 

 same monotonous tones, the conversation ap- 

 parently not having flagged all the time. I 

 had never heard so much talking among In- 

 dians. 1 he widower was asleep : the stir- 

 ring, managing old lady with her daughter 

 were preparing dinner. This, which was 

 ready soots after I entered, consisted of boiled 

 fowls and rice, seasoned with large green 

 peppers and lemon-juice, and piles of new, 

 fragrant farinha and raw bananas. It was 

 served on plates of English manufacture on 

 a tupe, or large plaited rush mat, such as is 

 made by the natives pretty generally on the 

 Amazons. Three or four other Indians, men 

 and women of middle age, now made their 

 appearance, and joined in the meal. We all 

 sat round on the floor, the women, accord 

 ing to custom, not eating until after the men 

 Lad done. Before sitting down our host 

 apologized, in his usual quiet, co! teous man- 

 ner, for not having knives and forks ; Car- 

 lozo and I ate by the aid of wooden spoons, 

 the Indians using their fingers. The old man 



i* Annals sad Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii. 

 P. 411. 



waited until we were all served before he 

 himself commenced. At the end of the meal 

 one of the women brought us water in a 

 painted clay basin of Indian manufacture, 

 and a clean but coarse cotton napkin, that 

 we might wash our hands. 



The horde of Passes of which Pearo-uassu 

 was Tushaua or chieftain, was at this time 

 reduced to a very small number of indi- 

 viduals. The disease mentioned in the last 

 chapter had for several generations made 

 great havoc among them ; many also had en- 

 tered the service of whites at Ega, amd, of 

 late years, intermarriages with whites, 

 half-castes, and civilized Indians had been 

 frequent. The old man bewailed the fate of 

 his race to Cardozo with tears in his eyes. 

 ".The people of my nation," he said, " have 

 always been good friends to the Cariwas 

 (whites), but before my grandchildren are 

 old like me the name of Passe will be for- 

 gotten." In so far as the Passes have amal- 

 gamated with European immigrants or their 

 descendants, and become civilized Brazilian 

 citizens, there can scarcely be ground for 

 lamenting their extinction as a nation ; but 

 it fills one with regret to learn how many 

 die prematurely of a disease which seems to 

 arise on their simply breathing the same air 

 as the whites. The original territory of the 

 tribe must have been of large extent, for 

 Passes are said to have been found by the 

 early Portuguese colonists on the Rio Negro ; 

 an ancient settlement on that river, Barcellos, 

 having been peopled by them when it was 

 first established ; and they formed also part 

 of the original population of Foute-boa on 

 the Solimoens. Their hordes were therefore 

 spread over a region 400 miles in length from 

 east to west. It is probable, however, that 

 they have been confounded by the colonists 

 with other neighboring tribes who tattoo their 

 faces in a similar manner. The extinct tribe 

 of Yurimauas, or Sorimeas, from which the 

 river Solimoens derives its name, according 

 to traditions extant at Ega, resembled the 

 Passes in their slender figures and friendly 

 disposition. These tribes (with others lying 

 betweor. them) peopled the banks of the 

 main river and its by-streams from the mouth 

 of the Rio Negro to Peru. True Passes ex- 

 isted in their primitive state on the banks of 

 the Issa, 240 miles to the west of Ega. within 

 the memory of living persons. The only 

 large body o^ them now extant are located on 

 the Japura, at a place distant about 150 miles 

 from Ega : the population of this horde, 

 however, does not exceed, from what I could 

 learn, 300 or 400 persons. I think it proba- 

 ble that the lower part of the Japura and its 

 extensive delta lands formed the original 

 home of this gentle tribe of Indians. 



The Passes are always spoken of in this 

 country as the most advanced of all the In- 

 dian nations in the Amazons region. Under 

 what influences this tribe has become so 

 strongly modified in mental, social, and 

 bodily features it is hard to divine. The in- 

 dustrious habits, fidelity, and mildness of 

 disposition of the Passes, their ducili'.y and. 



