T64 



THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



confined, as I afterward found, to the north- 

 ern side of the river, for once I saw a speci- 

 men amid a number of richly- colored butter- 

 flies, flying about the deck of the steamer 

 when we were anchored off Fonte Boa, 200 

 miles Jower down the river. 



With the exception of three mameluco 

 families and a stray Portuguese trader, all 

 the inhabitants of the village and neighbor- 

 hood are semi-civilized Indians of the Shu- 

 maua and Passe tribes. The forests of the 

 Tuantins, however, are inhabited by a tribe 

 of wild Indians called Caishanas, who resem- 

 ble much, in their social conditions and man- 

 ners, the debased Muras of the Lower Ama- 

 zons, and have like them, shown no aptitude 

 for civilized life in any shape. Their huts 

 commence at the distance of an hour's walk 

 from the village, along gloomy and narrow 

 forest paths. My first and only visit to a 

 Caishaua dwelling was accidental. One day, 

 having extended my walk further than usual, 

 and followed one of the forest-roads until it 

 became a mere jricada, or hunter's track, I 

 came suudenly upon a well-trodden pathway, 

 bordered on each side with Lycopodia of the 

 most elegant shapes, the tips of the fronds 

 stretching almost like tendrils down the little 

 earthy slopes which formed the edge of the 

 path. The road, though smooth, was nar- 

 row and dark, and in many places blocked 

 up by trunks of felled trees, which had been 

 apparently thrown across by the timid In- 

 dians on purpose to obstruct the way to their 

 habitations. Half a mile of this shady road 

 brought me to a small open space on the 

 banks of a brook or creek, on the skirts of 

 which stood a conical hut with a very low 

 doorway. There was also an open shed, 

 with stages made of split palm stems, and a 

 number of large wooden troughs. Two or 

 three dark-skinned children, with a man and 

 woman, were in the shed ; but, immediately 

 on espying me, all of them ran to the hut, 

 bolting through the little doorway like so 

 many wild animals scared into their burrows. 

 A few moments after, the man put his head 

 out with a look of great distrust ; but on my 

 making the most friendly gestures I could 

 think of, he came forth with the children. 

 Tiiey were all smeared with black mud and 

 paint ; the only clothing of the elders was a 

 kind of apron made of the innner bark of the 

 sapucaya tree, and the savage aspect of the 

 man was heightened by his hair hanging over 

 his forehead to the eyes. I stayed about two 

 hours in the neighborhood, the children gain- 

 ing sufficient confidence to come and help 

 me to search for insects. The only weapon 

 used by the Caishanas is the blow-gun, and 

 this is employed only in shooting animals for 

 food. They are not a warlike people, like 

 most of the neighboring tribes on the Japura 



(and Issa. 

 The whole tribe of Caishanas does not ex- 

 ceed in number 400 souls. None of them are 

 baptized Indians, and they do not dwell in 

 villages, like the more advanced sections of 

 the Tupi stock ; but each family has its own 

 solitary hut. They are quite harmless, do 



not practice tattooing, or perforate their ears 

 and noses in any way. Their social condi- 

 tion is of a low type, very little removed, in- 

 deed, from that of the brutes living in the 

 same forests. They do not appear to obey 

 any common chief, and I could not make out 

 that they had Pajes, or medicine men, those 

 rudest beginnings of a priest class. Sym- 

 bolical or masked dances, and ceremonies in 

 honor of the Jurupari, or demon, customs 

 which prevail among all the surrounding 

 tribes, are unknown to the Caishanas. There . 

 is among them a trace of festival keeping ; 

 but the only ceremony used is the drinking 

 of cashiri beer, and fermented liquors made , 

 of Indian corn, bananas, and so forth. , 

 These affairs, however, are conducted in a 

 degenerate style, for they do not drink to in- 

 toxication, or sustain the orgies for several 

 days and nights in succession, like the Juris, 

 Passes, and Tucunas. The men play a 

 musical instrument, made of pieces of stem 

 of the arrow-grass cut in different lengths 

 and arranged like Pan-pipes. With this they 

 while away whole hours, lolling in ragged 

 bast hammocks slung in their dark, smoky 

 huts. The Tunantins people say that the 

 Caishanas have persecuted the wild animals 

 and birds to such an extent near their settle- 

 ments that there is now quite a scarcity of 

 animal food. If they kill a toucan, it is con- 

 sidered an important event, and the bird is 

 made to serve as a meal for a score or more 

 persons. They boil the meat in earthenware 

 kettles filled with Tucupi sauce, and eat it 

 with beiju, or mandioca cakes. The women 

 are not allowed to taste of the meat, but 

 are forced to content themselves with sopping 

 pieces of cake in the liquor. 



November 30^.~I left Tunantins in a 

 trading schooner of eighty tons burden be- 

 longing to Senhor Batalha, a tradesman of 

 Ega, which had been out all the summer col- 

 lecting produce, and was commanded by a 

 friend of mine, a young Paranese, named 

 Francisco" Raiol. "We arrived on the 3d of 

 December at the mouth of the Jutahi, a con- 

 siderable stream about half a mile broad, and 

 flowing with a very sluggish current. This 

 is one of a series of six rivers, from 400 to 

 1000 miles in length, which flow from the 

 south-west through unknown lands lying be- 

 tween Bolivia and the Upper Amazons, and 

 enter this latter river between the Madeira 

 and the Ucayali. We remained at anchor 

 four days within the mouth of the Sap6, a 

 small tributary of the Jutahi flowing from 

 the south-east, Seuhor Raiol having to send 

 an igarite to the Cupatana, a large tributary 

 some few miles farther up the river, to fetch 

 a cargo of salt fish. During this time we 

 made several excursions m the montaria to 

 various places in the neighborhood. Our 

 longest trip was to some Indian houses, a 

 distance of fifteen or eighteen miles up the 

 Sap6, a journey made with one Indian pad- 

 dler, and occupying a whole day. The 

 stream is not more than forty or fifty yards 

 broad ; its waters are darker in color than 

 those of the Jutahi, and flow, as in all these 



