THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



709 



Crates fnto the gloomy depths of this roman- 

 tic spot, lighting up the leafy banks of the 

 icivulet and its clean sandy margins, where 

 'numbers of scarlet, green, and black tanagers 

 -and brightly-colored butterflies sport about 

 in the stray beams. Sparkling brooks, large 

 -and small, traverse the glorious forest in al- 

 most every direction, and one is constantly 

 meeting, while rambling through the thick- 

 ets, with trickling rills and bubbling 

 springs, so well provided is the country with 

 moisture. Some of the rivulets flow over a 

 andy and pebbly bed, and the banks of all 

 are clothed with the most magnificent vege- 

 tation conceivable. I had the almost daily 

 tmbit, in my solitary walks, of resting on the 

 clean banks of these swift-flowing streams, 

 ;smd bathing for an hour at a time in their 

 bracing waters ; hours which now remain 

 among my most pleasant memories. The 

 broad forest roads continue, as I was told, a 

 distance of several days' journey into the in- 

 terior, which is peopled by Tucunas and 

 other Indians, living in scattered houses and 

 villages, nearly in their primitive state, the 

 nearest village lying about six miles from St. 

 Paulo. The banks of all the streams are 

 dotted with palm-thatched dwellings of Tuc- 

 unas, all half-buried in the leafy wilderness, 

 the scattered families having chosen the cool- 

 est and shadiest nooks for their abodes. 



I frequently heard in the neighborhood of 

 these huts the " realejo" or organ bird (Cy- 

 phorhinus cantans),the most remarkable song- 

 ster, by far, of the Amazonian forests. When 

 its singular notes strike the ear for the first 

 time the impression cannot be resisted that 

 they are produced by a human voice some 

 musical boy must be gathering fruit in the 

 thickets, and is singing a few notes to cheer 

 himself. The tones become more fluty and 

 plaintive ; they are now those of a flageolet, 

 and notwithstanding the utter impossibility 

 of the thing, one is for the moment convinc- 

 ed that somebody is playing that instrument. 

 No bird is to be seen, however closely the 

 -surrounding trees and bushes may be scan- 

 ned, and yet the voice seems to come from 

 the thicket close to one's ears. The ending 

 of ihe song is rather disappointing. It be- 



fins with a few very slow and mellow notes, 

 allowing each other like the commencement 

 of an air ; one listens expecting to hear a 

 complete strain, but an abrupt pause occurs, 

 - and then the song breaks down, finishing 

 with a number of clicking unmusical sounds 

 like a piping barrel-organ out of wind and 

 tune. I never heard the bird on the Lower 

 Amazons, and very rarely heard it even at 

 Ega ; it is the only songster which makes an 

 impression on the natives, who sometimes 

 rest their paddles while travelling in their 

 small canoes along the shady by-streams, as 

 \2 struck by the mysterious sounds. 



The Tuciina Indians are a tribe resembliu* 

 much the Shumanas, Passes, Juris, and 

 Mauhes in their physical appearance and cus- 

 toms. They lead, like those tribes, a settled 

 agricultural life, each horde obeying a chief 



of more or less influence, accordicg to hla 

 energy and ambition, and possessing its paje 

 or medicine man, who fosters its super- 

 stitious ; but they are much more idle and 

 debauched than other Indians belonging to 

 the superior tribes. They are not so warlike 

 and loyal as the Muudurucus, although re- 

 sembling them in many respects, nor have 

 they the slender figures, dignified mien, and 

 gentle disposition of the Passes ; there are, 

 however, no trenchant points of difference to 

 distinguish them from these highest of all the 

 tribes. Both men and women are tattooed, 

 the pattern being sometimes a scroll on each 

 cheek, but generally rows of short straight 

 lines on the face. Most of the older people 

 wear bracelets anklets, and garters of tapir 

 hide or tough bark ; in their homes they 

 wear no other dress except on festival days, 

 when they ornament themselves with feath- 

 ers or masked cloaks made of the inner bark 

 of a tree. They were very shy when I made 

 my first visits to their habitations in the for 

 est, all scampering off to the thicket when I 

 approached, but on subsequent days they 

 became more familiar, and I found them a 

 harmless, good-natured people. 



A great part of the horde living at the first 

 Maloca or village dwell in a common habita- 

 tion, a large oblong hut built and arranged 

 inside with such a disregard of all symmetry 

 that it appeared as though constructed by a 

 number of hands, each working independ- 

 ently, stretching a rafter or fitting in a pieoe 

 of thatch, without reference to what his fel- 

 low-laborers were doing. The walls as well 

 as the roof are covered with thatch of palm 

 leaves, each piece consisting of leaflets plaited 

 and attached in a row to a lath many feet in 

 length. Strong upright posts support the 

 roof, hammocks being slung between them, 

 leaving a free space for passage and for fires 

 in the middle, and on one side is an elevated 

 stage (girao) overhead, formed of split palm- 

 stems. The Tucunas excel most of the other 

 tribes in the manufacture of pottery. They 

 make broad- mouthed jars for Tucupi sauce, 

 caysuma or mandioca beer, capable of hold- 

 ing twenty or more gallons, ornamenting 

 them outside with crossed diagonal streaks 

 of various colors. These jars, with cooking- 

 pots, smaller jars for holding water, blow- 

 guns, quivers, matiri bags full of small ar- 

 ticles, baskets, skins of animals, and so forth, 

 form the principal part of the furniture of 

 their huts, both large and small. The dead 

 bodies of their chiefs are interred, the knees 

 doubled up, in large jars under the floors of 

 their huts. 



The semi-religious dances and drinking 

 bouts usual among the settled tribes of Am- 

 azonian Indians are indulged in to greater 

 excess by the Tucunas than they are by most 

 other tribes. The Jurupari or Demon is the 

 ouiy superior being they have any concep- 

 tion of, and his name is mixed up with all 

 their ceremonies, but it is difficult to ascer- 

 tain what they consider to be his attributes. 

 He seems to be believed in simply as a mis- 

 chievous imp, who is at the bottom of U 



