126 THE TOCANTINS. Chap. IV. 



would not be here until the next day. We were now 

 quite dependent on him for men to enable us to con- 

 tinue our voyage, and so had no remedy but to wait his 

 leisure. The situation of the place, and the nature of 

 the woods around it, promised well for novelties in birds 

 and insects ; so we had no reason to be vexed at the 

 delay, but brought our apparatus and store-boxes up 

 from the canoe, and set to work. 



The easy, lounging life of the people amused us very 

 much. I afterwards had plenty of time to become used 

 to tropical village life. There is a free, familiar, pro 

 bono publico style of living in these small places, 

 which requires some time for a European to fall 

 into. No sooner were we established in our rooms, 

 than a number of lazy young fellows came to look 

 on and make remarks, and we had to answer all 

 sorts of questions. The houses have their doors and 

 windows open to the street, and people walk in and 

 out as they please ; there is always, however, a more 

 secluded apartment, where the female members of the 

 families reside. In their familiarity there is nothing 

 intentionally offensive, and it is practised simply in the 

 desire to be civil and sociable. A young Mameluco, 

 named Soares, an Escrivao, or public clerk, took 

 me into his house to show me his library. I was 

 rather surprised to see a number of well-thumbed 

 Latin classics, Virgil, Terence, Cicero's Epistles, and 

 Livy. I was not familiar enough, at this early period 

 of my residence in the country, with Portuguese to 

 converse freely with Senhor Soares, or ascertain what 

 use he made of these books ; it was an unexpected 



