194 CAEIPI. Chap. V. 



It might be added, that vast and monotonous naked 

 plains produce the same result. The animals which 

 have been so useful in the infancy of human civilisa- 

 tion are such as roamed originally over open or 

 scantily wooded plains, probably of limited extent. The 

 fact of many delicious wild fruits existing in the forest 

 which they have never learnt to cultivate seems to 

 show, contrary to the view here advanced, that it is 

 innate stupidity rather than want of materials, that has 

 deprived the Indians of these helps to civilization. 

 There is a kind of rice, growing wild on the banks of 

 many of the tributaries of the Amazons, which they have 

 never reclaimed, although they have adopted the plant 

 introduced into the country by Europeans.* 



In the evening we had more visitors. The sounds of 

 pipe and tabor were heard, and presently a procession 

 of villagers emerged from a pathway through the man- 

 dioca fields. They were on a begging expedition for 

 St. Thome, the patron saint of Indians and Mamelucos. 

 One carried a banner, on which was rudely painted the 

 figure of St. Thome with a glory round his head. The 

 pipe and tabor were of the simplest description. The 

 pipe was a reed pierced with four holes, by means of 



* Many useful vegetable products have been reclaimed, and it is 

 to the credit of the Indians that they have discovered the use of the 

 Mandioca plant, which is highly poisonous in the raw state, and 

 requires a long preparation to lit it for use. It is cultivated 

 throughout the whole of Tropical America, including Mexico and the 

 West India Islands, but only in the plains, not being seen, according 

 to Humboldt, higher than 600 to 800 metres, at which elevation it 

 grows, on the Mexican Andes. I believe it is not known in what 

 region the plant originated ; it is not found wild in the Amazons 

 valley. 



