CiiAP. VII. FATHER TORQUATO. 285 



rents. The incidence of this endemic is somewhat 

 remarkable, for it exists on one side of the Andira- 

 mirim, where the land is high and rocky, and not on 

 the other which is low and swampy. The old historians 

 relate that the island of Tupinambarana was colonised 

 by a portion of the great Tupi or Tupinamba nation, 

 who were driven from the sea-coast near Pernambuco, 

 by the early Portuguese settlers in the 16th century. 

 I think, however, there is reason to conclude, that 

 different tribes, having more or less affinity with the 

 Tupis, originally existed in many places on the banks 

 of the Amazons, and that they had frequent communi- 

 cation with each other, before the time of the Portu- 

 guese. Much partial migration probably occurred 

 when the aborigines had the navigation of the main 

 Amazons all to themselves. It seems to me very 

 unlikely, that a compact body of Indians wandered at 

 once from the sea-coast near Pernambuco to the central 

 parts of the Amazons. However this may be, no trace 

 of the aboriginal Tupis now exists in this quarter. The 

 district is thinly populated, and the Indians who now 

 reside here, are scattered hordes of the Mundurucu, 

 Miira, and Mauhes tribes : semi-civilised families of the 

 two latter live in or near the town. 



I found some very friendly and intelligent people 

 amongst the white and mameluco families residing at 

 Villa Nova. The vicar. Father Torquato de Souza, is 

 not quite unknown to the European pubHc, having been 

 the guide of Prince Adalbert of Prussia when he 

 visited the Jurnna Indians on the Xingu, and men- 

 tioned in the published narrative of the journey. He is 



