Chap. YII. IXDTAXS OF THE MADEIRA. 315 



price (2s. 6d. a pound) which the article was at that 

 time fetching at Para ; and then the Ai'aras, a fierce 

 and intractable tribe of Indians, began to be trouble- 

 some. They attacked several canoes and massacred 

 every one on board, the Indian crews as well as the white 

 traders. Their plan was to lurk in ambush near the 

 sandy beaches where canoes stop for the night, and 

 then fall upon the people whilst asleep. Sometimes 

 they came under pretence of wishing to trade, and then 

 as soon as they could get the trader at a disadvantage 

 shot him and his crew from behind trees. Their arms 

 were clubs, bows, and Taquara arrows, the latter a 

 formidable weapon tipped with a piece of flinty bamboo 

 shaped Hke a spear-head ; they could propel it mth such 

 force as to pierce a man completely through the body. 

 The whites of Borba made reprisals, inducing the war- 

 like Mundurucus, who had an old feud with the Araras, 

 to assist them. This state of things lasted tWD or three 

 years, and made a journey up the Madeira a risky 

 undertaking, as the savages attacked all comers. Be- 

 sides the Araras and the Mundurucus, the latter a tribe 

 friendly to the whites, attached to agriculture, and in- 

 habiting the interior of the country from the Madeira 

 to beyond the Tapajos, two other tribes of Indians now 

 inhabit the lower Madeira, namely, the Parentintins 

 and the Muras. Of the former I did not hear much ; 

 the Muras lead a lazy quiet life on the banks of the 

 labjTinths of lakes and channels which intersect the low 

 country on both sides of the river below Borba. The 

 Araras are one of those tribes which do not plant man- 

 dioca ; and indeed have no settled habitations. They 



