316 THE LOWER AMAZONS. Chap. Yll. 



are veiy similar in stature and other physical features 

 to the Mundurucus, although differing from them so 

 widely in habits and social condition. They paint their 

 chins red with Urucu (Anatto), and have usually a 

 black tatooed streak on each side of the face, running 

 from the comer of the mouth to the temple. They 

 have not yet learnt the use of firearms, have no canoes, 

 and spend their lives roaming over the interior of the 

 country, living on game and wild fruits. "When they 

 wish to cross a river they make a temporary canoe with 

 the thick bark of trees, which they secure in the required 

 shape of a boat by means of lianas. I heard it stated 

 by a trader of Santarem, who narrowly escaped being 

 butchered by them in 1854, that the Araras numbered 

 two thousand fighting men. The number I think must 

 be exaggerated, as it generally is with regard to Brazilian 

 tribes. When the Indians show a hostile disposition to 

 the whites, I believe it is most frequently owing to some 

 provocation they have received at their hands ; for the 

 first impulse of the Brazilian red-man is to respect 

 Europeans ; they have a strong dislike to be forced into 

 their service, but if strangers visit them with a friendly 

 intention they are well treated. It is related, however, 

 that the Indians of the Madeira were hostile to the 

 Portuguese from the first ; it was then the tribes of 

 Muras and Torazes who attacked travellers. In 1855 

 I met with an American, an odd character, named 

 Kemp, who had lived for many years amongst the 

 Indians on the Madeira, near the abandoned settlement 

 of Crato. He told me his neighbours were a kindly- 

 disposed and cheerful people, and that the onslaught of 



