318 THE LOWER AMAZOXS. Chap. VII. 



All we saw, had been done since the disorders of 1835-6, 

 during which Joa5 Trinidade was a great sufferer ; he was 

 obliged to fly, and the Mura Indians destroyed his house 

 and plantations. There was a large, well-weeded grove 

 of cacao along the banks of the river, comprising about 

 8000 trees, and further inland, considerable plantations 

 of tobacco, mandioca, Indian corn, fields of rice, melons, 

 and water-melons. Near the house was a kitchen gar- 

 den, in which grew cabbages and onions introduced 

 from Europe, besides a wonderful variety of tropical 

 vegetables. It must not be supposed that these plan- 

 tations and gardens were enclosed or neatly kept, such 

 is never the case in this country where labour is so 

 scarce ; but it was an unusual thing to see vegetables 

 grown at all, and the ground tolerably well weeded. 

 The space around the house was plentifully planted with 

 fruit-trees, some, belonging to the Anonaceous order, 

 yielding delicious fruits large as a child's head, and full 

 of custardy pulp which it is necessary to eat with a spoon ; 

 besides oranges, lemons, guavas, alligator pears, Abius 

 (Achras cainito), Genipapas and bananas. In the shade 

 of these, coffee trees grew in great luxuriance. The 

 table was always well supplied with fish, which the Mura, 

 who was attached to the household as fisherman, caught 

 every morning a few hundred yards from the port. 

 The chief kinds were the Surubim, Pira-peeua and 

 Piramutaba, three species of Siluridse, belonging to the 

 genus Pimelodus. To these we used a sauce in the 

 form of a yellow paste, quite new to me, called Arub^, 

 which is made of the poisonous juice of the mandioca 

 root, boiled down before the starch or tapioca is pre- 



