94 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. Chap. II. 



by Captain Antonio with great consideration, and 

 promised two good Indians when I should be ready to 

 continue my voyage. 



Little happened worth narrating, during my forty 

 days' stay at Aveyros. The time was spent in the 

 quiet, regular pursuit of Natural History : every morn- 

 ing I had my long ramble in the forest, which extended 

 to the back-doors of the houses, and the afternoons 

 were occupied in preserving and studying the objects 

 collected. The priest was a lively old man, but rather 

 a bore from being able to talk of scarcely anything ex- 

 cept homoeopathy, having been smitten with the mania 

 during a recent visit to Santarem. He had a Portu- 

 guese Homoeopathic Dictionary, and a little leather 

 case containing glass tubes filled with globules, with 

 which he was doctoring the whole village. A bitter 

 enmity seemed to exist between the female members 

 of the priest's family and those of the captain's ; the 

 only white women in the settlement. It was amusing 

 to notice how they flaunted past each other, when going 

 to church on Sundays, in their starched muslin dresses. 

 I found an intelligent young man living here, a native 

 of the province of Goyaz, who was exploring the neigh- 

 bourhood for gold and diamonds. He had made one 

 journey up a branch river, and declared to me, that 

 he had found one diamond, but was unable to con- 

 tinue his researches, because the Indians who accom- 

 panied him refused to remain any longer : he was 

 now waiting for Captain Antonio to assist him with 

 fresh men, having offered him in return a share in the 

 results of the enterprise. There appeared to be no 



