Chap. II. MISSION VILLAGE. 105 



Italian monk, was away at another station called Wishi- 

 tiiba, two days' journey farther up the river. Report 

 said of him that he had no zeal for religion or devotion 

 to his calling, but was occupied in trading, using the 

 Indian proselytes to collect salsaparilla and so forth, with 

 a view to making a purse wherewith to retire to his 

 own country. The semi-civilised Indians, who speak the 

 Tupi language, called him Pai tuciira, or Father Grass- 

 hopper : his peaked hood having a droll resemblance to 

 the pointed head of the insect. I afterwards became 

 acquainted with Fre Isidoro, and found him a man of 

 superior intelligence and ability. He complained much 

 of the ill treatment the Indians received at the hands 

 of traders and the Brazilian civil authorities, and said 

 that he and his predecessors had incessantly to contend 

 for the rights secured to the aborigines by the laws of 

 the empire. The plan of assembling families in formal, 

 blank-looking settlements, like this of Santa Cruz, 

 seemed to me very ill chosen. The Indians would be 

 happier in their scattered wigwams, embowered in 

 foliage on the banks of shady rivulets where they 

 prefer to settle when left to themselves. 



A narrow belt of wood runs behind the village : be- 

 yond this is an elevated barren campo, with a clayey 

 and gravelly soil. To the south the coast country is of 

 a similar description ; a succession of scantily-wooded 

 hills, bare grassy spaces, and richly-timbered hollows. 

 We traversed forest and campo in various directions 

 during three days without meeting with monkeys, or in- 

 deed with anything that repaid us the time and trouble. 

 The soil of the district appeared too dry ; at this season 



