124 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. Chap. II. 



the branch rivers of the Amazons which flow from the 

 south through the interior of Brazil, with the first 

 cataracts. We started on the 19th ; our direction on 

 that day being generally south-west. On the 20th our 

 course was southerly and south-easterly. This morning 

 (August 21st) we arrived at the Indian settlement, the 

 first house of which lies about thirty-one miles above 

 the sitio of Joao Aracti. The river at this place is 

 from sixty to seventy yards wide, and runs in a zigzag 

 course between steep clayey banks twenty to fifty 

 feet in height. The houses of the Munduruciis to the 

 number of about thirty are scattered along the banks 

 for a distance of six or seven miles. The owners appear 

 to have chosen all the most picturesque sites — tracts 

 of level ground at the foot of wooded heights, or little 

 havens with bits of white sandy beach — as if they had 

 an appreciation of natural beauty. Most of the dwell- 

 ings are conical huts, with walls of framework filled in 

 with mud and thatched with palm leaves, the broad eaves 

 reaching halfway to the ground. Some are quadran- 

 gular, and do not differ in structure from those of 

 the semi-civilised settlers in other parts ; others are 

 open sheds or ranchos. They seem generally to contain 

 not more than one or two families each. 



At the first house we learnt that all the fighting men 

 had this morning returned from a two days' pursuit of 

 a wandering horde of savages of the Pararauate tribe, 

 who had strayed this way from the interior lands and 

 robbed the plantations. A little further on we came 

 to the house of the Tushatia or chief, situated on 

 the top of a high bank, which we had to ascend by 



