128 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. Chap. II. 



design which I saw, was amongst the Tucunas of the 

 Upper Amazons, some of whom have a scroll-like mark 

 on each cheek, proceeding from the corner of the 

 month. The taste, as far as form is concerned, of the 

 American Indian would seem to be far less refined 

 than that of the Tahitian and New Zealander. 



To amuse the Tushaua, I fetched from the canoe 

 the two volumes of Knight's Pictorial Museum of 

 Animated Nature. The engravings quite took his 

 fancy, and he called his wives, of whom, as I after- 

 wards learnt from Aracu, he had three or four, to look 

 at them ; one of them was a handsome girl, decorated 

 with necklace and bracelets of blue beads. In a short 

 time others left their work, and I then had a crowd of 

 women and children around me, who all displayed 

 unusual curiosity for Indians. It was no light task to 

 go through the whole of the illustrations, but they 

 would not allow me to miss a page, making me turn 

 back when I tried to skip. The pictures of the ele- 

 phant, camels, orang-otangs, and tigers, seemed most 

 to astonish them ; but they were interested in almost 

 everything, down even to the shells and insects. They 

 recognised the portraits of the most striking birds 

 and mammals which are found in their own country ; 

 the jaguar, howling monkeys, parrots, trogons, and 

 toucans. The elephant was settled to be a large 

 kind of Tapir ; but they made but few remarks, and 

 those in the Mundurucu. language, of which I under- 

 stood only two or three words. Their way of express- 

 ing surprise was a clicking sound made with the teeth, 

 similar to the one we ourselves use, or a subdued ex- 



