Chap. IV. A DINNER PARTY. 239 



undertaken in search of the tree in Guiana, has been 

 given by Sir Robert Schomburgk.* 



When we returned to the house after mid-day, Car- 

 dozo was still sipping cauim, and now looked exceedingly 

 merry. It was fearfully hot : the good fellow sat in 

 his hammock with a cuya full of grog in his hands ; 

 his broad honest face all of a glow, and the perspira- 

 tion streaming down his uncovered breast, the unbut- 

 toned shirt having slipped half-way over his broad 

 shoulders. Pedro-uassu had not drunk much ; he was 

 noted, as I afterwards learnt, for his temperance. But 

 he was standing up as I had left him two hours previous, 

 talking to Cardozo in the same monotonous tones, the 

 conversation apparently not having flagged all the time. 

 I had never heard so much talking amongst Indians. 

 The widower was asleep : the stirring, managing old 

 lady with her daughter were preparing dinner. This, 

 which was ready soon after I entered, consisted of 

 boiled fowls and rice, seasoned with large green peppers 

 and lemon juice, and piles of new, fragrant farinha and 

 raw bananas. It was served on plates of English ma- 

 nufacture on a tupe, or large plaited rush mat, such as 

 is made by the natives pretty generally on the Amazons. 

 Three or four other Indians, men and women of middle 

 age, now made their appearance, and joined in the 

 meal. We all sat round on the floor : the women, ac- 

 cording to custom, not eating until after the men had 

 done. Before sitting down, our host apologised in his 

 usual quiet, courteous manner for not having knives 

 and forks ; Cardozo and I ate by the aid of wooden 



* Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii. p. 411. 



