242 EXCURSIONS ABOUND EGA. Chap. IV. 



of the Tucunas of St. Paulo, who were scarcely distin- 

 guishable from Passes in all the features mentioned. 

 It is remarkable that a small tribe, the Caishanas, who 

 live in the very midst of all these superior tribes, are 

 almost as debased physically and mentally as the 

 Muras, the lowest of all the Indian tribes on the Ama- 

 zons. Yet were they seen separately, many Caishanas 

 could not be distinguished from Miranhas or Juris, 

 although none have such slender figures or are so frank 

 in their ways as to be mistaken for Passes. I make 

 these remarks to show that the differences between the 

 nations or tribes of Indians are not absolute, and there- 

 fore that there is no ground for supposing any of them 

 to have had an origin entirely different from the rest. 

 Under what influences certain tribes, such as the Passes, 

 have become so strongly modified in mental, social, and 

 bodily features, it is hard to divine. The industrious 

 habits, fidelity, and mildness of disposition of the Passes, 

 their docility and, it may be added, their personal beauty, 

 especially of the children and women, made them from 

 the first very attractive to the Portuguese colonists. 

 They were, consequently, enticed in great number from 

 their villages and brought to Barra and other set- 

 tlements of the whites. The wives of governors and 

 military officers from Europe were always eager to 

 obtain children for domestic servants : the girls being 

 taught to sew, cook, weave hammocks, manufacture 

 pillow-lace, and so forth. They have been generally 

 treated with kindness, especially by the educated fami- 

 lies in the settlements. It is pleasant to have to record 

 that I never heard of a deed of violence perpetrated, on 



