190 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



follow. Such a line could be easily built, for there are no 

 serious natural obstacles. In advance of its construction 

 a trolley-line could be run from Cuyaba to the falls, using 

 the power furnished by the latter. Once this is done the 

 land will offer extraordinary opportunities to settlers of 

 the right kind: to home-makers and to enterprising busi- 

 ness men of foresight, coolness, and sagacity who are will- 

 ing to work with the settlers, the immigrants, the home- 

 makers, for an advantage which shall be mutual. 



The Parecis Indians, whom we met here, were exceed- 

 ingly interesting. They were to all appearance an unusu- 

 ally cheerful, good-humored, pleasant-natured people. 

 Their teeth were bad; otherwise they appeared strong and 

 vigorous, and there were plenty of children. The colonel 

 was received as a valued friend and as a leader who was 

 to be followed and obeyed. He is raising them by de- 

 grees — the only way by which to make the rise permanent. 

 In this village he has got them to substitute for the flimsy 

 Indian cabins houses of the type usual among the poorer 

 field laborers and back-country dwellers in Brazil. These 

 houses have roofs of palm thatch, steeply pitched. They 

 are usually open at the sides, consisting merely of a frame- 

 work of timbers, with a wall at the back; but some have 

 the ordinary four walls, of erect palm-logs. The ham- 

 mocks are slung in the houses, and the cooking is also done 

 in them, with pots placed on small open fires, or occasion- 

 ally in a kind of clay oven. The big gourds for water, 

 and the wicker baskets, are placed on the ground, or hung 

 on the poles. 



The men had adopted, and were wearing, shirts and 

 trousers, but the women had made little change in their 



