8 



IN'STITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



ily occupied a separate hut. Wooden mortars 

 were made of logs. The platform bed and mat 

 were used for sleeping. Pottery was limited and 

 simple. 



The Guajana collected the jaboticdba^ pi- 

 tanga, araticum, and papaya, the roots of the 

 caraguatd, pine nuts, wild pineapples, honey, and 

 the larvae of bees. They hunted the wild pig, 

 paca, capivara, armadillo, and several kinds of 

 birds. The hands, bows and arrows, and a two- 

 pronged spear were used to catch fish. They are 

 said to have been improvident and to have con- 

 sumed crops as soon as they matured. Salt was 

 unknown to them and malagueta berries were 

 used instead. Beer was a favorite beverage. 

 They did not have the hammock and slept on the 

 ground. Coverings of coarse cloth were made 

 from the fiber of the urtlga hrava for use in cold 

 weather. Large baskets were made from split 

 bamboo and smaller baskets from strips of 

 taquara. The latter were coated with wax to make 

 them impervious to liquids. Pottery was quite 

 simple. 



The Europeans and their descendants who set- 

 tled in the area of the present community lived 

 principally from agriculture and the raising of 

 small numbers of livestock — cattle, hogs, sheep, 

 and poultry — all of which the Europeans had in- 

 troduced into Brazil ; and this means of livelihood, 

 influenced in certain details by practices passed 

 on from Indian associates or ancestors, has pre- 

 dominated from that day to this. By the mid- 

 dle of the seventeenth century, at least 50 fam- 

 ilies were settled on farms in this area. Most of 

 these were small properties; large holdings were 

 not common anywhere in the State of Sao Paulo 

 previous to the development of the coffee fazendas 

 in the nmeteenth century (Taunay, vol. 4, p. 167) . 

 ( Jn one of the larger of these farms there were be- 

 ing grown in 1761, maize, beans, peanuts, cotton, 

 rice, manioc, and sugarcane, the latter of which 

 was in part turned into sugar or aguardente? A 

 small quantity of wine also was produced. 



From farms in this area, several famous haiidei- 

 rantes, with their Indian assistants, set out upon 

 those far-ranging expeditions which made known 

 to Europeans vast areas in the center of the South 



' For the identification of tliese local terms, see The Mata, 

 p. 16, Wildlife, p. 17, and Wild Fruits, p. 34. 

 ° See Distillation of Pinga, p. 89. 



American continent. Even in the handevras 

 that were organized at Sao Paulo there are said 

 "always to have been men from this area, well- 

 Iniown and respected." Expeditions were made 

 to the famed silver mines of Potosi, in Peru; to 

 "Guayra and the Jesuit reducciones of the seven 

 peoples" in Paraguay, whence were brought back 

 "Indian slaves, burros and goats" until, by 1638, 

 these Indian settlements under Jesuit control had 

 been wiped out; to Goias whence, in 1661, the rem- 

 nants of three Indian tribes referred to as 

 Guayanazas, under three "kings," Sonda, Grava- 

 tahy and Tombu, who had fought among them- 

 selves, were brought back and held as slaves in 

 this area ; into southern Minas Gerais where gold 

 was sought for several years befoi'e finally being 

 discovered in 1698 and where diamonds also were 

 discovered in 1723; and into Mato Grosso where 

 gold was discovered in 1718. 



A fazendeiro in this community added materi- 

 ally to his already considerable wealth by loan- 

 ing money at interest to handeir antes and fur- 

 nishing the miners among them periodically with 

 supplies. His men took pack trains "attended by 

 from one to two hundred slaves" and carrying 

 such articles as meat and marmalade from his own 

 fazenda and salt, sugar, firearms, and iron imple- 

 ments imported from Portugal, Kio de Janeiro, or 

 Bahia. He also sold cloth, shoes, hats, salt, wheat, 

 drugs, iron tools, and fresh beef to his neighbors. 

 On his fazenda were artisans who made nails, 

 screws, locks, utensils, and iron tools. 



Several chapels were erected in the community 

 at different times during the colonial period, at 

 least four of which became important centers of 

 collective life. One of these chapels grew into 

 the present village church. On the site of an- 

 other, there still stands a modest chapel, in con- 

 siderable disrepair. A third chapel has recently 

 been restored by the Patrimonio HistSnco of 

 Brazil. Of a fourth, no trace exists today. 



The first chapel known to have been built within 

 the limits of the present community was erected 

 in 1653 about a mile from the site of the present 

 village. It was dedicated to Nossa Senhora da 

 Piedade and was for many years the center of the 

 local parish. It was built by a settler from Per- 

 nambuco, who as a young man had wasted his in- 

 heritance in Lisbon and instead of returning home 

 had come to Eio de Janeiro, then to Santos and Sao 



