INHABITANTS OF MATTO GROSSO. 257 



In general the conditions are liigbly unfavourable for Euro^ eans, at least, on the 

 low, marshy plains. The relatively salubrious plateaux are not yet comprised 

 within the settled districts, so that nearly all strangers have to face the dangers 

 of great heat and moisture on the low-lying plains. These regions have been 

 visited by frightful epidemics, measles in the last century, and since then other 

 scourges such as small-pox and. yellow fever. Hence, despite a high birth-rate, 

 the population in some years has diminished in the rural districts. In Matto 

 Grosso the great epidemics have attacked the animals with as much intensity 

 as human beings, and have even spread from the cattle and jjoultry to the deer, 

 tapirs, and jaguars of the forests and savannas. In 1857 nearly all the horses 

 and mules perished in the southern districts between Miranda and Cuyaba, 

 and since then, the horned cattle, estimated at from 600,000 to 1,000,000, have 

 become half wild through the lack of mounted herdsmen to tend the droves. 



Flora — Fauna. 



About the watersheds of the great basins the Amazonian and Argentine vege- 

 table and animal kingdoms are intermingled. Nevertheless, the tropical flora with 

 its endless variety of forms predominates in all the wooded regions, that is, mainly 

 along the river banks. Nowhere else have trailing palms acquired a more 

 remarkable development. The urubamba [calamus procumberifi), a member of 

 this group, grows to a length of over 650 feet, with a stem scarcely half an inch 

 thick. The cotton shrub grows wild on the plains, and another useful indigenous 

 plant is the ipecacuanha, locally called poaija. The American ostrich has pene- 

 trated from the campos and pampas into the Upper Paraguay plains, and the 

 low marshy grounds have favoured the development of huge land and water 

 boas. 



Inhabitants. 



In Matto Grosso the decrease of the aborigines has been more rapid than the 

 growth of their white successors. The tribes, which at the arrival of the Europeans 

 ranged over the whole region, have been greatly reduced, and vast districts may 

 now be traversed without meeting a single Indian. Although the distinct groups 

 are still reckoned by the dozen, the collective population does not certainly exceed 

 25,000. 



The Parexi or Parccis, about the headwaters of the Tapajoz, one of the best- 

 known groups, are affiliated by Ehrenreich to the Arawak family, and by 

 D'Orbigny to the Pampas Indians, while Martius regards them as a distinct race. 

 Since the arrival of the miners they have entered into friendly relations with the 

 settlers of Portuguese speech, and by crossings have become partly assimilated 

 to the Brazilians. They have even been baptised, and therefore pass as Christians. 

 After the discovery of the mineral deposits they were employed as garimpciros by 

 the gold and diamond hunters ; but at present they are sent into the forest in 



