The Fkontiek of Brazil. 233 



Wilkens, the Brazilian consul, of German birth, but North 

 American education. The inhabitants are Peruvians, Por- 

 tuguese, Negroes, and Ticima Indians. The musquitoes 

 hold high carnival at this place. In two hours we were 

 at San Antonio, a military post on the Peruvian frontier, 

 commanded by a French engineer, Manuel Charon, who 

 also studied in the United States. One large building, 

 and a flag-staff on a high bluff of red clay, were all that 

 was visible of San Antonio ; but the " Morona" brought 

 down a gang of Indians (impressed, no doubt) to build a 

 fort for twenty guns. The site is in depute, a Brazilian 

 claiming it as pri\'ate property. The white barracks of 

 Tabatinga, the first fortress in Brazil, are in plain sight, the 

 voyage consuming but twenty minutes. Between San An- 

 tonio and Tabatinga is a ravine, on either side of which is 

 a white pole, marking the limits of the republic and the 

 empire. 



Tabatinga has long been a military post, but, excepting 

 the government buildings, there are not a dozen houses. 

 Numerous Indians, however, of the Ticuna tribe, dwell in 

 the neighboring forest. The commandante was O Illus- 

 trissimo Senor Tenente Aristides Juste Mavignier, a tall, 

 thin, stooping officer, dressed in brown linen. He received 

 us -with great civility, and tendered a house and servant dur- 

 ing our stay in port. We preferred, however, to accept the 

 hospitalities of the " Morona" till the arrival of the Brazil- 

 ian steamer. Sefior Mavignier was commandante of Ma- 

 naos when visited by Agassiz, and presented the Professor 

 with a hundred varieties of wood. With the like courtesy, 

 he gave us a collection of reptiles, all of them rare, and 

 many of them new species. He showed us also a live ra- 

 posa, or wild dog, peculiar to the Amazon, but seldom seen. 

 Tabatinga stands on an eminence of yellow clay, and is de- 

 fended by twelve guns. The river in front is quite narrow, 



