26^ TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



of imitating the ceremonies and functions of the 

 clergy. This want of civihsation must unhappily 

 be excused by the character of the people who 

 surround them. For the colonists who have 

 settled in the neighbourhood of the Indians, are 

 partly people who are not able to live in the 

 more populous parts, and whom the solitude of 

 the woods serves as a protection from the pursuits 

 of justice. The Indian, who is constantly op- 

 pressed by covetousness and self-interest, lives 

 among the colonists only with fear, hatred, and 

 distrust. The civilisation of the Indian has 

 hitherto been impeded also by the custom of 

 making use of one nation to -combat another, 

 as the Coroados, for instance, were employed 

 against the Puris, and by the cruelty of the military 

 detachments, which extended to the Puris the war 

 of extermination which was permitted by the 

 laws against the Botocudos. However, the hu- 

 mane activity and kind treatment adopted by Cap- 

 tain Marlier, have had a very favourable effect, 

 especially on the Coroados. This nation inhabits 

 the country through which the Rio Xipoto flows, 

 and which is called after them Rio Xipoto dos 

 Coroados, and between the two chains of the 

 Serra da Onga and the Serra de S. Geraldo. Their 

 number is estimated at above two thousand, but 

 many have been carried off of late years by dis- 

 eases, particularly dysentery. Their enemies, the 

 Puris, who, except a small part living on the 



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