170 The Aborigines of Brazil. 



syllableless, wrapt up in himself, wandering about with con- 

 fused staring look, or withdrawn from all company, he breaks 

 forth suddenly some evening after sunset, with all the signs of 

 ungovernable madness and blind thirst for blood, he storms 

 through the village, and sets on every one that he meets, he 

 rushes howling to the spot where the dead are buried, tears up 

 the soil, and throws himself down, or madly loses himself 

 in the desert. This disease returns every 8 or 14 days, and 

 ends in complete exhaustion, or passes into fever. It is 

 said to have been observed to be epidemic, and to occur not 

 only in men, but also in women, and especially after conti- 

 nued debauchery, drinking, dancing and excitements of all 

 kinds. The Indians believe that witchcraft is its cause. The 

 missionaries always considered the removal of the person 

 affected from his community, as necessary to prevent its 

 spreading.* 



I have now related the most important particulars of what 

 I have had the opportunity of observing, or occasion to hear 

 from trustworthy parties regarding the diseases of the In- 

 dians. 



Diffusion of disease according to different localities. 

 All these diseases are especially those of the tropical man, 

 the nomad, the hunter, the stranger to European civilization. 

 They are in many districts endemic, and then the red man 

 shares them in a greater or less degree with his neighbours 

 of other races. It is natural that a country of the extent of 

 Brazil should not have the same climatic constitution in all 

 parts, and that local diseases should accordingly undergo 

 certain modifications. If we view the whole of tropical Bra- 



* Catlin mentions something very similar among the N. American Indians. The 

 belief in wer-wolves was common among the Romans, prevailed throughout Eu- 

 rope for many centuries, and is not yet extinct in some districts. The European 

 superstition however makes no difficulty as to the actual conversion of the man 

 into a wolf. The lycanthropy of the red Indian is no doubt at times epidemic, 

 like the dancing and leaping mania of the American Jumpers, &c. — Tr. 



