The Aborigines of Brazil. 833 



from the bark and dries in the air in whitish threads, re- 

 sembles round- worms, in Tupi Sebuii, and he therefore 

 employs it to clear himself from worms, and calls several of 

 these plants Sebuu-uva. The Selaginella convuluta rolls 

 itself up in the dry season like the rose of Jericho, and ex- 

 pands again as a sensitive hygrometer when the air be- 

 comes damp, and acquires a fresher colouring : the Indian 

 sees in this, to him very surprising phenomenon, an indication 

 that the plant has the virtue of awakening the dormant 

 powers of life, and he therefore employs it as a restorative. 

 In this respect he follows the same instinct as the Hindu, 

 who ascribes kindred powers to the similarly organised Lyco- 

 podiacete. He has observed that wounds of the bark of the 

 Araucaria Brasiliana, and of several Terebinthacece and 

 Leguminosce fill with Balsamic resin, which gradually thick- 

 ens, and forms a coating to the injured part, and therefore he 

 uses these balsams to heal his own wounds. He sees a slimy 

 juice issue from many of the Aristolochia family, on being 

 wounded, and he therefore considers them to be sudorific. 

 These examples may be enough to shew that the old apo- 

 thegm "similia similibus" is known even to the wild Bra- 

 zilian. 



We recognise also another source of the knowledge of 

 the properties of plants in his nice observation of the instinct 

 of the lower animals. Many medicinal plants have be- 

 yond all doubt been discovered in this way. The Indians in 

 Minas, and the eastern coast-provinces, know by the name of 

 Tiu ilva, a Euphorbiacea, (Adenor opium opiferum,) whose 

 root, a capital cathartic, is sought and eaten by the Lacerta 

 monitor, L., when it is ill : in like manner the Drymis grana- 

 tensis is called in Tupi Tapijra-motuti, i. e. Tapir-bark, be- 

 cause the Tapirs make use of the bark of that tree to cure 

 themselves from colic and diarrhoeas. It now only remains 

 for me to make a few remarks on the method of procedure 

 of the Indian Paje. 



