Geography and Travel. 341 
the choicest timber, come down to the water’s edge in a wall of 
gloriously wild tropical vegetation. The valley is the home of the 
Botocudo, who has not yet renounced cannibalism. Mr. Steains 
does not place the number of these Indians at more than seven 
thousand, yet states that they form the sole barrier to colonization. 
Espiritu Santo, the province lying east of the Serra Amores, is at 
present the poorest province in the empire, and the valley of the 
io Doce is a great gap in the wall of civilization that has been 
slowly reared along the four thousand nine hundred miles of the Bra- 
zilian seaboard. There is not in Brazil a tract naturally richer 
than that which lies between the Doce and the Mucury to the north 
of it, yet the Indian is still in possession. 
he Botocudos, so called by the Portuguese on account of the 
“botoque,” or lip-ornament, which is the only clothing worn by 
them, are about five feet four inches in height, broad chested and 
lean limbed, and with small hands and feet. The plug of wood is 
first inserted in the under lip when the Indian is three or four years 
old, and is replaced by a larger until a diameter of three inches is 
attained. If the lip splits the Indian ties the ends together with 
bark. The “botoque” is now worn only by the older members of 
the tribes. The nuts of two or three species of palm form the chief 
sustenance of these primitive people, and the supply is eked out 
with game and fish. Mr. Steains ascended the tributaries Tamba- 
quary, San José, Pancas and Rio San Antonio. 
the discussion which followed the reading of Mr. Steains’ 
paper, Mr. C. Mackenzie stated that the custom of wearing an orna- 
ment in a slit made in the lower lip could be traced with very few 
breaks from the Eskimo of the Alaskan coast to Brazil. 
THE Casstqurart.—M. Chaffanjon, the well-known explorer of 
the Orinoco, has carefully studied the communication between that 
river and the Amazon, by means of the Cassiquiar, and comes to 
the conclusion that it is of recent origin. The rapid current of the 
‘actual overflow in the rain season, has produced a permanent 
sagas The clay deposits on the left bank have a slope towards 
mazon. 
. 
_ ÅSIA.—EXPLORATIONS IN NEPAL AND TIBET.—An adventurous 
d aey through Nepal and Tibet has recently been taken by M. 
„ 4 native explorer attached to the East Indian Survey. Dis- 
guised as a physician, and provided with a stock of medicines and 
articles for presents, he ascended the Dudhkosi river through hee 
to Khumbujong, about eighteen miles west of Mt. Everest, the 
governor refused him further , but he succeeded in “o 
that functionary’s daughter-in-law a goitre, and soon after } 
with her husband on a trading expedition into Tibet. The pass 
