252 



THE TAPUIOS. 



the English, and the Americans, whom I have met with in this country. 

 I do not know more popular people than my friends Enrique Antonii, 

 the Italian, and his associate, Marcus Williams, the Yankee, who are 

 established at Barra. Everywhere on the river I heard sounded the 

 praises of my countryman. At Sarayacu, at Nauta, at Pebas, and at 

 Egas, men said they wished to see him again and to trade with him. 

 He himself told me that, though the trade on the river was attended 

 with hardships, exposure, and privation, there was a certain charm 

 attending the wild life, and its freedom from restraint, that would 

 always prevent any desire on his part to return to his native country. 

 I heard that he carried this feeling so far as to complain bitterly, when 

 he visited N orris, the consul at Para, of the restraints of society that 

 compelled him to wear trousers at dinner. 



Any number of peons, or as they are called in Brazil, Tapuios, may 

 be had for an almost nominal rate of pay for this traffic with the 

 Indians. 



All the christianized Indians of the province of Para (which, until 

 within the last two or three years, comprehended all the Brazilian 

 territory drained by the Amazon and the lower part of its tributaries 

 on each side, but from which has been lately cut off and erected into a 

 new province the Comarca of Alto Amazonas, comprising the Brazilian 

 territory between Barra and Tabatinga) are registered and compelled 

 to serve the State, either as soldiers of the Guarda Policial, or as a 

 member of "Bodies of Laborers," [Corpos de Trabalhadores,) distributed 

 among the different territorial divisions (comarcas) of the province. 

 There are nine of these bodies, numbering in the aggregate seven 

 thousand four hundred and forty-four, with one hundred and eighty- 

 two officers. A better description of the origin and character of these 

 bodies of laborers cannot be given than is given in the message to the 

 Provincial Assembly of the President of the Province, Jeronimo Fran- 

 cisco Coelho, for the year 1849. This distinguished official, whose 

 patriotism, talents, and energy are still spoken of with enthusiasm 

 throughout the province, says: 



"A sentiment of morality and of order, created by the impression of 

 deplorable and calamitous facts, gave birth to this establishment; but 

 abuse has converted it into a means of servitude and private gain. 

 The principal object of the law which created it was to give employ- 

 ment to an excessive number of tapuios, negroes, and mestizos — people 

 void of civilization and education, and who exceeded in number the 

 worthy, laborious, and industrious part of the population by more than 

 three-quarters. This law founded, in some measure, a system which 



