278 



THE INDIANS OF BARRA. 



and the wheel placed below. There was no necessity for dam or race 

 or, at least, a log, placed diagonally across the stream, served for a dam. 

 It was built by a Scotchman, in partnership with a Brazilian., The 

 Brazilian dying, his widow would neither buy nor sell, and the mill was 

 finally burned down. I judge that it was not a good speculation ; there 

 is no fine timber in the immediate neighborhood of Barra, and no roads 

 in the country by which it may be brought to the mill. 



The Indians of the neighborhood are called Muras ; they lead an idle, 

 vagabond life, and live by hunting and fishing. A few of them come 

 in and take service with the whites ; and nearly all bring their children 

 in to be baptized. Their reason for this is, not that they care about the 

 ceremony, but they can generally persuade some good-natured white 

 man to stand as godfather, which secures the payment of the church 

 fee, (a cruzado,) a bottle of spirits to- the father, and a yard or two of 

 cotton cloth to the mother. Antonii tells me he is compadre with half 

 the tribe. 



They are thorough savages, and kill a number of their children from 

 ndisposition to take care of them. My good hostess told me that her 

 father, returning from a walk to his house in the country, heard a noise 

 in the woods ; and, going towards the spot, found a young Indian woman, 

 a tapuia of his, digging a hole in the ground for the purpose of burying 

 her infant just born. He interfered to prevent it, when she flew at him 

 like a tiger. The old gentleman, however, cudgelled her into submission 

 and obedience, and compelled her to take the child home, where he put 

 it under the care of another woman. 



The women sutler very little in parturition, and are able to perform 

 all the offices of a midwife for themselves. I am told that sometimes, 

 when a man and his wife are travelling together in a canoe, the woman 

 will signify to her husband her desire to land ; will retreat into the 

 woods, and in a very short time return with a newly-born infant, which 

 she will wash in the river, sling to her back, and resume her paddle 

 again. Even the ladies of this country are confined a very short time. 

 The mother of my little namesake was about her household avocations 

 in seven days after his birth. This probably arises from three causes : 

 the climate, the habit of wearing loose dresses, and the absence of 

 dissipation. 



The Rio Negro, opposite the town, is about a mile and a half wide, 

 and very beautiful. The opposite shore is masked by low islands ; and 

 where glimpses of it can be had, it appears to be five or six miles distant. 

 The river is navigable for almost any draught to the Rio Maraya, a dis- 

 tance of twenty-five days, or, according to the rate of travelling on these 



