INDIAN LANGUAGES 



51 



broad. The natives are all boat-builders. It is often 

 remarked, by white residents, that an Indian is a car- 

 penter and shipwright by intuition. It is astonishing 

 to see in what crazy vessels these people will risk them- 

 selves. I have seen Indians cross rivers in a leaky mon- 

 taria, when it required the nicest equilibrium to keep 

 the leak just above water ; a movement of a hair's breadth 

 would send all to the bottom, but they managed to cross 

 in safety. They are especially careful when they have 

 strangers under their charge, and it is the custom of 

 Brazilian and Portuguese travellers to leave the whole 

 management to them. When they are alone they are 

 more reckless, and often have to swim for their lives. 

 When a squall overtakes them as they are crossing in a 

 heavily-laden canoe, they all jump overboard and swim 

 about until the heavy sea subsides, when they re-embark. 



A few words on the aboriginal population of the Para 

 estuary will here not be out of place. The banks of the 

 Para were originally inhabited by a number of distinct 

 tribes, who, in their habits, resembled very much the 

 natives of the seacoast from Maranham to Bahia. It 

 is related that one large tribe, the Tupinambas, migrated 

 from Pernambuco to the Amazons. One fact seems to 

 be well-established, namely, that all the coast tribes 

 were far more advanced in civilization, and milder in 

 their manners, than the savages who inhabited the in- 

 terior lands of Brazil. They were settled in villages, and 

 addicted to agriculture. They navigated the rivers in 

 large canoes, called ubas, made of immense hoUowed-out 

 tree trunks ; in these they used to go on war expeditions, 

 carrying in the prows their trophies and calabash rattles, 

 whose clatter was meant to intimidate their enemies. 

 They were gentle in disposition, and received the early 

 Portuguese settlers with great friendliness. The inland 

 savages, on the other hand, led a wandering life, as they 

 do at the present time, only coming down occasionally 

 to rob the plantations of the coast tribes, who always 

 entertained the greatest enmity towards them. 



The original Indian tribes of the district are now either 

 civilized, or have amalgamated with the white and negro 

 immigrants. Their distinguishing tribal names have long 

 been forgotten, and the race bears now the general ap- 

 pelation of Tapuyo, which seems to have been one of 



