i86 



THE LOWER AMAZONS 



thologists, and has a plain slate-coloured plumage with 

 the beak of an orange hue. It belongs to the family of 

 Barbets, most of whose members are remarkable for their 

 dull inactive temperament. Those species which are 

 ranged by ornithologists under the genus Bucco are 

 called by the Indians, in the Tupl language, Tai-assu uira, 

 or pig-birds. They remain seated sometimes for hours 

 together on low branches in the shade, and are stimulated 

 to exertion only when attracted by passing insects. This 

 flock of Tamburi-para were the reverse of dull ; they 

 were gambolling and chasing each other amongst the 

 branches. As they sported about, each emitted a few 

 short tuneful notes, which altogether produced a ringing, 

 musical chorus that quite surprised me. 



On the 27th we reached an elevated wooded promon- 

 tory, called Parentins, which now forms the boundary 

 between the provinces of Para and the Amazons. Here 

 we met a small canoe descending to Santarem. The 

 owner was a free negro named Lima, who, with his wife, 

 was going down the river to exchange his year's crop of 

 tobacco for European merchandise. The long shallow 

 canoe was laden nearly to the water level.. He resided 

 on the banks of the Abacaxi, a river which discharges 

 its waters into the Canoma, a broad interior channel 

 which extends from the river Madeira to the Parentins, 

 a distance of 1 80 miles. Penna offered him advantageous 

 terms, so a bargain was struck, and the man saved his 

 long journey. The negro seemed a frank, straightforward 

 fellow ; he was a native of Pernambuco, but had settled 

 many years ago in this part of the country. He had 

 with him a little Indian girl belonging to the Mauhes 

 tribe, whose native seat is the district of country lying 

 in the rear of the Canoma between the Madeira and the 

 Tapajos. The Mauhes are considered, I think with truth, 

 to be a branch of the great Mundurucu nation, having 

 segregated from them at a remote period, and by long 

 isolation acquired different customs and a totally different 

 language, in a manner which seems to have been general 

 with the Brazilian aborigines. The Mundurucus seem to 

 have retained more of the general characteristics of the 

 original Tupl stock than the Mauhes. Senhor Lima told 

 me, what I afterwards found to be correct, that there 

 Were scarcely two words alike in the languages of the 

 two peoples, although there are words closely allied to 



