242 



SANTAREM 



Indians, with whom masked dances and acting are in- 

 digenous, had their turn, and on one occasion they gave 

 us a great treat. They assembled from different parts 

 of the neighbourhood at night, on the outskirts of the 

 town, and then marched through the streets by torchUght 

 towards the quarter inhabited by the whites, to perform 

 their hunting and devil dances before the doors of the 

 principal inhabitants. There were about a hundred men, 

 women, and children in the procession. Many of the men 

 were dressed in the magnificent feather crowns, tunics, 

 and belts, manufactured by the Mundurucus, and worn by 

 them on festive occasions, but the women were naked to 

 the waist, and the children quite naked, and all were 

 painted and smeared red with anatto. The ringleader 

 enacted the part of the Tushaua, or chief, and carried 

 a sceptre, richly decorated with the orange, red, and green 

 feathers of toucans and parrots. The paje or medicine- 

 man came along, puffing at a long tauari cigar, the instru- 

 ment by which he professes to make his wonderful cures. 

 Others blew harsh jarring blasts with the ture, a horn made 

 of long and thick bamboo, with a split reed in the mouth- 

 piece. This is the war trumpet of many tribes of Indians, 

 with which the sentinels of predatory hordes, mounted on 

 a lofty tree, give the signal for attack to their comrades. 

 Those Brazilians who are old enough to remember the 

 times of warfare between Indians and settlers, retain a 

 great horror of the ture, its loud harsh note heard in the 

 dead of the night having been often the prelude to an on- 

 slaught of bloodthirsty Muras on the outlying settle- 

 ments. The rest of the men in the procession carried bows 

 and arrows, bunches of javelins, clubs, and paddles. The 

 older children brought with them the household pets ; 

 some had monkeys or coatis on their shoulders, and others 

 bore tortoises on their heads. The squaws carried their 

 babies in aturas, or large baskets, slung on their backs, 

 and secured with a broad belt of bast over their foreheads. 

 The whole thing was accurate in its representation of 

 Indian life, and showed more ingenuity than some people 

 give the Brazilian red man credit for. It was got up spon- 

 taneously by the Indians, and simply to amuse the people 

 of the place. 



The entire produce in cacao, salt fish, and other articles 

 of a very large district, passes through the hands of the 

 Santarem merchants, and a large trade, for this country, 



