2/2 



SANTAREM 



nations of the poor Indian and half-breed inhabitants 

 of different parts of the country. It is to be remarked, 

 however, that the Indian men all become sceptics after 

 a little intercourse with the whites. The witchcraft of 

 poor Cecilia was of a very weak quality. It consisted in 

 throwing pinches of powdered bark of a certain tree and 

 other substances into the fire whilst muttering a spell — a 

 prayer repeated backwards — and adding the name of the 

 person on whom she wished the incantation to operate. 

 Some of the feiticeiras, however, play more dangerous 

 tricks than this harmless mummery. They are acquainted 

 with many poisonous plants, and although they seldom 

 have the courage to administer a fatal dose, sometimes 

 contrive to convey to their victim sufficient to cause 

 serious illness. The motive by which they are actuated 

 is usually jealousy of other women in love matters. 

 Whilst I resided in Santarem a case of what was called 

 witchcraft was tried by the sub-del egado, in which a 

 highly respectable white lady was the complainant. It 

 appeared that some feiticeira had sprinkled a quantity 

 of the acrid juice of a large arum on her linen as it was 

 hanging out to dry, and it was thought this had caused 

 a serious eruption under which the lady suffered. 



I seldom met with any of the larger animals in these 

 excursions. We never saw a mammal of any kind on 

 the campos ; but tracks of three species were seen occa- 

 sionally besides those of the Jaguar : these belonged to 

 a small tiger cat, a deer, and an opossum ; all of which 

 animals must have been very rare, and probably nocturnal 

 in their habits, with the exception of the deer. I saw in 

 the woods, on one occasion, a small flock of monkeys, and 

 once had an opportunity of watching the movements of 

 a sloth. The monkeys belonged to a very pretty and 

 rare species, a kind of marmoset, I think the Hapale 

 humeralifer described by Geoffroy St. Hilaire. I did 

 not succeed in obtaining a specimen, but saw a living 

 example afterwards in the possession of a shopkeeper at 

 Santarem. It seems to occur nowhere else except in 

 the dry woods bordering the campos in the interior parts 

 of Brazil. The colours of its fur are beautifully varied ; 

 the fore part of the body is white, with the hands gray ; 

 the hind part black, with the rump and underside reddish- 

 tawny ; the tail is banded with gray and black. Its 

 face is partly naked and flesh-coloured, and the ears are 



