MUNDURUCU INDIANS 



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the broad eaves reaching halfway to the ground. Some 

 are quadrangular, and do not differ in structure from those 

 of the semi-civilized settlers in other parts ; others are 

 open sheds or ranchos. They seem generally to contain 

 not more than one or two families each. 



At the first house we learnt that all the fighting men 

 had this morning returned from a two days' pursuit of 

 a wandering horde of savages of the Pararauate tribe, who 

 had strayed this way from the interior lands and robbed 

 the plantations. A little further on we came to the house 

 of the Tushaiia or chief, situated on the top of a high bank, 

 which he had to ascend by wooden steps. There were four 

 other houses in the neighbourhood, all filled with people. 

 A fine old fellow, with face, shoulders, and breast tattooed 

 all over in a cross-bar pattern, was the first strange object 

 that caught my eye. Most of the men lay lounging or 

 sleeping in their hammocks. The women were employed 

 in an adjoining shed making farinha, many of them being 

 quite naked, and rushing off to the huts to slip on their 

 petticoats when they caught sight of us. Our entrance 

 aroused the Tushaua from a nap ; after rubbing his eyes 

 he came forward and bade us welcome with the most 

 formal politeness, and in very good Portuguese. He 

 was a tall, broad-shouldered, well-made man, apparently 

 about thirty years of age, with handsome regular features, 

 not tattooed, and a quiet good-humoured expression of 

 countenance. He had been several times to Santarem 

 and once to Para, learning the Portuguese language 

 during these journeys. He was dressed in shirt and 

 trousers made of blue-checked cotton cloth and there was 

 not the slightest trace of the savage in his appearance or 

 demeanour. I was told that he had come into the chief- 

 tainship by inheritance, and that the Cupari horde of 

 Mundurucus, over which his fathers had ruled before him, 

 was formerly much more numerous, furnishing 300 bows 

 in time of war. They could now scarcely muster forty ; 

 but the horde has no longer a close political connection 

 with the main body of the tribe, which inhabits the banks 

 of the Tapajos, six days* journey from the Cupari settle- 

 ment. 



I spent the remainder of the day here, sending Aracu and 

 the men to fish, whilst I amused myself with the Tushaua 

 and his people. A few words served to explain my errand 

 on the river ; he comprehended at once why white men 



