WARS OF MUNDURUCUS 323 



remarkable how faithfully this friendly feeling has been 

 handed down amongst the Mundurucus, and spread to 

 the remotest of the scattered hordes. Whenever a white 

 man meets a family, or even an individual of the tribe, 

 he is almost sure to be reminded of this alliance. They 

 are the most warlike of the Brazilian tribes, and are con- 

 sidered also the most settled and industrious ; they are 

 not, however, superior in this latter respect to the Juris 

 and Passes on the Upper Amazons, or the Uapes Indians 

 near the head waters of the Rio Negro. They make very 

 large plantations of mandioca, and sell the surplus pro- 

 duce, which amounts on the Tapajos to from 3000 to 

 5000 baskets (60 lbs. each) annually, to traders who ascend 

 the river from Santarem between the months of August 

 and January. They also gather large quantities of salsa- 

 parilla. India-rubber, and Tonka beans, in the forests. 

 The traders, on their arrival at the Campinas (the scantily 

 wooded region inhabited by the main body of Mundurucus 

 beyond the cataracts) have first to distribute their wares 

 — cheap cotton cloths, iron hatchets, cutlery, small wares, 

 and casha9a — amongst the minor chiefs, and then wait 

 three or four months for repayment in produce. 



A rapid change is taking place in the habits of these 

 Indians through frequent intercourse with the whites, 

 and those who dwell on the banks of the Tapajos now 

 seldom tattoo their children. The principal Tushaua of 

 the whole tribe or nation, named Joaquim, was rewarded 

 with a commission in the Brazilian army, in acknow- 

 ledgment of the assistance he gave to the legal autho- 

 rities during the rebellion of 1835-6. It would be a 

 misnomer to call the Mundurucus of the Cupari and many 

 parts of the Tapajos, savages ; their regular mode of 

 life, agricultural habits, loyalty to their chiefs, fidelity to 

 treaties, and gentleness of demeanour, give them a right 

 to a better title. Yet they show no aptitude for the 

 civilized life of towns, and, like the rest of the Brazilian 

 tribes, seem incapable of any further advance in culture. 

 In their former wars they exterminated two of the neigh- 

 bouring peoples, the Jumas and the Jacares ; and make 

 now an annual expedition against the Pararauates, and 

 one or two other similar wild tribes who inhabit the in- 

 terior of the land, but are sometimes driven by hunger 

 towards the banks of the great rivers to rob the plantations 

 of the agricultural Indians. These campaigns begin in 



