INDIAN DWELLINGS 



391 



one usually perceives in the farms of civilized Indians and 

 whites. The buildings were of the same construction as 

 those of the humbler settlers in all other parts of the 

 country. The family lived in a large, oblong, open shed 

 built under the shade of trees. Two smaller buildings, 

 detached from the shed and having mud-walls with low 

 doorways, contained apparently the sleeping apartment 

 of different members of the large household. A small 

 mill for grinding sugar-cane, having two cylinders of hard 

 notched wood ; wooden troughs, and kettles for boiling 

 the guardpa (cane juice), to make treacle, stood under a 

 separate shed, and near it was a large enclosed mud-house 

 for poultry. There was another hut and shed a short 

 distance off, inhabited by a family dependent on Pedro, 

 and a narrow pathway through the luxuriant woods led 

 to more dwellings of the same kind. There was an abund- 

 ance of fruit trees around the place, including the never- 

 failing banana, with its long, broad, soft green leaf-blades, 

 and groups 6f full-grown Pupunhas, or peach palms. 

 There was also a large number of cotton and coffee trees. 

 Amongst the utensils I noticed baskets of different shapes, 

 made of flattened maranta stalks, and dyed various 

 colours. The making of these is an original art of the 

 Passes, but I believe it is also practised by other tribes, 

 for I saw several in the houses of semi-civilized Indians on 

 the Tapajos. 



There were only three persons in the house besides the 

 old couple, the rest of the people being absent ; several 

 came in, however, in the course of the day. One was a 

 daughter of Pedro's, who had an oval tattooed spot over 

 her mouth ; the second was a young grandson ; and the 

 third the son-in-law from Ega, Cardozo's compadre. The 

 old woman was occupied, when we entered, in distilling 

 spirits from car a, an eatable root similar to the potato 

 by means of a clay still, which had been manufactured by 

 herself. The liquor had a reddish tint, but not a very 

 agreeable flavour. A cup of it warm from the still, how- 

 ever, was welcome after our long journey. Cardozo liked 

 it, emptied his cup, and replenished it in a very short 

 time. The old lady was very talkative, and almost fussy 

 in her desire to please her visitors. We sat in tucum 

 hammocks, suspended between the upright posts of the 

 shed. The young woman with the blue mouth — who, 

 although married, was as shy as any young maiden of her 



