PROVINCE OF BAHIA. 



315 



aninials ; liogs, which are the most numerous, fly to the mountains, in certain 

 moons, and do not re-appear till after some days. In the woods are the deer, 

 anta, boar, and other game. The wild dog has been known in this district only a 

 few years. The mutun, jacu, macuco partridge, and tucano are common ; as 

 well as the a7raponga, and various sorts of the turtle-dove. The cayrua h of the 

 size of a blackbird, blue on the back, with the breast purple, the wings and tail 

 black, the beak short and broad ; the feathers of the breast, when placed before the 

 heat of a fire, assume the colour of gold ; but the Author of Nature has not destined 

 this bird, so esteemed for its plumage, to delight the ear. Various species of 

 bees produce honey spontaneously, some in the cavities of the trunks of trees, 

 others in little hives of wax which they form in the twigs. 



The Tupininquin tribe, who possessed the sea-coast when the colonists esta- 

 blished themselves in this comarca, (ci-devant capitania,) have been partially 

 Christianized for many years ; and, having intermarried with the Europeans, a 

 portion of the population exhibit a mixture of the Tupininquin physiognomy. 



In the certam there existed for some ages two nations, denominated Patachos, 

 or Cotochos, and Mongoyos ; the former is at present unknown. 



The Mongoyos, reduced in the year 1806, are divided into six or seven 

 aldeias, thinly peopled in their vicinity, and to the north of the river Patype. 

 Each family lives in its cabana. They cultivate various sorts of roots, besides 

 excellent mandioca, and water-melons. They are very extravagant of honey 

 in their method of taking it from the hives. They clear away all the wax, as 

 well as the bees, which they find in the cells, and strain the whole through a 

 sort of sifter ; the wax and bees are subsequently distilled in a certain portion 

 of water, which ferments and produces a beverage, which when taken copiously 

 leads them on from intoxication to fury. They make even a more spirituous 

 drink from a sort of potato, and the root of mandioca pounded, and infused 

 to the point of fermentation. The fathers give names to their new-born sons 

 without any ceremony whatever. They weep over the dead, and inter them 

 seated in a naked state. They dance and sing to the sound of an instrument 

 as simple as inharmonious, and in the form of a bow with a slender cord. The 

 women wear a well made cotton fringe, which reaches almost to the knees; the 

 men a girdle made of palm leaves, and have no other covering upon their 

 well proportioned bodies. They spend a great portion of their time wan- 

 dering in the woods, hunting, and gathering fruits. The manufacture of earthen 

 vessels is the only handicraft which they exercise. They use the skins of deer 

 for bags. The dog is the most useful domestic animal in their estimation, and 



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