TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



73 



fruit of several species of palm. They are princi- 

 pally Cayapos who visit the canoes on their way from 

 the Tiete into the Tacoary, and Guaycurus who 

 show themselves on the rest of the voyage. The 

 Cayapos, also called Caipos, are the most powerful 

 nation in the province of Goyaz : they possess the 

 wildernesses between the western bank of the 

 Parana and the Paraguay, and around the sources 

 of the Araguaya, and the streams which join it at 

 the commencement of its course, and sometimes 

 extend their excursions further to the north and 

 south. The Guaycurus or Quaicurus, called also 

 Cavalleiros by the Portuguese, inhabit the plains on 

 the two banks of the Paraguay, which are for the 

 most part open and covered with grass, namely, on 

 the east side between the rivers Tacoary and 

 Ipani, and on the west side to the Serra de Albu- 

 querque.* They are the most numerous and most 

 powerful nation in Matto-grosso, and formidable 

 to all their neighbours. The chief object of their 

 frequent w^ars, is to make prisoners, whom they 

 carry off as slaves, and keep in very rigorous ser- 

 vitude. There is perhaps no tribe of the South 

 American Indians, among whom the state of 



* We mention some of the characteristics of the Hfe of the 

 Guaycurus, in which we follow partly oral communications, 

 and partly the accounts of this nation, given in the Journal 

 O Patriota (July, &c. 1813.)? which were written by Major 

 R. F. de Almeida Serra, of the Engineers, and have been 

 copied word for word by Cazal. 



