214 



TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 



boy in Senhor L.'s house, who had killed himself by eating 

 dirt, — a very common and destructive habit among Indians 

 and half-breeds in the houses of the whites. All means had 

 been tried to cure him of the habit he had been physicked 

 and whipped, and confined indoors, but when no other 

 opportunity offered he would find a plentiful supply in the 

 mud-walls of the house. The symptoms produced were 

 swelling of the whole body, face, and limbs, so that he could 

 with difficulty walk, and not having so much care taken of him 

 after we left, he ate his fill and died. 



The other was an old Indian, the Juiz of the festa of St. 

 Antonio, which took place shortly after we left. He was 

 poisoned with caxiri, into which had been put the juice of 

 a root which produces the most dreadful effects : the tongue 

 and throat swell, putrefy, and rot away, and the same effects 

 seem to take place in the stomach and intestines, till, in two 

 or three days, the patient dies in great agony. The poisoner 

 was not known, but it was suspected to be a young woman, 

 sister of an Indian who died in the village a short time before, 

 and whose death they imagined to be caused by charms or 

 witchcraft ; and the present murder was probably in revenge 

 for this supposed injury. Coroners' inquests are here unknown, 

 and the poor old man was buried, and nothing more thought 

 about the matter ; perhaps, however, his friends may resort to 

 the same means to repay the suspected parties. 



A few days afterwards a boy died in Sao Jeronymo, and 

 for several hours a great crying and wailing was made over the 

 body. His maqueira, and bow and arrows, were burnt in a 

 fire made at the back of the house, within which, according to 

 the universal custom of these Indians, he was buried, and the 

 mother continued her mournful wailing for several days. 



The only additions I made to my collections during the 

 time I stayed here, were a prehensile-tailed ant-eater, and one 

 of the small nocturnal monkeys called " Jurupari Macaco," or 

 Devil Monkey, a species very closely allied to that called " la," 

 which inhabits the Solimoes. After waiting anxiously a 

 fortnight, Bernado made his appearance with three of his 

 wives and a host of children : he had been unsuccessful in his 

 projected attack, the parties having obtained notice of his 

 motions and absconded. He had taken every precaution, by 

 entering in a different river from that in which the attack was 



