ON THE ABORIGINES 



mandiocca, and, by mixing this with the ordinary pulp, forming 

 a very superior cake. 



They use plantains extensively, eating them as a fruit, and 

 making a mingau, or gruel, by boiling and beatmg them into a 

 pulp, which is a very agreeable food. From the fruits of the 

 Baccd,ba, Patawa, and Assai palms {CEnocarpus Baccaba^ (E, 

 Batawa^ Euterpe oleracea and allied species), they produce 

 wholesome and nourishing drinks. 



Besides these they make much use of sweet potatoes, yams, 

 roasted corn, and many forest fruits, from all of which, and 

 from mandiocca cakes, they make fermented drinks, which go 

 under the general name of caxiri." That made from the 

 mandiocca is the most agreeable, and much resembles good 

 table-beer. At their feasts and dances they consume immense 

 quantities of it, and it does not seem to produce any bad effects. 

 They also use, on these occasions, an intensely exciting pre- 

 paration of the root of a climber, — it is called capi, and the 

 manner of using it I have described in my Narrative 

 (page 205). 



The weapons of these Indians are bows and arrows, 

 gravatanas, lances, clubs, and also small hand-nets, and rods 

 and lines, for catching fish. 



Their bows are of different kinds of hard elastic wood, well 

 made, and from five to six feet long. The string is either of 

 the " tucum " leaf fibre (Astrocaryum vulgare), or of the inner 

 bark of trees called " tururi." The arrows are of various kinds, 

 from five to seven feet long. The shaft is made of the flower- 

 stalk of the arrow-grass {Gynerium saccharinuni). In the war- 

 arrows, or " curubis," the head is made of hard wood, carefully 

 pomted, and by some tribes armed with the serrated spine of 

 the ray-fish : it is thickly anointed with poison, and notched in 

 two or three places so as to break off in the wound. Arrows 

 for shooting fish are now almost always made with iron heads, 

 sold by the traders, but many still use heads made of monkeys' 

 bones, with a barb, to retain a hold of the fish : the iron heads 

 are bent at an angle, so that the lower part projects and forms 

 a barb, and are securely fastened on with twine and pitch. 

 Lighter arrows are made for shooting birds and other small 

 game, and these alone are feathered at the base. The feathers 

 generally used are from the wings of the macaw, and, in putting 

 them on, the Indian shows his knowledge of the principle 



