OF THE AMAZON, 



355 



game more than fish for food. No civiHsed man has ever 

 been among them, so they have no salt, and a very scanty 

 supply of iron, and obtain fire by friction. It is said also that 

 they differ from most other tribes in making no intoxicating 

 drinks. Their language is full of harsh and aspirated sounds, 

 and is somewhat allied to those of the Tucanos and Cobeus 

 among the Uaupes. 



In the lower part of the Japura reside the " Uaenambeus," 

 or Humming-bird Indians. I met with som.e of them in the 

 Rio Negro, and obtained some information as to their customs 

 and language. In most particulars they much resemble the 

 last-mentioned tribe, particularly in their circular houses, their 

 food, and mode of life. Like them they weave the fibres of 

 the Tucum palm-leaf (Astrocaryum vulgare) to make their 

 hammocks, whereas the Uaupes and Isanna Indians always 

 use the leaf of the Miriti {Mauritia flexuosa). They are dis- 

 tinguished from other tribes by a small blue mark on the upper 

 lip. They have from one to four wives, and the women always 

 wear a small apron of bark. 



Closely allied to these are the Juris of the SoHmoes, between 

 the Iga and Japura. A number of them have migrated to the 

 Rio Negro, and become settled and partly civilised there. 

 They are remarkable for a custom of tattooing in a circle (not 

 in a square, as in a plate in Dr. Prichard's work) round the 

 mouth, so as exactly to resemble the little black-mouthed 

 squirrel-monkeys (Callithrix sciureus) ; from this cause they are 

 often called the Juripixunas (Black Juris), or by the Brazilians 

 "Bocapreitos" (Black-mouths). From this strange errors have 

 arisen : we find in some maps the note " Juries, curly-haired 

 Negroes," whereas they are pure straight-haired Indians. They 

 are good servants for canoe and agricultural work, and are the 

 most skilful of all in the use of the gravatana, or blow-pipe. 



In the same neighbourhood are Miranhas, who are canni- 

 bals ; and the Ximanas and Cauxanas, who kill all their first- 

 born children : in fact, between the Upper Amazon, the 

 Guaviare, and the Andes, there is a region as large as England, 

 whose inhabitants are entirely uncivilised and unknown. 



On the south side of the Amazon also, between the Madeira 

 and the Uaycali, and extending to the Andes of Peru and 

 Bolivia, is a still larger tract of unknown virgin forest, unin- 

 habited by a single civilised man : here reside numerous 



