RESIDENCE AT RIO DE JANEIRO. 



31 



Imba, or Tupinambas, as the Portuguese call them, afterwards united 

 with them against the first European invaders, and subsequently 

 joined the French, till on the expulsion of the latter from this coast 

 in 1567, they were at length partly extirpated by the Portuguese 

 and the Indians in alliance with them, while the rest were driven into 

 the forests. 



According to a tradition, which, however, seems scarcely credible, 

 these Tupinambas penetrated directly through the primaeval forests to 

 the banks of the river of Amazons, and settled there. Whether the 

 story be well-founded or otherwise, it is certain that even at this day 

 a remnant of the above tribe is known to exist near that river, on an 

 island at the mouth of the Madeira, in the village of Tupinambara, 

 from which the town of Topayos arose at a later period. It may 

 hence be concluded how widely this tribe was spread*. Respecting 

 the situation, mode of living, and customs of the Tupinambas, we 

 find the most interesting information in the authentic and faithful 

 descriptions of Lery and Hans Stade. These accounts are the more 

 instructive, as they present at the same time a picture of all these 

 now civilized tribes of the Indians of the coast, called by the Portu- 

 guese, tame Indians. These authorities have been of great use to 

 Southey, in his valuable history ; as also to Beauchamp, in his ro- 

 mancelike account of Brazil. Vasconcellos, in his Noticias Cnriosas, 

 divides all the tribes of the aborigines of Eastern Brazil into two 

 classes ; namely, the tame or civilized Indians, and the Tapuyas, or 



* According to the description of Father D'Acunha, in De la Condamine's work, page 137, 

 the tribes of the Tupinambas, and other Indians of the coast, were widely spread. This is 

 proved by the denominations, taken from their language, in use along the whole East coast, 

 on the Amazons and even in Paraguay, where Azara gives them the name of Guaranis. In the 

 words which this writer took from the Guarani language, there are, it is true, many deviations 

 from those of the general language, but also a great coincidence, so that the two nations 

 seem at least to be very nearly coimected. 



