122 



STAY AT VILLA DE ST. SALVADOR, 



mounted cheerfully behind Mr. Freyreiss. This callous indifference 

 on all occasions, whether agreeable or melancholy, is met with among 

 all the American tribes. Joy and grief make no lively impression on 

 them ; they are seldom seen to laugh, and not often heard to speak 

 very loud. Their most urgent craving is food ; their stomach requires 

 to be constantly filled ; they accordingly^ eat uncommonly quick, 

 with greedy looks, their whole attention being directed to their re- 

 past. But they are said to be equally capable of enduring hunger 

 for a long time. They are generally attracted by the sugar-planta- 

 tions of the J'azeiidas near which they take up their quarters : and 

 you may see them sitting half a day together sucking the canes. 

 They also cut down large quantities of the canes, and carry them 

 into their woods. The juice of the sugar-cane is, however, not a fa- 

 vourite food of the Tapuyas only, but the custom of sucking it is 

 general among all the lower classes in Brazil. Koster says the same 

 of Pernambuco. 



When we had finished our barter in the wood, we mounted 

 our horses ; a Puri got up behind each of us, and so we proceeded 

 on our return to the fazenda. The whole troop, both men and 

 women, soon arrived there, and all wanted something to eat. As 

 we rode along, the savage behind me picked my pocket of my hand- 

 kerchief. I detected him, just as he was attempting to conceal it, 

 and told him he must give me a bow for it, which he immediately 

 promised : but he afterwards slipped away quickly among the crowd, 

 and did not keep his word. Some of the men had drunk too much 

 brandy, and became troublesome. With kind treatment we might 

 easily have got rid of them ; but the planters act on wrong princi- 

 ples, looking on them as beasts, and immediately threatening them 

 with the whip, which naturally excites their anger and leads to ill- 

 will, hatred, and violence. They were therefore extremely delighted 

 with us strangers, because we treated them with so much candour 



