184 



STAY AT CAPITANIA, 



Linhares, on the side of the channel, and shot a soldier with their 

 arrows. This event took place a few days before our arrival, but the 

 body of the man killed had this time not fallen into the hands of the 

 Botocudos. On account of this circumstance and the narrowness of 

 the channel, the settlers on the Rio Doce prefer the night when they 

 go to the lake for the purpose of fishing. The lake, which is sur- 

 rounded by hilly banks, is about seven leagues in length, from south- 

 east to north-west, half a league broad, and from sixteen to eighteen 

 leagues in circumference. Its depth is unequal, but in many places 

 it is from eight to twelve fathoms. This great mass of water is formed 

 by a little river and several streams that run into the lake from the 

 N.N.W. Near Linhares it discharges itself through the above-men- 

 tioned channel into the Rio Doce, but rises considerably M'hen strong 

 south winds partly prevent it from flowing out by this channel. The 

 bed and the banks of the lake are fine sand, on which ferruginous sand- 

 stone is here and there found. About five leagues from the entrance 

 is a pretty little island of granite, which on account of its distance 

 from the bank is not visited by the savages, and therefore affords a 

 secure retreat to the fishermen." 



So early as 1662 the Aymores (Botocudos), Puris, and Patachos, 

 were enumerated by Vasconcellos among the tribes of the Tapuyas on 

 the Rio Doce : and though the first are in fact the masters in these 

 parts, the others sometimes extend their excursions into them. The 

 same traveller also observes, very justly, that some of the Aymores 

 or Botocudos are nearly as white as the Portuguese. The unhappy 

 war which is carried on against the Botocudos on the Rio Doce 

 renders it impossible to get acquainted, in these parts, with those 

 remarkable people ; if you see them here, you must be prepared 

 for an arrow. But further to the north, on the Rio Grande de Bel- 

 monte, the inhabitants live at peace with them, and I therefore defer 

 all my remarks on this interesting tribe of the aboriginal inhabitants 

 to the account of my visit to that part of the country. 



