TO CARAVELLAS, &C. 



195 



were frequently robbed by the savages, till the proprietor devised a 

 singular expedient to get rid of these hostile visitors. He loaded an 

 iron cannon, which was at the fazenda, with pieces of old lead and 

 iron, fastened the lock of a musket to it, placed it in the narrow 

 path, by which the savages always used to come in a column, and 

 laid a piece of wood across the path which was connected with the 

 trigger by means of a string. The savages appeared in the dusk of 

 the evening, and trod on the piece of wood, as had been intended. 

 When the people of the fazenda hastened to the spot to see the result, 

 they found the cannon burst, and thirty Indians killed and mutilated, 

 some still on the spot and others scattered in the woods. The cries 

 of the fugitives are said to have been heard far around. Since this 

 terrible destruction the fazenda is said not to have been again dis- 

 turbed by the savages. 



In the river St. Matthew, the original Brazilian name of which is 

 Cricare, is found a rare animal, which at present is met with in only 

 very few rivers on the east coast. This is the manati, or peixe hoi of 

 the Portuguese. The natural history of this singular animal is still 

 obscure in many points ; it is pretty frequent in this river, but is said 

 sometimes to go into the sea, and along the coast, and then into other 

 rivers ; thus it has been taken, for instance, in the Alcobaca. At 

 St. Matthew, the favourite haunt of the manati is a lagoa or inland 

 water, much overgrown with grass and reeds. The hunting of it is 

 attended with some difficulty. The hunter rows carefully and with- 

 out noise in a small boat among the grass and reeds ; if he sees the 

 animal with its back above the water, as it usually appears when 

 grazing, he approaches cautiously, and throws at it a harpoon 

 fastened to a cord. The manati yields a great quantity of blubber, 

 and its flesh is esteemed. The orbicular bone of the ear is looked 

 upon by the ignorant people as a powerful specific, and sold at a 

 high price. Though I repeatedly made great promises, during my 



