TO CARAVELLAS, &C. 



201 



This journey was attended with great hardships. The party were 

 often in want of provisions ; they found no animals to hunt, and had 

 httle success in fishing. They then chewed some roots and fruits, 

 or made shift with palmit or wild honey, till a lucky chance threw 

 some animal in their way. Fortunately they met with no Botocudos, 

 who live in the upper part of those woods, but they frequently found 

 their abandoned huts, and even sometimes conjectured that they were 

 observed by those savages. The different Indian soldiers were very 

 useful to the Captain, both as hunters and as a protection against the 

 savages ; for he had among his people Capuchos and others, and 

 even a Botocudo who had been brought up by the Portuguese. They 

 were very near losing all their baggage at the Falls of the Mucuri, 

 four days' journey up the river. They had constructed a raft of trunks 

 of trees, to convey their arms, provisions, clothes, &c. but the raft 

 was carried away by the current, the bushes on the banks brushed off 

 the whole cargo, and it was with the greatest difficulty that they fished 

 up the fire-arms out of the water. 



On the latter days of this bold and dangerous journey through the 

 forest, the travellers were reduced to absolute famine ; they were already 

 quite exhausted, when they unexpectedly reached the last uninhabited 

 plantation on the river, which belongs to Morro d'Arara, about two 

 days' journey from the Villa de Mucuri. The whole company eagerly 

 devoured the raw mandiocca roots, among which was unluckily a large 

 proportion of mandiocca brava, an unwholesome species *. Violent 

 vomiting, which was the consequence, had Aveakened the discouraged 

 adventurers still more, when some of their hunters had the good for- 

 tune to kill a large American tapir, which supplied them all with nu- 

 tritious food. The following day they reached the goal of their bold 



* Even the juice of this kind of mandiocca is pernicious, and kills animals ; for example, 

 sheep ; of which Koster (p. 370.) gives an instance. 



2 D 



