CHAPTER IX. 



STAY AT MORRO d'aRARA, MUCURI, VICOZA, AND CARA- 

 VELLAS, TILL OUR DEPARTURE FOR BELMONTE. 



(From the 5th of February/ till the July, 181 6 J 



Descriptmi of our Abode at Morro d'Arara. — Hunting E.vcwsions. — The 

 Mundeos. — Stay at Mucuri, Vi^oza, and Caravellas. 



To form some idea of our mode of life at Morro d'Arara, conceive a 

 wilderness in which a company of men forms a solitary outpost, suffi- 

 ciently provided by nature with the necessaries of life, in abundance 

 of game, fish, and good water ; but at the same time, by its distance 

 from inhabited places, entirely confined to its own resources, and 

 obliged to be constantly on its guard against the savage natives of 

 the forest, by whom it is on every side surrounded. 



Patachos, and perhaps Botocudos, prowled about us daily, to 

 watch our motions ; for this reason we all went constantly armed ; we 

 numbered between fifty and sixty able-bodied men. The wood on 

 the side of a mountain, on the bank of the lagoa, had already been 

 felled, so that it lay confusedly together like a rude abatis. Twenty- 

 four Indians, who were particularly serviceable for this purpose, 

 went out daily to work ; some of them were furnished with axes, 

 others with a sickle-shaped instrument (fouce ) fixed to a long 

 handle; the former cut down the trees, the latter the underwood 

 and young bushes. When a large tree was felled it drew down many 



