248 



JOURNEY FROM CARAVELLAS 



them, which had been given them on some former occasion; their 

 leader, who had nothing remarkable in him, (the Portuguese called 

 him captain,) wore a red woollen cap and blue breeches, which he 

 had procured somewhere else. Food was their chief desire; some 

 flour and cocoa-nuts were given to them ; the latter they opened 

 very dexterously, with a small axe ; afterwards biting the white 

 kernel out of the hard shell, with their strong teeth : their eagerness 

 in eating was remarkable. In bartering, some of them were very in- 

 telligent. They asked chiefly for knives or hatchets, but one of them 

 immediately got a red handkerchief tied round his neck. A cocoa- 

 nut fixed upon a pole, was set up at the distance of forty paces, and 

 they were desired to shoot at this mark, which they never missed. As 

 nobody could converse with them, they did not stop long, and return- 

 ed to their habitations. To make myself better acquainted with them, 

 I went on the 30th of July, in a boat, up the river Prado, to the 

 place where the savages had had their huts, but I did not meet with 

 them, as they had retired to a greater distance. 



Both the Patachos and Machacaris live here in the forests, on the 

 banks of the Sucurucu. The latter have always been more inclined 

 to peace with the whites than the former, with whom an amicable ar- 

 .rangement could not be made, till three years ago. But shortly be- 

 fore that time they had surprised in the forest, some inhabitants of 

 Prado, on which occasion the Escrivam (Town clerk) was wounded, 

 and several persons shot. The friendly Machacaris were afterwards 

 employed, to bring about a pacification with the Patachos. 



In their external appearance, the Patachos resemble the Puris and 

 the Machacaris, only they are taller than the former ; like the latter, 

 they do not disfigure their faces, and wear their hair naturally hanging 

 about the head, only cut ofl" in the neck and on the forehead, though 

 some shave the whole head, leaving merely a small tuft before and 

 behind. Some of them pierce the lower lip, and the ear, and wear a 



