NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



the Reformer Thome, and finding that he came from the Guarani, 

 gave it out that he could be no other than St. Thomas, the Apostle, 

 from the East Indies. This name, Guarani, denotes the people, who 

 live Eastward from Peru, and is descriptive of that circumstance. — 

 The word appears to me to be half Tupi, and half Peruvian ; the 

 syllable gue, in the latter language, answering to the que, which 

 is often written by the Spaniards and Portuguese for the co of the 

 Tupi. Coaracy denotes both the Sun and the* East, and Coarani, 

 or Guarani, the people of the East. In exact conformity to this, 

 the most Easterly land of South America is called by the natives, 

 as it is by Europeans, Guiana ; and the Easternmost island at the 

 mouth of the river Amazon, Coaracf. 



The period when Tzome resided at Cape Frio, could not be 

 later, I think, than the year 1300. When the Jesuits received from the 

 people the first accounts of him, they were unable to enumerate the 

 moons, which had elapsed since he left them, but they said that it was 

 before the days of their grandfathers, and one person was then living 

 about a hundred and thirty years old. 



After the removal of the Jesuits, this people lost the name Tzomeos, 

 and adopted that of Tupinamba, or the Family of Tupi. The plural 

 termination, which is usually given to the names of bodies of men, 

 is altogether European ; in the native dialects of this country, the 

 singular and the plural are the same. It has been made a matter 

 of wonder, how the name 'was lost, and a very different one sub- 

 stituted in its place; but that which was adopted appears to me per- 

 fectly natural. 



The small village of Cape Frio stands on the Southern side of the 

 Strait which unites the water of Iruama with the Ocean, It was one 

 of the first assemblages of houses on this part of the coast, and has 

 been the scene of great and interesting exploits. The country beiiind 

 it is hilly, and there are said to be found in it both limestone and barilla, 

 two productions of singular value, because uncommon in Brazil. There 



