62 



Prince Maximilian $ 



The Tapuyas of the east coast, on the contrary, use as their 

 only arms an immense bow and arrow, which, like the Paya- 

 guas in Paraguay, they do not carry in cases, but, on account 

 of their extraordinary length, merely in their hand. The bow 

 of the Puris measures more than 62 feet. It is smooth, formed 

 of the hard, tough, dark-brown' wood of the ^iri-Palm, the 

 string being of Grawathr (Bromelia.) The arrows of the Puris 

 are more than six feet long, and made of strong knotty reeds, 

 (Taquara,) growing in the dry woods, and mounted at the 

 lower end with fine blue or red feathers, or with those of the 

 Crax Jlector, Linn.; or the Jacutinga {Penelope Leucoptera:) 

 the arrows of the Coroados are made from a different reed, with 

 small knots. The arrows of all these tribes are of three kinds, 

 distinguished by their points. The first is the proper war- 

 arrow\ It has a broad top, made of the plant already mention- 

 ed, under the name of the Taquarussu, {Bambusa,) cut sharp 

 on the edges, and brought in front to a very fine point. The 

 second kind has a long point of ^iri-wood, with several barbs 

 on one side. With the third sort, which has but a blunt 

 point, and is furnished with several knobs, they shoot small 

 animals. None of the tribes which I visited on this coast use 

 poisoned arrows ; for, luckily, the ingenuity of these people, 

 which is still at a very low ebb, has not advanced so far. 



Our first curiosity being satisfied, we requested the Puris 

 to conduct us to their huts. The whole troöp immediately 

 proceeded, and we followed on horseback. The road led into 

 a valley, where we crossed the sugar plantations, after which 

 the path became narrow, till we arrived at a few huts, (Cuari, 

 in the language of the Puris,) in the thick wood, which may 

 certainly be ranked among the most simple dwelling in the 

 world. The hammocks, which they form of Embora, (inner 

 rind of a sort of Cecropia,) is fastened between the stems of 

 two trees, and to both these a little higher up, a cross-piece is 

 fixed, against which large palm-leaves are laid in 'an oblique 

 direction on the windward side, with a bedding below of 

 Heliconia, or Pa^^io&a-leaves, and, in the neighbourhood of the 

 plantations, of Banana leaves. On the earth near a small fire, 

 lie flocks of the Crescentia Cujet.e, or some calibash- shells, a 

 little wax, various trifling articles of ornament, canes for ar- 

 rows and arrow-heads, a few feathers, and provision, such as 

 the banana and other fruits : the bows and arrows of the mas- 

 ter stand against one of the trees ; and lean dogs attack witK 

 a loud bark the stranger that approaches the wilderness. The 

 huts are small, and so ex{)0sed to the weather, that th^ brow^n 

 inhabitants are often seen thronged together in a crowd around 

 the fire, and seated among the ashes to procure shelter from 



