Travels in the Brazils. 3S 



naked among his brethren in the woods, wliere he had taken se- 

 veral wives. The negroes in the Brazils, very different from these 

 Indians, exhibit ability and perseverance in the acquu'ement of 

 arts and sciences, and some of them have risen to a certain degree 

 of celebrity. 



The dances now common among the Indians are borrowed from 

 the Portuguese ; of one of these, called baducca, they are particu- 

 larly fond. Directed by the sound of the viola, (guitar,) the 

 dancers throw themselves into several indecent postures opposite 

 each other, clapping their hands, and making a noise with their 

 tongues. The caiig is not forgotten here ; at present, this is 

 only made of maniocca-root, maize, or batatac ; the root is scraped, 

 cut in pieces, boiled, masticated, taken with the fingers out of the 

 mouth, and thrown into a vessel, wherein, with water upon it, it is 

 left to ferment. After this process, it forms a rather intoxicating 

 sourish beverage, in taste not unlike whey. It is generally taken 

 warm. 



The v/ay of living in general of these Indians resembles that of 

 the old Inclians on the coast The Portuguese have adopted among 

 other things, this manner of preparing the mandiocca flower. 

 They had formerly a coarser kind of it, called uy-entau, and ano- 

 ther, rather finer, called uy-pu, which name, uy, is still known, 

 even among these civilized Indians. They prepared their mir^au 

 in those early times, by throwing the mandiocca-flower into tneir 

 broth, where it rises, and forms a nourishing pap ; the Portuguese 

 have also adopted this. They used to pour the mandiocca-nower 

 on their sides, when they were eating, and throw it with so 

 much dexterity into their mouths, that they did not lose a single 

 grain. Their modern descendants, as well as the Portuguese 

 planters, do the same. The old tupinamhas knew in their time 

 a very good kind of mandiocca-root under the name of vypi, which 

 they used to fry in the ashes and boil in water ; their descendants, 

 who call the root either by the same name, or mari diocca doce, 

 still do the same. Notwithstanding their making a profession of 

 the christian religion, many of them only go to church for ap- 

 pearance, and that but seldom, while at the same time, they are 

 very superstitious, and have many ancient prejudices. 



In S. Pedro, we frequently conversed with the inhabitants, sit- 

 ting before their doors to enjoy the cool of the evening. Neither 

 capitam mor, sl rational old man, nor the other inhabitants, could 

 conceal their suspicion of our being sent as English spies, and even 

 the production of our portaria could not entirely remove their 

 doubts. The English poHtics are not much liked m Brazil; and 

 all strangers, whose light hair and fair skin appear to manifest a 

 northern descent, are accounted of that nation. 



As the country seemed to contain much for our examination, we 



Voyages and Travels, A^o. 3, Vol III. D 



