78 Prince Maximiliaii^s .^^^^ 



of the Palisadoes. At this place, two moiithsnbefore the pre- 

 sent period^ i. e. in August, the Puris, commg to plunder the 

 plantations of the soldiers, ventured to engage ^ith them 

 having posted themselves behind the bushes. TJjfci^esult of 

 this conflict, on the side of the soldiers, was th^jf!« of one 

 man and two dogs ; but of the Puris three men #e™HjLan'ied 

 off*, either dead or wounded, by their countrymen. then 

 the post has been undisturbed, and the savages have n6t%gain 

 shewn themselves on the coast. As trophies of this event, the 

 collected arrows of the Tapmjas are preserved in the Quartel. 

 The officer commanding here keeps always a guard of three 

 men at the mouth of the river Itabapuana, This detachment 

 remains there for an unlimited period, and had already been 

 nearly a year, a truly melancholy station in such a wilder- 

 ness, where even the food is bad, and the dwellings consist only 

 of mud-huts covered with palm-leaves! The house of the 

 officer is indeed commodious, and has several chambers ; but 

 the decayed roof is not sufficient to withstand the penetrating 

 rain. The origin of the establishment of the Quartel was 

 the murder of six settlers in the vicinity of this spot, lower 

 down on the sea shore. Seven persons, having been at church, 

 were returning from the Itapemirim, about six years ago, 

 when they were attacked by the Puris, and five or six of them 

 were butchered. One man only was fortunate enough to escape ; 

 a young girl endeavoured also to get away by instant flight, but 

 she "was overtaken and cruelly murdered. It was afterwards 

 found that the arms and legs had been cut off from their 

 bodies, as also the flesh from the trimks. Soon afterwards 

 the Puris surprised a soldier and killed him. We received, 

 at the Quartel das Barreiras, much interesting information 

 from the commanding officer relative to the Puris, He assured 

 us, among other things, that these savages actually wish to be 

 allowed to live in peace with the Portuguese, which fully 

 coincides with their desire expressed to M. Moraes at S. 

 Fidelis. Such a pacification would be extremely advan- 

 tageous to this coast ; for, as the inhabitants are much scat- 

 tered, they are constantly exposed to the cruel attacks of 

 these msatiable barbarians, and the country is in danger of 

 being depopulated, if other policy is not adopted. The 

 savages appear as lords of these woods, now suddenly at one 

 place, and then at another, and vanish again with equal 

 rapidity, as was experienced in the attack at Ciri. They know 

 all the recesses of the forests, are prudent and crafty, and 

 intimately acquainted with the weak points of the Portuguese; ' 

 settlements; and many of them also understand a little of the 

 language of the latter. 



