288 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. XVIII] 



beautiful, strange and even mysterious, forms are continually 

 met with. Even now I can hardly recall them without a 

 thrill of admiration and wonder. 



The third and most unexpected sensation of surprise and 

 delight was my first meeting and living with man in a state 

 of nature — with absolute uncontaminated savages ! This was 

 on the Uuapes river, and the surprise of it was that I did not 

 in the least expect to be so surprised. I had already been 

 two years in the country, always among Indians of many 

 tribes ; but these were all what are called tame Indians, they 

 wore at least trousers and shirt ; they had been (nominally) 

 converted to Christianity, and were under the government of 

 the nearest authorities ; and all of them spoke either Portu- 

 guese or the common language, called "Lingoa-Geral." 



But these true wild Indians of the Uaupes were at once 

 seen to be something totally different. They had nothing 

 that we call clothes ; they had peculiar ornaments, tribal 

 marks, etc. ; they all carried weapons or tools of their own 

 manufacture ; they were living in a large house, many 

 families together, quite unlike the hut of the tame Indians ; 

 but, more than all, their whole aspect and manner were 

 different — they were all going about their own work or 

 pleasure which had nothing to do with white men or their 

 ways ; they walked with the free step of the independent 

 forest-dweller, and, except the few that were known to my 

 companion, paid no attention whatever to us, mere strangers 

 of an alien race. In every detail they were original and 

 self-sustaining as are the wild animals of the forests, absolutely 

 independent of civilization, and who could and did live their 

 own lives in their own way, as they had done for countless 

 generations before America was discovered. I could not 

 have believed that there would be so much difference in the 

 aspect of the same people in their native state and when 

 living under European supervision. The true denizen of the 

 Amazonian forests, like the forest itself, is unique and not 

 to be forgotten. 



