THE INHABITANTS OF AMAZONIA, 



523 



Of another pair lie says : Our host and hostess do what they can to make us com- 

 fortable, and the children as well as the parents show that natural courtesy which has 

 struck us so much among these Indians. My books and writing seem to interest them 

 much, and while I was reading the father and mother came up, and after watching me 

 for a few minutes in silence the father asked me if I had any leaves from an old book, 

 or even a part of a newspaper to leave with him when I went away. He said ke had 

 once known how to read a little, and he seemed to think if he had something to practice 

 upon he might recover the lost art. Then he added that one of his boys was very bright, 

 and he was sure that he could learn if he had the means of sending him to school." 

 Again of a still different group : " The familiarity of these children of the forest with 

 the natural objects about them — plants, birds, insects, fishes, etc. — is remarkable. 

 They frequently ask to see the drawings, and on turning over a pile containing several 

 hundred colored sketches of fishes, they scarcely make a mistake, even the children 

 giving the name instantly." And again : "A large number of the trees forming 

 these forests are still unknown to science ; and yet the Indians, those practical botan- 

 ists and zoologists, are well acquainted not only with their external appearance, but 

 also with their various properties. So intimate is their practical knowledge of the 

 natural objects about them, that I believe it would greatly contribute to the progress 

 of science if a systematic record were made of all the information thus scattered 

 through the land ; and an encyclopaedia of the woods, as it were, taken down from 

 the tribes which inhabit them. I think it would be no bad way of collecting to go 

 from settlement to settlement, sending the Indians out to gather all the plants they 

 know, to dry and label them with the names applied to them in the locality, and 

 writing out under the heads of these names all that may thus be ascertained of their 

 medicinal and otherwise useful properties, as well as their botanical character." These 

 notices certainly go far to throw discredit upon the sweeping descriptions given by 

 other travelers of the savage character of the natives of Amazonia. 



The other inhabitants of the Amazon are Whites, Negroes, and Mixed Breeds. 

 Excepting a few English, French, German, and Portuguese emigrants, who come to 

 the country temporarily and with a purpose to return home when they have acquired 

 a fortune, few of the so-called Whites are of pure Caucasian descent, the emigration 

 having for many years been almost wholly of the male sex. Indeed it is considered 

 in rather bad taste to boast of purity of descent. All travelers speak in warm terms 

 of the courtesy of the Brazilians ; and although they are generally inclined to indo- 

 lence, yet of late years especially not a few of them have shown no inconsiderable 

 energy and enterprise. Certainly the Empire of Brazil is by far the most promising 

 of all the South American nations. It is the only one which is not in an almost 

 chronic revolutionary condition. 



In the valley of the Amazon negroes are confined to the lower portion ; yet they 

 have imparted a decided tinge to the character of the population. The mixed races 

 comprise a very considerable part of the inhabitants. Fully five-and-twenty different 

 classes of these are enumerated, each with its own distinctive name. Mamelucos, or 

 White and Indian, are the most common ; Mulattoes, are White and Negro ; Cafuzos 

 or Zambos are Indian and Negro ; Curibocos are Cafuzo and Indian ; Xibaros are 

 Cafuzo and Negro ; and so on through different degrees of intermixture. Yon Tschudi 

 gives the following summation of the character of the mixed races : As a general rule 



