XV FROM MANAOS to TARAPOTO 9 
mere pointing his gun at them generally sufficed 
to put them to flight. Once, however, at San 
Regis, they closed upon him and he had to stab 
one of them with a sword and then stamp upon 
his body, at which sign of determination the rest 
fled. 
He told me that the inhabitants of Nauta, San 
Regis, Parinari, and Urarinas are Cucama Indians 
from La Laguna and Santa Cruz on the Huallaga 
river. It is remarkable that the language of the 
Cucamas is so like Tupi (or Lingoa Geral of Brazil), 
that when I made use of the little I had learnt of 
the latter on the Rio Negro, the Cucamas under- 
stood me perfectly, and I in like manner understood 
most of what they said. The nouns are often 
absolutely identical, the verbs mostly differing 
only by a few letters, and the grammatical con- 
struction similar. The only other remnant of the 
Tupi's I have heard of is the small tribe of Tupi- 
nambaras at the back of Villa Nova on the Amazon, 
but they seem to have become so mixed with black 
and white, that in 1850 I sought in vain for any 
pure Indians of the tribe there. These Cucamas 
have no record of their origin, as have those of 
Yurimaguas. 
Left Parinari late on the 22nd, and the next day 
passed along a coast rich in palms, such as the 
Paxiiiba and Urucurf (Attalea sp.), and on the 
very margin clusters of the elegant Bactris concinna, 
its slender stems of some 6 feet high crowned by 
pale green regularly and closely pinnate fronds, 
beneath which hung on a short stalk dense clusters 
of black fruits. Very rarely I saw another Attalea 
more resembling the Jagua of Venezuela. 
