VII 
AT MANAOS 
215 
shoots beneath them. The first time I made the 
passage, along with my attendant Pedro, he placed 
himself in the prow and I in the poop of the canoe, 
each of us with a paddle ; but although I was well 
accustomed to steer by means of a rudder, I had 
never attempted it with a paddle, and my want 
of skill brought us up every now and then plump 
into the bushes, which I could see ruffled Pedro's 
equanimity no little. After we landed, I heard 
him say to his sister in Lingoa Geral, This man 
knows nothing — I doubt if he could even shoot a 
bird with an arrow ! " (a feat which every boy of 
twelve years old is supposed capable of performing). 
I consoled my wounded vanity with the reflection 
that probably the most eminent botanist in Europe 
would have cut no better figure than I did if placed 
on the stern of an Indian canoe with a paddle in 
his hand. Since that time, however, practice has 
rendered me tolerably expert at steering with a 
paddle. 
Observing some large roots, looking like turnips 
but vastly larger, lying near the house, I inquired 
what they were, and was told that they were used 
in the same way as the roots of mandiocca. They 
showed me the grated root in a state of preparation, 
and gave me farinha already made from it. It is 
only very lately (as I learnt from these people) that 
the Tapuya Indians have begun to use this root, 
and it seems to have been first made use of by the 
Purupurii Indians, inhabiting the Rio dos Purus ; 
these Indians call it Bauna. It is known also to 
the Mura Indians, who call it Mahao. The Tapuyas 
merely call it Maniocca-acu or the Great Mandiocca. 
The largest root I saw weighed 48 pounds. 
