272 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
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ment, I allowed him to go to his mother and stay 
until re-established in health. A person who came 
up the falls a few days ago brought me word that 
he was still no better, and I therefore despair of 
profiting further by his services, which I much 
regret, as I do not expect I shall again meet with 
one so well suited to my necessities. He was 
perhaps the only industrious Indian I have met 
with, and was never content when the " patron " 
had not a job for him to do. I have still with me 
another Indian, but he has not half the activity of 
the one I have lost. 
Notwithstanding the greater docility of these 
Indians than of any others I had previously had 
anything to do with, they gave me no small trouble 
in the Barra, where they were kept waiting for me 
for ten days ; for I was taken rather by surprise 
and had much to do in filling my boxes and writing 
my letters for England. The love of " strong 
waters" — inherent in these Indians as in their 
brethren of North America — was at the root of the 
matter. One old fellow made it his first business 
to dispose of the whole of his earthly goods (leaving 
himself only a pair of trousers), namely, his ham- 
mock, shirt, knife, and tinder-box, with the proceeds 
of which he got so gloriously drunk as to be in a 
state of utter helplessness for a couple of days. 
Yet this man, when removed beyond the scent of 
cachaca, proved the very best fellow in the lot — 
always in a good humour, always ready for work, 
and the first to climb any tree of which I desired 
the flower. The others begged money of the 
patron to buy a barrigada (skinful) of cacha9a, and 
the patron had no alternative but to give it them, 
