16 
SANTAREM. 
Chap. 1. 
settlement indeed has spread to Portugal, where Santa- 
rem is known as the Cidade dos Lazaros/' or City of 
Lepers. 
When the Portuguese first ascended the Amazons 
towards the middle of the 17th century, they found the 
banks of th e Tapajos in the neighbourhood of Santarem, 
peopled by a warlike tribe of Indians, called the 
Tapajocos. From these, the river and the settlement 
(Santarem in the Indian language is called Tapajos), 
derive their name. The Tapajos, however, amongst the 
Brazilian settlers in this part, is most generally known 
by the Portuguese name of Eio Preto, or the Black 
River. According to Acunna, the historian of the 
Teixeira expedition (in 1637-9), the Tapajocos were 
very numerous, one village alone having contained more 
than 500 families. Their weapons were poisoned darts. 
Notwithstanding their numbers and courage, they 
quickly gave way before the encroaching Portuguese 
settlers, who are said to have treated them with great 
barbarity. The name of the tribe is no longer known 
in the neighbourhood, but it is probable their descend- 
ants still linger on the banks of the Lower Tapajos, a 
traditional hatred towards the Portuguese having been 
preserved amongst the semi-civilised inhabitants to the 
present day. The fact of the Urari poison having been 
in use amongst the Tapajocos is curious, inasmuch as it 
shows there was at that time communication between 
distant tribes along the course of the main Amazons. 
The Indians now living on the banks of the Tapajos 
are ignorant of the Urari, the drug being prepared only 
