Chap. II. 
' WARS OF MUNDURUCtJS. 
131 
of August and January. They also gather large quan- 
tities of salsaparilla, India-rubber, and Tonka beans, in 
the forests. The traders, on their arrival at the 
Campinas (the scantily wooded region inhabited by the 
main body of Mundurucus beyond the cataracts) have 
first to distribute their wares — cheap cotton cloths, iron 
hatchets, cutlery, small wares, and casha^a — amongst 
the minor chiefs, and then wait three or four months 
for repayment in produce. 
A rapid change is taking place in the habits of these 
Indians through frequent intercourse with the whites^ 
and those who dwell on the banks of the Tapajos now 
seldom tattoo their children. The principal Tushaua of 
the whole tribe or nation, named Joaquim, was rewarded 
with a commission in the Brazilian armv, in acknow- 
ledgment of the assistance he gave to the legal autho- 
rities during the rebellion of 1835-6. It would be a 
misnomer to call the Mundurucus of the Cupari and 
many parts of the Tapajos, savages ; their regular mode 
of life, agricultural habits, loyalty to their chiefs, 
fidelity to treaties, and gentleness of demeanour, give 
them a right to a better title. Yet they show no apti- 
tude for the civilised life of towns, and, like the rest of 
the Brazilian tribes, seem incapable of any further 
advance in culture. In their former wars they exter- 
minated two of the neighbouring peoples, the Jumas 
and the Jacares ; and make now an annual expedition 
against the Pararauates, and one or two other similar 
wild tribes who inhabit the interior of the land, but 
are sometimes driven by hunger towards the banks of 
the great rivers to rob the plantations of the agricul- 
k2 
