58 
THE AMAZON AND MADEIKA KIVEB8. 
Whether it was that our mimhers imposed on them, or whether in 
consequence of the little presents we offered them, certain it is that they 
received us Amry avcII, and alloAved ns at our leisure to examine their 
arms and implements. W^e obtained from them some hows made of the 
heavy wood of the pachiuha palm, long arrows of reed, and several pretty 
feather ornaments, in exchange for knives, scissors, and white glass heads. 
Our Mojos displayed a curious mixture of fear and contemptuous 
disgust at sight of these naked savage relations of theirs. They 
reminded me involuntarily of the shepherd’s dog and the Avolf. 
If it Avere possible, in the next score of years, to make these 
Caripuna Indians tolerably peaceable neighbours of the white man, the 
first beginning of colonisation on the Upper Madeira Avould be made. 
If they could not be drilled into workmen Avielding shovel and axe on 
roads or railways, they still might be very useful in planting mandioc, 
Indian corn, and sugar-cane, or as hunters and fishermen. Unfortunately, 
no steps have been taken as yet to this end. Such things usually 
remain vaui Avishes in Brazil, uotAvithstanding the good-AV'ill of some 
clear-sighted statesmen; tmd even in this event, the poor autochthons 
AAull have to succumb in the conflict Avith the. Avhite race. The par- 
ticulars of our encounter with the Caripunas Avill be found in an 
ensuing chapter. 
The CaldeirIo do Inferno, the next cachoeira or rapid above the 
Caripuna sheds, is one of the worst of the whole range, not so much 
on accoimt of its height as of the trouble and dangers of its passage. 
By seven considerable islantls the river is here divided into as many 
arms, at the entrance to which is the principal fall, or the Caldcirao, the 
total slope of Avhich is of 19^ feet in an interval of more than 3,280 
feet. Here again the weary task of unloading had to be done, 
trymg even to our patient, broad-shouldered Mojos Indians. Bags and 
chests are heaved and dragged over the sharp edges of stones and 
rocks, and the Amssels are towed up through narrow, tortuous channels, 
sometimes at the imminent risk of those concerned.. Happy indeed 
is ho who leaves that “kettle” safely behind him. 
On one of these islands, Avith the aid of a lantern, I discovered, 
Avhen preparing to take astronomical obserAmtions, some flatly incised 
designs, some of them spiral lines and others semicucular, on the 
dark-broAvn polished surface of seA*eral neiu-ly vertically posed slabs of 
rock, the largest of which avus more than 6^ feet in height, AAuth a 
I; 
