INTRODUCTION. 
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llrazil, iuiil to liUA'e spread thoiin(! ail over the coDtiiient. Close to the 
descendants of these hrave Avandcrors, divided into a great nnndicr of 
vastly differing tribes (many of Avhieh haA'e created for themselA'es 
idioms quite nnintelligible to the rest), Ave find the nsnally more 
barbarous tribes of the real aborigines; and Ave must needs ask mu’- 
solves, — Avithout finding a satisfactory ausAA’cr though, ^ — the reason of 
these different modes of life under the same ontAA^ard conditions ; Avdiy, 
of tAvo nations of the same race, one should spend half its life on the 
Avater, Avhile the other, living but a ferv miles off, can neither build a 
canoe nor handle a paddle. 
Considering the Babylonish chaos of Indian languages (Martins 
counting for Brazil alone about tAvo hundred and fifty different idioms), 
the valuable labours of the Jesuits cun scarcely be too highly estimated. 
'I’hey first formed and fixed grammatically the Guarani or Tupi language 
flingoa gcral), and introduced it in their Missions ; and noAV it has 
become the popular language in all the North of Brazil, especially in 
the provinces of Bara and Amazonas, Avhere it is used, almost exclu- 
sively, by all the Indian settlers and half-castes of the most diverging 
tribes. 
Martins has given a most Amluable account of Indian customs, and 
vocabularies of a great number of their languages. 
That anthropophagy is still practised by scA'cral of these tribes, 
unfortunately, is a fact Avhich cannot be doubted. So Avith the Miranhas 
on the Amazon, and the Parentintins on the Madeua and Bio Negro ; 
but equally certain it is that very many tribes haA'c been falsely accused 
of it by the intruding Avhitcs, aa'Iio soAxght to have an excuse for their 
cruel treatment of them. Psually, only those slain in their combats, 
or prisoners of Avar, are scrAmd at those horrid banquets ; and this Jiot 
Avithout a certain choice, as a Avoman of the Miranha tribe assAzred us at 
Manaos. She A'OAA’ed that they never ate “ Clmstaos,” that is, ciA'ilisetl 
people, AA^hoso flesh docs not saA'oiir Avell, on account of their eating salt ! 
But siich assertions cannot be implicitly tnisted, as Indians very often 
take a pleasiu’e in zleceiving or making fun of their curious Azdiite 
questioner's. So they have a ti-ick of returning for ansAver one of the 
Avords of the question proposed, AA’hich often giA’^os rise to the qucei'est 
raisundcr.sfandings.* 
A 
* AVe took witli us as servant a young Cayowa Indian, fi'om tlie Aldeamcnto de 
Santo Ignacio, in tlie province of Parana, vlio ansvored to the name of “ Chanui,” 
