1«8 THE A.MAZON AND MADEUU ItIVEllS. 
indebtod), tbo showers have, washed out, besides tlje heavy stone 
xerimbitas,* a great many fragments of old earthen f)ots, ornamented in 
their interiors with simple undulating lines. 
If we must regard the easily made resin xerimbitiis as the unmistak- 
able evidences of a particular tribe, how much more the stone ornaments, 
which must have taken a deal of time and trouble to finish? And the 
circumstance of their being found in regions so widely apart from each 
other confirms the hj.pothesis of a once wider range of the Tupi tribes, or 
testifies to the extent of their victorious expeditions. AU the members 
ot the tribe most probably did not wear these quartz xerimbitas, but only 
the chiefs and the Pajes, who to the present day pride themselves on 
the particular length of them. One of the Cayowa Indians of San 
Ignacio once told me, with evident signs of a deep-felt awe, that some 
holy men (santos) were living in the far interior of the forests, who 
were distinguished Aoin other mortals by the unwonted size of their 
xerimbitas. 
Might not such holy personages have used the hard quartz in past 
“heroic” periods; and might not these time-defying signs of their 
dignity still be found, in large numbers, near their places of worship, not 
unlilie our own Dimid temj^les ? 
As for the. multitude of earthen fragments found on the Cerrito, 
evidently an old Indian settlement and burial-ground, they may have 
their origin in the custom of breaking the earthen pots at funerals, even 
as our omi ancestors are said to have done in preliistorie times. 
Nowhere in any of the present Indian Aldeamentos, though the women 
there bake the pots just as they did ages ago (but where many of the 
rites may have fallen into disuse), did I see such a quantity of broken 
vessels accumulated as on that lull on the Mamore. But the Avhite 
man has long appropriated to himself the old burial-ground or sanctuary. 
.Dense cacao plantations cover its foot, while on the summit the juice of 
the sugar-cane is boiled under large open sheds, or meat is cut in thin 
long slices and dried in the sun. Already a small steamer ploughs the 
yellow rivei’, and soon its impatient puffing and whistling will warn the 
One of these, kindly presented to me bj' Senbor Cardozo, is now in the hig’hly 
interesting ethnographical collection of Mr. Blackmore, at (Salisbury. May many 
follow the example of this Mroeenas of Art and Science, who not only collects and 
preserves the historic and prehistoric remains at and near Salisbury, but tries to 
embrace the whole history of human dovolo]mient 1 
