151 
Dirty Little Goblins. 
five power over our boathands that the flesh-pots of Egypt exercised over 
the Israelites, for it was only through the most stringent orders of Cab- 
eralli and Clementi that they could be made to leave and take the places 
assigned them in the boats where, with bad but restrained tempers, they 
took to their paddles. They brought the corials up the Curawava as far 
as the mouth of (lie Manari, a tributary of the latter with a consider- 
able current, which we then intended following as far as the Waika set- 
tlement, whence we were to start on our overland journey. About 200 
Warraus inhabit the basin of the Caruwava : that of the Manari in its 
lower course is also occupied solely by this tribe. 
528. The banks of both rivers again became completely flat, and with 
them there also disappeared the luxuriant growth of vegetation and 
pretty landscapes. The trees on the river-sides were overgrown with 
moss and J ungermannia, and only the numerous rank-growing orchids 
like Stanhopea grandiflora Lindl., Rodriguezia secunda Huinb. and R. 
stricta Steud., Gong ora maculata Lindl., G. nigrita Lindl., and a number 
of Maxillaria, Epidendrum etc. enlivened the monotonously desolate as- 
pect of our surroundings. 
529. An extensive water-flat soon indicated that the low banks had 
been no longer able to control the volume of water. As Caberalli wanted 
to visit in the neighbourhood the settlement of a Warrau whom he had 
made friends with, I accompanied him in his corial through the heart of 
the forest up to the first house. I had already learnt to know several 
degrees of dirt and neglect amongst the Warraus, and yet it must be ad- 
mitted that I had never found the wretched condition of these Indiana 
so oppressive and pitiable as I did here. Everything — residents, houses, 
domestic implements, why, even the surroundings themselves — demon- 
strated only too strikingly that here around us Avere gathered people who 
kneAv nothing or required anything higher than the gratification of their 
ioAvest wants. The whole settlement Avas entirely surrounded by water, 
and the miserable 7 to 8 feet long houses rose from a platform which, 
Avith previously-split trunks of Euterpe oleracea placed one on top of the 
other, had been built on 5 to (j feet high posts or cut-off tree trunks. A heap 
of earth in the middle of each house Avas the substitute for a hearth, and 
prevented the continually burning fire from finding its way through the 
lath floor. The Ioav roof was covered with palm-leaves while a tree-trunk, 
supplied with notches, leaning obliquely against the house, served as a 
ladder to which at high water the corial was tied. Even at low' tide the 
place was so swampy that a narrow dam made of logs placed on end 
(Knüppeldamm) had to be laid from the settlement to the higher-lying 
ground. If now upon this limited space one can imagine a fair number 
of children tumbling about like goblins in the ashes and heaped-up dirt, 
and likewise men as Avell as Avomen stiffened with similar filth, even Cab- 
eralli s shake of the head and contemptuous smile Avill become intelligible. 
Great heaps of emptied shells of a large snail (Ampullaria urceus Fers. ) 
AA'hich I saw here for the first time led us to believe that the animal must 
be a favourite with the residents. Being skilled fishermen they generally 
have sufficient food, and if the cassava root does not suffice for their re- 
quirements for bread, they mix its flour with the mealy substance of 
Greenheart seeds ( Nectandra Rodiei Schomb.) and the pith of Mauritia 
stems. 
