256 
TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
\March, 
young girls generally came neatly dressed, their glossy 
hair beautifully plaited, and with gay ribbons or flowers 
to set it off. The moment the xirac is finished the party 
breaks up, as they do not seem to think it possible to 
dance without it : sometimes they make enough to last 
two or three days. Their dances appear quite national, 
but they have apparently left off paint, as I saw very 
little used. 
The language spoken by these people is called the 
Maniva or Baniwa, but it differs considerably from the 
Baniwa of the Rio Negro, and is not so harsh and gut- 
tiHal. At Tomo and Maroa another language is spoken, 
quite distinct from this, but still called the Baniwa; a 
little further down, at Sao Carlos, the Barre is used ; so 
that almost every village has its language. Here the men 
and old women all speak Spanish tolerably, there having 
formerly been priests living at the Convento, who in- 
structed them. The younger women and the boys and ■ 
girls, not having had this advantage, speak only the 
native tongue ; but many of them can understand a 
little Spanish. I found considerable difliculty in making 
myself intelligible here. The white men, who are called 
rationales’’ (rationals), could understand my mixed 
Portuguese and Spanish very well, but the Indians, 
knowing but little Spanish themselves, cannot of course 
comprehend any deviations from the ordinary method of 
speaking. I found it necessary therefore to keep my^ 
Spanish by itself, as they could better understand a 
and good, than a great deal of explanation in the mixed 
tongue. Ip 
Some of my dull and dreary evenings I occupied iny 
