480 
ON THE ABORIGINES 
Indians can speak both Portuguese and Lingoa Geral ; 
on the Solimoes and Pio Negro, Lingoa Geral alone is 
generally spoken ; and in the interior, on the lakes and 
tributaries of the Solimoes, the Mura and Jmn tongues 
are in common use, with the Lingoa Geral as a means of 
communication with the traders. Near the sources of 
the Rio Negro, in Venezuela, the Barre and Baniwa 
languages are those used among the Indians themselves. 
The Lingoa Geral is the Tupi, an Indian language 
found in the country by the Jesuits, and modified and 
extended by them for use among all the tribes included 
in their missions. It is now spread over all the interior 
of Brazil, and even extends into Peru and Venezuela, as 
well as Bolivia and Paraguay, and is the general vehicle 
of communication between the Brazilian traders and the 
Indians. It is a simple and euphonious language, and 
is often preferred by Europeans who get thoroughly 
used to it. I knew a Erenchman who had been twenty 
years in the Solimbes, who always conversed with his 
wife and children in Lingoa Geral, and could speak it 
with more ease than either Erench or Portuguese; and, 
in many cases, I have seen Portuguese settlers whose 
children were unable to speak any other language. 
I shall now proceed to give some account of the va- 
rious tribes that still exist, in all their native integrity, 
among the trackless forests of the Purus, Rio Branco, 
Japura, and rivers Uaupes and Isanna, near the sources 
of the Rio Negro. 
As I am best acquainted with the Indians of the river 
Uaupes, I shall first state all I know of them, and then 
point out the particulars in which other nations differ 
