FIRST ASCENT OF THE RIVER UAUPÉS.
Rapid Current—An Indian Malocca—The Inmates—A Festival—Paint
and Ornaments—Illness—São Jeronymo—Passing the
Cataracts—Jauarité—The Tushaúa Calistro—Singular
Palm—Birds—Cheap Provisions—Edible Ants, and Earthworms—A
grand dance—Feather ornaments—The snake-dance—The Capí—A State
cigar—Ananárapicóma—Fish—Chegoes—Pass down the Falls—Tame
Birds—Orchids—Piums—Eating dirt—Poisoning—Return to Guia—Manoel
Joaquim—Annoying delays.
At length the long looked-for canoe arrived, and we immediately made
preparations for our voyage. Fish-hooks and knives and beads were
looked out to suit the customers we were going among, and from whom
Senhor L. hoped to obtain farinha and salsaparilha: and I, fish,
insects, birds, and all sorts of bows, arrows, blowpipes, baskets, and
other Indian curiosities.
On the 3rd of June, at six in the morning, we started. The weather had
cleared up a few days before, and was now very fine. We had only two
Indians with us, the same who had run away from Javíta, and who had
been paid their wages beforehand, so we now made them work it out.
Those who had just returned from Barra, were not willing to go out
again immediately, but we hoped to get plenty on entering the Uaupés.
The same afternoon, we reached São Joaquim, at the mouth of that river;
but as there were no men there, we were obliged to go on, and then
commenced our real difficulties, for we had to encounter the powerful
current of the overflowing stream. At first some bays, in which there
were counter-currents, favoured us; but in more exposed parts, the
waters rushed along with such violence, that our two paddles could not
possibly move the canoe.
We could only get on by pulling the bushes and creepers and
tree-branches which line the margin of the river, now that almost all
the adjacent lands were more or less flooded. The next day we cut long
hooked poles, by which we could pull and push ourselves along at all
difficult points, with more advantage. Sometimes, for miles together,
we had to proceed thus,—getting the canoe filled, and ourselves
covered, with stinging and biting ants of fifty different species,
each producing its own peculiar effect, from a gentle tickle to an
acute sting; and which, getting entangled in our hair and beards, and
creeping over all parts of our bodies under our clothes, were not the
most agreeable companions. Sometimes, too, we would encounter swarms
of wasps, whose nests were concealed among the leaves, and who always
make a most furious attack upon intruders. The naked bodies of the
Indians offered no defence against their stings, and they several
times suffered while we escaped. Nor are these the only inconveniences
attending an up-stream voyage in the time of high flood, for all the
river-banks being overflowed, it is only at some rocky point which
still keeps above water that a fire can be made; and as these are few
and far between, we frequently had to pass the whole day on farinha and
water, with a piece of cold fish or a pacova, if we were so lucky as to
have any. All these points, or sleeping places, are well known to the
traders in the river, so that whenever we reached one, at whatever hour
of the day or night, we stopped to make our coffee and rest a little,
knowing that we should only get to another haven after eight or ten
hours of hard pulling and paddling.
On the second day we found a small “Sucurujú” (_Eunectes murinus_),
about a yard long, sunning itself on a bush over the water; one of our
Indians shot it with an arrow, and when we staid for the night roasted
it for supper. I tasted a piece, and found it excessively tough and
glutinous, but without any disagreeable flavour; and well stewed, it
would, I have no doubt, be very good. Having stopped at a sitio we
purchased a fowl, which, boiled with rice, made us an excellent supper.
On the 7th we entered a narrow winding channel, branching from the
north bank of the river, and in about an hour reached a “malocca,” or
native Indian lodge, the first we had encountered. It was a large,
substantial building, near a hundred feet long, by about forty wide
and thirty high, very strongly constructed of round, smooth, barked
timbers, and thatched with the fan-shaped leaves of the Caraná palm.
One end was square, with a gable, the other circular; and the eaves,
hanging over the low walls, reached nearly to the ground. In the
middle was a broad aisle, formed by the two rows of the principal
columns supporting the roof, and between these and the sides were other
rows of smaller and shorter timbers; the whole of them were firmly
connected by longitudinal and transverse beams at the top, supporting
the rafters, and were all bound together with much symmetry by sipós.
Projecting inwards from the walls on each side were short partitions of
palm-thatch, exactly similar in arrangement to the boxes in a London
eating-house, or those of a theatre. Each of these is the private
apartment of a separate family, who thus live in a sort of patriarchal
community. In the side aisles are the farinha ovens, tipitís for
squeezing the mandiocca, huge pans and earthen vessels for making
caxirí, and other large articles, which appear to be in common; while
in every separate apartment are the small pans, stools, baskets, redes,
water-pots, weapons, and ornaments of the occupants. The centre aisle
remains unoccupied, and forms a fine walk through the house. At the
circular end is a cross partition or railing about five feet high,
cutting off rather more than the semicircle, but with a wide opening
in the centre: this forms the residence of the chief or head of the
malocca, with his wives and children; the more distant relations
residing in the other part of the house. The door at the gable end is
very wide and lofty, that at the circular end is smaller, and these are
the only apertures to admit light and air. The upper part of the gable
is loosely covered with palm-leaves hung vertically, through which the
smoke of the numerous wood fires slowly percolates, giving however in
its passage a jetty lustre to the whole of the upper part of the roof.
On entering this house, I was delighted to find myself at length in the
presence of the true denizens of the forest. An old and a young man and
two women were the only occupiers, the rest being out on their various
pursuits. The women were absolutely naked; but on the entrance of the
“brancos” they slipped on a petticoat, with which, in these lower parts
of the river, they are generally provided, but never use except on such
occasions. Their hair was but moderately long, and they were without
any ornament but strongly knitted garters, tightly laced immediately
below the knee.
It was the men however who presented the most novel appearance, as
different from all the half-civilized races among whom I had been so
long living, as they could be if I had been suddenly transported to
another quarter of the globe. Their hair was carefully parted in the
middle, combed behind the ears, and tied behind in a long tail reaching
a yard down the back. The hair of this tail was firmly bound with a
long cord formed of monkeys’ hair, very soft and pliable. On the top
of the head was stuck a comb, ingeniously constructed of palm-wood
and grass, and ornamented with little tufts of toucans’ rump feathers
at each end; and the ears were pierced, and a small piece of straw
stuck in the hole; altogether giving a most feminine appearance to the
face, increased by the total absence of beard or whiskers, and by the
hair of the eyebrows being almost entirely plucked out. A small strip
of “tururí” (the inner bark of a tree) passed between the legs, and
secured to a string round the waist, with a pair of knitted garters,
constituted their simple dress.
The young man was lazily swinging in a maqueira, but disappeared soon
after we entered; the elder one was engaged making one of the flat
hollow baskets, a manufacture peculiar to this district. He continued
quietly at his occupation, answering the questions Senhor L. put to him
about the rest of the inhabitants in a very imperfect “Lingoa Geral,”
which language is comparatively little known in this river, and that
only in the lower and more frequented parts. As we wanted to procure
one or two men to go with us, we determined to stay here for the night.
We succeeded in purchasing for a few fish-hooks some fresh fish, which
another Indian brought in; and then prepared our dinner and coffee,
and brought our maqueiras up to the house, hanging them in the middle
aisle, to pass the night there. About dusk many more Indians, male
and female, arrived; fires were lighted in the several compartments,
pots put on with fish or game for supper, and fresh mandiocca cakes
made. I now saw several of the men with their most peculiar and valued
ornament—a cylindrical, opaque, white stone, looking like marble, but
which is really quartz imperfectly crystallized. These stones are
from four to eight inches long, and about an inch in diameter. They
are ground round, and flat at the ends, a work of great labour, and
are each pierced with a hole at one end, through which a string is
inserted, to suspend it round the neck. It appears almost incredible
that they should make this hole in so hard a substance without any iron
instrument for the purpose. What they are said to use is the pointed
flexible leaf-shoot of the large wild plantain, triturating with fine
sand and a little water; and I have no doubt it is, as it is said to
be, a labour of years. Yet it must take a much longer time to pierce
that which the Tushaúa wears as the symbol of his authority, for it
is generally of the largest size, and is worn transversely across the
breast, for which purpose the hole is bored lengthways from one end to
the other, an operation which I was informed sometimes occupies two
lives. The stones themselves are procured from a great distance up the
river, probably from near its sources at the base of the Andes; they
are therefore highly valued, and it is seldom the owners can be induced
to part with them, the chiefs scarcely ever. I here purchased a club
of hard red wood for a small mirror, a comb for half-a-dozen small
fish-hooks, and some other trifling articles.
A portion only of the inhabitants arrived that night, as when traders
come they are afraid of being compelled to go with them, and so hide
themselves. Many of the worst characters in the Rio Negro come to trade
in this river, force the Indians, by threats of shooting them, into
their canoes, and sometimes even do not scruple to carry their threats
into execution, they being here quite out of reach of even that minute
portion of the law which still struggles for existence in the Rio Negro.
We passed the night in the malocca, surrounded by the naked Indians
hanging round their fires, which sent a fitful light up into the dark
smoke-filled roof. A torrent of rain poured without, and I could not
help admiring the degree of sociality and comfort in numerous families
thus living together in patriarchal harmony. The next morning Senhor
L. succeeded in persuading one Indian to earn a “saía” (petticoat) for
his wife, and embark with us, and so we bade adieu to Assaí Paraná
(Assaí river). On lifting up the mat covering of our canoe, I found
lying comfortably coiled up on the top of my box a fine young boa,
of a species of which I possessed two live specimens at Guía: he had
probably fallen in unperceived during our passage among the bushes
on the river-side. In the afternoon we reached another village,
also situated up a narrow igaripé, and consisting of a house and
two maloccas at some distance from it. The inhabitants had gone to
a neighbouring village, where there was caxirí and dancing, and two
women only were left behind with some children. About these houses were
several parrots, macaws, and curassow-birds, which all these Indians
breed in great numbers. The next day we reached Ananárapicóma, or
“Pine-apple Point,” the village where the dance was taking place. It
consisted of several small houses besides the large malocca, many of
the Indians who have been with traders to the Rio Negro imitating them
in using separate dwellings.
On entering the great malocca a most extraordinary and novel scene
presented itself. Some two hundred men, women, and children were
scattered about the house, lying in the maqueiras, squatting on the
ground, or sitting on the small painted stools, which are made only by
the inhabitants of this river. Almost all were naked and painted, and
wearing their various feathers and other ornaments. Some were walking
or conversing, and others were dancing, or playing small fifes and
whistles. The regular festa had been broken up that morning; the chiefs
and principal men had put off their feather head-dresses, but as caxirí
still remained, the young men and women continued dancing. They were
painted over their whole bodies in regular patterns of a diamond or
diagonal character, with black, red, and yellow colours; the former,
a purple or blue black, predominating. The face was ornamented in
various styles, generally with bright red in bold stripes or spots, a
large quantity of the colour being applied to each ear, and running
down on the sides of the cheeks and neck, producing a very fearful and
sanguinary appearance. The grass in the ears was now decorated with a
little tuft of white downy feathers, and some in addition had three
little strings of beads from a hole pierced in the lower lip. All wore
the garters, which were now generally painted yellow. Most of the young
women who danced had besides a small apron of beads of about eight
inches by six inches, arranged in diagonal patterns with much taste;
besides this, the paint on their naked bodies was their only ornament;
they had not even the comb in their hair, which the men are never
without.
The men and boys appropriated all the ornaments, thus reversing the
custom of civilized countries and imitating nature, who invariably
decorates the male sex with the most brilliant colours and most
remarkable ornaments. On the head all wore a coronet of bright red and
yellow toucans’ feathers, set in a circlet of plaited straw. The comb
in the hair was ornamented with feathers, and frequently a bunch of
white heron’s plumes attached to it fell gracefully down the back.
Round the neck or over one shoulder were large necklaces of many folds
of white or red beads, as well as the white cylindrical stone hung on
the middle of a string of some black shining seeds.
The ends of the monkey-hair cords which tied the hair were ornamented
with little plumes, and from the arm hung a bunch of curiously-shaped
seeds, ornamented with bright coloured feathers attached by strings of
monkeys’ hair. Round the waist was one of their most valued ornaments,
possessed by comparatively few,—the girdle of onças’ teeth. And lastly,
tied round the ankles were large bunches of a curious hard fruit, which
produce a rattling sound in the dance. In their hands some carried
a bow and a bundle of curabís, or war-arrows; others a murucú, or
spear of hard polished wood, or an oval painted gourd, filled with
small stones and attached to a handle, which, being shaken at regular
intervals in the dance, produced a rattling accompaniment to the leg
ornaments and the song.
The wild and strange appearance of these handsome, naked, painted
Indians, with their curious ornaments and weapons, the stamp and song
and rattle which accompanies the dance, the hum of conversation in a
strange language, the music of fifes and flutes and other instruments
of reed, bone, and turtles’ shells, the large calabashes of caxirí
constantly carried about, and the great smoke-blackened gloomy house,
produced an effect to which no description can do justice, and of which
the sight of half-a-dozen Indians going through their dances for show,
gives but a very faint idea.
I staid looking on a considerable time, highly delighted at such
an opportunity of seeing these interesting people in their most
characteristic festivals. I was myself a great object of admiration,
principally on account of my spectacles, which they saw for the first
time and could not at all understand. A hundred bright pairs of eyes
were continually directed on me from all sides, and I was doubtless
the great subject of conversation. An old man brought me three ripe
pine-apples, for which I gave him half-a-dozen small hooks, and he was
very well contented.
Senhor L. was conversing with many of the Indians, with whom he was
well acquainted, and was arranging with one to go up a branch of the
river, several days’ journey, to purchase some salsa and farinha for
him. I succeeded in buying a beautiful ornamented murucú, the principal
insignia of the Tushaúa, or chief. He was very loth to part with it,
and I had to give an axe and a large knife, of which he was much in
want. I also bought two cigar-holders, about two feet long, in which a
gigantic cigar is placed and handed round on these occasions. The next
morning, after making our payments for the articles we had purchased,
we went to bid our adieus to the chief. A small company who had come
from some distance were taking their leave at the same time, going
round the great house in Indian file, and speaking in a muttering tone
to each head of a family. First came the old men bearing lances and
shields of strong wicker-work, then the younger ones with their bows
and arrows, and lastly the old and young women carrying their infants
and the few household utensils they had brought with them. At these
festivals drink alone is provided, in immense quantities, each party
bringing a little mandiocca-cake or fish for his consumption, which,
while the caxirí lasts, is very little. The paint on their bodies is
very durable, for though they never miss washing two or three times
a-day, it lasts a week or a fortnight before it quite disappears.
Leaving Ananárapicóma, we arrived the same evening at Mandii Paraná,
where there was also a malocca, which, owing to the great rise of the
river, could only be reached by wading up to the middle through the
flooded forest. I accordingly staid to superintend the making of a
fire, which the soaking rain we had had all the afternoon rendered
a somewhat difficult matter, while Senhor L. went with an Indian to
the house to arrange some “negocio” and obtain fish for supper. We
staid here for the night, and the next morning the Indians came down
in a body to the canoe, and made some purchases of fish-hooks, beads,
mirrors, cloth for trowsers, etc., of Senhor L., to be paid in farinha,
fowls, and other articles on our return. I also ordered a small canoe
as a specimen, and some sieves and fire-fanners, which I paid for in
similar trifles; for these Indians are so accustomed to receive payment
beforehand, that without doing so you cannot depend upon their making
anything. The next day, the 12th of June, we reached São Jeronymo,
situated about a mile below the first and most dangerous of the Falls
of the Uaupés.
For the last five days I had been very ill with dysentery and continual
pains in the stomach, brought on, I believe, by eating rather
incautiously of the fat and delicious fish, the white Pirahiba or
Laulau, three or four times consecutively without vegetable food. Here
the symptoms became rather aggravated, and though not at all inclined
to despond in sickness, yet as I knew this disease to be a very fatal
one in tropical climates, and I had no medicines or even proper food of
any kind, I certainly did begin to be a little alarmed. The worst of
it was that I was continually hungry, but could not eat or drink the
smallest possible quantity of anything without pains of the stomach and
bowels immediately succeeding, which lasted several hours. The diarrhœa
too was continual, with evacuations of slime and blood, which my diet
of the last few days, of tapioca-gruel and coffee, seemed rather to
have increased.
I remained here most of the day in my maqueira, but in the afternoon
some fish were brought in, and finding among them a couple of new
species, I set to work figuring them, determined to let no opportunity
pass of increasing my collections. This village has no malocca, but a
number of small houses; having been founded by the Portuguese before
the Independence. It is pleasantly situated on the sloping bank of the
river, which is about half a mile wide, with rather high land opposite,
and a view up to the narrow channel, where the waters are bounding and
foaming and leaping high in the air with the violence of the fall, or
more properly rapid.
There was a young Brazilian “negociante” and his wife residing in this
village, and as he was also about ascending the river to fetch farinha,
we agreed to go together. The next morning we accordingly started,
proceeding along the shore to near the fall, where we crossed among
boiling foam and whirling eddies, and entered into a small igaripé,
where the canoe was entirely unloaded, all the cargo carried along a
rugged path through the forest, and the canoe taken round a projecting
point, where the violence of the current and the heaving waves of the
fall render it impossible for anything but a small empty obá to pass,
and even that with great difficulty.
The path terminated at a narrow channel, through which a part of the
river in the wet season flows, but which in the summer is completely
dry. Were it not for this stream, the passage of the rapids in the wet
season would be quite impossible; for though the actual fall of the
water is trifling, its violence is inconceivable. The average width
of the river may be stated at near three times that of the Thames at
London; and it is in the wet season very deep and rapid. At the fall
it is enclosed in a narrow sloping rocky gorge, about the width of
the middle arch of London Bridge, or even less. I need say no more to
prove the impossibility of ascending such a channel. There are immense
whirlpools which engulf large canoes. The waters roll like ocean waves,
and leap up at intervals, forty or fifty feet into the air, as if great
subaqueous explosions were taking place.
Presently the Indians appeared with our canoe, and, assisted by a dozen
more who came to help us, pulled it up through the shallows, where
the water was less violent. Then came another difficult point; and we
plunged again into the forest with half the Indians carrying our cargo,
while the remainder went with the canoe. There were several other
dangerous places, and two more disembarkations and land carriages, the
last for a considerable distance. Above the main fall the river is
suddenly widened out into a kind of a lake, filled with rocky islands,
among which are a confusion of minor falls and rapids. However, having
plenty of Indians to assist us, we passed all these dangers by a little
after midday, and reached a malocca, where we staid for the afternoon
repairing the wear and tear of the palm-mats and toldas, and cleaning
our canoe and arranging our cargo, ready to start the next morning.
In two days more we reached another village, called Jukeíra Picóma,
or Salt Point, where we staid a day. I was well satisfied to find
myself here considerably better, owing, I believe, to my having tried
fasting as a last resource: for two days I had only taken a little
farinha gruel once in the twenty-four hours. In a day and a half from
Jukeíra we reached Jauarité, a village situated just below the caxoeira
of the same name, the second great rapid on the Uaupés. Here we had
determined to stay some days and then return, as the caxoeira is very
dangerous to pass, and above it the river, for many days’ journey, is
a succession of rapids and strong currents, which render the voyage
up at this season in the highest degree tedious and disagreeable. We
accordingly disembarked our cargo into a house, or rather shed, near
the shore, made for the accommodation of traders, which we cleaned
and took possession of, and felt ourselves quite comfortable after
the annoyances we had been exposed to in reaching this place. We then
walked up to the malocca, to pay a visit to the Tushaúa. This house
was a noble building of its kind, being one hundred and fifteen feet
long, seventy-five wide, and about twenty-five feet high, the roof and
upper timbers being black as jet with the smokes of many years. There
were besides about a dozen private cottages, forming a small village.
Scattered around were immense numbers of the Pupunha Palm (_Guilielma
speciosa_), the fruit of which forms an important part of the food of
these people during the season; it was now just beginning to ripen. The
Tushaúa was rather a respectable-looking man, the possessor of a pair
of trowsers and a shirt, which he puts on in honour of white visitors.
Senhor L. however says he is one of the greatest rogues on the river,
and will not trust him, as he does most of the other Indians, with
goods beforehand. He rejoices in the name of Galistro, and pleased me
much by his benevolent countenance and quiet dignified manner. He is
said to be the possessor of great riches in the way of onças’ teeth
and feathers, the result of his wars upon the Macús and other tribes
of the tributary rivers; but these he will not show to the whites, for
fear of being made to sell them. Behind the malocca I was pleased to
see a fine broad path, leading into the forest to the several mandiocca
rhossas. The next morning early I went with my net to explore it, and
found it promise pretty well for insects, considering the season. I was
greatly delighted at meeting in it the lovely clear-winged butterfly
allied to the _Esmeralda_, that I had taken so sparingly at Javíta; and
I also took a specimen of another of the same genus, quite new to me. A
plain-coloured _Acræa_, that I had first met with at Jukeíra, was here
also very abundant.
In a hollow near a small stream that crossed the path I found growing
the singular palm called “Paxiúba barriguda” (the big-bellied
paxiuba). It is a fine, tall, rather slender tree, with a head of
very elegant curled leaves. At the base of the stem is a conical mass
of air-roots, five or six feet high, more or less developed in all
the species of this genus. But the peculiar character from which it
derives its name is, that the stem at rather more than half-way up
swells suddenly out to double its former thickness or more, and after
a short distance again contracts, and continues cylindrical to the
top. It is only by seeing great numbers of these trees, all with this
character more or less palpable, that one can believe it is not an
accidental circumstance in the individual tree, instead of being truly
characteristic of the species. It is the _Iriartea ventricosa_ of
Martius.
I tried here to procure some hunters and fishermen, but was not very
successful. I had a few fish brought me, and now and then a bird. A
curious bird, called anambé, was flying in flocks about the pupunha
palms, and after much trouble I succeeded in shooting one, and it
proved, as I had anticipated, quite different from the _Gymnoderus
nudicollis_, which is a species much resembling it in its flight, and
common in all the Rio Negro. I went after them several times, but
could not succeed in shooting another; for though they take but short
flights, they remain at rest scarcely an instant. About the houses here
were several trumpeters, curassow-birds, and those beautiful parrots,
the anacás (_Derotypus accipitrinus_), which all wander and fly about
at perfect liberty, but being bred from the nest, always return to be
fed. The Uaupés Indians take much delight, and are very successful, in
breeding birds and animals of all kinds.
We staid here a week, and I went daily into the forest when the weather
was not very wet, and generally obtained something interesting. I
frequently met parties of women and boys, going to and returning from
the rhossas. Sometimes they would run into the thicket till I had
passed; at other times they would merely stand on one side of the path,
with a kind of bashful fear at encountering a white man while in that
state of complete nudity, which they know is strange to us. When about
the houses in the village however, or coming to fill their water-pots
or bathe in the river close to our habitation, they were quite
unembarrassed, being, like Eve, “naked and not ashamed.” Though some
were too fat, most of them had splendid figures, and many of them were
very pretty. Before daylight in the morning all were astir, and came
to the river to wash. It is the chilliest hour of the twenty-four, and
when we were wrapping our sheet or blanket more closely around us, we
could hear the plunges and splashings of these early bathers. Rain or
wind is all alike to them: their morning bath is never dispensed with.
Fish were here very scarce, and we were obliged to live almost entirely
on fowls, which, though very nice when well roasted and with the
accompaniment of ham and gravy, are rather tasteless simply boiled or
stewed, with no variation in the cookery, and without vegetables. I
had now got so thoroughly into the life of this part of the country,
that, like everybody else here, I preferred fish to every other
article of food. One never tires of it; and I must again repeat that
I believe there are fish here superior to any in the world. Our fowls
cost us about a penny each, paid in fish-hooks or salt, so that they
are not such expensive food as they would be at home. In fact, if a
person buys his hooks, salt, and other things in Pará, where they are
about half the price they are in Barra, the price of a fowl will not
exceed a halfpenny; and fish, pacovas, and other eatables that the
country produces, in the same proportion. A basket of farinha, that
will last one person very well a month, will cost about threepence; so
that with a small expenditure a man may obtain enough to live on. The
Indians here made their mandiocca bread very differently from, and very
superior to, those of the adjacent rivers. The greater part is tapioca,
which they mix with a small quantity of the prepared mandiocca-root,
and form a white, gelatinous, granular cake, which with a little use is
very agreeable, and is much sought after by all the white traders on
the river. Farinha they scarcely ever eat themselves, but make it only
to sell; and as they extract the tapioca, which is the pure glutinous
portion of the root, to make their own bread, they mix the refuse with
a little fresh mandiocca to make farinha, which is thus of a very poor
quality; yet such is the state of agriculture on the Rio Negro, that
the city of Barra depends in a great measure upon this refuse food of
the Indians, and several thousand alqueires are purchased, and most of
it sent there, annually.
The principal food of these Indians is fish, and when they have neither
this nor any game, they boil a quantity of peppers, in which they dip
their bread. At several places where we stopped this was offered to
our men, who ate with a relish the intensely burning mess. Yams and
sweet potatoes are also abundant, and with pacovas form a large item in
their stock of eatables. Then they have the delicious drinks made from
the fruits of the assaí, baccába, and patawá palms, as well as several
other fruits.
The large saübas and white ants are an occasional luxury, and when
nothing else is to be had in the wet season they eat large earth-worms,
which, when the lands in which they live are flooded, ascend trees, and
take up their abode in the hollow leaves of a species of _Tillandsia_,
where they are often found accumulated by thousands. Nor is it only
hunger that makes them eat these worms, for they sometimes boil them
with their fish to give it an extra relish.
They consume great quantities of mandiocca in making caxirí for their
festas, which are continually taking place. As I had not seen a regular
dance, Senhor L. asked the Tushaúa to make some caxirí and invite his
friends and vassals to dance, for the white stranger to see. He readily
consented, and, as we were to leave in two or three days, immediately
sent round a messenger to the houses of the Indians near, to make known
the day and request the honour of their company. As the notice was so
short, it was only those in the immediate neighbourhood who could be
summoned.
On the appointed day numerous preparations were taking place. The
young girls came repeatedly to fill their pitchers at the river early
in the morning, to complete the preparation of the caxirí. In the
forenoon they were busy weeding all round the malocca, and sprinkling
water, and sweeping within it. The women were bringing in dry wood for
the fires, and the young men were scattered about in groups, plaiting
straw coronets or arranging some other parts of their ornaments. In the
afternoon, as I came from the forest, I found several engaged in the
operation of painting, which others had already completed. The women
had painted themselves or each other, and presented a neat pattern in
black and red all over their bodies, some circles and curved lines
occurring on their hips and breasts, while on their faces round spots
of a bright vermilion seemed to be the prevailing fashion. The juice of
a fruit which stains of a fine purplish-black is often poured on the
back of the head and neck, and, trickling all down the back, produces
what they no doubt consider a very elegant dishabille. These spotted
beauties were now engaged in performing the same operation for their
husbands and sweethearts, some standing, others sitting, and directing
the fair artists how to dispose the lines and tints to their liking.
We prepared our supper rather early, and about sunset, just as we had
finished, a messenger came to notify to us that the dance had begun,
and that the Tushaúa had sent to request our company. We accordingly
at once proceeded to the malocca, and entering the private apartment
at the circular end, were politely received by the Tushaúa, who was
dressed in his shirt and trowsers only, and requested us to be seated
in maqueiras. After a few minutes’ conversation I turned to look
at the dancing, which was taking place in the body of the house,
in a large clear space round the two central columns. A party of
about fifteen or twenty middle-aged men were dancing; they formed a
semicircle, each with his left hand on his neighbour’s right shoulder.
They were all completely furnished with their feather ornaments, and I
now saw for the first time the head-dress, or acangatára, which they
value highly. This consists of a coronet of red and yellow feathers
disposed in regular rows, and firmly attached to a strong woven or
plaited band. The feathers are entirely from the shoulders of the great
red macaw, but they are not those that the bird naturally possesses,
for these Indians have a curious art by which they change the colours
of the feathers of many birds.
They pluck out those they wish to paint, and in the fresh wound
inoculate with the milky secretion from the skin of a small frog or
toad. When the feathers grow again they are of a brilliant yellow or
orange colour, without any mixture of blue or green, as in the natural
state of the bird; and on the new plumage being again plucked out, it
is said always to come of the same colour without any fresh operation.
The feathers are renewed but slowly, and it requires a great number of
them to make a coronet, so we see the reason why the owner esteems it
so highly, and only in the greatest necessity will part with it.
Attached to the comb on the top of the head is a fine broad plume
of the tail-coverts of the white egret, or more rarely of the under
tail-coverts of the great harpy eagle. These are large, snowy white,
loose and downy, and are almost equal in beauty to a plume of white
ostrich feathers. The Indians keep these noble birds in great open
houses or cages, feeding them with fowls (of which they will consume
two a day), solely for the sake of these feathers; but as the birds
are rare, and the young with difficulty secured, the ornament is one
that few possess. From the end of the comb cords of monkeys’ hair,
decorated with small feathers, hang down the back and in the ears
are the little downy plumes, forming altogether a most imposing and
elegant head-dress. All these dancers had also the cylindrical stone of
large size, the necklace of white beads, the girdle of onças’ teeth,
the garters, and ankle-rattles. A very few had besides a most curious
ornament, the nature of which completely puzzled me: it was either a
necklace or a circlet round the forehead, according to the quantity
possessed, and consisted of small curiously curved pieces of a white
colour with a delicate rosy tinge, and appearing like shell or enamel.
They say they procure them from the Indians of the Japurá and other
rivers, and that they are very expensive, three or four pieces only,
costing an axe. They appear to me more like portions of the lip of a
large shell cut into perfectly regular pieces than anything else, but
so regular in size and shape, as to make me doubt again that they can
be of shell, or that Indians can form them.
In their hands each held a lance, or bundle of arrows, or the painted
calabash-rattle. The dance consisted simply of a regular sideway step,
carrying the whole body round and round in a circle; the simultaneous
stamping of the feet, the rattle and clash of the leg ornaments
and calabashes, and a chant of a few words repeated in a deep tone,
producing a very martial and animated effect. At certain intervals
the young women joined in, each one taking her place between two men,
whom she clasped with each arm round the waist, her head bending
forward beneath the outstretched arm above, which, as the women were
all of low stature, did not much interfere with their movements. They
kept their places for one or two rounds, and then, at a signal of
some sort, all left and retired to their seats on stools or on the
ground, till the time should come for them again to take their places.
The greater part of them wore the “tanga,” or small apron of beads,
but some were perfectly naked. Several wore large cylindrical copper
earrings, so polished as to appear like gold. These and the garters
formed their only ornaments,—necklaces, bracelets, and feathers being
entirely monopolized by the men. The paint with which they decorate
their whole bodies has a very neat effect, and gives them almost the
appearance of being dressed, and as such they seem to regard it; and
however much those who have not witnessed this strange scene may be
disposed to differ from me, I must record my opinion that there is far
more immodesty in the transparent and flesh-coloured garments of our
stage-dancers, than in the perfect nudity of these daughters of the
forest.
In the open space outside the house, a party of young men and boys, who
did not possess the full costume, were dancing in the same manner. They
soon however began what may be called the snake dance. They had made
two huge artificial snakes of twigs and bushes bound together with
sipós, from thirty to forty feet long and about a foot in diameter,
with a head of a bundle of leaves of the Umboöba (_Cecropia_), painted
with bright red colour, making altogether a very formidable-looking
reptile. They divided themselves into two parties of twelve or fifteen
each, and lifting the snakes on their shoulders, began dancing.
In the dance, they imitated the undulations of the serpent, raising the
head and twisting the tail. They kept advancing and retreating, keeping
parallel to each other, and every time coming nearer to the principal
door of the house. At length they brought the heads of the snakes into
the very door, but still retreated several times. Those within had now
concluded their first dance, and after several more approaches, in came
the snakes with a sudden rush, and, parting, went one on the right side
and one on the left. They still continued the advancing and retreating
step, till at length, each having traversed a semicircle, they met face
to face. Here the two snakes seemed inclined to fight, and it was only
after many retreatings and brandishings of the head and tail, that they
could muster resolution to rush past each other. After one or two more
rounds, they passed out to the outside of the house, and the dance,
which had apparently much pleased all the spectators, was concluded.
During all this time caxirí was being abundantly supplied, three
men being constantly employed carrying it to the guests. They came
one behind the other down the middle of the house, with a large
calabash-full in each hand, half stooping down, with a kind of running
dance, and making a curious whirring, humming noise: on reaching the
door they parted on each side, distributing their calabashes to whoever
wished to drink. In a minute or two they were all empty, and the
cupbearers returned to fill them, bringing them every time with the
same peculiar forms, which evidently constitute the etiquette of the
caxirí-servers. As each of the calabashes holds at least two quarts,
the quantity drunk during a whole night that this process is going on
must be very great.
Presently the Capí was introduced, an account of which I had had from
Senhor L. An old man comes forward with a large newly-painted earthen
pot, which he sets down in the middle of the house. He then squats
behind it, stirs it about, and takes out two small calabashes-full,
which he holds up in each hand. After a moment’s pause, two Indians
advance with bows and arrows or lances in their hands. Each takes the
proffered cup and drinks, makes a wry face, for it is intensely bitter,
and stands motionless perhaps half a minute. They then with a start
twang their bows, shake their lances, stamp their feet, and return to
their seats. The little bowls are again filled, and two others succeed
them, with a similar result. Some however become more excited, run
furiously, lance in hand, as if they would kill an enemy, shout and
stamp savagely, and look very warlike and terrible, and then, like the
others, return quietly to their places. Most of these receive a hum or
shake of applause from the spectators, which is also given at times
during the dances.
The house at this time contained at least three hundred men, women,
and children; a continual murmuring conversation was kept up, and
fifty little fifes and flutes were constantly playing, each on its
own account, producing a not very harmonious medley. After dark a
large fire was lighted in the middle of the house, and as it blazed up
brightly at intervals, illuminating the painted and feather-dressed
dancers and the numerous strange groups in every variety of posture
scattered about the great house, I longed for a skilful painter to do
justice to a scene so novel, picturesque, and interesting.
A number of fires were also made outside the house, and the young men
and boys amused themselves by jumping over them when flaming furiously,
an operation which, with their naked bodies, appeared somewhat
hazardous. Having been now looking on about three hours, we went to
bid adieu to the Tushaúa, previous to retiring to our house, as I did
not feel much inclined to stay with them all night. We found him with
a few visitors, smoking, which on these occasions is performed in a
very ceremonious manner. The cigar is eight or ten inches long and
an inch in diameter, made of tobacco pounded and dried, and enclosed
in a cylinder made of a large leaf spirally twisted. It is placed in
a cigar-holder about two feet long, like a great two-pronged fork.
The bottom is pointed, so that when not in use it can be stuck in the
ground. This cigar was offered to us, and Senhor L. took a few whiffs
for us both, as he is a confirmed smoker. The caxirí was exceedingly
good (although the mandiocca-cake of which it is made is chewed by
a parcel of old women), and I much pleased the lady of the Tushaúa
by emptying the calabash she offered me, and pronouncing it to be
“purángareté” (excellent). We then said “Eré” (adieu), and groped our
way down the rough path to our river-side house, to be sung to sleep by
the hoarse murmur of the cataract. The next morning the dance was still
going on, but, as the caxirí was nearly finished, it terminated about
nine o’clock, and the various guests took their leave.
During the dance, Bernardo, an Indian of São Jeronymo, arrived from the
Rio Apaporis. Senhor L. had sent a message to him by his son (who had
come with us) to procure some Indian boys and girls for him, and he now
came to talk over the business. The procuring, consists in making an
attack on some malocca of another nation, and taking prisoner all that
do not escape or are not killed. Senhor L. has frequently been on these
expeditions, and has had some narrow escapes from lances and poisoned
arrows. At Ananárapicóma there was an Indian dreadfully scarred all
over one shoulder and part of his back, the effects of a discharge of
B.B. shot which Senhor L. had given him, just as he was in the act of
turning with his bow and arrow: they are now excellent friends, and do
business together. The “negociantes” and authorities in Barra and Pará,
ask the traders among the Indians to procure a boy or girl for them,
well knowing the only manner in which they can be obtained; in fact the
Government in some degree authorize the practice. There is something
to be said too in its favour, for the Indians make war on each
other,—principally the natives of the margin of the river, on those in
the more distant igaripés,—for the sake of their weapons and ornaments,
and for revenge of any injury, real or imaginary, and then kill all
they can, reserving only some young girls for their wives. The hope of
selling them to the traders, however, induces them to spare many who
would otherwise be murdered. These are brought up to some degree of
civilization (though I much doubt if they are better or happier than in
their native forests), and though at times ill treated, they are free
and can leave their masters whenever they like, which, however, they
seldom do when taken very young. Senhor L. had been requested by two
parties at Barra—one the Delegarde de Policia—to furnish them each with
an Indian girl, and as this man was an old hand at the business, he was
now agreeing with him, furnishing him with powder and shot—for he had a
gun—and giving him some goods, to pay other Indians for assisting him,
and to do a little business at the same time if he had the opportunity.
He was to return at the furthest in a fortnight, and we were to wait
for him in São Jeronymo.
The Tushaúa came to pay us a visit almost every day, to talk a
little, and sometimes drink a cup of coffee. His wife and some of
his daughters, who possessed a “saía,” also often came, bringing us
pacovas, mandiocca-cake, and other things, for which they always
expected to be paid. We bought here a good number of stools and
baskets, which cost five or six hooks each; also fowls, parrots,
trumpeters, and some other tame birds. When we first arrived, almost
the whole body of the inhabitants came to visit us, requesting to see
what we had brought to sell; accordingly we spread out our whole stock
of fish-hooks, knives, axes, mirrors, beads, arrow-heads, cottons and
calicoes, which they handled and admired in unintelligible languages,
for about two hours. It is necessary to make this exposition in every
village, as they will bring nothing to sell unless they first know that
you have what they want in exchange.
Two days after the dance we bade adieu to Jauarité, and by midday
reached Jukeíra, where we had determined to spend another week. There
was no regular house here for the accommodation of travellers, so we
had to take possession of an unoccupied shed, which the Tushaúa had
prepared for us, and where we soon found we were exposed to a pest
abundant in all Indians’ houses, the “bichos do pé,” or chegoes. Nor
was this all, for the blood-sucking bats were abundant, and the very
first night bit Senhor L., as well as his little boy, who in the
morning presented a ghastly sight, both legs being thickly smeared and
blotched with blood. There was only one bite on the toe, but the blood
flows plentifully, and as the boy was very restless at night, he had
managed to produce the sanguinary effect I have mentioned. Several of
the Indians were also bitten, but I escaped by always wrapping my feet
well in my blanket.
The paths in the forest here were not so good as those at Jauarité, and
produced me very few insects; the Indians, however, were rather better
in bringing me birds and fish. I obtained some very pretty little
tanagers, and several new fish. In one lot of small fish brought to me
in a calabash were seven different species, five of which were quite
new to me. A species of _Chalceus_, called Jatuarána, was abundant
here, and most delicious eating, almost, if not quite, equal to the
Waracú; but like it very full of forked spines, which require practice
and delicate handling to extract, or they may produce dangerous
effects. Several Indians of the Coveu nation, from considerably higher
up the river, were staying here. They are distinguished by the ear-lobe
being pierced with so large a hole as to be plugged with a piece of
wood the size of a common bottle-cork. When we entered their house they
set before us, on the ground, smoked fish and mandiocca-cake, which
Senhor L. informs me is the general custom higher up the river, where
the Indians have not lost any of their primitive customs by intercourse
with the whites. Senhor L. had bought a quantity of “coroá” (the fibres
of a species of _Bromelia_, very like flax), and he set these and
several other Indians to twist it into thread, which they do by rolling
it on their breasts, and form a fine well-twisted two-strand string, of
which fine maqueiras are netted. Each one in two or three days produced
a ball of string of a quarter of a pound weight, and with a small basin
of salt or half-a-dozen hooks in payment were well satisfied.
On one or two days of bright sunshine, a beautiful _Papilio_ came
about the house, settling on the ground in moist places: I succeeded
in taking two specimens; it is allied to _P. Thoas_, and will probably
prove a new species. This was my only capture worth mentioning at
Jukeíra. I had seen the same species at Jauarité, but could not take a
specimen. I purchased one of the red macaws painted as I have mentioned
above. Senhor L. was here quite a martyr to the chegoes, frequently
extracting ten or a dozen in a day, which made his feet so full of
holes and wounds as to render walking painful, as I had experienced
at Cobáti and Javíta. I however escaped pretty well, seldom having to
take out more than two or three at a time, partly I believe owing to
my being a good deal in the forest and to my always wearing slippers
in the house. When a person has only one or two now and then, it is a
trifling affair, and one is apt to think, as I for a long time did,
that the dread of chegoes was quite unnecessary, and the accounts of
their persecutions much exaggerated. Let any one, however, who still
thinks so, take a trip into this part of the country, and live a month
in an Indian’s house, and he will be thoroughly undeceived.
After staying here six days, finding little to be done, we proceeded
on our downward passage to São Jeronymo. On the second day, in the
morning, we reached Urubuquárra, the malocca of Bernardo, situated just
above the falls. There is a path from this place through the forest,
about three miles, to the village; and as there were no Indians here to
assist us in passing the falls, we set ours to work, carrying part of
the cargo along it. In the afternoon Bernardo’s son, who had returned
before us with a canoe-load of farinha, came in, and we arranged to
pass the falls the next morning. The river had risen considerably since
we ascended, and had now reached a higher point than had been known
for several years, and the rapids were proportionably more dangerous.
I therefore preferred going through the forest, carrying with me two
small boxes, containing the insects I had collected, and my drawings
of fish,—the loss of which would have been irreparable. The morning
was fine, and I had a pleasant walk, though the path was very rugged
in places, with steep descents and ascents at the crossing of several
small brooks. Arrived at São Jeronymo, I waited for Senhor L., at the
house of Senhor Augustinho, the young Brazilian before mentioned,
who had returned from Jauarité before us, with upwards of a hundred
alqueires of farinha. About midday a tremendous storm of wind and
rain came on, and in the afternoon Senhor L. arrived with the canoe,
thoroughly soaked; and informed me that they had had a most dangerous
passage, a portion of the path where the cargo had to be carried
through the forest being breast-deep in water; and at some of the
points, the violence of the current was so great that they narrowly
escaped being carried down to the great fall, and dashed to pieces on
the rocks.
Here was a good house for travellers, (though without doors,) and we
took possession and settled ourselves for a week or ten days’ stay. We
nearly filled the house with farinha, pitch, baskets, stools, earthen
pots and pans, maqueiras, etc.; we had also near a hundred fowls, which
had been brought crammed into two huge square baskets, and were now
much pleased to be set at liberty,—as well as a large collection of
tame birds, parrots, macaws, paroquets, etc., which kept up a continual
cawing and crying, not always very agreeable. All these birds were
loose, flying about the village, but returning generally to be fed. The
trumpeters and curassow-birds wandered about the houses of the Indians,
and sometimes did not make their appearance for several days; but
being brought up from the nest, or even sometimes from the egg, there
was little danger of their escaping to the forest. We had nine pretty
little black-headed parrots, which every night would go of their own
accord into a basket prepared for them to sleep in.
From what I had seen on this river, there is no place equal to it
for procuring a fine collection of live birds and animals; and this,
together with the desire to see more of a country so interesting and
so completely unknown, induced me, after mature deliberation, to give
up for the present my intended journey to the Andes, and to substitute
another voyage up the river Uaupés, at least to the Juruparí (Devil)
cataract, the “_ultima Thule_” of most of the traders, and about a
month’s voyage up from its mouth. Several traders who had arrived at
São Jeronymo on the way up, as well as the more intelligent Indians,
assured me that in the upper districts there are many birds and
animals not met with below. But what above all attracted me, was the
information that a white species of the celebrated umbrella-chatterer
was to be found there. The information on this point from several
parties was so positive, that, though much inclined to doubt the
existence of such a bird at all, I could not rest satisfied without
one more trial, as, even if I did not find it, I had little doubt of
obtaining many new species to reward me. The worst of it was, that I
must go to Barra and return—a voyage of fifteen hundred miles—which was
very disagreeable. But there was no remedy, for I had a considerable
lot of miscellaneous collections here and at Guia, as well as what I
left at Barra, which must be packed and sent off to England, or they
might be destroyed by damp and insects. Besides which I could not
undertake a voyage on this wild river for several months, without
being well supplied with necessaries, and articles for barter with
the Indians, which could only be obtained at Barra; moreover the best
season for ascending would not arrive for two or three months, so
that I could do scarcely anything if I remained here. The months of
November, December, January, and February, are the “vasante,” or low
water, and then is the summer-season, when the river presents a totally
different and a much more agreeable aspect, being everywhere bordered
with fine sandy or rocky beaches, on which one can eat and sleep with
comfort at any hour. Fish are then much more abundant; turtles of a new
species are said to be found on the sands, in the upper part of the
river, and to lay abundance of eggs; the delicious fruit of the baccába
and patawá palms are then ripe, and birds and insects of all kinds more
easily procurable. These four months I hoped therefore to spend there,
so as to be able to descend to Barra, and thence to Pará, in time to
return to England by July or August, with a numerous and valuable
collection of live animals. It was on account of these, principally,
that I determined to return to England a year before the time I had
fixed upon, as it was impossible to send them without personal care and
attendance.
And so, having once made up my mind to this course, with what delight
I thought upon the sweets of home! What a paradise did that distant
land seem to me! How I thought of the many simple pleasures, so long
absent,—the green fields, the pleasant woods, the flowery paths, the
neat gardens,—all so unknown here! What visions of the fire-side did
I conjure up, of the social tea-table, with familiar faces around
it! What a luxury seemed simple bread and butter!—and to think that,
perhaps in one short year, I might be in the midst of all this!
There was a pleasure in the mere thought, that made me leap over the
long months, the weary hours, the troubles and annoyances of tedious
journeys, that had first to be endured. I passed hours in solitary
walks thinking of home; and never did I in former years long to be away
in this tropic-land, with half the earnestness with which I now looked
forward to returning back again.
Our stay at São Jeronymo was prolonged by the non-appearance of
Bernardo. Insects were not so plentiful even as at Jauarité; but I
generally found something in my walks, and obtained two fine species
of _Satyridæ_ quite new to me. In a little patch of open bushy campo,
which occurs about a mile back from the village, I was delighted to
find abundance of orchids. I had never seen so many collected in one
place; it was a complete natural orchid-house. In an hour’s ramble, I
noticed about thirty different species;—some, minute plants scarcely
larger than mosses, and one large semi-terrestrial species, which grew
in clumps eight or ten feet high. There were but few in flower, and
most of them were very small, though pretty. One day however I was much
delighted to come suddenly upon a magnificent flower: growing out of
a rotten stem of a tree, just level with my eye, was a bunch of five
or six blossoms, which were three inches in diameter, nearly round,
and varying from a pale delicate straw-colour to a rich deep yellow,
on the basal portion of the labellum. How exquisitely beautiful did
it appear, in that wild, sandy, barren spot! A day or two afterwards I
found another handsome species, the flowers of which, unlike most of
the family, were of very short duration, opening in the morning, and
lasting but a single day. The sight of these determined me to try and
send some to England, as from such a distant and unexplored locality
there would probably be many new species. I accordingly began bringing
a few home every day, and, packing them in empty farinha-baskets,
placed them under a rough stage, with some plantain-leaves to defend
them from the heat of the sun, till we should be ready to embark. I
was rather doubtful of the result, as they could not arrive in England
before the winter, which might be injurious; but on my next voyage, I
looked forward to bringing a larger collection of these beautiful and
interesting plants, as they would then arrive in a good season of the
year.
São Jeronymo is celebrated for its abundance of fish, but at this
season they are in all places difficult to take. However, we had on
most days enough for breakfast and supper, and scarcely a day passed,
but I had some new and strange kinds to add to my collection. The
small fishes of these rivers are in wonderful variety, and the large
proportion of the species here, different from those I had observed in
the Rio Negro, led me to hope that in the upper parts of the river I
should find them almost entirely new.
Here we were tolerably free from chegoes, but had another plague,
far worse, because more continual. We had suffered more or less from
pium̃s in all parts of the river, but here they were in such countless
myriads, as to render it almost impossible to sit down during the day.
It was most extraordinary that previously to this year they had never
been known in the river. Senhor L. and the Indians, all agreed that a
pium̃ had hitherto been a rarity, and now they were as plentiful as in
their very worst haunts. Having long discarded the use of stockings in
these “altitudes,” and not anticipating any such pest, I did not bring
a pair, which would have been useful to defend my feet and ankles in
the house, as the pium̃, unlike the mosquito, does not penetrate any
covering, however thin.
As it was, the torments I suffered when skinning a bird or drawing a
fish, can scarcely be imagined by the unexperienced. My feet were so
thickly covered with the little blood-spots produced by their bites, as
to be of a dark purplish-red colour, and much swelled and inflamed. My
hands suffered similarly, but in a less degree, being more constantly
in motion. The only means of taking a little rest in the day, was
by wrapping up hands and feet in a blanket. The Indians close their
houses, as these insects do not bite in the dark, but ours having no
door, we could not resort to this expedient. Whence these pests could
thus suddenly appear in such vast numbers is a mystery which I am quite
unable to explain.
When we had been here about a week, some Indians who had been sent to
Guia with a small cargo of farinha, returned and brought us news of two
deaths, which had taken place in the village since we had left. One
was of Jozé, a little Indian boy in Senhor L’s house, who had killed
himself by eating dirt,—a very common and destructive habit among
Indians and half-breeds in the houses of the whites. All means had been
tried to cure him of the habit; he had been physicked and whipped, and
confined in-doors, but when no other opportunity offered he would find
a plentiful supply in the mud-walls of the house. The symptoms produced
were swelling of the whole body, face, and limbs, so that he could with
difficulty walk, and not having so much care taken of him after we
left, he ate his fill and died.
The other was an old Indian, the Juiz of the festa of St. Antonio,
which took place shortly after we left. He was poisoned with caxirí,
into which had been put the juice of a root which produces the most
dreadful effects: the tongue and throat swell, putrefy, and rot away,
and the same effects seem to take place in the stomach and intestines,
till, in two or three days, the patient dies in great agony. The
poisoner was not known, but it was suspected to be a young woman,
sister of an Indian who died in the village a short time before, and
whose death they imagined to be caused by charms or witchcraft; and
the present murder was probably in revenge for this supposed injury.
Coroners’ inquests are here unknown, and the poor old man was buried,
and nothing more thought about the matter; perhaps however his family
may resort to the same means to repay the suspected party.
A few days afterwards a boy died in São Jeronymo, and a great crying
and wailing was made for several hours over the body. His maqueira, and
bow and arrows, were burnt in a fire made at the back of the house,
within which, according to the universal custom of these Indians, he
was buried, and the mother continued her mournful wailing for several
days.
The only additions I made to my collections during the time I staid
here, were a prehensile-tailed anteater, and one of the small nocturnal
monkeys, called “Juruparí Macaco,” or Devil Monkey, a species very
closely allied to that called “Iá,” which inhabits the Solimões. After
waiting anxiously a fortnight, Bernardo made his appearance with three
of his wives and a host of children: he had been unsuccessful in his
projected attack, the parties having obtained notice of his motions and
absconded. He had taken every precaution, by entering in a different
river from that in which the attack was to be made, and penetrating
through the forest; but his movements were, no doubt, thought
suspicious, and it was considered safer to get out of his way: he was
however confident of succeeding next time in another place, where he
thought he could arrive unawares.
Having now no further cause for delay, we loaded our canoes, and the
next morning left São Jeronymo, on our return to Guia, where we arrived
on the morning of the 24th, having been absent on our trip fifty days.
The most important event that had occurred in the village, was the
arrival from Barra of Manoel Joaquim, a half-breed Brazilian, some time
resident at Guia. This man was a specimen of the class of white men
found in the Rio Negro. He had been a soldier, and had been engaged
in some of the numerous revolutions which had taken place in Brazil.
It was said he had murdered his wife, and for that, or some other
crimes, had been banished to the Rio Negro, instead of being hung,
as he deserved. Here he was accustomed to threaten and shoot at the
Indians, to take their daughters and wives from them, and to beat the
Indian woman who lived with him, so that she was obliged to hide for
days in the forest. The people of Guia declared he had murdered two
Indian girls, and had committed many other horrible crimes. He had
formerly been friendly with Senhor L., but, a year or two ago, had
quarrelled with him, and had attempted to set fire to his house; he had
also attempted to shoot an old Mulatto soldier, who was friendly with
Senhor L. For these and other crimes, the Subdelegarde de Policia of
the district had indicted him, and after taking the depositions of the
Indians and of Senhor L. against him, had wished to send him prisoner
to Barra, but could not do so, because he had no force at his command.
He therefore applied to the Commandante of Marabitánas, who was at
Guia at the time; but he was Manoel Joaquim’s “compadre,” and took his
part, and would not send him as a prisoner, but let him go in his own
canoe, accompanied by two soldiers, bearing a recommendation from the
Commandante in his favour.
This had happened shortly before we left for the Uaupés; and now we
found that Manoel Joaquim had returned in great triumph—firing salutes
and sending up rockets at every village he passed through. He had gone
on to Marabitánas; but, in a day or two more, returned, and brought
me some letters and papers from Barra. There also came a letter to
Senhor L. from the Delegarde de Policia in Barra, saying, that Manoel
Joaquim had presented himself, and that he (the Delegarde) had asked
him if he came a prisoner; that he replied, “No; he came to attend
to his own business.” “Well, then,” said the Delegarde, “as you have
not been incommoded by this indictment, it is better to treat these
slanders and quarrels with disdain;” and said he to Senhor L., “I
would advise you to do the same.” And so ended the attempt to punish
a man who, if one-half the crimes imputed to him were true, ought, by
the laws of Brazil, to have been hung, or imprisoned for life. The
poor Subdelegarde, it seems, through pure ignorance, committed some
informalities, and this was the reason why Manoel Joaquim so easily and
gloriously escaped.
The best of it is, that there is a special officer in Barra and in
every other city, called the “Promotor Publico,” whose sole duty it
is to see that all the other officers of justice and of police do
their duty, so that no criminal may escape or injustice be done, by
the laxity or connivance of any of these parties. Yet, with all this,
nothing is easier in the Rio Negro, than for any person possessed of
friends or money, to defeat the ends of justice.
I now found another unavoidable delay in my projected voyage to Barra.
A canoe that was making for me was not yet ready, and I did not know
where to obtain one sufficiently capacious to take all my luggage and
collections; but, a few days after, a Spaniard, or Venezuelano, arrived
at Guia with a canoe for Manoel Joaquim; and as he was to return by
Marabitánas, I took the opportunity of writing to the Commandante,
asking the loan of his igarité, for the voyage to Barra and back. He
very kindly consented, and in about a week I received it; but I was
as badly off as ever, for a canoe without men was of no use; and the
Indians, fearing the results of Manoel Joaquim’s return, had all left
Guia, and retired to their sitios in distant igaripés, and in the most
inaccessible depths of the forest. The Commandante had sent orders to
two Indians to go with me, but these were not sufficient to descend the
falls with safety; so, as Senhor L. was about to remove to São Joaquim,
at the mouth of the Uaupés, I agreed to go with him, and try and
procure more men there. My Indians took nearly a fortnight to prepare
the canoe with new toldas—about two days’ work; but then, though I was
in a hurry, they were not.
Senhor L. had not a single man left with him, and had to take his canoe
down himself, and bring back Indians to assist him to remove his goods
and his family, when we went all together to São Joaquim, where he
intended to reside some time. I now thought I should be able to leave
immediately, but found it not such an easy matter, for every Indian I
applied to had some business of his own to attend to, before he could
possibly go with me to Barra. One said, his house was very much out
of repair, and he must first mend it; another had appointed a dance
to take place in a week or two, and when that was over, he was at my
service; so I still had to wait a little longer, and try the Brazilian
remedy for all such annoyances—“paciencia.”