ON THE ABORIGINES OF THE AMAZON.
COMPARING the accounts given by other travellers with my own
observations, the Indians of the Amazon valley appear to be much
superior, both physically and intellectually, to those of South Brazil
and of most other parts of South America; they more closely resemble
the intelligent and noble races inhabiting the western prairies of
North America. This view is confirmed by Prince Adalbert of Prussia,
who first saw the uncivilised Indians of South Brazil, and afterwards
those of the Amazon; and records his surprise and admiration at the
vast superiority of the latter in strength and beauty of body, and in
gentleness of disposition.
I have myself had opportunities of observing the Aborigines of the
interior, in places where they retain all their native customs and
peculiarities. These truly uncivilised Indians are seen by few
travellers, and can only be found by going far beyond the dwellings of
white men, and out of the ordinary track of trade. In the neighbourhood
of civilisation the Indian loses many of his peculiar customs,--changes
his mode of life, his house, his costume, and his language,--becomes
imbued with the prejudices of civilisation, and adopts the forms and
ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion. In this state he is a
different being from the true denizen of the forests, and it may be
doubted, where his civilisation goes no further than this, if he is not
a degenerate and degraded one; but it is in this state alone that he is
met with by most travellers in Brazil, on the banks of the Amazon, in
Venezuela, and in Peru.
I do not remember a single circumstance in my travels so striking and
new, or that so well fulfilled all previous expectations, as my first
view of the real uncivilised inhabitants of the river Uaupés. Though I
had been already three years in the country, and had seen Indians of
almost every shade of colour and every degree of civilisation, I felt
that I was as much in the midst of something new and startling, as if I
had been instantaneously transported to a distant and unknown country.
The Indians of the Amazon and its tributaries are of a countless
variety of tribes and nations; all of whom have peculiar languages and
customs, and many of them some distinct physical characteristics. Those
now found in the city of Pará, and all about the country of the Lower
Amazon, have long been civilised,--have lost their own language, and
speak the Portuguese, and are known by the general name of Tapúyas,
which is applied to all Indians, and seems to be a corruption of
"Tupis," the name applied to the natives of the coast-districts, on
the first settlement of the country. These Indians are short, stout,
and well made. They learn all trades quickly and well, and are a
quiet, good-natured, inoffensive people. They form the crews of most
of the Pará trading canoes. Their main peculiarity consists in their
short stature, which is more observable than in any other tribe I am
acquainted with. It may be as well, before proceeding further, to
mention the general characteristics of the Amazon Indians, from which
the particular tribes vary but very slightly.
They are, a skin of a coppery or brown colour of various shades, often
nearly the tint of smooth Honduras mahogany,--jet-black straight hair,
thick, and never curled,--black eyes, and very little or no beard.
With regard to their features, it is impossible to give any general
characteristics. In some the whole face is wide and rather flattened,
but I never could discern an unusual obliquity of the eyes, or
projection of the cheek-bones; in many, of both sexes, the most perfect
regularity of features exists, and there are numbers who in colour
alone differ from a good-looking European.
Their figures are generally superb; and I have never felt so
much pleasure in gazing at the finest statue, as at these living
illustrations of the beauty of the human form. The development of the
chest is such as I believe never exists in the best-formed European,
exhibiting a splendid series of convex undulations, without a hollow in
any part of it.
Some native tribes exist in the rivers Guamá, Capím, and Acarrá, just
above the city of Pará, but I could learn little definite about them.
High up the rivers Tocantíns and Araguáya, there are numerous tribes
of tall well-formed Indians, some of whom I have seen in Pará, where
they arrive in canoes from the interior. Most of them have enormously
elongated ears hanging down on their shoulders, produced probably by
weights suspended from the lobe in youth. On the Xingú are many native
tribes, some of whom were visited by Prince Adalbert. On the next
river, the Tapajóz, dwell the Mundrucus, and they extend far into the
interior, across to the Madeira and to the river Purús; they are a very
numerous tribe, and portions of them are now civilised. The Máras,
another of the populous tribes, are also partly civilised, about the
mouths of the Madeira and Rio Negro; but in the interior, and up the
river Purús, many yet live in a totally wild and savage state.
All along the banks of the main streams of the Amazon, Solimões,
Madeira, and Rio Negro, live Indians of various races, in a
semi-civilised state, and with their peculiar habits and languages in a
great measure lost. Traces of these peculiarities are, however, still
to be found, in the painted pottery manufactured at Breves, the elegant
calabashes of Montealegre, the curious baskets of some tribes on the
Rio Negro, and the calabashes of Ega, always painted in geometrical
patterns.
Commencing near Santarem, and extending among all the half-civilised
Indians of the Amazon, Rio Negro, and other rivers, the Lingoa Geral,
or general Indian language, is spoken. Near the more populous towns
and villages, it is used indiscriminately with the Portuguese; a
little further, it is often the only language known; and far up in the
interior it exists in common with the native language of the tribe to
which the inhabitants belong. Thus on the Lower Amazon, all the Indians
can speak both Portuguese and Lingoa Geral; on the Solimões and Rio
Negro, Lingoa Geral alone is generally spoken; and in the interior, on
the lakes and tributaries of the Solimoes, the Múra and Jurí 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
Barré and Baníwa 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 Frenchman who had been twenty years
in the Solimões, who always conversed with his wife and children in
Lingoa Geral, and could speak it with more ease than either French 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 various tribes that
still exist, in all their native integrity, among the trackless forests
of the Purús, Rio Branco, Japurá, and the rivers Uaupés and Isánna,
near the sources of the Rio Negro.
As I am best acquainted with the Indians of the river Uaupés, I shall
first state all I know of them, and then point out the particulars in
which other nations differ from them. The tribes which inhabit the
Uaupés, as far as any of the traders ascend, and of which I can get any
information, are the following:--
_Up the main stream._
1. Queianás, at São Joaquim.
2. Tariánas, about São Jeronymo.
3. Ananás (Pine-apples), below Jauarité.
4. Cobeus, about Carurú caxoeira.
5. Piraiurú (Fish's mouth).
6. Pisá (Net).
7. Carapaná (Mosquito), Jurupuri caxoeira.
8. Tapüra (Tapir).
9. Uaracú (a Fish), above Jukeira Paraná.
10. Cohídias.
11. Tucundéra (an Ant).
12. Jacamí (Trumpeter).
13. Mirití (Mauritia Palm), Baccate Paraná.
14. Omáuas.
_On the river Tiquié._
15. Macunás.
16. Taiassú (Pig Indians).
17. Tijúco (Mud Indians).
_On Japoó Paraná._
18. Arapásso (Woodpeckers).
_On the river Apaporís._
19. Tucános (Toucans).
20. Uacarrás (Herons).
21. Pirá (Fish).
22. Desannas.
_On the river Quiriri._
23. Ipécas (Ducks).
24. Gi (Axe).
25. Coúa (Wasp).
_On the river Codaiarí._
26. Corócoró (Green Ibis).
27. Bauhúnas.
28. Tatús (Armadillos).
_On Canísi Paraná._
29. Tenimbúca (Ashes).
_Jukeíra Paraná._
30. Mucúra (Opossum).
These tribes have almost all of them some peculiarities of language
and customs, but they all go under the general name of "Uaupés," and
distinguish themselves, as a body, from the inhabitants of other
rivers. Hence the river is called "Rio dos Uaupés" (the River of the
Uaupés), though the proper name of it is "Uacaiarí," and it is always
so termed by the Indians.
The Uaupés are generally rather tall, five feet nine or ten inches
being not an uncommon height, and they are very stout and well formed.
Their hair is jet-black and straight, only turning grey with extreme
old age. The men do not cut their hair, but gather it behind into a
long tail, bound round with cord, and hanging down to the middle of the
back, and often to the thighs; the hair of the women hangs loose down
their backs, and is cut to a moderate length. The men have very little
beard, and that little they eradicate by pulling it out; men and women
also eradicate the hair of the eyebrows, the arm-pits, and the private
parts. The colour of the skin is a light, uniform, glossy reddish-brown.
They are an agricultural people, having a permanent abode, and
cultivating mandiocca (_Jatropha Manihot_), sugar-cane (_Saccharum
officinarum_), sweet potatoes (_Convolvulus Batatas_), carrá, or
yam (_Dioscorea_ sp.), pupunha palms (_Guilielma speciosa_), cocura
(a fruit like grapes), pine-apples (_Ananassa sativa_), maize (_Zea
Mays_), urucú or arnotto (_Bixa Orellana_), plantains and banánas
(_Musa_ sp.), abios (_Lucuma Caimito_), cashews (_Anacardium
occidentale_), ingás (_Inga_ sp.), peppers (_Capsicum_ sp.), tobacco
(_Nicotiana Tabacum_), and plants for dyes and cordage. All, even in
the most remote districts, have now iron axes and knives, though the
stone axes which they formerly used are still to be found among them.
The men cut down the trees and brushwood, which, after they have lain
some months to dry, are burnt; and the mandiocca is then planted by
the women, together with little patches of cane, sweet potatoes, and
various fruits. The women also dig up the mandiocca, and prepare from
it the bread which is their main subsistence. The roots are brought
home from the field in large baskets called aturás, made of a climber,
and only manufactured by these tribes; they are then washed and peeled,
this last operation being generally performed with the teeth, after
which they are grated on large wooden graters about three feet long
and a foot wide, rather concave, and covered all over with small sharp
pieces of quartz, inserted in a regular diagonal pattern. These graters
are an article of trade in all the Upper Amazon, as they are cheaper
than the copper graters used in other parts of Brazil. The pulp is
placed to drain on a large sieve made of the bark of a water-plant.
It is then put into a long elastic cylinder made of the outer rind,
or bark, of a climbing palm, a species of _Desmoncus_: this is filled
with the half-dry pulp, and, being hung on a cross-beam between two
posts, is stretched by a lever, on the further end of which the woman
sits, and thus presses out the remaining liquid. These cylinders,
called "tipitis," are also a considerable article of trade, and the
Portuguese and Brazilians have not yet introduced any substitute for
this rude Indian press. The pulp is then turned out, a dry compact
mass, which is broken up, and the hard lumps and fibres picked out,
when it is at once roasted on large flat ovens from four to six feet
in diameter, with a sloping rim about six inches high. These ovens are
well made, of clay mixed with the ashes of the bark of a tree called
"caripé," and are supported on walls of mud about two feet high, with
a large opening on one side, in which to make a fire of logs of wood.
The mandiocca cakes, or "beijú," thus prepared, are sweet and agreeable
to the taste; but the Indians generally first soak the roots some days
in water, which softens and ferments them, and gives the bread a sour
taste, much relished by the natives, but not generally so agreeable to
Europeans. The bread is made fresh every day, as when it gets cold and
dry it is far less palatable. The women thus have plenty to do, for
every other day at least they have to go to the field, often a mile or
two distant, to fetch the root, and every day to grate, prepare, and
bake the bread; as it forms by far the greater part of their food, and
they often pass days without eating anything else, especially when the
men are engaged in clearing the forest. For the greater part of the
year, however, the men go daily to fish, and at these times they have
a good supply of this their favourite food. Meat and game they only
eat occasionally; they prefer jabutís, or land-tortoises, monkeys,
inambus (_Tinamus_ sp.), toucans, and the smaller species of wild pig
(_Dicotyles torquatus_). But they will not eat the large wild pig (_D.
labiatus_), the anta (_Tapirus Americanus_), or the white-rumped mutun
(_Crax globicera?_). They consume great quantities of peppers (species
of _Capsicum_), preferring the small red ones, which are of excessive
pungency: when they have no fish, they boil several pounds of these
peppers in a little water, and dip their bread into the fiery soup thus
formed.
The poisonous juice expressed from the mandiocca root, when fermented
and boiled in various ways, forms sauces and peculiarly flavoured
drinks, of which they are very fond. In making their bread they have a
peculiarity, not noticed among the neighbouring tribes, of extracting
pure tapioca from the mandiocca, and, by mixing this with the ordinary
pulp, forming a very superior cake.
They use plantains extensively, eating them as a fruit, and making a
mingau, or gruel, by boiling and beating them into a pulp, which is a
very agreeable food. From the fruits of the Baccába, Patawá, and Assai
palms (_Œnocarpus Baccaba_, _Œ. Batawa_, _Euterpe oleracea_ and allied
species), they produce wholesome and nourishing drinks.
Besides these they make much use of sweet potatoes, yams, roasted
corn, and many forest fruits, from all of which, and from mandiocca
cakes, they make fermented drinks, which go under the general name
of "caxirí." That made from the mandiocca is the most agreeable,
and much resembles good table-beer. At their feasts and dances they
consume immense quantities of it, and it does not seem to produce any
bad effects. They also use, on these occasions, an intensely exciting
preparation of the root of a climber,--it is called capí, and the
manner of using it I have described in my Narrative (page 205).
The weapons of these Indians are bows and arrows, gravatánas, lances,
clubs, and also small hand-nets, and rods and lines, for catching fish.
Their bows are of different kinds of hard elastic wood, well made,
and from five to six feet long. The string is either of the "tucum"
leaf fibre (_Astrocaryum vulgare_), or of the inner bark of trees
called "tururi." The arrows are of various kinds, from five to seven
feet long. The shaft is made of the flower-stalk of the arrow-grass
(_Gynerium saccharinum_). In the war-arrows, or "curubís," the head is
made of hard wood, carefully pointed, and by some tribes armed with the
serrated spine of the ray-fish: it is thickly anointed with poison,
and notched in two or three places so as to break off in the wound.
Arrows for shooting fish are now almost always made with iron heads,
sold by the traders, but many still use heads made of monkeys' bones,
with a barb, to retain a hold of the fish: the iron heads are bent at
an angle, so that the lower part projects and forms a barb, and are
securely fastened on with twine and pitch. Lighter arrows are made for
shooting birds and other small game, and these alone are feathered
at the base. The feathers generally used are from the wings of the
macaw, and, in putting them on, the Indian shows his knowledge of the
principle which is applied in the spirally-grooved rifle-barrel: three
feathers are used, and they are all secured spirally, so as to form a
little screw on the base of the arrow, the effect of which of course
must be, that the arrow revolves rapidly in its onward progress, and
this no doubt tends to keep it in a direct course.
The gravatána and small poisoned arrows are made and used exactly as I
have already described in my Narrative (page 147).
The small hand-nets used for catching fish are of two kinds,--a small
ring-net, like a landing-net, and one spread between two slender
sticks, just like the large folding-nets of entomologists: these are
much used in the rapids, and among rocks and eddies, and numbers of
fish are caught with them. They also use the rod and line, and consume
an enormous quantity of hooks: there are probably not less than a
hundred thousand fish-hooks sold every year in the river Uaupés;
yet there are still to be found among them many of their own hooks,
ingeniously made of palm-spines. They have many other ways of catching
fish: one is by a small cone of wicker, called a "matapí," which is
placed in some little current in the gapó; the larger end is entirely
open, and it appears at first sight quite incapable of securing the
fish, yet it catches great quantities, for when the fish get in they
have no room to turn round, and cannot swim backwards, and three or
four are often found jammed in the end of these little traps, with the
scales and skin quite rubbed off their heads by their vain endeavours
to proceed onwards. Other matapís are larger and more cylindrical, with
a reversed conical mouth (as in our wire rat-traps), to prevent the
return of the fish: these are often made of a very large size, and are
placed in little forest-streams, and in narrow channels between rocks,
where the fish, in passing up, must enter them. But the best method
of procuring fish, and that which has been generally adopted by the
Europeans in the country, is with the Cacoaries, or fish-weirs. These
are principally used at high-water, when fish are scarce: they are
formed at the margin of rivers, supported by strong posts, which are
securely fixed at the time of low-water, when the place of the weir is
quite dry; to these posts is secured a high fence of split palm-stems,
forming an entering angle, with a narrow opening into a fenced
enclosure. Fish almost always travel against the stream, and generally
abound more at the sides where the current is less rapid: they are
guided by the side-wings of the weir into the narrow opening, from
which they cannot find their way out. They are obtained by diving into
the weir, and then catching them with the pisá (small net), or with
the hand, or sticking them with a knife. In these cacoaries every kind
of fish is caught, from the largest to the smallest, as well as river
tortoises and turtles. The Indian generally feels about well with a rod
before entering a cacoarí, to ascertain if it contains an electrical
eel, in which case he gets it out first with a net. The Piránhas,
species of _Serrasalmo_, are also rather dangerous, for I have seen an
Indian boy return from the cacoary with his finger bitten off by one of
them.
The "Geraú," is yet on a larger scale than the Cacoarí. It is used only
in the cataracts, and is very similar to the eel-traps used at mills
and sluices in England. It is a large wooden sieve, supported in the
midst of a cataract, so that the full force of the water dashes through
it. All the fish which are carried down by the violence of the current
are here caught, and their numbers are often so great as to supply a
whole village with food. At many of the falls on the Uaupés they make
these geraús, which require the united exertions of the inhabitants to
construct them; huge timbers having to be planted in every crevice of
the rocks, to withstand the strength of the torrent of water brought
down by the winter's floods.
All the fish not used at the time are placed on a little platform of
sticks over the fire, till they are so thoroughly dried and imbued
with smoke, as to keep good any length of time. They are then used for
voyages, and to sell to travellers, but, having no salt, are a very
tasteless kind of food.
Salt is not so much sought after by these Indians as by many other
tribes; for they will generally prefer fish-hooks and beads in payment
for any articles you may purchase of them. Peppers seem to serve
them in place of salt. They do, however, extract from the fruits of
the Inajá palm (_Maximiliana regia_) and the Jará palm (_Leopoldinia
major_), and also from the Carurú (a species of _Lacis_ very common
on the rocks in the falls), a kind of flour which has a saline taste,
and with which they season their food. The Carurú, indeed, has quite
the smell of salt water, and is excellent eating, both boiled as a
vegetable, or with oil and vinegar as a salad.
All the tribes of the Uaupés construct their dwellings after one plan,
which is peculiar to them. Their houses are the abode of numerous
families, sometimes of a whole tribe. The plan is a parallelogram, with
a semicircle at one end. The dimensions of one at Jauarité were one
hundred and fifteen feet in length, by seventy-five broad, and about
thirty high. This house would hold about a dozen families, consisting
of near a hundred individuals. In times of feasts and dances, three or
four hundred are accommodated in them. The roof is supported on fine
cylindrical columns, formed of the trunks of trees, and beautifully
straight and smooth. In the centre a clear opening is left, twenty
feet wide, and on the sides are little partitions of palm-leaf thatch,
dividing off rooms for the separate families: here are kept the private
household utensils, weapons, and ornaments; while the rest of the
space contains, on each side, the large ovens and gigantic pans for
making caxirí, and, in the centre, a place for the children to play,
and for their dances to take place. These houses are built with much
labour and skill; the main supporters, beams, rafters, and other parts,
are straight, well proportioned to the strength required, and bound
together with split creepers, in a manner that a sailor would admire.
The thatch is of the leaf of some one of the numerous palms so well
adapted to the purpose, and is laid on with great compactness and
regularity. The side-walls, which are very low, are formed also of palm
thatch, but so thick and so well bound together, that neither arrow nor
bullet will penetrate them. At the gable-end is a large doorway, about
six feet wide and eight or ten high: the door is a large palm-mat,
hung from the top, supported by a pole during the day, and let down at
night. At the semicircular end is a smaller door, which is the private
entrance of the Tushaúa, or chief, to whom this part of the house
exclusively belongs. The lower part of the gable-end, on each side of
the entrance, is covered with the thick bark of a tree unrolled, and
standing vertically. Above this is a loose hanging of palm-leaves,
between the fissures of which the smoke from the numerous fires within
finds an exit. In some cases this gable-end is much ornamented with
symmetrical figures painted in colours, as at Carurú caxoeira.
The furniture consists principally of maqueiras, or hammocks, made
of string, twisted from the fibres of the leaves of the _Mauritia
flexuosa_: they are merely an open network of parallel threads, crossed
by others at intervals of a foot; the loops at each end have a cord
passed through them, by which they are hung up. The Uaupés make great
quantities of string of this and other fibres, twisting it on their
breasts or thighs, with great rapidity.
They have always in their houses a large supply of earthen pots, pans,
pitchers, and cooking utensils, of various sizes, which they make of
clay from the river and brooks, mixed with the ashes of the caripé
bark, and baked in a temporary furnace. They have also great quantities
of small saucer-shaped baskets, called "Balaios," which are much
esteemed down the river, and are the subject of a considerable trade.
Two tribes in the lower part of the river, the Tariános and Tucános,
make a curious little stool, cut from a solid block of wood, and neatly
painted and varnished; these, which take many days to finish, are sold
for about a pennyworth of fish-hooks.
Their canoes are all made out of a single tree, hollowed and forced
open by the cross-benches; they are very thick in the middle, to resist
the wear and tear they are exposed to among the rocks and rapids; they
are often forty feet long, but smaller ones are generally preferred.
The paddles are about three feet long, with an oval blade, and are each
cut out of one piece of wood.
These people are as free from the encumbrances of dress as it is
possible to conceive. The men wear only a small piece of tururí passed
between the legs, and twisted on to a string round the loins. Even such
a costume as this is dispensed with by the women: they have no dress
or covering whatever, but are entirely naked. This is the universal
custom among the Uaupés Indians, from which, in a state of nature, they
never depart. Paint, with these people, seems to be looked upon as a
sufficient clothing; they are never without it on some part of their
bodies, but it is at their festivals that they exhibit all their art in
thus decorating their persons: the colours they use are red, yellow,
and black, and they dispose them generally in regular patterns, similar
to those with which they ornament their stools, their canoes, and other
articles of furniture.
They pour the juice of a tree, which stains a deep blue-black, on their
heads, and let it run in streams all down their backs; and the red and
yellow are often disposed in large round spots upon the cheeks and
forehead.
The use of ornaments and trinkets of various kinds is almost confined
to the men. The women wear a bracelet on the wrists, but none on the
neck, and no comb in the hair; they have a garter below the knee, worn
tight from infancy, for the purpose of swelling out the calf, which
they consider a great beauty. While dancing in their festivals, the
women wear a small tanga, or apron, made of beads, prettily arranged;
it is only about six inches square, but is never worn at any other
time, and immediately the dance is over, it is taken off.
The men, on the other hand, have the hair carefully parted and combed
on each side, and tied in a queue behind. In the young men, it hangs in
long locks down their necks, and, with the comb, which is invariably
carried stuck in the top of the head, gives to them a most feminine
appearance: this is increased by the large necklaces and bracelets of
beads, and the careful extirpation of every symptom of beard. Taking
these circumstances into consideration, I am strongly of opinion
that the story of the Amazons has arisen from these feminine-looking
warriors encountered by the early voyager. I am inclined to this
opinion, from the effect they first produced on myself, when it was
only by close examination I saw that they were men; and, were the
front parts of their bodies and their breasts covered with shields,
such as they always use, I am convinced any person seeing them for the
first time would conclude they were women. We have only therefore to
suppose that tribes having similar customs to those now living on the
river Uaupés, inhabited the regions where the Amazons were reported
to have been seen, and we have a rational explanation of what has so
much puzzled all geographers. The only objection to this explanation
is, that traditions are said to exist among the natives, of a nation
of "women without husbands." Of this tradition, however, I was myself
unable to obtain any trace, and I can easily imagine it entirely to
have arisen from the suggestions and inquiries of Europeans themselves.
When the story of the Amazons was first made known, it became of course
a point with all future travellers to verify it, or if possible get
a glimpse of these warlike ladies. The Indians must no doubt have
been overwhelmed with questions and suggestions about them, and they,
thinking that the white men must know best, would transmit to their
descendants and families the idea that such a nation did exist in some
distant part of the country. Succeeding travellers, finding traces of
this idea among the Indians, would take it as a proof of the existence
of the Amazons; instead of being merely the effect of a mistake at
the first, which had been unknowingly spread among them by preceding
travellers, seeking to obtain some evidence on the subject.
In my communications and inquiries among the Indians on various
matters, I have always found the greatest caution necessary, to prevent
one's arriving at wrong conclusions. They are always apt to affirm
that which they see you wish to believe, and, when they do not at
all comprehend your question, will unhesitatingly answer, "Yes." I
have often in this manner obtained, as I thought, information, which
persons better acquainted with the facts have assured me was quite
erroneous. These observations, however, must only be taken to apply
to those almost uncivilised nations who do not understand, at all
clearly, any language in which you can communicate with them. I have
always been able to rely on what is obtained from Indians speaking
Portuguese readily, and I believe that much trustworthy information
can be obtained from them. Such, however, is not the case with the
wild tribes, who are totally incapable of understanding any connected
sentence of the language in which they are addressed; and I fear the
story of the Amazons must be placed with those of the wild man-monkeys,
which Humboldt mentions and which tradition I also met with, and
of the "curupíra," or demon of the woods, and "carbunculo," of the
Upper Amazon and Peru; but of which superstitions we have no such
satisfactory elucidation as I think has been now given of the warlike
Amazons.
To return to our Uaupés Indians and their toilet. We find their daily
costume enlivened with a few other ornaments; a circlet of parrots'
tail-feathers is generally worn round the head, and the cylindrical
white quartz-stone, already described in my Narrative (p. 191), is
invariably carried on the breast, suspended from a necklace of black
seeds.
At festivals and dances they decorate themselves with a complicated
costume of feather head-dresses, cinctures, armlets, and leg ornaments,
which I have sufficiently described in the account of their dances (p.
202).
We will now describe some peculiarities connected with their births,
marriages, and deaths.
The women are generally delivered in the house, though sometimes in the
forest. When a birth takes place in the house, everything is taken out
of it, even the pans and pots, and bows and arrows, till the next day;
the mother takes the child to the river and washes herself and it, and
she generally remains in the house, not doing any work, for four or
five days.
The children, more particularly the females, are restricted to a
particular food: they are not allowed to eat the meat of any kind
of game, nor of fish, except the very small bony kinds; their food
principally consisting of mandiocca-cake and fruits.
On the first signs of puberty in the girls, they have to undergo an
ordeal. For a month previously, they are kept secluded in the house,
and allowed only a small quantity of bread and water. All relatives
and friends of the parents are then assembled, bringing, each of them,
pieces of "sipó" (an elastic climber); the girl is then brought out,
perfectly naked, into the midst of them, when each person present
gives her five or six severe blows with the sipó across the back and
breast, till she falls senseless, and it sometimes happens, dead. If
she recovers, it is repeated four times, at intervals of six hours,
and it is considered an offence to the parents not to strike hard.
During this time numerous pots of all kinds of meat and fish have been
prepared, when the sipós are dipped in them and given to her to lick,
and she is then considered a woman, and allowed to eat anything, and is
marriageable.
The boys undergo a somewhat similar ordeal, but not so severe; which
initiates them into manhood, and allows them to see the Juruparí music,
which will be presently described.
Tattooing is very little practised by these Indians; they all, however,
have a row of circular punctures along the arm, and one tribe, the
Tucános, are distinguished from the rest by three vertical blue
lines on the chin; and they also pierce the lower lip, through which
they hang three little threads of white beads. All the tribes bore
their ears, and wear in them little pieces of grass, ornamented with
feathers. The Cobeus alone expand the hole to so large a size, that a
bottle-cork could be inserted: they ordinarily wear a plug of wood in
it, but, on festas, insert a little bunch of arrows.
The men generally have but one wife, but there is no special limit, and
many have two or three, and some of the chiefs more; the elder one is
never turned away, but remains the mistress of the house. They have no
particular ceremony at their marriages, except that of always carrying
away the girl by force, or making a show of doing so, even when she and
her parents are quite willing. They do not often marry with relations,
or even neighbours,--preferring those from a distance, or even from
other tribes. When a young man wishes to have the daughter of another
Indian, his father sends a message to say he will come with his son and
relations to visit him. The girl's father guesses what it is for, and,
if he is agreeable, makes preparations for a grand festival: it lasts,
perhaps, two or three days, when the bridegroom's party suddenly seize
the bride, and hurry her off to their canoes; no attempt is made to
prevent them, and she is then considered as married.
Some tribes, as the Uacarrás, have a trial of skill at shooting with
the bow and arrow, and if the young man does not show himself a good
marksman, the girl refuses him, on the ground that he will not be able
to shoot fish and game enough for the family.
The dead are almost always buried in the houses, with their bracelets,
tobacco-bag, and other trinkets upon them: they are buried the same day
they die, the parents and relations keeping up a continual mourning and
lamentation over the body, from the death to the time of interment;
a few days afterwards, a great quantity of caxirí is made, and all
friends and relations invited to attend, to mourn for the dead, and to
dance, sing, and cry to his memory. Some of the large houses have more
than a hundred graves in them, but when the houses are small, and very
full, the graves are made outside.
The Tariánas and Tucános, and some other tribes, about a month after
the funeral, disinter the corpse, which is then much decomposed, and
put it in a great pan, or oven, over the fire, till all the volatile
parts are driven off with a most horrible odour, leaving only a black
carbonaceous mass, which is pounded into a fine powder, and mixed in
several large couchés (vats made of hollowed trees) of caxirí: this is
drunk by the assembled company till all is finished; they believe that
thus the virtues of the deceased will be transmitted to the drinkers.
The Cobeus alone, in the Uaupés, are real cannibals: they eat those
of other tribes whom they kill in battle, and even make war for the
express purpose of procuring human flesh for food. When they have more
than they can consume at once, they smoke-dry the flesh over the fire,
and preserve it for food a long time. They burn their dead, and drink
the ashes in caxirí, in the same manner as described above.
Every tribe and every "malocca" (as their houses are called) has its
chief, or "Tushaúa," who has only a limited authority, principally in
war, in making festivals, and in repairing the malocca and keeping the
village clean, and in planting the mandiocca-fields; he also treats
with the traders, and supplies them with men to pursue their journeys.
The succession of these chiefs is strictly hereditary in the male line,
or through the female to her husband, who may be a stranger: their
regular hereditary chief is never superseded, however stupid, dull, or
cowardly he may be. They have very little law of any kind; but what
they have is of strict retaliation,--an eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth; and a murder is punished or revenged in the same manner and by
the same weapon with which it was committed.
They have numerous "Pagés," a kind of priests, answering to the
"medicine-men" of the North American Indians. These are believed to
have great power: they cure all diseases by charms, applied by strong
blowing and breathing upon the party to be cured, and by the singing of
certain songs and incantations. They are also believed to have power
to kill enemies, to bring or send away rain, to destroy dogs or game,
to make the fish leave a river, and to afflict with various diseases.
They are much consulted and believed in, and are well paid for their
services. An Indian will give almost all his wealth to a pagé, when he
is threatened with any real or imaginary danger.
They scarcely seem to think that death can occur naturally, always
imputing it either to direct poisoning or the charms of some enemy,
and, on this supposition, will proceed to revenge it. This they
generally do by poisons, of which they have many which are most deadly
in their effects: they are given at some festival in a bowl of caxirí,
which it is good manners always to empty, so that the whole dose is
sure to be taken. One of the poisons often used is most terrible in
its effects, causing the tongue and throat, as well as the intestines,
to putrefy and rot away, so that the sufferer lingers some days in the
greatest agony: this is of course again retaliated, on perhaps the
wrong party, and thus a long succession of murders may result from a
mere groundless suspicion in the first instance.
I cannot make out that they have any belief that can be called a
religion. They appear to have no definite idea of a God; if asked who
they think made the rivers, and the forests, and the sky, they will
reply that they do not know, or sometimes that they suppose it was
"Tupánau," a word that appears to answer to God, but of which they
understand nothing. They have much more definite ideas of a bad spirit,
"Juruparí," or Devil, whom they fear, and endeavour through their pagés
to propitiate. When it thunders, they say the "Juruparí" is angry, and
their idea of natural death is that the "Juruparí" kills them. At an
eclipse they believe that this bad spirit is killing the moon, and they
make all the noise they can to frighten him away.
One of their most singular superstitions is about the musical
instruments they use at their festivals, which they call the Juruparí
music. These consist of eight or sometimes twelve pipes, or trumpets,
made of bamboos or palm-stems hollowed out, some with trumpet-shaped
mouths of bark and with mouth-holes of clay and leaf. Each pair
of instruments gives a distinct note, and they produce a rather
agreeable concert, something resembling clarionets and bassoons. These
instruments, however, are with them such a mystery that no woman must
ever see them, on pain of death. They are always kept in sone igaripé,
at a distance from the malocca, whence they are brought on particular
occasions: when the sound of them is heard approaching, every woman
retires into the woods, or into some adjoining shed, which they
generally have near, and remains invisible till after the ceremony is
over, when the instruments are taken away to their hiding-place, and
the women come out of their concealment. Should any female be supposed
to have seen them, either by accident or design, she is invariably
executed, generally by poison, and a father will not hesitate to
sacrifice his daughter, or a husband his wife, on such an occasion.
They have many other prejudices with regard to women. They believe that
if a woman, during her pregnancy, eats of any meat, any other animal
partaking of it will suffer: if a domestic animal or tame bird, it will
die; if a dog, it will be for the future incapable of hunting; and
even a man will ever after be unable to shoot that particular kind of
game. An Indian, who was one of my hunters, caught a fine cock of the
rock, and gave it to his wife to feed, but the poor woman was obliged
to live herself on cassava-bread and fruits, and abstain entirely
from all animal food, peppers, and salt, which it was believed would
cause the bird to die; notwithstanding all precautions, however, the
bird did die, and the woman got a beating from her husband, because he
thought she had not been sufficiently rigid in her abstinence from the
prohibited articles.
Most of these peculiar practices and superstitions are retained with
much tenacity, even by those Indians who are nominally civilised and
Christian, and many of them have been even adopted by the Europeans
resident in the country: there are actually Portuguese in the Rio Negro
who fear the power of the Indian pagés, and who fully believe and act
on all the Indian superstitions respecting women.
The river Uaupés is the channel by which European manufactures
find their way into the extensive and unknown regions between the
Rio Guaviare on the one side, and the Japurá on the other. About a
thousand pounds worth of goods enter the Uaupés yearly, mostly in axes,
cutlasses, knives, fish-hooks, arrow-heads, salt, mirrors, beads, and a
few cottons.
The articles given in exchange are salsaparilha, pitch, farinha,
string, hammocks, and Indian stools, baskets, feather ornaments, and
curiosities. The salsaparilha is by far the most valuable product, and
is the only one exported. Great quantities of articles of European
manufacture are exchanged by the Indians with those of remote
districts, for the salsa which they give to the traders; and thus
numerous tribes, among whom no civilised man has ever yet penetrated,
are well supplied with iron goods, and send the product of their labour
to European markets.
In order to give some idea of the state of industry and the arts among
these people, I subjoin a list of articles which I collected when among
them, to illustrate their manners, customs, and state of civilisation,
but which were unfortunately all lost on my passage home.
LIST OF ARTICLES MANUFACTURED BY THE INDIANS OF THE RIO DOS UAUPÉS.
_Household Furniture and Utensils._
1. Hammocks, or maqueiras, of palm-fibre, of various materials,
colours, and texture.
2. Small wooden stools, of various sizes, painted and varnished.
(Plate VII. _d._)
3. Flat baskets of plaited bark, in regular patterns and of various
colours.
4. Deeper baskets, called "Aturás." (Plate VI. _d._)
5. Calabashes and gourds, of various shapes and sizes.
6. Water-pitchers of earthenware.
7. Pans of earthenware for cooking.
_Articles used in the Manufacture of Mandiocca Bread._
8. Mandiocca graters, of quartz fragments set in wood.
(Plate VI. _a._)
9. Tipitis, or wicker elastic pressure cylinders.
10. Wicker sieves for straining the pulp.
11. Ovens for roasting cassava-bread and farinha. (Plate VI. _b._)
12. Plaited fans for blowing the fire and turning the cakes.
_Weapons used in War, Hunting, and Fishing._
13. Bows of various woods and different sizes.
14. Quivers of curabís, or poisoned war-arrows.
15. Arrows with heads of monkey-bones.
16. Arrows, with iron heads, for shooting fish.
17. Gravatánas, or blow-tubes, from eight to fourteen feet long.
18. Wicker and wooden quivers, with poisoned arrows for them.
19. Small pots and calabashes, with the curarí or ururí poison.
20. Large carved clubs of hard wood.
21. Carved and feather ornamented lances.
22. Large circular shields of wicker-work.
23. Ditto, covered with tapir's skin.
24. Nets for fishing (Pisás).
25. Rod and line for fishing.
26. Palm-spine fish-hooks.
27. Small wicker traps for catching fish (Matapís).
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
_a._ Mandioca grater. _b._ Oven. _c._ Fire place _d._ Basket.
INDIAN IMPLEMENTS AND DOMESTIC ARTICLES.]
[Illustration: PLATE VII.
_a._ Comb _b._ Cigar holder _c._ Rattle _d._ Stool
INDIAN IMPLEMENTS AND DOMESTIC ARTICLES.]
_Musical Instruments._
28. A small drum.
29. Eight large trumpets, the Juruparí music.
30. Numerous fifes and flutes of reeds.
31. Fifes made of deer-bones.
31a. Whistle of a deer's skull.
32. Vibrating instruments of tortise and turtle shells.
_Ornaments, Dress, and Miscellaneous._
33. About twenty distinct articles, forming the feather headdress.
34. Combs of palm-wood, ornamented with feathers. (Plate VII. _a._)
35. Necklaces of seeds and beads.
36. Bored cylindrical quartz-stone.
37. Copper earrings, and wooden plugs for the ears.
38. Armlet of feathers, beads, seeds, etc.
39. Girdle of jaguars' teeth.
40. Numbers of cords, made of the "coroá" fibre, mixed with the hair
of monkeys and jaguars,--making a soft elastic cord used for binding
up the hair, and various purposes of ornament.
41. Painted aprons, or "tangas," made from the inner bark of a tree.
42. Women's bead tangas.
43. Rattles and ornaments for the legs.
44. Garters strongly knitted of "coroá."
45. Packages and carved calabashes, filled with a red pigment called
"crajurú."
46. Large cloths of prepared bark.
47. Very large carved wooden forks for holding cigars. (Plate VII.
_b._)
48. Large cigars used at festivals.
49. Spathes of the Bussu palm (_Manicaria saccifera_), used for
preserving feather-ornaments, etc.
50. Square mats.
51. Painted earthen pot, used for holding the "capi" at festivals.
52. Small pot of dried peppers.
53. Rattles used in dancing, formed of calabashes, carved, and
ornamented with small stones inside. (Plate VII. _c._) (Maracás.)
54. Painted dresses of prepared bark (tururí).
55. Balls of string, of various materials and degrees of fineness.
56. Bottle-shaped baskets, for preserving the edible ants.
57. Tinder-boxes of bamboo carved, and filled with tinder from an
ant's nest.
58. Small canoe hollowed from a tree.
59. Paddles used with ditto.
60. Triangular tool, used for making the small stools.
61. Pestles and mortars, used for pounding peppers and tobacco.
62. Bark bag, full of sammaúma, the silk-cotton of a _Bombax_, used
for making blowing-arrows.
63. Chest of plaited palm-leaves, used for holding feather-ornaments.
64. Stone axes, used before the introduction of iron.
65. Clay cylinders, for supporting cooking utensils.
(Plate VI. _c._)[7]
The Indians of the river Isánna are few in comparison with those of the
Uaupés, the river not being so large or so productive of fish.
The tribes are named--
Baníwas, or Manívas (Mandiocca).
Arikénas.
Bauatánas.
Ciuçí (Stars).
Coatí (the _Nasua coatimundi_).
Juruparí (Devils).
Ipéca (Ducks).
Papunauás, the name of a river, a tributary of the
Guaviáre, but which has its sources close to the
Isánna.
These tribes are much alike in all their customs, differing only in
their languages; as a whole, however, they offer remarkable points of
difference from those of the river Uaupés.
In stature and appearance they are very similar, but they have rather
more beard, and do not pull out the hair of the body and face, and
they cut the hair of their head with a knife, or, wanting that, with a
hard sharp grass. Thus, the absence of the long queue of hair forms a
striking characteristic difference in their appearance.
In their dress they differ in the women always wearing a small tanga
of turúri, instead of going perfectly naked, as among the Uaupés; they
also wear more necklaces and bracelets, and the men fewer, and the
latter do not make use of so many feather-ornaments and decorations in
their festivals.
Each family has a separate house, which is small, of a square shape,
and possesses both a door and windows; and the houses are collected
together in little scattered villages. The Isánna Indians make small
flat baskets like those of the Uaupés, but not the stools, nor the
aturás, neither have they the white cylindrical stone which the others
so much esteem. They marry one, two, or three wives, and prefer
relations, marrying with cousins, uncles with nieces, and nephews with
aunts, so that in a village all are connected. The men are more warlike
and morose in their disposition than the Uaupés, by whom they are much
feared. They bury their dead in their houses, and mourn for them a
long time, but make no feast on the occasion. The Isánna Indians are
said not to be nearly so numerous, nor to increase so rapidly, as the
Uaupés; which may perhaps be owing to their marrying with relations,
while the former prefer strangers.
The Arekaínas make war against other tribes, to obtain prisoners for
food, like the Cobeus. In their superstitions and religious ideas they
much resemble the Uaupés.
The Macás are one of the lowest and most uncivilised tribes of Indians
in the Amazon district. They inhabit the forests and serras about
the rivers Marié, Curicuriarí, and Urubaxí, and live a wandering
life, having no houses and no fixed place of abode, and of course no
clothing; they have little or no iron, and use the tusks of the wild
pig to scrape and form their bows and arrows, and they make a most
deadly kind of poison to anoint them. At night they sleep on a bundle
of palm-leaves, or stick up a few leaves to make a shed if it rains,
or sometimes, with "sipós," construct a rude hammock, which, however,
serves only once. They eat all kinds of birds and fish, roasted or
boiled in palm-spathes; and all sorts of wild fruits.
The Macás often attack the houses of other Indians situated in solitary
places, and murder all the inhabitants; and they have even depopulated
and caused the removal of several villages. All the other tribes of
Indians catch them and keep them as slaves, and in most villages you
will see some of them. They are distinguishable at once from the
surrounding tribes by a wavy and almost curly hair, and by being
rather lanky and ill-formed in their limbs: I am inclined, however, to
think that this latter is partly owing to their mode of life, and the
hardships and exposure they have to undergo; and some that I have seen
in the houses of traders have been as well-formed and handsome as any
of the other Indian tribes.
The Curetús are a nation inhabiting the country about the river
Apaporís, between the Japurá and Uaupés. I met with some Indians of
this tribe on the Rio Negro, and the only peculiarity I observed in
them was, that their cheek-bones were rather more prominent than usual.
From them, and from an Isánna Indian who had visited them, I obtained
some information about their customs.
They wear their hair long like the Uaupés, and, like them, the women
go entirely naked; and they paint their bodies, but do not tattoo.
Their houses are large and circular, with walls of thatch, and a high
conical capped roof, made like some chimney-pots, with the upper part
overlapping, so as to let the smoke escape without allowing the rain
to enter. They do not wander about, but reside in small permanent
villages, governed by a chief, and are said to be long-lived and very
peaceable, never quarrelling or making war with other nations. The men
have but one wife. There are no pagés, or priests, among them, and they
have no ideas of a superior Being. They cultivate mandiocca, maize,
and other fruits, and use game more than fish for food. No civilised
man has ever been among them, so they have no salt, and a very scanty
supply of iron, and obtain fire by friction. It is said also that they
differ from most other tribes in making no intoxicating drinks. Their
language is full of harsh and aspirated sounds, and is somewhat allied
to those of the Tucanos and Cobeus among the Uaupés.
In the lower part of the Japurá reside the "Uaenambeus," or
Humming-bird Indians. I met with some of them in the Rio Negro, and
obtained some information as to their customs and language. In most
particulars they much resemble the last-mentioned tribe, particularly
in their circular houses, their food, and mode of life. Like them they
weave the fibres of the Tucúm palm-leaf (_Astrocaryum vulgare_) to make
their hammocks, whereas the Uaupés and Isánna Indians always use the
leaf of the Mirití (_Mauritia flexuosa_). They are distinguished from
other tribes by a small blue mark on the upper lip. They have from one
to four wives, and the women always wear a small apron of bark.
Closely allied to these are the Jurís of the Solimões, between the
Iça and Japurá. A number of them have migrated to the Rio Negro, and
become settled and partly civilised there. They are remarkable for a
custom of tattooing in a circle (not in a square, as in a plate in Dr.
Prichard's work) round the mouth, so as exactly to resemble the little
black-mouthed squirrel-monkeys (_Callithrix sciureus_); from this
cause they are often called the Juripixúnas (Black Juris), or by the
Brazilians "Bocapreitos" (Black-mouths). From this strange errors have
arisen: we find in some maps the note "Juries, curly-haired Negroes,"
whereas they are pure straight-haired Indians. They are good servants
for canoe and agricultural work, and are the most skilful of all in the
use of the gravatána, or blow-pipe.
In the same neighbourhood are Miránhas, who are cannibals; and the
Ximánas and Cauxánas, who kill all their first-born children: in fact,
between the Upper Amazon, the Guaviare, and the Andes, there is a
region as large as England, whose inhabitants are entirely uncivilised
and unknown.
On the south side of the Amazon also, between the Madeira and the
Uaycáli, and extending to the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, is a still
larger tract of unknown virgin forest, uninhabited by a single
civilised man: here reside numerous nations of the native American
race, known only by the reports of the border tribes, who form the
communication between them and the traders of the great rivers.
One of the best-known and most regularly visited rivers of this great
tract is the Purús, whose mouth is a short distance above the Rio
Negro, but whose sources a three months' voyage does not reach. Of the
Indians found on the banks of this river I have been able to get some
information.
Five tribes are met with by the traders:--
1. Múras, from the mouth to sixteen days' voyage up.
2. Purupurús, from thence to about thirty days' voyage up.
3. Catauxís, in the district of the Purupurús, but in the igaripés and
lakes inland.
4. Jamamarís, inland on the west bank.
5. Jubirís, on the river-banks above the Purupurús.
The Múras are rather a tall race, have a good deal of beard for
Indians, and the hair of the head is slightly crisp and wavy. They used
formerly to go naked, but now the men all wear trousers and shirts,
and the women petticoats. Their houses are grouped together in small
villages, and are scarcely ever more than a roof supported on posts;
very rarely do they take the trouble to build any walls. They make no
hammocks, but hang up three bands of a bark called "invíra," on which
they sleep; but the more civilised now purchase of the traders hammocks
made by other Indians. They practise scarcely any cultivation, except
sometimes a little mandiocca, but generally live on wild fruits, and
abundance of fish and game: their food is entirely produced by the
river, consisting of the _Manatus_, or cow-fish, which is as good as
beef, turtles, and various kinds of fish, all of which are in great
abundance, so that the traders say there are no people who live so
well as the Múras; they have therefore no occasion for gravatánas,
which they do not make, but have a great variety of bows and arrows
and harpoons, and construct very good canoes. They now all cut their
hair; the old men have a large hole in their lower lip filled up with
a piece of wood, but this custom is now disused. Each man has two or
three wives, but there is no ceremony of marriage; and they bury their
dead sometimes in the house, but more commonly outside, and putting
the goods of the deceased upon his grave. The women use necklaces and
bracelets of beads, and the men tie the seeds of the india-rubber
tree to their legs when they dance. Each village has a Tushaúa: the
succession is hereditary, but the chief has very little power. They
have pagés, whom they believe to have much skill, and are afraid of,
and pay well. They were formerly very warlike, and made many attacks
upon the Europeans, but are now much more peaceful; and are the most
skilful of all Indians in shooting turtles and fish, and in catching
the cow-fish. They still use their own language among themselves,
though they also understand the Lingoa Geral. The white traders obtain
from them salsaparilha, oil from turtles' eggs and the cow-fish,
Brazil-nuts, and estopa, which is the bark of the young Brazil-nut tree
(_Bertholletia excelsa_), used extensively for caulking canoes; and pay
them in cotton goods, harpoon and arrow-heads, hooks, beads, knives,
cutlasses, etc.
The next tribes, the Purupurús, are in many respects very peculiar, and
differ remarkably in their habits from any other nation we have yet
described. They call themselves Pamouirís, but are always called by the
Brazilians Purupurús, a name also applied to a peculiar disease, with
which they are almost all afflicted: this consists in the body being
spotted and blotched with white, brown, or nearly black patches, of
irregular size and shape, and having a very disagreeable appearance:
when young, their skins are clear, but as they grow up, they invariably
become more or less spotted. Other Indians are sometimes seen afflicted
in this manner, and they are then said to have the Purupurú; though
it does not appear whether the disease is called after the tribe of
Indians who are most subject to it, or the Indians after the disease.
Some say that the word is Portuguese, but this seems to be a mistake.
The Purupurús, men and women, go perfectly naked; and their houses are
of the rudest construction, being semi-cylindrical, like those of our
gipsies, and so small, as to be set up on the sandy beaches and carried
away in their canoes whenever they wish to move. These canoes are of
the rudest construction, having a flat bottom and upright sides,--a
mere square box, and quite unlike those of all other Indians. But
what distinguishes them yet more from their neighbours is, that they
use neither the gravatána, nor bow and arrows, but have an instrument
called a "palheta," which is a piece of wood with a projection at the
end, to secure the base of the arrow, the middle of which is held with
the handle of the palheta in the hand, and thus thrown as from a sling:
they have a surprising dexterity in the use of this weapon, and with it
readily kill game, birds, and fish.
They grow a few fruits, such as yams and plantains, but seldom have any
mandiocca, and they construct earthen pans to cook in. They sleep in
their houses on the sand of the prayas, making no hammocks or clothing
of any kind; they make no fires in their houses, which are too small,
but are kept warm at night by the number of persons in them. They bore
large holes in the upper and lower lip, in the septum of the nose, and
in the ears; at their festivals they insert in these holes sticks, six
or eight inches long; at other times they have only a short piece in,
to keep them open. In the wet season, when the prayas and banks of the
river are all flooded, they construct rafts of trunks of trees bound
together with creepers, and on them erect their huts, and live there
till the waters fall again, when they guide their raft to the first
sandy beach that appears.
Little is known of their domestic customs and superstitions. The men
have each but one wife; the dead are buried in the sandy beaches;
and they are not known to have any pagés. A few families only live
together, in little movable villages, to each of which there is a
Tushaúa. They have, at times, dances and festivals, when they make
intoxicating drinks from wild fruits, and amuse themselves with rude
musical instruments, formed of reeds and bones. They do not use salt,
but prefer payment in fish-hooks, knives, beads, and farinha, for the
salsaparilha and turtle-oil which they sell to the traders.
May not the curious disease, to which they are so subject, be produced
by their habit of constantly sleeping naked on the sand, instead of
in the comfortable, airy, and cleanly hammock, so universally used by
almost every other tribe of Indians in this part of South America?
The Catauixis, though in the immediate neighbourhood of the last, are
very different. They have permanent houses, cultivate mandiocca, sleep
in hammocks, and are clean-skinned. They go naked like the last, but do
not bore holes in their nose and lips; they wear a ring of twisted hair
on their arms and legs. They use bows, arrows, and gravatánas, and make
the ervadúra, or ururí poison. Their canoes are made of the bark of a
tree, taken off entire. They eat principally forest game, tapirs,
monkeys, and large birds; they are, however, cannibals, killing and
eating any Indians of other tribes they can procure, and they preserve
the meat, smoked and dried. Senhor Domingos, a Portuguese trader up the
river Purús, informed me that he once met a party of them, who felt
his belly and ribs, as a butcher would handle a sheep, and talked much
to each other, apparently intimating that he was fat, and would be
excellent eating.
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.
FIGURES ON THE GRANITE ROCKS OF THE RIVER UAUPÉS.]
[Illustration: PLATE IX.
FIGURES ON THE GRANITE ROCKS OF THE RIVER UAUPÉS.]
Of the Jamamarís we have no authentic information, but that they much
resemble the last in their manners and customs, and in their appearance.
The Jubirís are equally unknown; they, however, most resemble the
Purupurús in their habits and mode of life, and, like them, have their
bodies spotted and mottled, though not to such a great extent.
In the country between the Tapajóz and the Madeira, among the labyrinth
of lakes and channels of the great island of the Tupinambarános, reside
the Mundrucús, the most warlike Indians of the Amazons. These are,
I believe, the only perfectly tattooed nation in South America: the
markings are extended all over the body; they are produced by pricking
with the spines of the pupunha palm, and rubbing in the soot from
burning pitch to produce the indelible bluish tinge.
They make their houses with mud walls, in regular villages. In each
village they have a large building which serves as a kind of barrack,
or fortress, where all the men sleep at night, armed with their bows
and arrows, ready in case of alarm: this house is surrounded within
with dried heads of their enemies: these heads they smoke and dry,
so as to preserve all the features and the hair most perfectly. They
make war every year with an adjoining tribe, the Parentintins, taking
the women and children for slaves, and preserving the heads of the
men. They make good canoes and hammocks. They live principally on
forest-game, and are very agricultural, making quantities of farinha
and growing many fruits. The men have each one wife, and each village
its chief. Cravo or wild nutmegs, and farinha, are the principal
articles of their trade; and they receive in exchange cotton cloth,
iron goods, salt, beads, etc.
In the Rio Branco are numerous tribes, and some of them are said to
practise circumcision.
Others, near the sources of the Tapajóz, make the girls undergo the
same cruel initiation as has been already described as common among the
Uaupés and Isánna Indians.
On the north banks of the Rio Negro are many uncivilised tribes, very
little known.
On the south banks, the Manaós were formerly a very numerous nation.
It appears to have been from these tribes that the various accounts of
imaginary wealth prevalent soon after the discovery of America were
derived; the whole of them are now civilised, and their blood mingles
with that of some of the best families in the Province of Pará; their
language is said still to exist, and to be spoken by many old persons,
but I was never fortunate enough to meet with any one understanding it.
One of the singular facts connected with these Indians of the Amazon
valley, is the resemblance which exists between some of their customs,
and those of nations most remote from them. The gravatána, or
blow-pipe, reappears in the sumpitan of Borneo; the great houses of the
Uaupés closely resemble those of the Dyaks of the same country; while
many small baskets and bamboo-boxes, from Borneo and New Guinea, are
so similar in their form and construction to those of the Amazon, that
they would be supposed to belong to adjoining tribes. Then again the
Mundrucús, like the Dyaks, take the heads of their enemies, smoke-dry
them with equal care, preserving the skin and hair entire, and hang
them up around their houses. In Australia the throwing-stick is used;
and, on a remote branch of the Amazon, we see a tribe of Indians
differing from all around them, in substituting for the bow a weapon
only found in such a remote portion of the earth, among a people
differing from them in almost every physical character.
It will be necessary to obtain much more information on this subject,
before we can venture to decide whether such similarities show any
remote connection between these nations, or are mere accidental
coincidences, produced by the same wants, acting upon people subject
to the same conditions of climate and in an equally low state of
civilisation; and it offers additional matter for the wide-spreading
speculations of the ethnographer.
The main feature in the personal character of the Indians of this part
of South America, is a degree of diffidence, bashfulness, or coldness,
which affects all their actions. It is this that produces their quiet
deliberation, their circuitous way of introducing a subject they have
come to speak about, talking half an hour on different topics before
mentioning it: owing to this feeling, they will run away if displeased
rather than complain, and will never refuse to undertake what is asked
them, even when they are unable or do not intend to perform it.
It is the same peculiarity which causes the men never to exhibit any
feeling on meeting after a separation; though they have, and show, a
great affection for their children, whom they never part with; nor can
they be induced to do so, even for a short time. They scarcely ever
quarrel among themselves, work hard, and submit willingly to authority.
They are ingenious and skilful workmen, and readily adopt any customs
of civilised life that may be introduced among them; and they seem
capable of being formed, by education and good government, into a
peaceable and civilised community.
This change, however, will, perhaps, never take place: they are
exposed to the influence of the refuse of Brazilian society, and will
probably, before many years, be reduced to the condition of the other
half-civilised Indians of the country, who seem to have lost the good
qualities of savage life, and gained only the vices of civilisation.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Specimens of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21, 34, 36, 41,
47, 49, and 63, of this list, have been sent home by my friend R.
Spruce, Esq., and may be seen in the very interesting Museum at the
Royal Botanical Gardens, at Kew.
APPENDIX.
ON AMAZONIAN PICTURE-WRITINGS.
As connected with the languages of these people, we may mention the
curious figures on the rocks commonly known as picture-writings, which
are found all over the Amazon district.
The first I saw was on the serras of Montealegre, as described in my
Journal (p. 104). These differed from all I have since seen, in being
painted or rubbed in with a red colour, and not cut or scratched as in
most of the others I met with. They were high up on the mountain, at a
considerable distance from any river.
The next I fell in with were on the banks of the Amazon, on rocks
covered at high water just below the little village of Serpa. These
figures are principally of the human face, and are roughly cut into the
hard rock, blackened by the deposit which takes place in the waters of
the Amazon, as in those of the Orinooko.
Again, at the mouth of the Rio Branco, on a little rocky island in the
river, are numerous figures of men and animals of a large size scraped
into the hard granitic rock. Near St. Isabel, S. Jozé, and Castanheiro,
there are more of these figures, and I found others on the Upper Rio
Negro in Venezuela. I took careful drawings of all of them,--which are
unfortunately lost.
In the river Uaupés also these figures are very numerous, and of
these I preserved my sketches. They contain rude representations of
domestic utensils, canoes, animals, and human figures, as well as
circles, squares, and other regular forms. They are all scraped on the
excessively hard granitic rock. Some are entirely above and others
below high-water mark, and many are quite covered with a growth of
lichens, through which, however, they are still plainly visible.
(Plates VIII. and IX.) Whether they had any signification to those who
executed them, or were merely the first attempts of a rude art guided
only by fancy, it is impossible now to say. It is, however, beyond a
doubt that they are of some antiquity, and are never executed by the
present race of Indians. Even among the most uncivilised tribes, where
these figures are found, they have no idea whatever of their origin;
and if asked, will say they do not know, or that they suppose the
spirits did them. Many of the Portuguese and Brazilian traders will
insist upon it that they are natural productions, or, to use their
own expression, that "God made them;" and on any objection being made
they triumphantly ask, "And could not God make them?" which of course
settles the point. Most of them in fact are quite unable to see any
difference between these figures and the natural marks and veins that
frequently occur in the rocks.
WARD, LOCK AND CO., LTD., LONDON, MELBOURNE, AND TORONTO.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained.
Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been corrected silently.
Corrections.
The first line indicates the original, the second the correction.
p. 54:
by burning the nuts of the Urucurí palm, and is then india-rudder.
by burning the nuts of the Urucurí palm, and is then india-rubber.
p. 90:
which I suppose the wave to the formed.
which I suppose the wave to be formed.
p. 165:
steps forming minature cascades
steps forming miniature cascades
p. 219:
to take out part of Senhor's L.'s cargo
to take out part of Senhor L.'s cargo
p. 226:
as meat perserved in oil is called
as meat preserved in oil is called
p. 231:
with the mimimum of attention
with the minimum of attention
p. 248:
in order to reach the last stitio
in order to reach the last sitio
p. 268:
Oh! Compadre,' said the man, 'you're come
Oh! Compadre,' said the man, 'you've come
p. 269:
Good-evening, Comadre,' said he
Good-evening, Compadre,' said he
p. 275:
a fiery furnance
a fiery furnace
p. 293:
is like a hugh rocky rampart
is like a huge rocky rampart
p. 310:
the armadilloes, and the ant-anters,
the armadilloes, and the ant-eaters,
p. 331:
with my own obervations
with my own observations
p. 342:
and twisted on to a string round the lions
and twisted on to a string round the loins
p. 348:
These instrument, however, are
These instruments, however, are
either by accident or design, she is invaribly executed,
either by accident or design, she is invariably executed,
p. 352:
Tinder-boxes of bambo
Tinder-boxes of bamboo