parts of the group are distributed somewhat irregularly under their
rule. Some islands, or parts of islands, are only tributary to them;
others connected by a sort of deferential alliance; and there are
communities quite independent, and living under the arbitrary sway of
their own chieftains. The kings are not all of equal power or
importance; but in this respect there have been many changes, even
during the Feegeean historical period,—which extends back only to the
beginning of the present century. Sometimes one is the most influential,
sometimes another; and in most cases the pre-eminence is obtained by him
who possesses the greatest amount of truculence and treachery. He who is
most successful in murdering his rivals, and ridding himself of
opposition, by the simple application of the club, usually succeeds in
becoming for the time head “king of the Cannibal Islands.” I do not mean
that he reigns over the whole Archipelago. No king has yet succeeded in
uniting all the islands under one government. He only gets so far as to
be feared everywhere, and to have tributary presents, and all manner of
debasing compliments offered to him. These kings have all their courts
and court etiquette, just as their “royal brothers” elsewhere; and the
ceremonials observed are quite as complicated and degrading to the
dignity of man.
The punishment for neglecting their observance is rather more severe in
Feegee than elsewhere. For a decided or wilful non-compliance, the skull
of the delinquent is frequently crushed in by the club of his majesty
himself,—even in presence of a full “drawing-room.” Lesser or accidental
mistakes, or even the exhibition of an ungraceful _gaucherie_, are
punished by the loss of a finger: the consequence of which is, that in
Feegee there are many fingers missing! Indeed, a complete set is rather
the exception than the rule. If a king or great chief should chance to
miss his foot and slip down, it is the true _ton_ for all those who are
near or around him to fall likewise,—the crowd coming down, literally
like a “thousand of bricks!”
I might detail a thousand customs to show how far the dignity of the
human form is debased and disgraced upon Feegee soil; but the subject
could be well illustrated nearer home. Flunkeyism is a fashion
unfortunately not confined to the Feegeean archipelago; and though the
forms in which it exhibits itself there may be different, the sentiment
is still the same. It must ever appear where men are politically
unequal,—wherever there is a class possessed of hereditary privileges.
I come to the last,—the darkest feature in the Feegeean character,—the
horrid crime and custom of cannibalism. I could paint a picture, and
fill up the details with the testimony of scores of eyewitnesses,—a
picture that would cause your heart to weep. It is too horrid to be
given here. My pen declines the office; and, therefore, I must leave the
painful story untold.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MUNDRUCUS, OR BEHEADERS.
In our general sketch of the Amazonian Indians it was stated that there
were some few tribes who differed in certain customs from all the rest,
and who might even be regarded as _odd among the odd_. One of these
tribes is the _Mundrucu_, which, from its numbers and warlike strength,
almost deserves to be styled a nation. It is, at all events, a powerful
confederacy, of different tribes, linked together in one common
nationality, and including in their league other Indians which the
Mundrucus themselves first conquered, and afterwards associated with
themselves on terms of equality; in other words, “annexed” them. The
same sort of annexation or alliance is common among the tribes of North
America; as in the case of the powerful Comanche nation, who extend
their protecting alliance over the Wacoes, Washites, and Cayguäas or
Kioways.
The _Mahüe_ is the principal tribe that is patronized in this fashion by
the Mundrucus, and the two together number at least 20,000 souls.
Before the days of the Portuguese slave-hunting, the Mundrucus occupied
the south bank of the Amazon, from the mouth of the Tapajos to that of
the Madeira. This infamous traffic had the effect of clearing the banks
of the great river of its native inhabitants,—except such of them as
chose to submit to slavery, or become _neophytes_, by adopting the
monkish faith. Neither of these courses appeared pleasing in the eyes of
the Mundrucus, and they adopted the only alternative that was likely to
insure their independence,—by withdrawing from the dangerous proximity
of the sanguinary slave-trade.
This retreat of the Mundrucus, however, was by no means an ignominious
flight. The withdrawal was voluntary on their part, and not compulsory,
as was the case with weaker tribes. From the earliest times they had
presented a firm front to the Portuguese encroachments, and the latter
were even forced into a sort of nefarious alliance with them. The
leaving the Amazon on the part of the Mundrucus was rather the result of
a negotiation, by which they conceded their territory—between the mouths
of the Tapajos and Madeira—to the Brazilian government; and to this hour
they are not exactly unfriendly to Brazilian _whites_, though to the
mulattoes and negroes, who constitute a large proportion of the
Brazilian population, the Mundrucu knows no other feeling than that of a
deadly hostility. The origin of their hatred of the Brazilian blacks is
to be found in a revolt which occurred in the provinces of the Lower
Amazon (at Para) in 1835. It was a _caste_ revolution against whites,
but more especially against _European_ Portuguese. In this affair the
Mundrucus were employed against the darker-skinned rebels—the _Cabanos_,
as they were called—and did great service in putting down the rebellion.
Hence they retain a lingering spark of friendship for their _ci-devant_
white allies; or perhaps it would be more correct to say they do not
actually hate them, but carry on a little commerce with their traders.
For all that, they occasionally cut the throats of a few of the
latter,—especially those who do not come to deal directly with them, but
who pass through their country in going from the Amazon to the diamond
mines of Brazil. These last are called _Monçaos_, and their business is
to carry supplies from the towns on the Amazon (Santarem and Para) to
the miners of gold and washers of diamonds in the district of Matto
Grosso, of which Cuiaba is the capital. Their route is by water and
“portage” up the Tapajos river, and through the territory of the dreaded
Mundrucus,—requiring a journey of six months, as perilous and toilsome
as it is tedious.
The present residence of the Mundrucus is between the Tapajos and
Madeira, as formerly, but far up on both rivers. On the Tapajos, above
what are known as the “Caxoeiras,” or Cataracts, their villages are
found. There they dwell, free from all molestation on the part of the
whites; their borders extending widely around them, and limited only by
contact with those of other warlike tribes like themselves, who are
their deadly enemies. Among these last are the _Muras_, who dwell at the
mouths of the Madeira and Rio Negro.
The Mundrucus build the _malocca_, elsewhere described; only in their
case it is not used as a dwelling, but rather as a grand arsenal, a
council-chamber, a ball-room, and, if need be, a fortress. When fearing
an attack, all sleep in it “under arms.” It is a structure of large size
and great strength, usually rendered more unassailable by being
“chinked” and plastered with clay. It is in this building that are
deposited those horrid trophies which have given to the Mundrucus their
terrible title of _decapitadores_, or “beheaders.” The title and its
origin shall be presently explained.
Around the great malocca the huts are placed, forming a village, and in
these the people ordinarily dwell.
The Mundrucus are not without ample means of subsistence. Like most
other Amazonian tribes, they cultivate a little manioc, plantains, and
even maize; and they know how to prepare the _farinha_ meal, and,
unfortunately, also the detestable _chicha_, the universal beverage of
the South-American aborigines. They have their vessels of calabash—both
of the vegetable and arborescent kinds—and a full set of implements and
utensils for the field and kitchen. Their war weapons are those common
to other Amazonian tribes, and they sometimes also carry the spear. They
have canoes of hollow trees; and, of course, fishing and hunting are the
employments of the men,—the women, as almost everywhere else among
Indians, doing the drudgery,—the tilling and reaping, the “hewing of
wood and the drawing of water,” the making the household utensils and
using them,—all such offices being beneath the dignity of the “lordly,”
or rather _lazy_ savage.
I have said that they carry on a commercial intercourse with the white
traders. It is not of much magnitude, and their exports consist
altogether of the native and spontaneous productions of the soil,
sarsaparilla being one of the chief articles. They gather this (the
women and children do) during six months of the year. The other six
months no industry is followed,—as this period is spent in hostile
excursions against the neighboring tribes. Their imports consist of iron
tools and pieces for weapons; but they more especially barter the
product of their labor for ornamental gewgaws,—such as savages
universally admire and desire. Their sarsaparilla is good, and much
sought for in the medical market.
Every one is acquainted with the nature and character of this valuable
medicinal root, the appearance of which must also be known to almost
everybody,—since it is so very common for our druggists to display the
bundles of it in their shop windows. Perhaps every one is not acquainted
with the fact, that the sarsaparilla root is the product of a great many
different species of plants most of them of the genus _Simlax_, but not
a few belonging to plants of other genera, as those of _Carex_ and
_Herreria_ the roots of which are also sold as sarsaparilla. The species
of simlax are widely distributed throughout the whole torrid zone, in
Asia, Africa, and America, and some kinds are found growing many degrees
outside the tropics,—as is the case in Virginia and the valley of the
Mississippi, and also on the other side of the Pacific on the great
continent-island of Australia.
The best sarsaparilla, however, is that which is produced in tropical
countries, and especially in moist situations, where the atmosphere is
at once hot and humid. It requires these conditions to concentrate the
virtue of its sap, and render it more active.
It would be idle to give a list of the different species of simlax that
furnish the sarsaparilla root of the pharmacopeia. There is an almost
endless number of them, and they are equally varied in respect to
excellence of quality; some kinds are in reality almost worthless, and
for this reason, in using it as a medicine, great care should be taken
in the selection of the species. Like all other articles, either of food
or medicine, the valuable kinds are the scarcest; the reason in this
case being that the best sarsaparilla is found in situations not only
difficult of access, but where the gathering of its root is attended
with considerable danger, from the unhealthy nature of the climate and
the hostility of the savages in whose territory it grows. As to the
quantity that may be obtained, there is no limit, on the score of any
scarcity of the plant itself, since it is found throughout all the
countries of tropical America plenteously distributed both in species
and individual plants. Such quantities of it grow along the banks of
some South-American rivers, that the Indians have a belief that those
streams known as _black waters_—such as the Rio Negro and others—derive
their peculiar color from the roots of this plant. This, however, is an
erroneous supposition, as there are many of the _white-water_ rivers
that run through regions abundantly supplied with the sarsaparilla root.
The black water, therefore, must arise from some other cause, as yet
unknown.
As observed, the sarsaparilla of the Mundrucu country is of the very
best quality. It is the _Simlax papyracea_ of Soiret, and is known in
commerce as the “Lisbon,” or “Brazilian.” It is a climbing plant, or
under-shrub, the stem of which is flattened and angular, with rows of
prickles standing along the prominent edges. Its leaves are of an oval
acuminated shape, and marked with longitudinal nerves. It shoots up
without any support, to a height of fifteen or twenty feet, after which
it embraces the surrounding branches of trees and spreads to a great
distance in every direction. The main root sends out many long tendrils,
all of like thickness, covered with a brownish bark, of sometimes of a
dark-gray color. These tendrils are fibrous, and about as thick as a
quill. They present a constant tendency to become crooked, and they are
also wrinkled longitudinally, with here and there some smaller lateral
fibres branching off from the sides.
It is in the bark or epidermis of the rhizomes that the medicinal virtue
lies; but the tendrils—both rhizome and bark—are collected together, and
no attempt is made to separate them, until they have reached their
commercial destination. Indeed, even these are sold together, the mode
of preparing the root being left to the choice of the consumer, or the
apothecary who procures it.
The Mundrucus collect it during the six months of the rainy season,
partly because during the remaining six they are otherwise employed, and
partly for the reason that, in the time of rain, the roots are more
easily extracted from the damp soil. The process simply consists in
digging them up or dragging them out of the earth—the latter mode
especially where the tendrils lie near the surface, and they will pull
up without breaking. If the main root be not dug out, it will send forth
new tendrils, which in a short time would yield a new crop; but the
improvident savages make no prudential calculations of this kind—present
convenience forming their sole consideration; and on this account both
the root and plant are generally destroyed by them during the operation
of collecting.
As already stated, this labor devolves upon the women, who are also
assisted in it by their children. They proceed into the depths of the
forest—where the simlax grows in greatest abundance—and after collecting
as much root as they can carry home with them, they return with their
bundles to the malocca. When fresh gathered the sarsaparilla is heavy
enough—partly on account of the sap which it then contains, and partly
from the quantity of the mud or earth that adheres to the corrugated
surface of the roots.
It is extremely probable that in this fresh state the virtue of the
sarsaparilla, as a blood-purifier, is much greater than after it has
passed through the channels of commerce; and the writer of this sketch
has some reason, derived from personal experience, to believe that such
is the case. Certain it is, that the reputation of this invaluable drug
is far less in countries where the plant does not grow, than in those
where it is common and can be obtained in its fresh state. In all parts
of Spanish America its virtues are unquestioned, and experience has led
to a more extensive use of it there than elsewhere. It is probable,
therefore, that the virtue exists in the juice rather than the cortical
integument of the rhizome; and this of course would be materially
altered and deteriorated, if not altogether destroyed, in the process of
exsiccation, which must necessarily take place in the time required for
transporting it to distant parts of the world. In the European
pharmacopeia it is the epidermis of the root which is supposed to
contain the sanitary principle; and this, which is of a mucilaginous
nature and slightly bitter taste, is employed, both in decoctions and
infusions, as a tonic and alterative. In America, however, it is
generally taken for what is termed _purifying the blood_—for the same
purpose as the rhizomes of the _Laurus sassafras_ and other plants are
used; but the sarsaparilla is generally considered the best, and it
certainly _is_ the best of all known medicines for this purpose. Why it
has fallen in the estimation of the Old-World practitioners, or why it
never obtained so great a reputation as it has in America, may arise
from two circumstances. First, that the root offered for sale is
generally the product of the less valuable species; and second, that the
sap, and not the rhizome, may be the part that contains the virtuous
principle.
When the collected roots have been kept for awhile they become dry and
light, and for the convenience of stowage and carriage—an important
consideration to the trader in his eight-ton _garratea_—it is necessary
to have the roots done up in packages of a uniform length and thickness.
These packages are formed by laying the roots side by side, and doubling
in the ends of the longer ones. A bundle of the proper size for stowage
contains an _arroba_ of twenty-five pounds, though the weight varies
according to the condition of the root. Uniformity in size is the chief
object aimed at, and the bundles are made of a round or cylindrical
shape, about five inches in diameter, and something more than a yard in
length. They are trimmed off small at the ends—so as to admit of stowage
without leaving any empty space between two tiers of them—and each
bundle is tightly corded round from one end to the other with a “sipo,”
or creeping plant.
It has been stated that this “sipo” is a root of the sarsaparilla
itself, with the bark scraped off; and, indeed, its own root would serve
well enough—were it not that putting it to such a use would destroy its
medicinal value, and thus cause a considerable waste of the costly
material. The sarsaparilla is not to be had for nothing even upon the
banks of the Tapajos. A bundle of the best quality does not leave the
hands of the Mundrucu until about four dollars’ worth of exchange
commodities have been put into them, which would bring the price of it
to something over sixpence a pound. He is, therefore, a little
particular about wasting a material that has cost him—or rather his wife
and children—so much trouble in collecting. His cordage is obtained more
cheaply, and consists of the long, flexible roots of a species of
_pothos_, which roots—being what are termed _aërial_ and not buried in
the ground—require no labor or digging to get at them. It is only
necessary to stretch up the hand, and pull them down from the tops of
lofty trees, from which they hang like streamers, often to the length of
a hundred feet. These are toughened by the bark being scraped off; and
when that is done they are ready for use, and serve not only to tie up
the bundles of sarsaparilla, but for many other purposes in the domestic
economy of the Mundrucus.
In addition to the sarsaparilla, the Mundrucu furnishes the trader with
several other items of commercial value—for his climate, although one of
the most unhealthy in all the Amazon region, on account of its great
heat and humidity, is for that very reason one of the most fertile.
Nearly all those tropical vegetable products which are characteristics
of Brazilian export commerce can here be produced of the most luxuriant
kind; but it is only those that grow spontaneously at his very doors
that tempt the Mundrucu to take the trouble of collecting them.
There is one article, however, which he not only takes some trouble to
collect, but also to manufacture into an item of commercial exchange—a
very rare item indeed. This is the _guarana_, which is manufactured from
the fruit of a tree almost peculiar to the Mundrucu territory—since
nowhere is it found so abundantly as on the Tapajos. It is so prized in
the Brazilian settlements as to command almost its weight in silver when
transported thither. It is the constituent element of a drink, which has
a stimulating effect on the system, somewhat more powerful than tea or
coffee. It will prevent sleep; but its most valuable property is, that
it is a good febrifuge, equal to the best quinine. _Guarana_ is prepared
from the seeds of an inga—one of the _Mimosacæ_. It is a low,
wide-spreading tree like most of the mimosa family. The legumes are
gathered, and the seeds roasted in them. The latter are then taken out,
and after being ground to powder, are mixed with water so as to make a
tough paste, which is moulded into little bricks, and when dried is
ready for use. The beverage is then prepared by scraping a
table-spoonful of dust from the brick, and mixing it with about a pint
of water; and the dry paste, keeping for any length of time, is ready
whenever wanted.
The _guarana_ bush grows elsewhere in the Amazon valley, and on some
head-waters of the Orinoco, where certain tribes also know how to
prepare the drink. But it is sparingly distributed, and is nowhere so
common as on the upper Tapajos; hence its high price in the markets of
Brazil. The Mundrucu manufactures it, not only for “home use,” but for
“exportation.”
He prepares another singular article of luxury, and this he makes
exclusively for his own use,—not for the gratification of his lips or
palate, but for his nose,—in other words, a snuff. Do not fancy,
however, that it is snuff of the ordinary kind—the pulverised produce of
innocent tobacco. No such thing; but a composition of such a powerful
and stimulating character, that he who inhales it feels as if struck by
an electric shock; his body trembles; his eyes start forward as if they
would forsake their sockets; his limbs fail to support him; and he drops
to the earth like one in a state of intoxication! For a short time he is
literally mad; but the fit is soon over,—lasting usually only a few
minutes,—and then a feeling of renewed strength, courage, and joyousness
succeeds. Such are the consequences of taking snuff with a Mundrucu.
And now to describe the nature of the substance which produces these
powerful effects.
Like the _guarana_ this snuff is a preparation, having for its basis the
seeds of a leguminous tree. This time, however, it is an _acacia_, not
an _inga_. It is the _acacia niopo_; so called because “niopo” is the
name given to the snuff itself by certain tribes (the Ottomacs and
others), who, like the Mundrucus, are snuff-takers. It is also called
_curupa_, and the apparatus for preparing and taking it—for there is an
apparatus of an extensive kind—is termed _parica_, in the general
language (_lingoa geral_) of the Amazonian regions.
We shall describe the preparation, the apparatus, and the ceremonial.
The pods of the _Acacia niopo_—a small tree, with very delicate pinnate
leaves—are plucked when ripe. They are then cut into small pieces and
flung into a vessel of water. In this they remain until macerated, and
until the seeds have turned black. These are then picked out, pounded in
a mortar, which is usually the pericarp of the _sapuçaia_, or
“monkey-pot” tree (_Lecythis ollaria_). The pounding reduces them to a
paste, which is taken up, clapped between the hands and formed into
little cakes—but not until it has been mixed with some manioc flour,
some lime from a burnt shell (a _helix_), and a little juice from the
fresh leaves of the “abuta”—a menispermous plant of the genus
_Cocculus_. The cakes are then dried or “barbecued” upon a primitive
gridiron—the bars of which are saplings of hard wood—and when
well-hardened the snuff is ready for the “box.” In a box it is actually
carried—usually one made out of some rare and beautiful shell.
The ceremonial of taking the snuff is the most singular part of the
performance. When a Mundrucu feels inclined for a “pinch”—though it is
something more than a _pinch_ that he inhales when he _does_ feel
inclined—he takes the cake out of the box, scrapes off about a spoonful
of it into a shallow, saucer-shaped vessel of the calabash kind, and
then spreads the powder all over the bottom of the vessel in a regular
“stratification.” The spreading is not performed by the fingers, but
with a tiny, pencil-like brush made out of the bristles of the great
ant-eater (_Myrmecophaga jubata_).