Travels on the Amazon

In two days more we reached another village, called Jukeíra Picóma, or Salt Point, where we stayed a day. I was well satisfied to find myself here considerably better, owing, I believe, to my having tried fasting as a last resource: for two days I had only taken a little farinha gruel once in the twenty-four hours. In a day and a half from Jukeíra we reached Jauarité, a village situated just below the caxoeira of the same name, the second great rapid on the Uaupés. Here we had determined to stay some days and then return, as the caxoeira is very dangerous to pass, and above it the river, for many days' journey, is a succession of rapids and strong currents, which render the voyage up at this season in the highest degree tedious and disagreeable. We accordingly disembarked our cargo into a house, or rather shed, near the shore, made for the accommodation of traders, which we cleaned and took possession of, and felt ourselves quite comfortable after the annoyances we had been exposed to in reaching this place. We then walked up to the malocca, to pay a visit to the Tushaúa. This house was a noble building of its kind, being one hundred and fifteen feet long, seventy-five wide, and about twenty-five feet high, the roof and upper timbers being black as jet with the smokes of many years. There were besides about a dozen private cottages, forming a small village. Scattered around were immense numbers of the Pupunha Palm (Guilielma speciosa), the fruit of which forms an important part of the food of these people during the season; it was now just beginning to ripen. The Tushaúa was rather a respectable-looking man, the possessor of a pair of trousers and a shirt, which he puts on in honour of white visitors. Senhor L., however, says he is one of the greatest rogues on the river, and will not trust him, as he does most of the other Indians, with goods beforehand. He rejoices in the name of Calistro, and pleased me much by his benevolent countenance and quiet dignified manner. He is said to be the possessor of great riches in the way of oncas' teeth and feathers, the result of his wars upon the Macús and other tribes of the tributary rivers; but these he will not show to the whites, for fear of being made to sell them. Behind the malocca I was pleased to see a fine broad path, leading into the forest to the several mandiocca rhossas. The next morning early I went with my net to explore it, and found it promise pretty well for insects, considering the season. I was greatly delighted at meeting in it the lovely clear-winged butterfly allied to the Esmeralda, that I had taken so sparingly at Javíta; and I also took a specimen of another of the same genus, quite new to me. A plain-coloured Acrœa, that I had first met with at Jukeíra, was here also very abundant.

In a hollow near a small stream that crossed the path I found growing the singular palm called "Paxiúba barriguda" (the big-bellied paxiuba). It is a fine, tall, rather slender tree, with a head of very elegant curled leaves. At the base of the stem is a conical mass of air-roots, five or six feet high, more or less developed in all the species of this genus. But the peculiar character from which it derives its name is, that the stem at rather more than halfway up swells suddenly out to double its former thickness or more, and after a short distance again contracts, and continues cylindrical to the top. It is only by seeing great numbers of these trees, all with this character more or less palpable, that one can believe it is not an accidental circumstance in the individual tree, instead of being truly characteristic of the species. It is the Iriartea ventricosa of Martius.

I tried here to procure some hunters and fishermen, but was not very successful. I had a few fish brought me, and now and then a bird. A curious bird, called anambé, was flying in flocks about the pupunha palms, and after much trouble I succeeded in shooting one, and it proved, as I had anticipated, quite different from the Gymnoderus nudicollis, which is a species much resembling it in its flight, and common in all parts of the Rio Negro. I went after them several times, but could not succeed in shooting another; for though they take but short flights, they remain at rest scarcely an instant. About the houses here were several trumpeters, curassow-birds, and those beautiful parrots, the anacás (Derotypus accipitrinus), which all wander and fly about at perfect liberty, but being bred from the nest, always return to be fed. The Uaupés Indians take much delight, and are very successful, in breeding birds and animals of all kinds.

We stayed here a week, and I went daily into the forest when the weather was not very wet, and generally obtained something interesting. I frequently met parties of women and boys, going to and returning from the rhossas. Sometimes they would run into the thicket till I had passed; at other times they would merely stand on one side of the path, with a kind of bashful fear at encountering a white man while in that state of complete nudity, which they know is strange to us. When about the houses in the village however, or coming to fill their water-pots or bathe in the river close to our habitation, they were quite unembarrassed, being, like Eve, "naked and not ashamed." Though some were too fat, most of them had splendid figures, and many of them were very pretty. Before daylight in the morning all were astir, and came to the river to wash. It is the chilliest hour of the twenty-four, and when we were wrapping our sheet or blanket more closely around us, we could hear the plunges and splashings of these early bathers. Rain or wind is all alike to them: their morning bath is never dispensed with.

Fish were here very scarce, and we were obliged to live almost entirely on fowls, which, though very nice when well roasted and with the accompaniment of ham and gravy, are rather tasteless simply boiled or stewed, with no variation in the cookery, and without vegetables. I had now got so thoroughly into the life of this part of the country, that, like everybody else here, I preferred fish to every other article of food. One never tires of it; and I must again repeat that I believe there are fish here superior to any in the world. Our fowls cost us about a penny each, paid in fish-hooks or salt, so that they are not such expensive food as they would be at home. In fact, if a person buys his hooks, salt, and other things in Pará, where they are about half the price they are at Barra, the price of a fowl will not exceed a halfpenny; and fish, pacovas, and other eatables that the country produces, in the same proportion. A basket of farinha, that will last one person very well a month, will cost about threepence; so that with a small expenditure a man may obtain enough to live on. The Indians here made their mandiocca bread very differently from, and very superior to, those of the adjacent rivers. The greater part is tapioca, which they mix with a small quantity of the prepared mandiocca-root, and form a white, gelatinous, granular cake, which with a little use is very agreeable, and is much sought after by all the white traders on the river. Farinha they scarcely ever eat themselves, but make it only to sell; and as they extract the tapioca, which is the pure glutinous portion of the root, to make their own bread, they mix the refuse with a little fresh mandiocca to make farinha, which is thus of a very poor quality; yet such is the state of agriculture on the Rio Negro, that the city of Barra depends in a great measure upon this refuse food of the Indians, and several thousand alqueires are purchased, and most of it sent there, annually.

The principal food of these Indians is fish, and when they have neither this nor any game, they boil a quantity of peppers, in which they dip their bread. At several places where we stopped this was offered to our men, who ate with a relish the intensely burning mess. Yams and sweet potatoes are also abundant, and with pacovas form a large item in their stock of eatables. Then they have the delicious drinks made from the fruits of the assaí, baccába, and patawá palms, as well as several other fruits.

The large saübas and white ants are an occasional luxury, and when nothing else is to be had in the wet season they eat large earth-worms, which, when the lands in which they live are flooded, ascend trees, and take up their abode in the hollow leaves of a species of Tillandsia, where they are often found accumulated by thousands. Nor is it only hunger that makes them eat these worms, for they sometimes boil them with their fish to give it an extra relish.

They consume great quantities of mandiocca in making caxirí for their festas, which are continually taking place. As I had not seen a regular dance, Senhor L. asked the Tushaúa to make some caxirí and invite his friends and vassals to dance, for the white stranger to see. He readily consented, and, as we were to leave in two or three days, immediately sent round a messenger to the houses of the Indians near, to make known the day and request the honour of their company. As the notice was so short, it was only those in the immediate neighbourhood who could be summoned.

On the appointed day numerous preparations were taking place. The young girls came repeatedly to fill their pitchers at the river early in the morning, to complete the preparation of the caxirí. In the forenoon they were busy weeding all round the malocca, and sprinkling water, and sweeping within it. The women were bringing in dry wood for the fires, and the young men were scattered about in groups, plaiting straw coronets or arranging some other parts of their ornaments. In the afternoon, as I came from the forest, I found several engaged in the operation of painting, which others had already completed. The women had painted themselves or each other, and presented a neat pattern in black and red all over their bodies, some circles and curved lines occurring on their hips and breasts, while on their faces round spots of a bright vermilion seemed to be the prevailing fashion. The juice of a fruit which stains of a fine purplish-black is often poured on the back of the head and neck, and, trickling all down the back, produces what they, no doubt, consider a very elegant dishabille. These spotted beauties were now engaged in performing the same operation for their husbands and sweethearts, some standing, others sitting, and directing the fair artists how to dispose the lines and tints to their liking.

We prepared our supper rather early, and about sunset, just as we had finished, a messenger came to notify to us that the dance had begun, and that the Tushaúa had sent to request our company. We accordingly at once proceeded to the malocca, and entering the private apartment at the circular end, were politely received by the Tushaúa, who was dressed in his shirt and trousers only, and requested us to be seated in maqueiras. After a few minutes' conversation I turned to look at the dancing, which was taking place in the body of the house, in a large clear space round the two central columns. A party of about fifteen or twenty middle-aged men were dancing; they formed a semicircle, each with his left hand on his neighbour's right shoulder. They were all completely furnished with their feather ornaments, and I now saw for the first time the head-dress, or acangatára, which they value highly. This consists of a coronet of red and yellow feathers disposed in regular rows, and firmly attached to a strong woven or plaited band. The feathers are entirely from the shoulders of the great red macaw, but they are not those that the bird naturally possesses, for these Indians have a curious art by which they change the colours of the feathers of many birds.

They pluck out those they wish to paint, and in the fresh wound inoculate with the milky secretion from the skin of a small frog or toad. When the feathers grow again they are of a brilliant yellow or orange colour, without any mixture of blue or green, as in the natural state of the bird; and on the new plumage being again plucked out, it is said always to come of the same colour without any fresh operation. The feathers are renewed but slowly, and it requires a great number of them to make a coronet, so we see the reason why the owner esteems it so highly, and only in the greatest necessity will part with it.

Attached to the comb on the top of the head is a fine broad plume of the tail-coverts of the white egret, or more rarely of the under tail-coverts of the great harpy eagle. These are large, snowy white, loose and downy, and are almost equal in beauty to a plume of white ostrich feathers. The Indians keep these noble birds in great open houses or cages, feeding them with fowls (of which they will consume two a day), solely for the sake of these feathers; but as the birds are rare, and the young with difficulty secured, the ornament is one that few possess. From the ends of the comb cords of monkeys' hair, decorated with small feathers, hang down the back, and in the ears are the little downy plumes, forming altogether a most imposing and elegant head-dress. All these dancers had also the cylindrical stone of large size, the necklace of white beads, the girdle of onças' teeth, the garters, and ankle-rattles. A very few had besides a most curious ornament, the nature of which completely puzzled me: it was either a necklace or a circlet round the forehead, according to the quantity possessed, and consisted of small curiously curved pieces of a white colour with a delicate rosy tinge, and appearing like shell or enamel. They say they procure them from the Indians of the Japurá and other rivers, and that they are very expensive, three or four pieces only costing an axe. They appear to me more like portions of the lip of a large shell cut into perfectly regular pieces than anything else, but so regular in size and shape, as to make me doubt again that they can be shell, or that Indians can form them.

In their hands each held a lance, or bundle of arrows, or the painted calabash-rattle. The dance consisted simply of a regular sideway step, carrying the performers round and round in a circle; the simultaneous stamping of the feet, the rattle and clash of the leg ornaments and calabashes, and a chant of a few words repeated in a deep tone, producing a very martial and animated effect. At certain intervals the young women joined in, each one taking her place between two men, whom she clasped with each arm round the waist, her head bending forward beneath the outstretched arm above, which, as the women were all of low stature, did not much interfere with their movements. They kept their places for one or two rounds, and then, at a signal of some sort, all left and retired to their seat on stools or on the ground, till the time should come for them again to take their places. The greater part of them wore the "tanga," or small apron of beads, but some were perfectly naked. Several wore large cylindrical copper earrings, so polished as to appear like gold. These and the garters formed their only ornaments,—necklaces, bracelets, and feathers being entirely monopolised by the men. The paint with which they decorate their whole bodies has a very neat effect, and gives them almost the appearance of being dressed, and as such they seem to regard it; and however much those who have not witnessed this strange scene may be disposed to differ from me, I must record my opinion that there is far more immodesty in the transparent and flesh-coloured garments of our stage-dancers, than in the perfect nudity of these daughters of the forest.

In the open space outside the house, a party of young men and boys, who did not possess the full costume, were dancing in the same manner. They soon, however, began what may be called the snake dance. They had made two huge artificial snakes of twigs and bushes bound together with sipós, from thirty to forty feet long and about a foot in diameter, with a head of a bundle of leaves of the Umboöba (Cecropia), painted with bright red colour, making altogether a very formidable-looking reptile. They divided themselves into two parties of twelve or fifteen each, and lifting the snakes on their shoulders, began dancing.

In the dance they imitated the undulations of the serpent, raising the head and twisting the tail. They kept advancing and retreating, keeping parallel to each other, and every time coming nearer to the principal door of the house. At length they brought the heads of the snakes into the very door, but still retreated several times. Those within had now concluded their first dance, and after several more approaches, in came the snakes with a sudden rush, and, parting, went one on the right side and one on the left. They still continued the advancing and retreating step, till at length, each having traversed a semicircle, they met face to face. Here the two snakes seemed inclined to fight, and it was only after many retreatings and brandishings of the head and tail, that they could muster resolution to rush past each other. After one or two more rounds, they passed out to the outside of the house, and the dance, which had apparently much pleased all the spectators, was concluded.

During all this time caxirí was being abundantly supplied, three men being constantly employed carrying it to the guests. They came one behind the other down the middle of the house, with a large calabash-full in each hand, half stooping down, with a kind of running dance, and making a curious whirring, humming noise: on reaching the door they parted on each side, distributing their calabashes to whoever wished to drink. In a minute or two they were all empty, and the cupbearers returned to fill them, bringing them every time with the same peculiar forms, which evidently constitute the etiquette of the caxirí-servers. As each of the calabashes holds at least two quarts, the quantity drunk during a whole night that this process is going on must be very great.

Presently the Capí was introduced, an account of which I had had from Senhor L. An old man comes forward with a large newly-painted earthen pot, which he sets down in the middle of the house. He then squats behind it, stirs it about, and takes out two small calabashes-full, which he holds up in each hand. After a moment's pause, two Indians advance with bows and arrows or lances in their hands. Each takes the proffered cup and drinks, makes a wry face, for it is intensely bitter, and stands motionless perhaps half a minute. They then with a start twang their bows, shake their lances, stamp their feet, and return to their seats. The little bowls are again filled, and two others succeed them, with a similar result. Some, however, become more excited, run furiously, lance in hand, as if they would kill an enemy, shout and stamp savagely, and look very warlike and terrible, and then, like the others, return quietly to their places. Most of these receive a hum or shake of applause from the spectators, which is also given at times during the dances.

The house at this time contained at least three hundred men, women, and children; a continual murmuring conversation was kept up, and fifty little fifes and flutes were constantly playing, each on its own account, producing a not very harmonious medley. After dark a large fire was lighted in the middle of the house, and as it blazed up brightly at intervals, illuminating the painted and feather-dressed dancers and the numerous strange groups in every variety of posture scattered about the great house, I longed for a skilful painter to do justice to a scene so novel, picturesque, and interesting.

A number of fires were also made outside the house, and the young men and boys amused themselves by jumping over them when flaming furiously, an operation which, with their naked bodies, appeared somewhat hazardous. Having been now looking on about three hours, we went to bid adieu to the Tushaúa, previous to retiring to our house, as I did not feel much inclined to stay with them all night. We found him with a few visitors, smoking, which on these occasions is performed in a very ceremonious manner. The cigar is eight or ten inches long and an inch in diameter, made of tobacco pounded and dried, and enclosed in a cylinder made of a large leaf spirally twisted. It is placed in a cigar-holder about two feet long, like a great two-pronged fork. The bottom is pointed, so that when not in use it can be stuck in the ground. This cigar was offered to us, and Senhor L. took a few whiffs for us both, as he is a confirmed smoker. The caxirí was exceedingly good (although the mandiocca-cake of which it is made is chewed by a parcel of old women), and I much pleased the lady of the Tushaúa by emptying the calabash she offered me, and pronouncing it to be "purángareté" (excellent). We then said "Eré" (adieu), and groped our way down the rough path to our river-side house, to be sung to sleep by the hoarse murmur of the cataract. The next morning the dance was still going on, but, as the caxirí was nearly finished, it terminated about nine o'clock, and the various guests took their leave.

During the dance, Bernardo, an Indian of São Jeronymo, arrived from the Rio Apaporis. Senhor L. had sent a message to him by his son (who had come with us) to procure some Indian boys and girls for him, and he now came to talk over the business. The procuring consists in making an attack on some malocca of another nation, and capturing all that do not escape or are not killed. Senhor L. has frequently been on these expeditions, and has had some narrow escapes from lances and poisoned arrows. At Ananárapicóma there was an Indian dreadfully scarred all over one shoulder and part of his back, the effects of a discharge of B.B. shot which Senhor L. had given him, just as he was in the act of turning with his bow and arrow: they are now excellent friends, and do business together. The "negociantes" and authorities in Barra and Pará, ask the traders among the Indians to procure a boy or girl for them, well knowing the only manner in which they can be obtained; in fact, the Government in some degree authorise the practice. There is something to be said too in its favour, for the Indians make war on each other,—principally the natives of the margin of the river on those in the more distant igaripés,—for the sake of their weapons and ornaments, and for revenge of any injury, real or imaginary, and then kill all they can, reserving only some young girls for their wives. The hope of selling them to the traders, however, induces them to spare many who would otherwise be murdered. These are brought up to some degree of civilisation (though I much doubt if they are better or happier than in their native forests), and though at times ill-treated, they are free, and can leave their masters whenever they like, which, however, they seldom do when taken very young. Senhor L. had been requested by two parties at Barra—one the Delegarde de Policia—to furnish them each with an Indian girl, and as this man was an old hand at the business, he was now agreeing with him, furnishing him with powder and shot—for he had a gun—and giving him some goods, to pay other Indians for assisting him, and to do a little business at the same time if he had the opportunity. He was to return at the furthest in a fortnight, and we were to wait for him in São Jeronymo.

The Tushaúa came to pay us a visit almost every day, to talk a little, and sometimes drink a cup of coffee. His wife and some of his daughters, who possessed a "saía," also often came, bringing us pacovas, mandiocca-cake, and other things, for which they always expected to be paid. We bought here a good number of stools and baskets, which cost five or six hooks each; also fowls, parrots, trumpeters, and some other tame birds. When we first arrived, almost the whole body of the inhabitants came to visit us, requesting to see what we had brought to sell; accordingly we spread out our whole stock of fish-hooks, knives, axes, mirrors, beads, arrow-heads, cottons and calicoes, which they handled and admired in unintelligible languages, for about two hours. It is necessary to make this exposition in every village, as they will bring nothing to sell unless they first know that you have what they want in exchange.

Two days after the dance we bade adieu to Jauarité, and by midday reached Jukeíra, where we had determined to spend another week. There was no regular house here for the accommodation of travellers, so we had to take possession of an unoccupied shed, which the Tushaúa had prepared for us, and where we soon found we were exposed to a pest abundant in all Indians' houses, the "bichos do pé," or chegoes. Nor was this all, for the blood-sucking bats were abundant, and the very first night bit Senhor L., as well as his little boy, who in the morning presented a ghastly sight, both legs being thickly smeared and blotched with blood. There was only one bite on the toe, but the blood flows plentifully, and as the boy was very restless at night, he had managed to produce the sanguinary effect I have mentioned. Several of the Indians were also bitten, but I escaped by always well wrapping my feet in my blanket.