Delonging to the same tribe are not abla to understand each other. The civilized Tapuyo of Pará differs in no essential point, in physical or moral qualities, from the Indian of the interior. He is more stoutly built, being better fed than some of em; but in this respect there are great differences among the tribes themselves. He presents all the chief characteristics of the American red man. The skin of a coppery brown color, the features of the face broad, and the hair black, thick, and straight. He is generally about the middle height, thick-set, has a broad muscular chest, well-shaped but somewhat thick legs and arms, and small hands and feet. The cheek bones are not generally prominent; the eyes are black, and seldom oblique like those of the Tartar races of Eastern Asia, which are supposed to have sprung from the same original stock as the American red man. The features exhibit scarcely any mobility of expression; this is connected with the excessively apathetic and undemonstrative character of the race. They never betray, in fact they do not feel keenly, the emotions of joy, grief, wonder, fear, and so forth. They can never be excited to enthusiasm; but they have strong affections, especially those connected with family. It is commonly stated by the whites and negroes that the Tapuyo is ungrateful. Brazilian mistresses of households, who have much experience of Indians, have always a long list of instances to relate to the stranger, showing their base ingratitude. They certainly do not appear to remember or think of repaying benefits, but this is probably because they did not require, and do not value, such benefits as their would-be masters confer upon them. I have known instances of attachment and fidelity on the part of Indians toward their masters, but these are exceptional cases. All the actions of the Indian show that his ruling desire is to be let alone; he is attached to his home, his quiet monotonous forest and river life; be likes to go to towns occasionaily, to see the wonders introduced by the white man, but he has a great repugnance to living in the midst of the crowd; he prefers handicraft to field labor, and especially dislikes binding himself to regular labor for hire. He is shy and uneasy before strangers, but if they visit his abode, he treats them well, for he has a rooted appreciation of the duty of hospitality; there is a pride about him, and being naturally formal and polite, he acts the host with great dignity. He withdraws from towns as soon as the stir of civilization begins to make itself felt. When we first arrived at Pará, many Indian families resided there, for the mode of living at that time was more like that of a large village than a city; but as soon as river stearners and more business activity were introduced, they all gradually took themselves away. These characteristics of the Pará Indians are applicable, of course, to some extent, to the Mamelucos, who now constitute a great proportion of the population. The inflexi bility of character of the Indian, and his total inability to accommodate himself to new arrangements, will infallibly lead to his extinction, as immigrants, endowed with more supple organizations, increase, and civilization advances in the Amazon region. But, as the different races amalgamate readily, and the offspring of white and Indian often become distinguished Brazilian citizens, there is little reason to regret the fate of the race. Formerly the Indian was harshly treated, and even now he is so in many parts of the interior. But, according to the laws of Brazil, he is a free citizen, having equal privileges with the whites; and there are very strong enactments providing against the enslaving and ill-treatment of the Indians. The residents of the interior, who have no higher principles to counteract instinctive selfishness or antipathy of race, cannot comprehend why they are not allowed to compel Indians to work for them, seeing that they will not do it of their own accord. The inevitable result of the conflict of interests between a European and a weaker indigenous race, when the two come in contact, is the sacrifice of the latter. In the Pará district, the Indians are no longer enslaved, but they are deprived of their lands, and this they feel bitterly, as one of them, an industrious and worthy man, related to me. On our second visit to the mills we stayed ten days. There is a large reservoir and also a natural lake near the place, both containing aquatic plants, whose leaves rest on the surface like our water-lilies, but they are not so elegant as our nymphæa, either in leaf or flower. On the banks of these pools grow quantities of a species of fan-leaved palmtree, the Caraná, whose stems are surrounded by whorls of strong spines. I sometimes took a montaria and paddled myself alone down the creek. One day I got upset, and had to land on a grassy slope leading to an old plantation, where I ran about naked while my clothes were being dried on a bush. The creek Iritirí is not so picturesque as many others which I subsequently explored. Toward the Magoary the banks at the edge of the water are clothed with mangrove bushes, and beneath them the muddy banks, into which the long roots that hang down from the fruit before it leaves the branches strike their fibres, swarm with crabs. On the lower branches the beautiful bird, Ardea helias, is found. This is a small heron of exquisitely graceful shape and mien; its plumage is minutely variegated with bars and spots of many colors, like the wings of certain kinds of moths. It is difficult to see the bird in the woods, on account of its sombre colors and the shadiness of its dwellingplaces; but its note, a soft long-drawn whistle, often betrays its hiding-place. was told by the Indians that it builds in trees, and that the nest, which is made of clay, is beautifully constructed. It is a favorite petbird of the Brazilians, who call it Pavao (pronounced pavaong), or peacock. I often I had opportunities of observing its habits. It soon becomes tame, and walks about the floors of houses, picking up scraps of food, or catching insects, which it secures by walking gently to the place where they settle, and spearing them with its long slender beak. It allows itself to be handled by children, and will answer to its name, Pavao Pavaō !" walking up with a dainty, circumspect gait, and taking a fly or beetle from the hand. During these rambles by land and water we increased our collections considerably, Before we left the mills we arranged a joint excursion to the Tocantins. Mr. Leavens wished to ascend that river to ascertain if the reports were true, that cedar grew abundant ly between the lowermost cataract and the mouth of the Araguaya, and we agreed to accompany him. While we were at the mills, a Portuguese trader arrived with a quantity of worm-eaten logs of this cedar, which he had gathered from the floating timber in the current of the main Amazons. The tree producing this wood, which is named cedar on account of the similarity of its aroma to that of the true cedars, is not, of course, a coniferous tree, as no member of that class is found in equatorial America, at least in the Amazons region. It is, according to Von Martius, the Cedrela odorata, an exogen belonging to the same order as the mahogany-tree. The wood is light, and the tree is therefore, on falling into the water, floated down with the river currents. It must grow in great quantities somewhere in the interior, to judge from the number of uprooted trees annually carried to the sea; and as the wood is much esteemed for cabinet-work and canoe-building, it is of some importance to learn where a regular supply can be obtained. We were glad of course to arrange with Mr. Leavens, who was familiar with the language, and an adept in river-navigation; so we returned to Pará to ship our collections for England, and prepare for the journey to a new region. BEFORE leaving the subject of Pará, where 1 resided, as already stated, in all eighteen months, it will be necessary to give a more detailed account of several matters connected with the customs of the people and the natural history of the neighborhood, which have hitherto been only briefly mentioned. I reserve an account of the trade and improved condition of Pará in 1859 for the end of this narrative. During the first few weeks of our stay many of those religious festivals took place, which occupied so large a share of the time and thoughts of the people. These were splendid affairs, wherein artistically-arranged processions through the streets, accompanied by thousands of people, military displays, the clatter of fireworks, and the clang of military music, were superadded to pomp ous religious services in t churches. To those who had witnessed similar ceremonies in the southern countries of Europe, there would be nothing remarkable perhaps in these doings, except their taking place amid the splendors of tropical nature; but to me they were full of novelty, and were besides interesting as exhibiting much that was peculiar in the manners of the people. The festivals celebrate either the anniversaries of events concerning saints, or those of the more important transactions in the life of Christ. To them have been added, since the Independence, many gala days connected with the events in the Brazilian national history; but these have all a semireligious character. The holidays had become so numerous, and interfered so much with trade and industry toward the year 1852, that the Brazilian Government was obliged to reduce them; obtaining the necessary permission from Rome to abolish several which were of minor importance. Many of those which have been retained are declining in importance since the introduction of railways and steamboats, and the increased devotion of the people to commerce; at the time of our arrival, however, they were in full glory. The way they were managed was in this fashion. A general manager or "Juiz" for each festa was elected by lot every year in the vestry of the church, and to him were handed over all the paraphernalia pertaining to the particular festival which he was chosen to manage; the image of the saint, the banners, silver crowns, and so forth. He then employed a number of people to go the round of the parish and collect alms toward defraying the expenses. It was considered that the greater the amount of money spent in wax-candles, fireworks, music and feasting, the greater the honor done to the saint. If the Juiz was a rich man, he seldom sent out alms-gatherers, but celebrated the whole affair at his own expense, which was sometimes to the extent of several hundred pounds Each festival lasted nine days (a novena), and in many cases refreshments for the public were provided every evening. In the smaller towns a ball took place two or three evenings during the novena, and on the last day there was a grand dinner. The priest, of course, had to be paid very liberally, especially for the sermon delivered on the Saint's day or termination of the festivals, sermons being extra duty in Brazil. There was much difference as to the accessories of these festivals between the interior towns and villages and the capital; but little or no work was done anywhere while they lasted, and they tended much to demoralize the people. It is soon perceived that religion is rather the amusement of the Paraenses than their serious exercise. The ideas of the majority evidently do not reach beyond the balief that all the proceedings are, in each case, in honor of the particular wooden image enshrined at the church. The uneducated Portuguese immigrants seemed to me to have very degrading notions of religion. I have At night, when festivals are going on in often travelled in the company of these shin- the grassy squares around the suburban ing examples of European enlightenment. churches, there is really much to admire. A They generally carry with them, wherever great deal that is peculiar in the land and the they go, a small image of some favorite saint life of its inhabitants can be seen best at in their trunks; and when a squall or any those times. The cheerful white church is other danger arises, their first impulse is to brilliantly lighted up, and the music, not of rush to the cabin, take out the image and a very solemn description, peals forth from clasp it to their lips, while uttering a prayer the open windows and doors. Numbers of for protection. The negroes and mulattoes young gaudily-dressed negresses line the are similar in this respect to the low Portu- path to the church doors with stands of guese, but I think they show a purer devo- liqueurs, sweetmeats, and cigarettes, which tional feeling; and in conversation I have they sell to the outsiders. A short distance always found them to be more rational in re- off is heard the rattle of dice-boxes and rouligious views than the lower orders of Portu- lette at the open-air gambling stalls. When guese. As to the Indians, with the excep- the festival happens on moonlit nights, the tion of the more civilized families residing whole scene is very striking to a new-comer. near the large towns, they exhibit no relig- Around the square are groups of tall palmious sentiment at all. They have their own trees, and beyond it, over the illuminated patron saint, St. Thomé, and celebrate has an- houses, appear the thick groves of mangoes niversary in the orthodox way, for they are near the suburban avenues, from which comes fond of observing all the formalities; but the perpetual ringing din of insect life. The they think the feasting to be of equal impor- soft tropical moonlight lends a wonderful tance with the church ceremonies. At some charm to the whole. The inhabitants are all of the festivals masquerading forms a large out, dressed in their best. The upper classes, part of the proceedings, and then the Indians who come to enjoy the fine evening and the really shine. They get up capital imitations general cheerfulness, are seated on chairs of wild animals, dress themselves to repre- around the doors of friendly houses. There sent the Caypór and other fabulous creatures is no boisterous conviviality, but a quiet enof the forest, and act their parts throughout joyment seems to be felt everywhere, and a with great cleverness. When St. Thomé's gentle courtesy rules among all classes and festival takes place, every employer of In- colors. I have seen a splendidly dressed dians knows that all his men will get drunk. colonel, from the President's palace, walk up The Indian, generally too shy to ask directly to a mulatto and politely ask his permission for cashaça (rum), is then very bold; he asks to take a light from his cigar. When the for a frasco at once (two bottles and a half), service is over, the church bells are set ringand says, if interrogated, that he is going to ing, a shower of rockets mounts upward, fuddle in honor of St. Thomé. the bands strike up, and parties of colored people in the booths begin their dances. About ten o'clock the Brazilian national air is played, and all disperse quietly and soberly to their homes. In the city of Pará, the provincial govern ment assists to augment the splendor of the religious holidays. The processions which traverse the principal streets consist, in the first place, of the image of the saint, and those of several other subordinate ones belonging to the same church; these are borne on the shoulders of respectable householders, who volunteer for the purpose: sometimes you will see your neighbor the grocer or the carpenter groaning under the load. The priest and his crowd of attendants precede the images, arrayed in embroidered robes, and protected by magnificent sunshades-no useless ornament here, for the heat is very great when the sun is not obscured. On each side of the long line the citizens walk, clad in crimson silk cloaks, and holding each a large lighted wax candle. Behind follows a regiment or two of foot soldiers with their bands of music, and last of all the crowd, the colored people being cleanly dressed and preserving a grave demeanor. The women are always in great force, their luxuriant black hair decorated with jasmines, white orchids, and other tropical flowers. They are dressed in their usual holiday attire, gauze chemises and black silk petticoats; their necks are adorned with links of gold beads, which when they are slaves are generally the property of their mistresses, who love thus to display their wealth. At the festival of Corpus Christi there was a very pretty arrangement. The large green square of the Trinidade was lighted up all round with bonfires. On one side a fine pavilion was erected, the upright posts consisting of real fan-leaved palm-trees, the Mauritia flexuosa, which had been brought from the forest, stems and heads entire, and fixed in the ground. The booth was illuminated with colored lamps, and lined with red and white cloth. In it were seated the ladies, not all of pure Caucasian blood, but presenting a fine sample of Pará beauty and fashion. The grandest of all these festivals is that held in honor of Our Lady of Nazareth it is, I believe, peculiar to Pará. As I have said before, it falls in the second quarter of the moon, about the middle of the dry season-that is, in October or November-and lasts, like the others, nine days. On the first day a very extensive procession takes place, starting from the cathedral, whither the image of the saint has been conveyed some days previously, and terminating at the chapel or hermitage, as it is called, of the saint at Nazareth, a distance of more than two miles. The whole population turns out on this occasion. All the soldiers, both of the line and the National Guard, take part in it, each battalion accompanied by its band of A music. The civil authorities also, with the President at their head, and the principal citizens, including many of the foreigu residents, join in the line. The boat of the shipwrecked Portuguese vessel is carried after the saint on the shoulders of officers or men f of the Brazilian navy, and along with it are borne the other symbols of the miracles which Our Lady is supposed to have performed. The procession starts soon after the sun's heat begins to moderate-that is, about half-past four o'clock in the afternoon. When the image is deposited in the chapel the festival is considered to be inaugurated, and the village every evening becomes the resort of the pleasure-loving population, the holiday portion of the programme being preceded, of course, by a religious service in the chapel. The aspect of the place is then that of a fair; without the humor and fun, but, at the same time, without the noise and Coarseness, of similar holidays in England. Large rooms are set apart for panoramic and other exhibitions, to which the public are admitted gratis. In the course of each evening large displays of fireworks take place, all arranged according to a published programme of the festival. The various ceremonies which take place during Lent seemed to me the most impressive, and some of them were exceedingly well arranged. The people, both performers and spectators, conduct themselves with more gravity on these occasions, and there is no holiday-making. Performances representing the last events in the life of Christ are enacted in the churches or streets, in such a way as to remind one of the old miracle plays or mysteries. A few days before Good Friday, a torchlight procession takes place by night, from one church to another, in which is carried a large wooden image of Christ bent under the weight of the cross. The chief members of the Government assist, and the whole slowly moves to the sound of muffled drums. A double procession is managed a few days afterward. The image of St. Mary is carried in one direction, and that of the Saviour in another. The two images meet in the middle of one of the most beautiful churches, which is previously filled to excess with the multitude anxious to witness the affecting meeting of mother and son a few days before the crucifixion. The images are brought face to face in the middle of the church, the crowd falls prostrate, and the lachrymose sermon is delivered from the pulpit. The whole thing, as well as many other spectacles arranged during the few succeeding days, is highly theatrical, and well calculated to excite the religious emotions of the people, although, perhaps, only temporarily. On Good Friday the bells do not ring, all musical sounds are interdicted, and the hours, night and day, are announced by the dismal noise of wooden clappers wielded by negroes stationed near the different churches. A sermon is delivered in each church. In the middle of it, a scroll is suddenly unfolded from the pulpit, on which is an exaggerated picture of the bleeding Christ. This act is accompanied by loud groans which come from stout-lunged individua.s concealed in the vestry and engaged for the purpose. The priest becomes greatly excited, and actually sheds tears. On one of these occasions I squeezed myself into the crowd, and watched the effect of the spectacle on the audience. Old Portuguese mcn and Brazilian women seemed very much affected-sobbing, beating their breasts, and telling their heads. The negroes behaved themselves with great propriety, but seemed moved more particularly by the pomp, the gilding, the dresses, and the general display. Young Brazilians laughed. Several aborigines were there, coolly looking on. 'old Indian, who was standing near me, said, in a derisive manner, when the sermon was over. "It's all very good; better it could not be" (Está todo bom; melhor nao pude ser). One The negroes of Pará are very devout. They have built, by slow degrees, a fine church, as I was told, by their own unaided exertions. It is called Nossa Senhora do Rosario, or Our Lady of the Rosary. During the first weeks of our residence at Pará, Ï frequently observed a line of negroes and negresses, late at night, marching along the streets, singing a chorus. Each carried on his or her head a quantity of building materials-stones, bricks, mortar, or planks. [ found they were chiefly slaves, who, after their hard day's work, were contributing a little toward the construction of their church. The materials had all been purchased by their own savings. The interior was finished about a year afterward, and is decorated, I thought, quite as superbly as the other churches which were constructed, with far larger means, by the old religious orders more than a century ago. Annually the negroes celebrate the festival of Nossa Senhora do Rosario, and generally make it a complete success. I will now add a few more notes which I have accumulated on the subject of the natural history, and then we shall have done, for the present, with Pará and its neighborhood. I have already mentioned that monkeys were rare in the immediate vicinity of Pará. I met with three species only in the forest near the city; they are shy animals, and avoid the neighborhood of towns, where they are subject to much persecution by the inhabitants, who kill them for food. The only kind which I saw frequently was the little Midas ursulus, one of the Marmosets, a family peculiar to tropical America, and differing in many essential points of structure and habits from all other apes. They are small in size, and more like squirrels than true monkeys in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squir rels, and the thumbs of the fore extremities, 1 within reach. The expression of countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing. This is partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given us one of 60°; but the quick movements of the head, and the way they have of inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited, contribute very much to give them a knowing ex. pression. 64 or hands, are not opposable to the other fingers. I do not mean to imply that they have a near relationship to squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an inferior order of mammals; their resemblance to those animals is merely a superficial one. They have two molar teeth less in each jaw than the Cebidæ, the other family of American monkeys; they agree with them, however, in the sideway position of the nostrils, a character which On the Upper Amazons I once saw a tame distinguishes both from all the monkeys of individual of the Midas leoninus, a species the old world. The body is long and slender, first described by Humboldt, which was still clothed with soft hairs, and the tail, which is more playful and intelligent than the one just nearly twice the length of the trunk, is not described. This rare and beautiful little prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger monkey is only seven inches in length, exin volume than the anterior pair. The Midus clusive of the tail. It is named leoninus cn ursulus is never seen in large flocks; three account of the long brown mane which deor four are the greatest number observed to pends from the neck, and which gives it very gether. It seems to be less afraid of the much the appearance of a diminutive lion. neighborhood of man than any other mon- In the house where it was kept it was familiar key. I sometimes saw it in the woods which with every one; its greatest pleasure seeming border the suburban streets, and once I espied to be to climb about the bodies of different two individuals in a thicket behind the Eng. persons who entered. The first time I went lish consul's house at Nazareth. Its mode in, it ran across the room straightway to the of progression along the main boughs of the chair on which I had sat down, and climbed lofty trees is like that of the squirrel; it does up to my shoulder; arrived there, it turned not ascend to the slender branches, or take round and looked into my face, showing its those wonderful flying leaps which the Ce- little teeth, and chattering, as though it bide do, whose prehensile tails and flexible would say, Well, and how do you do?” hands fit them for such headlong travelling. It showed more affection toward its master It confines itself to the larger boughs and than toward strangers, and would climb up trunks of trees, the long nails being of great to his head a dozen times in the course of an assistance to the creature, enabling it to cling hour, making a great show every time of securely to the bark; and it is often seen searching there for certain animalculæ. Isipassing rapidly round the perpendicular cylin- dore Geoffroy St. Hilaire relates of a species drical trunks. It is a quick, restless, timid of this genus, that it distinguished between little creature, and has a great share of curi- different objects depicted on an engraving. osity, for when a person passes by under the M. Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat trees along which a flock is running, they and a wasp; at these it became much terrialways stop for a few moments to have a fied: whereas, at the sight of a figure of a stare at the intruder. In Pará, Midas ursulus grasshopper or beetle, it precipitated itself is often seen in a tame state in the houses of on the picture, as if to seize the objects there the inhabitants. When full grown, it is represented. about nine inches long, independently of the tail, which measures fifteen inches. The fur is thick, and black in color, with the exception of a reddish-brown streak down the middle of the back. When first taken, or when kept tied up, it is very timid and irritable. It will not allow itself to be approached, but keeps retreating backward when any one attempts to coax it. It is always in a querulous humor, uttering a twittering, complaining noise; its dark, watch. ful eyes, expressive of distrust, observant of every movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly, however, as it generally is in the houses of the natives, it becomes very tame and familiar. I once saw one as playful as a kitten, running about the house after the negro children, who fondled it to their hearts content. It acted somewhat differently toward strangers, and seemed not to like them to sit in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up, trying to bite, and otherwise annoying them. It is generally fed on sweet fruits, such as the banana but it is also fond of insects, especially soft-bodied spiders and grasshoppers, which it will snap up with eagerness when Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near Pará, a great number may be seen semi-domesticated in the city. The Brazil ians are fond of pet animals. Monkeys, however, have not been known to breed in captivity in this country. I counted, in a short time, thirteen different species, while walking about the Pará streets, either at the doors or windows of houses, or in the native canoes. Two of them I did not meet with afterward in any other part of the country. One of these was the well-known Hapale Jacchus, a little creature resembling a kitten, banded with black and gray all over the body and tail, and having a fringe of long white hairs surrounding the ears. It was soated on the shoulder of a young mulatto girl, as she was walking along the street, and I was told had been captured in the island of Marajo. The other was a species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It had ruddy-brown fur, paler on the face, but presenting a blackish tuft on the top of the forehead. In the wet season serpents are common in the neighborhood of Pará. One morning, in April, 1849, after a night of deluging rain. |