These characteristics of the Parad Indians are applicable, of course, to some extent, to the Mamelucos, which now constitute a great proportion of the population. The inflexibility 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 organisations, increase, and civilisation 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 Para 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 tome. Is not a similar state of things now exhibited in New Zealand, between the Maoris and the English colonists? It is interesting to read of the bitter contests

that were carried on from the year 1570 to 1759 between the Portuguese immigrants in Brazil, and the Jesuit and other missionaries. They were similar to those which have recently taken place in South Africa, between the Boers and the English missionaries, but they were ona much larger scale. The Jesuits, as far as I could glean from tradition and history, were actuated by the same motives as our missionaries; and they seemed like them to have been, in great measure, successful in teaching the pure and elevated Christian morality to the simple natives. But the attempt was vain to protect the weaker race from the inevitable ruin which awaited it in the natural struggle with the stronger one; which, although calling itself Christian, seemed to have stood in need of missionary instruction quite as much as the natives themselves. In 1759 the white colonists finally prevailed, the Jesuits were forced to leave the country, and the 51 happy mission villages went to ruin. Since then, the aboriginal race has gone on decreasing in numbers under the treatment which it has received; it is now, as I have already stated, protected by the laws of the central government.

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 nymphe, either in leaf or flower. On the banks of these pools grow quantities of a species of fan-leaved palm-tree, the Carand, 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 whilst my clothes were being dried on a bush. The creek Iritiri is not so picturesque as many others which I subsequently explored. ‘Towards 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 colours, like the wings of certain kinds of moths. It is ditficult to see the bird in the woods, on account of its sombre colours and the shadiness of its dwelling-places; but its note, a soft long-drawn whistle, often betrays its hiding-place. I was told by the Indians that it builds in trees, and that its nest, which is made of clay, is beautifully constructed. It is a favourite pet-bird of the Brazilians, who call it Pavad (pronounced pavaong), or peacock. I often 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 “ Pavad! Pavad!” walking up with a dainty circumspect gait, and taking a fly or beetle from the hand.

We made several shorter excursions in the neighbourhood. There was a favourite young negro slave named Hilario (anglicised to Larry),

42 PARA. Cuap. II,

who took an interest in our pursuit. He paddled me one day over the lake, where we shot a small alligator and several Piosocas (Parra Jacana), a waterfowl having very long legs and toes, which give it the appearance of walking on stilts, as it stalks about, striding from one water-lily leaf to another. I was surprised to find no coleopterous insects on the aquatic plants. The situation appeared to be as favourable for them as possibly could be. In England such a richly-mantled pool would have yielded an abundance of Donaciz, Chrysomele, Casside, and other beetles; here I could not find a single specimen. Neither could I find any water-beetles; the only exception was a species of Gyrinus, about the same size as G. natator, the little shining whirligig-beetle of Europe, which was seen in small groups in shady corners, spinning round on the surface of the water precisely as its congener does in England. The absence of leaf-eating beetles on the water plants I afterwards found was general throughout the country. A few are found on large grasses, and Marantaceous plants in some places, but these are generally concealed in the sharp folds of the leaves, and are almost all very flat in shape.* I therefore conclude that the aquatic plants in open places in this country are too much exposed to the sun’s heat to admit of the existence of leaf-eating beetles.

Larry told me the Indian names, and enumerated the properties of a number of the forest trees. One of these was very interesting—viz., the Jutahi, which yields the gum copal, called by the natives Jutahi-sica. There are several species of it, as appears at once from the nature of the fruit. ‘They belong to the order Leguminosz: the pods are woody and excessively hard; inside they contain a number of beans, enveloped in a sweet yellowish floury substance, which is eaten by the inhabitants. The shell burns with a clear flame. Some of the species have large pods, others small oval ones, containing only one bean. The trees are amongst the largest in the forest, growing from 150 to 18o feet in height: the bark is similar to that of our oak. The leaves are in pairs, whence arises the botanical name of the genus, Hymenza. The resin which the various species produce exudes from wounds or gashes made in the bark; but I was told that the trees secrete it also spontaneously from the base of the trunk within, and that large lumps are found in the earth amongst the roots when a tree is uprooted by storms. In the resin, ants and other insects are sometimes embedded, precisely as they are in amber, which substance the Jutahi-sica often resembles, at least in colour and transparency. 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 abundantly between the lowermost cataract and the mouth of the Araguaya, and we agreed to accompany him. Whilst 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 species belong to the families Hispidze and Cassidiade, and to the genera. Cephaloleia, Arescus, Himatidium, Homalispa. Carnivorous beetles, also flat in shape, sometimes accompany them.

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 regions. 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 Parad to ship our collections for England, and prepare for the journey to a new region.

CHAPTER III.

PARA. (concluded.)

Religious holidays—Marmoset monkeys—Serpents—Insects of the forest—Relations of the fauna of the Para district.

BEForE leaving the subject of Parad, where I 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 neighbourhood, which have hitherto been only briefly mentioned. I reserve an account of the trade and improved condition of Para 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-planned processions through the streets, accompanied by thousands of people, military displays, the clatter of fireworks, and the clang of military music, were superadded to pompous religious services in the 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 amidst the splendours 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 towards 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 steam-boats, 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 towards defraying 44

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