When the Portuguese first ascended the Amazons, towards the middle of the 17th century, they found the banks of the Tapajos, in the neighbourhood of Santarem, peopled by a warlike tribe of Indians, called the Tapajocos. From these, the river and the settlement (Santarem in the Indian language is called Tapajds) derive their name. The Tapajos, however, amongst the Brazilian settlers in this part, is most generally known by the Portuguese name of Rio Preto, or the Black River. According to Acunna, the historian of the Teixeira expedition (in 1637-9), the Tapajécos were very numerous, one village alone having contained more than five hundred families. Their weapons were poisoned darts. Notwithstanding their numbers and courage, they quickly gave way before the encroaching Portuguese settlers, who are said to have treated them with great barbarity. The name of the tribe is no longer known in the neighbourhood, but it is probable their descendants still linger on the banks of the Lower Tapajos, a traditional hatred towards the Portuguese having been preserved amongst the semi-civilised inhabitants to the present day. The fact of the Urarti poison having been in use amongst the Tapajocos is curious, inasmuch as it shows there was at that time communication between distant tribes along the course of the main Amazons. The Indians now living on the banks of the Tapajos are ignorant of the Urarf, the drug being prepared only by tribes which live on the rivers flowing into the Upper Amazons from the north, 1200 miles distant from the Tapajos.

The city of Santarem suffered greatly during the disorders of 1835-6. According to the accounts I received, it must have been just before that time a much more flourishing place than it is now. There were many more large proprietors, rich in slaves and cattle; the produce of - Cacao was greater; and a much larger trade was done with the miners of Matto Grosso, who descended the Tapajos with their gold and

diamonds, to exchange for salt, hardware, and other heavy European goods. An old Scotch gentleman, Captain Hislop, who had lived here for about thirty-five years, told me that Santarem was then a most delightful place to live in. Provisions were abundant and cheap; labour was easily obtained; and the greatest order, friendliness, and contentment prevailed. The political squabble amongst the whites, which began the troubles, ended, in this part of the country, in a revolt of the Indians. At the beginning of the disorders two parties were formed, one tolerant of the “ Bicudos” (long-snouts), as the Portuguese were nicknamed, and supporters of the legal Brazilian Government; the other in favour of revolution, expulsion of the Portuguese, and native rule. The latter co-operated with a large body of rebels who had collected at a place on the banks of the river, not far distant; and on a certain day, according to agreement, the town was invaded by the horde of scoundrels and mistaken patriots. All the Portuguese and those who befriended them, that these infuriated people could lay their hands on, were brutally massacred. A space filled with mounds, amongst the myrtle bushes in the woods behind Santarem, now marks the spot where these poor fellows were confusedly buried. I could give a long account of the horrors of this time as they were related to me; but I think the details would not serve any useful purpose. It must not be thought, however, that the Amazonian people are habitually a bloodthirsty race; on the contrary, the peaceableness and gentleness of character of the inhabitants of this province, in quiet times, are proverbial throughout Brazil. The rarity or absence of deeds of violence from year to year is always commented upon by the President in his annual report to the Central Government.

When the Cabanas or rebels entered the town, the friends of lawful government retired to a large block of buildings near the water-side, which they held for many days, to cover the embarcation of their families and movables. The negro slaves generally remained faithful to their masters. Whilst the embarcation was going on many daring feats were performed, chiefly by coloured people: one brave fellow, a mameluco, named Paca, made a bold dash one day, with a few young men of the same stamp, and secured five or six of the rebel leaders, who were carried, gagged and handcuffed, on board a schooner in the port. But the legal party were greatly outnumbered and deficient in arms and ammunition, and they were obliged, soon after Paca’s feat, entirely to evacuate the town; retiring to the village of Prayinha, about 150 miles down the river. Those citizens of Santarem who sympathised with the rebels were obliged to follow soon after, as the revolt took the shape of a war between Indians and whites. ‘The red skins, however, made an exception in favour of the few English and French residents. Captain Hislop remained in the town during its occupation by the Cabanas, and told me that he was treated very well by the Indians and rebel chiefs. After Santarem was recaptured, about nine months subsequent to these events, by a small sea and land force sent from Rio Janeiro, aided by the townspeople who were picked up at Prayinha, it was again attacked by a large force of Indians. This affair showed the blind fear-

lessness and obstinacy of the Indian character in a striking manner. An attack was expected, as the rebels were known to be concealed in great numbers in the neighbouring woods; so the Commandante of the garrison (Captain Lead) had the whites’ quarter strongly stockaded, and every man slept under arms.. The Indians acted as though inspired by a diabolical fanaticism; they had no arms, except wooden spears, clubs, and bows and arrows; for their powder and lead had been exhausted long before. With these rude weapons they came through forest and campo to the storming of the now fortified town. The attack was made at sunrise; the sentinels were killed or driven in, and the swarms of red skins climbed the stockade and thronged down the principal street. They were soon met by a strong and well-armed force, well posted in houses or behind walls, and the reckless savages were shot down by hundreds. It was not until the street was encumbered by the heaps of slain that the rest turned their backs and fled. Their numbers were estimated at 2,000 men; the remnant of the force escaped across the campos to the village of Altar do Chao, twenty miles distant, whence they scattered themselves along the shores of the Tapajos, and gave great trouble to the Brazilians for many years afterwards. Several expeditions were sent from Santarem to reduce them, a task in which the Government was aided by the friendly Munduructis of the Upper Tapajos, a large body of whom, under the leadership of their Tushata Joaquim, made war on the hostile Indians on the lower parts both of the Madeira and the Tapajos, until they were nearly exterminated.

The country around Santarem is not clothed with dense and lofty forest, like the rest of the great humid river plain of the Amazons. It is a campo region; a slightly elevated and undulating tract of land, wooded only in patches, or with single scattered trees. A good deal of the country on the borders of the Tapajos, which flows from the great cainpo area of Interior Brazil, is of this description. On this account I consider the eastern side of the river, towards its mouth, to be a northern prolongation of the continental land, and not a portion of the alluvial flats of the Amazons. The soil is a coarse gritty sand; the substratum, which is visible in some places, consisting of sandstone conglomerate probably of the same formation as that which underlies the Tabatinga clay in other parts of the river valley. The surface is carpeted with slender hairy grasses, unfit for pasture, growing to a uniform height of about a foot. The patches of wood look like copses in the middle of green meadows; they are called by the natives ‘‘ ilhas de mato,” or islands of jungle; the name being, no doubt, suggested by their compactness of outline, neatly demarcated in insular form from the smooth carpet of grass around them. They are composed of a great variety of trees, loaded with succulent parasites, and lashed together by woody climbers like the forest in other parts. A narrow belt of dense wood, similar in character to these ilhas, and like them sharply limited along its borders, runs everywhere parallel and close to the river. In crossing the campo, the path from the town ascends a little for a mile or two, passing through this marginal strip of wood; the grassy land then slopes gradually to a broad valley, watered by rivulets, whose banks are clothed with lofty and luxuriant forest. Beyond this, a range of hijls

extends as far as the eye can reach towards the yet untrodden interior. Some of these hills are long ridges, wooded or bare; others are isolated conical peaks, rising abruptly from the valley. The highest are probably not more than a thousand feet above the level of the river. One remarkable hill, the Serra de Muruara, about fifteen miles from Santarem, which terminates the prospect to the south, is of the same truncated pyramidal form as the range of hills near Almeyrim. Complete solitude reigns over the whole of this stretch of beautiful country. The inhabitants of Santarem know nothing of the interior, and seem to feel little curiosity concerning it. A few tracks from the town across the campo lead to some small clearings four or five miles off, belonging to the poorer inhabitants of the place; but, excepting these, there are no roads, or signs of the proximity of a civilised settlement.

The sandy soil and scanty clothing of trees are probably the causes of the great dryness of the climate. In some years no rain falls from August to February; whilst in other parts of the Amazons plains, both above and below this middle part of the river, heavy showers are frequent throughout the dry season. I have often watched the rain-clouds in November and December, when the shrubby vegetation is parched up by the glowing sun of the preceding three months, rise as they approached the hot air over the campos, or diverge from it to discharge their contents on the low forest-clad islands of the opposite shore. The trade-wind, however, blows with great force during the dry months; the hotter the weather the stronger is the breeze, until towards the end of the season it amounts to a gale, stopping the progress of downward-bound vessels.

Some of the trees which grow singly on the campos are very curious. The caju is very abundant; indeed, some parts of the district might be called orchards of this tree, which seems to prefer sandy or gravelly soils. There appear to be several distinct species of it growing in company, to judge by the differences in the colour, flavour, and size of the fruit. This, when ripe, has the colour and figure of a codlin apple, but it has a singular appearance owing to the large kidney-shaped kernel growing outside the pulpy portion of the fruit. It ripens in January, and the poorer classes of Santarem then resort to the campos and gather immense quantities, to make a drink or ‘‘wine,” as it is called, which is considered a remedy in certain cutaneous disorders. The kernels are roasted and eaten. Another wild fruit-tree is the Murishi (Byrsomina), which yields an abundance of small yellow acid berries. A decoction of its bark dyes cloth a maroon colour. It is employed for this purpose chiefly by the Indians, and coarse cotton shirts tinted with it were the distinctive badges of the native party during the revolution. A very common tree in the Ilhas do Mato is the Breio branco, which secretes from the inner bark a white resin, resembling camphor in smell and appearance. The fruit is a small black berry, and the whole tree, fruit, leaf, and stem, has the same aromatic fragrance. By loosening the bark and allowing the resin to flow freely, I collected a large quantity, and found it of great service in preserving my insect collections from the attacks of ants and mites. Another tree, much rarer than the Breio branco, namely the Umiri (Humirium floribundum), growing in the same

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