Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/246

 214 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. July,

boy in Senhor L.'s house, who had killed himself by eating dirt, — a very common and destructive habit among Indians and half-breeds in the houses of the whites. All means had been tried to cure him of the habit ; he had been physicked and whipped, and confined indoors, but when no other opportunity offered he would find a plentiful supply in the mud-walls of the house. The symptoms produced were swelling of the whole body, face, and limbs, so that he could with difficulty walk, and not having so much care taken of him after we left, he ate his fill and died.

The other was an old Indian, the Juiz of the festa of St. Antonio, which took place shortly after we left. He was poisoned with caxiri, into which had been put the juice of a root which produces the most dreadful effects : the tongue and throat swell, putrefy, and rot away, and the same effects seem to take place in the stomach and intestines, till, in two or three days, the patient dies in great agony. The poisoner was not known, but it was suspected to be a young woman, sister of an Indian who died in the village a short time before, and whose death they imagined to be caused by charms or witchcraft ; and the present murder was probably in revenge for this supposed injury. Coroners' inquests are here unknown, and the poor old man was buried, and nothing more thought about the matter ; perhaps, however, his friends may resort to the same means to repay the suspected parties.

A few days afterwards a boy died in Sao Jeronymo, and for several hours a great crying and wailing was made over the body. His maqueira, and bow and arrows, were burnt in a fire made at the back of the house, within which, according to the universal custom of these Indians, he was buried, and the mother continued her mournful wailing for several days.

The only additions I made to my collections during the time I stayed here, were a prehensile-tailed ant-eater, and one of the small nocturnal monkeys called " Jurupari Macaco," or Devil Monkey, a species very closely allied to that called " la," which inhabits the Solimues. After waiting anxiously a fortnight, Bernado made his appearance with three of his wives and a host of children : he had been unsuccessful in his projected attack, the parties having obtained notice of his motions and absconded. He had taken every precaution, by entering in a different river from that in which the attack was