Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/24

 piece. This is the war trumpet of many tribes of Indians, with which the sentinels of predatory hordes, mounted on a lofty tree, give the signal for attack to their comrades. Those Brazilians who are old enough to remember the times of warfare between Indians and settlers, retain a great horror of the turé, its loud harsh note heard in the dead of the night having been often the prelude to an onslaught of bloodthirsty Múras on the outlying settlements. The rest of the men in the procession carried bows and arrows, bunches of javelins, clubs, and paddles. The older children brought with them the household pets; some had monkeys or coatis on their shoulders, and others bore tortoises on their heads. The squaws carried their babies in aturás, or large baskets, slung on their backs, and secured with a broad belt of bast over their foreheads. The whole thing was accurate in its representation of Indian life, and showed more ingenuity than some people give the Brazilian red man credit for. It was got up spontaneously by the Indians, and simply to amuse the people of the place.

The entire produce in cacao, salt fish, and other articles of a very large district, passes through the hands of the Santarem merchants, and a large trade, for this country, is done with the Indians on the Tapajos in salsaparilla, balsam of copaüba, India-rubber, farinha, and other productions. I was told the average annual yield of the Tapajos in salsaparilla, was about 2000 arrobas (of 32 lbs. each). The quality of the drug found in the forests of the Tapajos, is much superior to that of the Upper Amazons, and always fetches double the price at Pará. The merchants send out young Brazilians and Portuguese