Robert Merry's museum, Volumes III-IV (1842)Various
General
Robert Merry's museum, Volumes III-IV (1842)
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
“They live in huts, thatched with palm leaves; and when not engaged
in hunting and fishing, which is their chief and favorite employment,
they gather ipecacuanha, and fell timber. They are docile and pacific,
having no cruel propensities, but are disposed to be hospitable to
strangers. Their family attachments are not very strong, either for
their wives or children, as they readily dispose of both to a traveller
for a small compensation.”[2]
One of the most ferocious tribes of Brazil was the Botucudoes,[3]
thought to be the remains of a powerful and most cruel tribe, which
the early settlers called Aymores. This tribe disfigured themselves by
making a large hole in the under lip, and wearing therein a piece of
white wood or some ornament. They also cut large holes in their ears,
and stick feathers in the aperture for ornaments. They used to go
entirely naked, and, brown as the beasts of the forest, were frightful
objects to behold.
“The Brazilian government deserves credit for the manner in which it
has managed these Indians. They lived on the Rio Doce, and laid waste
every settlement attempted in that beautiful and fertile region. In
1809, a party of Europeans were sent up the river, and they found one
hundred and fifty farms in ruins, whose proprietors had either perished
or fled. Detachments were accordingly ordered in all directions, to
restrain their inroads and to punish their aggressions, and every
encouragement was held out, to establish new settlements and civilize
them.
“Every village consisting of twelve huts of Indians and ten of Whites,
was to be considered a villa, with all its benefits and privileges,
and sesmarios or grants of land were made to such as would become
cultivators, giving all the privileges and advantages of original
donotorios. New roads were then opened to form more easy communication,
and considerable effect was produced on these intractable natives. The
Puvis, a neighboring tribe, to the number of one thousand, were located
in villages, called aldêas; and the arts and industry of civilized life
made more progress among them in a few years from this period, than
they had before done in so many centuries.”[4]
In personal appearance, the Brazilian Indians were stout and well
made; but the tribes differed considerably in height; some races being
shorter than the average measure of the red men, or not more than
five feet five inches; and other tribes, particularly the Botucudoes,
were uncommonly tall. They all went naked, or nearly so, and were
excessively filthy, so that their skins were a deeper shade of brown
than the Indians of Mexico and Peru; and, compared with the clean and
becomingly clothed Araucanian, these Brazilians seemed indeed savages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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