Remember the Rainforest 1

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and had gathered them in spacious huts, similar to whites; most families do not live in houses, but in a vast open shed, where each one is armed with his hammock, and, as they joke, they wrap themselves in the fire on the ground.

Although related to whites, these Juris are, however, considered as Indians of the forest. They walk entirely naked, but a strip of bramble around the kidneys, and a suspender; and, even more than they, the women, who, as we know, are the least clothed among all the American tribes.

Their crop is small; only the banana trees, which produce excellently here, are seen in large clumps around the habitations;

the farms (capixabas), located in the neighborhoods of the huts, were planted with manioc,

Cassava plant

Mandiocca, or cassava root

urucu,

Cotton

and cotton, but only what was necessary, and the cassava was destined more for the preparation of the great cakes, of which they make their Pajuaru than for flour.

The river fishing, which continually runs on two oar canoes, and the grove, full of crops and fruits, provide them with their main food. The Tubixaba depend on Miguel as protector and he has great power over the scattered Indians, who exploit their farms for themselves, but follow him obediently, when he employs them in the fields or expeditions, with which he seeks to bring men from the interior to the colonies. He gives them to the whites for a salary, and dispatches, every three months, four people to Ega, to work in the shipyards.

All here seemed in good order, and the Indians happy and satisfied, living in the midst of nature, as long as they have not at any time or other to suffer by the will of their dreaded leader, who requires them to do business with whites. As I used the large baking oven to roast my plants from the lingering dampness,

I spent most of the day among the Indian women, who with the children had the enjoyment of that side of the ranch. They were five families, and I was an incessant witness of the narrow circle in which the life of the savages revolves. Before the twilight of the dawn, all the adults leave their nets, and go to the river, where they stay a quarter of an hour to bathe; turning from there, they lie down again, and sometimes they listen, sometimes for hours, to the whisper of monotonous voices, when they do not fall asleep again. As soon as the day dawns, the children wake up. The confused baby soon demands the breast of the mother or lunch, which is not given at the moment. The first care of the women is then the painting of the children. Several little pots, filled with

Urucu

urucu crushed like an ointment with the oil of the manatee,

Manatee

provide the material for this ornamentation, in which the masters spend time, until at

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