As we landed, Pedro-uassu himself came down to the port to receive us, our arrival having been announced by the barking of dogs.He was a tall and thin old man, with a serious, but benignant expression of countenance, and a manner much freer from shyness and distrust than is usual with Indians.He was clad in a shirt of coarse cotton cloth, dyed with murishi, and trousers of the same material turned up to the knee.His features were sharply delineated-- more so than in any Indian face I had yet seen; the lips thin and the nose rather high and compressed.Alarge, square, blue-black tattooed patch occupied the middle of his face, which, as well as the other exposed parts of his body, was of a light reddish-tan colour, instead of the usual coppery-brown hue.He walked with an upright, slow gait, and on reaching us saluted Cardozo with the air of a man who wished it to be understood that he was dealing with an equal.My friend introduced me, and I was welcomed in the same grave, ceremonious manner.He seemed to have many questions to ask, but they were chiefly about Senora Felippa, Cardozo's Indian housekeeper at Ega, and were purely complimentary.This studied politeness is quite natural to Indians of the advanced agricultural tribes.The language used was Tupi-- I heard no other spoken all the day.It must be borne in mind that Pedro-uassu had never had much intercourse with whites; he was, although baptised, a primitive Indian who had always lived in retirement, the ceremony of baptism having been gone through, as it generally is by the aborigines, simply from a wish to stand well with the whites.
Arrived at the house, we were welcomed by Pedro's wife: a thin, wrinkled, active old squaw, tattooed in precisely the same way as her husband.She also had sharp features, but her manner was more cordial and quicker than that of her husband: she talked much, and with great inflection of voice; while the tones of the old man were rather drawling and querulous.Her clothing was a long petticoat of thick cotton cloth, and a very short chemise, not reaching to her waist.I was rather surprised to find the grounds around the establishment in neater order than in any sitio, even of civilised people, I had yet seen on the Upper Amazons; the stock of utensils and household goods of all sorts was larger, and the evidences of regular industry and plenty more numerous than one usually perceives in the farms of civilised Indians and whites.The buildings were of the same construction as those of the humbler settlers in all other parts of the country.The family lived in a large, oblong, open shed built under the shade of trees.Two smaller buildings, detached from the shed and having mud-walls with low doorways, contained apparently the sleeping apartments of different members of the large household.
A small mill for grinding sugar-cane, having two cylinders of hard notched wood, wooden troughs, and kettles for boiling the guarapa (cane juice) to make treacle, stood under a separate shed, and near it was a large enclosed mud-house for poultry.
There was another hut and shed a short distance off, inhabited by a family dependent on Pedro, and a narrow pathway through the luxuriant woods led to more dwellings of the same kind.There was an abundance of fruit trees around the place, including the never-failing banana, with its long, broad, soft green leaf-blades, and groups of full-grown Pupunhas, or peach palms.There was also a large number of cotton and coffee trees.Among the utensils I noticed baskets of different shapes, made of flattened maranta stalks, and dyed various colours.The making of these is an original art of the Passes, but I believe it is also practised by other tribes, for I saw several in the houses of semi-civilised Indians on the Tapajos.
There were only three persons in the house besides the old couple, the rest of the people being absent; several came in, however, in the course of the day.One was a daughter of Pedro's, who had an oval tattooed spot over her mouth; the second was a young grandson; and the third the son-in-law from Ega, Cardozo's compadre.The old woman was occupied, when we entered, in distilling spirits from cara, an edible root similar to the potato, by means of a clay still, which had been manufactured by herself.The liquor had a reddish tint, but not a very agreeable flavour.A cup of it, warm from the still, however, was welcome after our long journey.Cardozo liked it, emptied his cup, and replenished it in a very short time.The old lady was very talkative, and almost fussy in her desire to please her visitors.
