It is very interesting to read of the bitter contests that were carried on from the year 1570 to 1759, between the Portuguese immigrants in Brazil, and the Jesuit and other missionaries.They were similar to those which have recently taken place in South Africa, between the Beers and the English missionaries, but they were on a much larger scale.The Jesuits, as far as I could glean from tradition and history, were actuated by the same motives as our missionaries; and they seemed like them to have been, in great measure, successful, in teaching the pure and elevated Christian morality to the simple natives.But the attempt was vain to protect the weaker race from the inevitable ruin which awaited it in the natural struggle with the stronger one; in 1759, the white colonists finally prevailed, the Jesuits were forced to leave the country, and the fifty-one happy mission villages went to ruin.Since then, the aboriginal race has gone on decreasing in numbers under the treatment which it has received; it is now, as I have already stated, protected by the laws of the central government.
On our second visit to the mills, we stayed ten days.There is a large reservoir and also a natural lake near the place, both containing aquatic plants, whose leaves rest on the surface like our water lilies, but they are not so elegant as our nymphaea, either in leaf or flower.On the banks of these pools grow quantities of a species of fan-leaved palm tree, the Carana, whose stems are surrounded by whorls of strong spines.Isometimes took a montaria, and paddled myself alone down the creek.One day I got upset, and had to land on a grassy slope leading to an old plantation, where I ran about naked while my clothes were being dried on a bush.The Iritiri Creek is not so picturesque as many others which I subsequently explored.Towards the Magoary, the banks at the edge of the water are clothed with mangrove bushes, and beneath them the muddy banks into which the long roots that hang down from the fruit before it leaves the branches strike their fibres, swarm with crabs.On the lower branches the beautiful bird, Ardea helias, is found.This is a small heron of exquisitely graceful shape and mien; its plumage is minutely variegated with bars and spots of many colours, like the wings of certain kinds of moths.It is difficult to see the bird in the woods, on account of its sombre colours, and the shadiness of its dwelling-places; but its note, a soft long-drawn whistle, often betrays its hiding place.I was told by the Indians that it builds in trees, and that the nest, which is made of clay, is beautifully constructed.It is a favourite pet-bird of the Brazilians, who call it Pavao (pronounced Pavaong), or peacock.I often had opportunities to observe its habits.It soon becomes tame, and walks about the floors of houses picking up scraps of food or catching insects, which it secures by walking gently to the place where they settle, and spearing them with its long, slender beak.It allows itself to be handled by children, and will answer to its name "Pavao! Pavao!" walking up with a dainty, circumspect gait, and taking a fly or beetle from the hand.
During these rambles by land and water we increased our collections considerably.Before we left the mills, we arranged a joint excursion to the Tocantins.Mr.Leavens wished to ascend that river to ascertain if the reports were true, that cedar grew abundantly between the lowermost cataract and the mouth of the Araguava, and we agreed to accompany him.
While we were at the mills, a Portuguese trader arrived with a quantity of worm-eaten logs of this cedar, which he had gathered from the floating timber in the current of the main Amazons.The tree producing this wood, which is named cedar on account of the similarity of its aroma to that of the true cedars, is not, of course, a coniferous tree, as no member of that class is found in equatorial America, at least in the Amazons region.It is, according to Von Martius, the Cedrela Odorata, an exogen belonging to the same order as the mahogany tree.The wood is light, and the tree is therefore, on falling into the water, floated down with the river currents.It must grow in great quantities somewhere in the interior, to judge from the number of uprooted trees annually carried to the sea, and as the wood is much esteemed for cabinet work and canoe building, it is of some importance to learn where a regular supply can be obtained.We were glad of course to arrange with Mr.Leavens, who was familiar with the language, and an adept in river navigation--so we returned to Para to ship our collections for England, and prepare for the journey to a new region.
