are especially careful when they have strangers under their
charge, and it is the custom of Brazilian and Portuguese
travellers to leave the whole management to them. When they are
alone they are more reckless, and often have to swim for their
lives. If a squall overtakes them as they are crossing in a
heavily-laden canoe, they all jump overboard and swim about until
the heavy sea subsides, then they re-embark.

A few words on the aboriginal population of the Para estuary will
not be out of place here. The banks of the Para were originally
inhabited by a number of distinct tribes, who, in their habits,
resembled very much the natives of the sea-coast from Maranham to
Bahia. It is related that one large tribe, the Tupinambas,
migrated from Pernambuco to the Amazons. One fact seems to be
well-established, namely, that all the coast tribes were far more
advanced in civilisation, and milder in their manners, than the
savages who inhabited the interior lands of Brazil. They were
settled in villages, and addicted to agriculture. They navigated
the rivers in large canoes, called ubas, made of immense
hollowed-out tree trunks; in these they used to go on war
expeditions, carrying in the prows their trophies and calabash
rattles, whose clatter was meant to intimidate their enemies.
They were gentle in disposition, and received the early
Portuguese settlers with great friendliness. The inland savages,
on the other hand, led a wandering life, as they do at the
present time, only coming down occasionally to rob the
plantations of the coast tribes, who always entertained the
greatest enmity towards them.

The original Indian tribes of the district are now either