language" of Brazil, as the ordinary and corrupt Tupi there spoken is
called. It is a melodious idiom, lending itself easily to rhyme and
rhythm, and several Brazilian writers of European blood have gained
reputation by their compositions in it. But of genuine aboriginal
productions, there are not many.

The entertaining old voyager, Jean de Lery, who visited Brazil with
Villegagnon in 1557, has recorded a few simple airs, which appear to be
merely choruses or refrains of songs, the delivery of which was,
however, so effective, that to hear them carried him out of himself; and
ever, when his memory recalled them, his heart beat, and it seemed that
he heard the wild cadence once again resounding in his ears through the
tropical forests.[79]

Some strange old poetic invocations in archaic Tupi addressed to the
moon and to the god of love, Ruda, who dwells in the clouds, have been
collected and printed by Dr. Couto de Magalhaes, a writer whose studies
on Tupi poetry, its character and development, merit high praise.[80]
Both the songs and music of the modern natives of that country attracted
the attention of the learned Von Martius, and in his volumes of
_Travels in Brazil_ an appendix is devoted to their discussion.[81]
Many excellent hints for preparing a Tupi anthology are also contained
in an erudite note of Ferdinand Denis to his description of the visit of
fifty native Tupis to France, in 1550.[82]




Section 7. _Dramatic Literature_.