“This unfortunate permission at once destroyed all intercourse between the natives and the Brazilians. The Indians were everywhere hunted down for the sake of their salvation; wars were excited among the tribes, for the laudable purpose of bringing in each other captives, to be converted to Christianity; and the most sacred objects were prostituted to the base cupidity of man, by even this humane and limited permission of reducing his fellow-creatures to slavery.
“In the distant provinces, particularly on the banks of the Maranhão, it is still practised, and white men set out for the woods, to seek their fortunes; that is, to hunt Indians and return with slaves. The consequence was, that all who could escape, retired to the remotest forests; and there is not one to be now found in a state of nature, in all the wooded region.
“It frequently happened, as we passed along, that dark wreaths of what appeared like smoke, arose from among distant trees on the sides of the mountains, and they seemed to us to be decisive marks of Indian wigwams; but we found them to be nothing more than misty exhalations, which shot up in thin, circumscribed columns, exactly resembling smoke issuing from the aperture of a chimney.
“We met, however, one in the woods with a copper-colored face, high cheekbones, small dark eyes approaching each other, a vacant, stupid cast of countenance, and long, lank, black hair, hanging on his shoulders. He had on him some approximation to a Portuguese dress, and belonged to one of the aldêas formed in this region; but he had probably once wandered about these woods in a state of nature, where he was now going peaceably along on an European road.
“We had passed along through Valença, one of these aldêas of the Indians of the valley of Parahiba, Christianized and taught the arts of civilized life. Another, called the Aldêa da Pedra, is situated on the river, nearer to its mouth, where the people still retain their erratic habits, though apparently conforming to our usages.
“They live in huts, thatched with palm leaves; and when not engaged in hunting and fishing, which is their chief and favorite employment, they gather ipecacuanha, and fell timber. They are docile and pacific, having no cruel propensities, but are disposed to be hospitable to strangers. Their family attachments are not very strong, either for their wives or children, as they readily dispose of both to a traveller for a small compensation.”[2]
One of the most ferocious tribes of Brazil was the Botucudoes,[3] thought to be the remains of a powerful and most cruel tribe, which the early settlers called Aymores. This tribe disfigured themselves by making a large hole in the under lip, and wearing therein a piece of white wood or some ornament. They also cut large holes in their ears, and stick feathers in the aperture for ornaments. They used to go entirely naked, and, brown as the beasts of the forest, were frightful objects to behold.
“The Brazilian government deserves credit for the manner in which it has managed these Indians. They lived on the Rio Doce, and laid waste every settlement attempted in that beautiful and fertile region. In 1809, a party of Europeans were sent up the river, and they found one hundred and fifty farms in ruins, whose proprietors had either perished or fled. Detachments were accordingly ordered in all directions, to restrain their inroads and to punish their aggressions, and every encouragement was held out, to establish new settlements and civilize them.
“Every village consisting of twelve huts of Indians and ten of Whites, was to be considered a villa, with all its benefits and privileges, and sesmarios or grants of land were made to such as would become cultivators, giving all the privileges and advantages of original donotorios. New roads were then opened to form more easy communication, and considerable effect was produced on these intractable natives. The Puvis, a neighboring tribe, to the number of one thousand, were located in villages, called aldêas; and the arts and industry of civilized life made more progress among them in a few years from this period, than they had before done in so many centuries.”[4]
In personal appearance, the Brazilian Indians were stout and well made; but the tribes differed considerably in height; some races being shorter than the average measure of the red men, or not more than five feet five inches; and other tribes, particularly the Botucudoes, were uncommonly tall. They all went naked, or nearly so, and were excessively filthy, so that their skins were a deeper shade of brown than the Indians of Mexico and Peru; and, compared with the clean and becomingly clothed Araucanian, these Brazilians seemed indeed savages.