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But to perform this journey a lighter canoe than mine would have been necessary, and six or eight Indian paddlers, which in my case it was utterly impossible to obtain. There would be, however, an opportunity of seeing this fine race of people on the Cupari, as a horde was located towards the head waters of this stream.
A sickly time appeared to be now returning; in fact, the year following my visit was the most fatal one ever experienced in this part of the country. A kind of putrid fever broke out, which attacked people of all races alike. The accounts we received at Santarem were most distressing my Cupari friends especially suffered very severely.
He was dressed in shirt and trousers made of blue-checked cotton cloth, and there was not the slightest trace of the savage in his appearance or demeanour. I was told that he had come into the chieftainship by inheritance, and that the Cupari horde of Mundurucus, over which his fathers had ruled before him, was formerly much more numerous, furnishing 300 bows in time of war.
August 2nd Left Aveyros, having resolved to ascend a branch river, the Cupari, which enters the Tapajos about eight miles above this village, instead of going forward along the main stream. I should have liked to visit the settlements of the Mundurucu tribe which lie beyond the first cataract of the Tapajos, if it had been compatible with the other objects I had in view.
They could now scarcely muster forty; but the horde has no longer a close political connection with the main body of the tribe, which inhabits the banks of the Tapajos, six days' journey from the Cupari settlement. I spent the remainder of the day here, sending Aracu and the men to fish, while I amused myself with the Tushaua and his people.
This phenomenon was repeated the next day, and in fact daily, until the creek became dry with the continued subsidence of the Cupari, the time of rising shifting a little from day to day.
Preparations for Voyage-First Day's Sail Loss of Boat Altar de Chao Modes of Obtaining Fish Difficulties with Crew Arrival at Aveyros Excursions in the Neighbourhood White Cebus, and Habits and Dispositions of Cebi Monkeys Tame Parrot Missionary Settlement Entering the River Cupari Adventure with Anaconda Smoke-dried Monkey Boa-constrictor Village of Mundurucu Indians, and Incursion of a Wild Tribe Falls of the Cupari Hyacinthine Macaw Re-emerge into the broad Tapajos Descent of River to Santarem
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