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The whites of Borba made reprisals, inducing the warlike Mundurucus, who had an old feud with the Araras, to assist them. This state of things lasted two or three years, and made a journey up the Madeira a risky undertaking, as the savages attacked all corners.
The river at this place is from sixty to seventy yards wide, and runs in a zigzag course between steep clayey banks, twenty to fifty feet in height. The houses of the Mundurucus, to the number of about thirty, are scattered along the banks for a distance of six or seven miles.
Since the disorders of 1835-6, when they committed great havoc amongst the peaceable settlements from Santarem to the Rio Negro, and were pursued and slaughtered in great numbers by the Mundurucus in alliance with the Brazilians, they have given no serious trouble.
The Mundurucus seem to have retained more of the general characteristics of the original Tupi stock than the Mauhes. Senor Lima told me, what I afterwards found to be correct, that there were scarcely two words alike in the languages of the two peoples, although there are words closely allied to Tupi in both. The little girl had not the slightest trace of the savage in her appearance.
In the tract of country between the Tapajos and the Madeira, a deadly war has been for many years carried on between the Mundurucus and the Araras. I was told by a Frenchman at Santarem, who had visited that part, that all the settlements there have a military organisation.
It would be a misnomer to call the Mundurucus of the Cupari and many parts of the Tapajos savages; their regular mode of life, agricultural habits, loyalty to their chiefs, fidelity to treaties, and gentleness of demeanour, give them a right to a better title.
Many of the men were dressed in the magnificent feather crowns, tunics, and belts, manufactured by the Mundurucus, and worn by them on festive occasions, but the women were naked to the waist, and the children quite naked, and all were painted and smeared red with anatto.
"The Mundurucus of the Upper Amazon, who are exceedingly ferocious, have been accused of cannibalism. It is they who preserve human heads in such a remarkable way.
About fifty years ago, the Portuguese succeeded in turning the warlike propensities of the Mundurucus against them and these, in the course of many years' persecution, greatly weakened the power of the tribe, and drove a great part of them from their seats on the banks of the Madeira.
Each horde of Mundurucus has its paje or medicine man, who is the priest and doctor; he fixes upon the time most propitious for attacking the enemy; exorcises evil spirits, and professes to cure the sick. All illness whose origin is not very apparent is supposed to be caused by a worm in the part affected.
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