Under Some Cocoa-Palms And Tamarind-Trees, Were Seated White And Coloured People, Separate And In Groups, Mostly Occupied In Satisfying Their Hunger.

Some had got broken basins or pumpkin-gourds before them, in which they kneaded up with their hands boiled beans and manioc flour; this thick and disgusting- looking mess they devoured with avidity.

Others were eating pieces of meat, which they likewise tore with their hands, and threw into their mouths alternately with handfuls of manioc flour. The children, who also had their gourds before them, were obliged to defend the contents valiantly; for at one moment a hen would peck something out, and, at the next, a dog would run off with a bit, or sometimes even a little pig would waggle up, and invariably give a most contented grunt when it had not performed the journey for nothing.

While I was making these observations, I suddenly heard a merry cry outside the court-yard; I proceeded to the place from which it issued, and saw two boys dragging towards me a large dark brown serpent; certainly more than seven feet long, at the end of a bast- rope. It was already dead, and, as far as I could learn from the explanations of those about me, it was of so venomous a kind, that if a person is bitten by it, he immediately swells up and dies.

I was rather startled at what I heard, and determined at least not to set out through the wood just as evening was closing in, as I might have to take up my quarters for the night under some tree; I therefore deferred my visit to the savages until the next morning. The good people imagined that I was afraid of the savages, and earnestly assured me that they were a most harmless race, from whom I had not the least to fear. As my knowledge of Portuguese was limited to a few words, I found it rather difficult to make myself understood, and it was only by the help of gesticulations, with now and then a small sketch, that I succeeded in enlightening them as to the real cause of my fear.

I passed the night, therefore, with these half savages, who constantly showed me the greatest respect, and overwhelmed me with attention. A straw mat, which, at my request, was spread out under shelter in the court-yard, was my bed. They brought me for supper a roast fowl, rice, and hard eggs, and for dessert, oranges and tamarind-pods; the latter contain a brown, half sweet, half sour pulp, very agreeable to the taste. The women lay all round me, and by degrees we managed to get on wonderfully together.

I showed them the different flowers and insects I had gathered during the day. This, doubtless, induced them to look upon me as a learned person, and, as such, to impute to me a knowledge of medicine. They begged me to prescribe for different cases of illness:

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Words from 26429 to 26930 of 187810