The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-01-04

: ornaments suspended from the nose anc
lower lip"
, Next let US take q view Of the mean:
in operation to elevate these people to civ
ilization and christianity. Sarayacu is q
missionary station, governed by four
Franciscan friars, who are thus described
Father Calvo, meek and humble in per-
sonal concerns, yet full of zeal and spirit
for his Office, clad in his long serge gown,
belted with o cord, with bare feet and
accurate tonsure, habitual stoop, and gen
orally bearing upon his shoulder beau
tiful and saucy bird of the parrot kind,
was my beau ideal of missionary monk.
Bregati is young and handsome Italian,
whom Father Calvo sometimes calls st.
John. Lorents is tall, grave and cold
looking Catalan, A lay brother named
MaguiD, who did the cooking, and who
was unwearied in his attention to US,
made up the establishment I was sick
here, and think that / shall ever remem-
Der with gratitude the afectionate kind
ness of these pious and devoted friars of
St. Francis"
The government is paternal. The In.
dians recognize in the "padre" the power
to appoint and remove curacas, captains,
and other officers; to infict stripes, and to
con6ne in the stocks. They obey the
priests, orders readily, and seem tractable
and docile. The Indian men are druken
and lazy, the women do most of the work.
And their reward is to be mal-treated BY
their husbands, and, in their druken frol-
les, to be cruelty beaten, and sometimes
badly wounded.
Our party returned to the Amazon, and
We find occurring in their narrative names
which are familiar to US in the history of
our previous adventures. They touched
at Omaguas, the port where Madame
Godin found kind friends in the good mis-
sionary and the governor, and where she
embarked on her way to the galliot at
Loreto; and they passed the mouth of the
Napo, which enters the Amazon from the
north, the river down which Orellana pas
sed, in the first adventure. The lieuten-
ant says, ave spoke two canoes that had
come from near Quito by the Napo.--
There are few christianized towns on the
Napo, and the rowers of the boats were
more savage-looking set than l had seen"
So slow has been the progress of civiliza-
tion in three hundred years
The Amazon seems to be the land of
monkeys. Our traveller says, 81 bought
young monkey of an Indian woman to-
day. 1t had coarse gray and white hair,
and that on the top of its head was stiff,
like the qui!ls of the porcupine, and
smoothed down in front as if it had been
combed. l offered the little fellow some
plantain, but finding he would not eat,
the woman took him and put him to her
breast, when he sucked away manfully
and with great gusto. She weaned him
in a week, so that he would eat plantain
mashed up and put into his mouth in
small bits, but the little beast died of
modification, because Iwould not let him
sleep with his arms around my neck"
They got from the Indians some of tho
milk from the cow-tree. This the Indians
drink, when fresh; and, brought in a cal
albash, it had foamy appearance, as if
just drawn from the COW. 1t hover CO.
agulates very soon, and becomes as hard
and tenacious as glue. 1t does not ap-
pear to be as important an article of sub
sistence as one would expect from the
name.
December %. They arrived at Loreto,
the frontier town Of the Peruvian terrific
ry, ard which reminds US sgain of Mad
ame Godin, who there joined the Portu-
guese galliot. Loreto is situated on an
eminence on the left bank of the river,
which is here three-fourths of a mile
wide, and one hundred feet deep. There
are three mercantile houses in Loreto,
which do business of about $4,000
year. The houses at Loreto are better
built and better furnished than those of
the towns on the river above The pop
ulation of the place is two hundred and
fifty, made up of Brazilians. mulattoes,
negroes, and few Indians.
AT the next town, Tabatinga, the lieut.
enant entered the territory of Brazil -
When his boat, bearing the American
flag, was described at that place, the
Brazilian flag was hoisted, and when the
lieutenant landed, dressed in uniform, be
was received by the commandant, also in
uniform, to whom he presented his pass
port from the Brazilian minister at Wash
ington. As soon as this document was
perused and the lieutenant's rank ascer-
tained, salute of seven guns was fired
from the fort, and the commandant treat
ed him with great civility, and entertain
ed him at his table, giving him roast beef,
which was great treat.
1t was quite pleasant, after coming from
the Peruvianvillages, which are all ne srly
hidden in the woods, to see that Tabatin-
ga had the forest cleared away from about
it, for space of forty or fifty acres was
covered with green grass, and had a grove
of orange trees in its midst. The COM
mandant told him that the trade of the |
river was increasing very fast, that 10
l649 scarce one thousand dollars worth
of goods passed up; in 1850, two thou
sand five hundred dollars, and this year, |
m. Ill