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

women, with ABOUT as little ala frof
machinery as the women in Solomon
time, of whom we are told, "Sbe layet
her hands to the spindle and her hand
hold the distaff." The little balls of cot
ton thread which the women spin in thi
way are used as currency (and this in
land of silver mincs) and pass for TWEEN
ty.fve cents apiece, in exchange for othe
goods, or twelve and half cents in mon
ey. Most of the trade is done by barter
A cow is sold for one hundred yards o
cotton cloth, fat hog for sixty, larg
sheep, twelve, twenty-five pounds of salt
fish for twelve, twenty five pounds of cof
fee, six, head of plantains which vii
weigh from forty to Fifty pounds, for thre,
needles, etc. All transportation of mer
chandise by land is made upon the back
of Indians, for want of roads. The Gus
tomary weigt of a load is seventy-fvt
pounds; the cost of transportation to Moy
obamba, seventy miles, is six yards o.
cloth. 1t is easy to obtain, in the term
of six or eight days, fifty or sixty poems
for the transportation of cargoes, getting
the order of the governor and paying the
above price, and supporting the poems on
the way The town is the most import
ant in the province of Mainas. The in.
habitants are called civilized, but have nc
idea Of what VIC call comfort in their do.
mestic arrangements The houses are of
mud, thatched with palm, and have un-
even earth floors The furniture consists
of grass hammock, standing bed place,
a coarse table and stool or two. The
governor of this populous district wore
no shoes, and appeared to live pretty
much like the rest of them.
Vessels of FIVE feet draft of water may
ascend the river at the lowest stage of the
water to within eighte en- miles of Tarapo-
to.
Our travellers accompanied large fish
ing party. They had four or FIVE canoes,
and large quantity of barbasco, a root
which has the property of stupefying or
Intoxicating the fish, The manner of fish
ing is to close up the mouth of an inlet Of
the river with network made of reeds,
and then, MASKING the barbasco root to a
pulp, throw it into the water. This turns
the water white, and poisons it, so that
the fish soon begin rising to the surface,
dead, and are taken into the canoes with
small tridents or pronged sticks. Almost
at the moment of throwing the baroasco
into the water, the smaller fish rise to the
surface and die in one or two minutes;
the larger fish survive longer.
The salt fish which constitutes an i'm
portant article of food and also of barter
trade, is brought from down the river in
large pieces of about eight pounds each,
cut from the Uaca marina or sea-cow, al
so found in our Florida streams, and
there called maaaaatee. 1t is found in great
numbers in the Amazon, and its principal
tributaries. 1t is not, strictly speaking,
a fish, but an animal of the whale kind,
which nourishes its young at the breast.
1t is not able to leave the water; but in
feeding it gets near the shore, and
raises its head out. It is most often ia
ken when feeding.
Our travellers met canoe Of Indians,
one man and two women, going up the
river for salt. They bought with beads,
some turtle eggs, and proposed to buy
monkey they bad, but one of the women
elapsed the little beast in her arms, and
set up great outcry, lest the man should
sell it. The man wore a long cotton
gown, with hole in the neck for the head
to come through, and short wide sleeves.
he had on his arm bracelet of monkeys
teeth, and the women had nose-rings of
white beads. Their dress was cotton
petticoat, tied round the waist; and all
we're filthy.
September lst. They arrived at La
guna. Here they found two travelling
Portuguese and Brazilian
They bad four large boats, of about eight
tons each, and two or three canoes. Their
cargo consisted of iron and iron imple-
ments, crockery ware, wine, brandy, cop
per kettles, coarse short swords "a very
common implement of the IndiaDs), guns,
ammunition, salt, fish, ETC., which they
expected to exchange for straw-hats, cot
ton cloth, sugar, coffee and money. They
we're also buying up all the sarsaparilla
they could find, and despatehing it back
in canoes. They invited our travellers to
breakfast, and the lieutenant says, II
thought that | never tasted anything bet
ter than the ;fari'ajta which | saw now for
he first time"
Farinha is q general substitute for
bread in all the course of the Amazon,
below the Brazilian frontier. It is used
by all classes, and the boatmen seemed
always contented with plenty of salt-tish
and farinha. The women make it in this
way. They soak the root of the msamdioc
IN water till it is softened little, when
they scrape off the skin and CRATE the
root upon a board. which is made into a
rude crater by being smeared with some
Of the adhesive gums of the forest, and
then sprinkled with pebbles. The white
grated pulp is put into conical-shaped
bag, made of the coarse fbres of the palm.
The bag is hung up to peg driven into
Q post of the hut, lever is put through q
loop at the bottom of the bag, the short
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