The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-19
.ITSAGREEN TOOTHED TERROR
the CUCUPIRA or THE WOODS
or THE AMAZON.

Lakes 10 Eat Human Hearts and LiVers,
spells Night Hunting In Brazil and
IL BulletprOOf, but Not Intelligent
A Belief Of south American Indians.
Il had not been in Brazil t~wenty-four
hours before | heard Ct the cucupira, y
said a man who has been in out Of the way
parts Of Brazil. AT Para you can enter
the primeval forests in a three minutes
walk from your hotel and 90 II happens
that one may lie in bed and hear the prowl-
ing deniEens Of the woods giving their
nightly concert. ! was told. even while
there, that any particularly ~frightful cry
was made by the cuoupira,
"Just what the cuoupira was nc one pre-
tended to know. was going up the river
six hundred miles. to visit m old friend, and
before going ! read up about II.
prof. c, +. HART Of Cornell in The Myth
ology Of Brazil, wrote One Of the most
important among the myths Of the Indians
Of Brazil Is called in the Tupl language
the cuclpira, In all parts Of the country
one hears Of this evil spirit Of the woods,
but no good and exact description Of 1t
exists
&C. F. B. De Souza, in Vale do Amazonas, ;
wrote in 1878: 4 believe il Is certain that
the Indians believe in the existence Of n
/ spirit or demon which appears in the woods
and Is called the CuCupira,'
'Mr. Bates, the naturalist, Is quoted as
saying: The cucupira are Of both sexes
and have children
AT the plantation Of my friend Capt.
Manuel Valdez | heard the same vague
accounts Of the creature. Almost every
night at sunset, when the nightly concert
begins, some one among his thirty EN-
ployees would smilingly say, az he heard
some particularly unearthly cry: That is
a ouolpira.'
Like all large planters In Brazil, Capt,
Valdez employed a hunter whose sole duty
It was 10 keep the household In fresh meat.
Jose was a middle aged, full blooded Indian,
fearless by daylight, a good shot, and like
all his race could no more get lost in the
! woods than a cat.
Whenever we hunted, Jose was sure TO
plan 10 get home before nightfall, but |
got no idea Of his reasons until ! asked
Capt. Valdez for permission 10 take him
10 the cornheld at night, 10 lie in wait for
deer which had entered it from the sur
rounding woods and done great damage.
Permission the Captain said, Nothing
would please me better. but neither you
nor | have money enough TO hire an Indian
10 spend a night up there To my puzzled
inquiry for the reason he simply shrugged
his shoulders and said Ask Jose. The
answer was that the oucupira is roaming
about at night.
"To do justice 10 these people one must
forget the impressions Of tropical forests
which he got from school Biographies.
Along the outskirts Of the streams birds,
butterflies and flowers are everywhere,
| and there is an incessant chatter and chirp
| OF small birds. Go but a short distance
and all IL changed.
zone may walk for hours without seeing
a living creature, and the silence is only
broken by the harsh cries Of macaws and
parrots as they fly over or feed on the sur
lace Of the canopy Of green, nearly 200 feet
overhead. The forest is like a deserted
cathedral and until sunset the silence is
oppressive.
silence is broken by sounds like the crash
| OF a great orchestra. Even an educated
man will feel that hidden all about him
are creatures Of which he can form nc con-
ception save by their frightful cries.
HIn theee solitudes when the light is be-
ginning to fail, and remembering the nightly
pAndemonium, 1t is not so hard to under
stand the origin and influence Of the most
absurd stories one has heard. For in
stance. a lost Indian hunter who had shot
a large monkey lay down 10 rest and fell
asleep. He was awakened by a strange
creature, who proved to be a cvcupira.
''Nhat is the matter, brother?' the cuou-
pira asked, and sitting down beside him
added, I am hungry, give me a piece Of
your heart TO eat?'
Secretly reaching behind him, the hunter
rave him the monkeys heart
THAT is good, now your liver said the
hungry demon.
This was eaten also, Then the hunter
said.
'I too am hungry; give me your heart
and liver
The cuoupira. seeing that the man was
uninjured, and not wishing TO be outdone,
took the hunters knife and slashed out his
own organs and fell down dead.
Another hunter found a curious skeleton
at the foot OF a hollow tree. From the
skull he removed one Of the teeth, which
we're green, for a souvenir. St~rnightway
the skeleton assembled itself and was