the Mundurucus why they represented human beings
with hair, whereas they themselves were hairless on the body and face.
They said it was because in ancient times all the people were hairy like
monkeys.

I was strongly impressed by the difference in type between those Indians
and the Bororos, and also by the great difference in their language. When
later on I came in contact with the Apiacars, another tribe of Indians
living on the Tapajoz River, and closely allied to the Mundurucus, I
discovered that their language bore a certain resemblance, curiously
enough, to that of the Maya Indians of Yucatan in Central America.

I had been so busy taking notes of all I had seen in the _aldeja_, that
when we started once more down the river I did not at first miss my best
dog, Negrino, of whom I had got very fond. We had gone some 4 or 5 kil.
down the river when I discovered that my men had given it away to the
Indians while I was occupied studying the geological formation of that
part of the country. It was impossible to go back all those kilometres
against the current to recover the poor dog. Although it gave me a great
deal of pain I never for one moment let the men see it, as I knew that it
was in order to hurt me that they had disposed of Negrino.

It is never right or useful to take revenge, for if you wait long enough
you are always avenged by Providence. That afternoon my men saw some wild
chestnuts on a tree, and they insisted on landing to pick them. They
knocked down the tree, as usual, to get the chestnuts, although it was
fully 3 ft. in diameter. They picked a great many of the wild chestnuts
and proceeded to eat them--Alcides, much to my amazement, actually
offering me one. I asked them if they knew what they were eating, as I
quickly observed when the tree fell down that not a single chestnut had
been touched by birds or monkeys.

I have always noticed in equatorial countries that if you never touch
fruit that monkeys do not eat you will seldom get poisoned. My men said
that they had never seen the fruit before, but as it looked pretty they
were going to eat it, and a lot of it. So they stopped some time cracking
the nuts and eating them with great delight.

When we got back to the canoe we had only gone a short distance when
Filippe the negro was seized with violent pains in his inside. His eyes
had become sunken, his lips were quivering, and in a moment he was seized
with cramps all over the body--so much so