It might be added, that vast and monotonous naked plains produce the same result. The animals which have been so useful in the infancy of human civilisation are such as roamed originally over open or scantily wooded plains, probably of limited extent. The fact of many delicious wild fruits existing in the forest which they have never learnt to cultivate seems to show, contrary to the view here advanced, that it is innate stupidity rather than want of materials, that has deprived the Indians of these helps to civilization. There is a kind of rice, growing wild on the banks of many of the tributaries of the Amazons, which they have never reclaimed, although they have adopted the plant introduced into the country by Europeans.[1]
In the evening we had more visitors. The sounds of pipe and tabor were heard, and presently a procession of villagers emerged from a pathway through the mandioca fields. They were on a begging expedition for St. Thomé, the patron saint of Indians and Mamelucos. One carried a banner, on which was rudely painted the figure of St. Thomé with a glory round his head. The pipe and tabor were of the simplest description. The pipe was a reed pierced with four holes, by means of
- ↑ Many useful vegetable products have been reclaimed, and it is to the credit of the Indians that they have discovered the use of the Mandioca plant, which is highly poisonous in the raw state, and requires a long preparation to fit it for use. It is cultivated throughout the whole of Tropical America, including Mexico and the West India Islands, but only in the plains, not being seen, according to Humboldt, higher than 600 to 800 metres, at which elevation it grows, on the Mexican Andes. I believe it is not known in what region the plant originated; it is not found wild in the Amazons valley.
