EETUEN TO MANAOS. 267 
wrong or shame as if they said the father was absent or 
dead, it has the most melancholy significance ; it seems to 
speak of such absolute desertion. So far is this from being 
an unusual case, that among the common people the oppo- 
site seems the exception. Children are frequently quite 
ignorant of their parentage. They know about their 
mother, for all the care and responsibility falls upon 
her, but they have no knowledge of their father ; nor 
does it seem to occur to the woman that she or her 
children have any claim upon him. 
But to return to the sitio. The room I have described 
stood on one side of a cleared and neatly swept ground, 
about which, at various distances, stood a number of 
little thatched " casinhas, as they call them, consisting 
mostly of a single room. But beside these there was one 
larger house, with mud walls and floor, containing two 
or three rooms, and having a wooden veranda in front. 
This was the Senhora's private establishment. At a little 
distance farther down on the hill was the mandioea kitchen 
and all the accompanying apparatus. Nothing could be 
neater than the whole area of this sitio, and while we 
were there two or three black girls were sent out to 
sweep it afresh with their stiff twig-brooms. Around lay 
the plantation of mandioea and cacao, with here and 
there a few coffee-shrubs. It is difficult to judge of the 
extent of these sitio plantations, because they are so irregu- 
lar and comprise such a variety of trees,- -mandioea, coffee, 
cacao, and often cotton, being planted pellmell together. 
But this one, like the whole establishment, seemed larger 
and better cared for than those usually seen. On the 
return of the gentlemen from the igarape we took leave, 
though very warmly pressed to stay and breakfast. At 
