Cuap. X. CITIZENSHIP OF COLOURED PEOPLE. 273 
which met in the years from 1781 to 1791, to settle the boundaries 
between the Spanish and Portuguese territories in South America. The 
chief commissioner for Spain, Don Francisco Requena, lived some time 
in the village with his family. I found only one person at Ega, my old 
friend Romaod de Oliveira, who recollected or had any knowledge of 
this important time, when a numerous staff of astronomers, surveyors, 
and draughtsmen explored much of the surrounding country, with large 
bodies of soldiers and natives. 
More than half the inhabitants of Ega are mamelucos; there are 
not more than forty or fifty pure whites; the number of negroes and 
mulattos is probably a little less, and the rest of the population 
consists of pure-blood Indians. Every householder, including Indians 
and free negroes, is entitled to a vote in the elections, municipal, 
provincial, and imperial, and is liable to be called on juries, and to 
serve in the national guard. These privileges and duties of citizenship 
do not seem at present to be appreciated by the more ignorant coloured 
people. There is, however, a gradual improvement taking place in this 
respect. Before I left there was a rather sharp contest for the Presi- 
dency of the Municipal Chamber, and most of the voters took a lively 
interest in it. There was also an election of members to represent the 
province in the Imperial Parliament at Rio Janeiro, in which each party 
strove hard to return its candidate. On this occasion, an unscrupulous 
lawyer was sent by the Government party from the capital to overawe 
the opposition to its nominee; many of the half-castes, headed by my 
old friend John da Cunha, who was then settled at Ega, fought hard, 
but with perfect legality and good humour, against this powerful 
interest. They did not succeed ; and although the Government agent 
committed many tyrannical and illegal acts, the losing party submitted 
quietly to their defeat. In a larger town, I believe, the Government 
would not have dared to attempt thus to control the elections. I think 
I saw enough to warrant the conclusion that the machinery of consti- 
tutional government would, with a little longer trial, work well amongst 
the mixed Indian, white, and negro population, even of this remote 
part of the Brazilian empire. I attended, also, before I left, several 
assize meetings at Ega, and witnessed the novel sight of negro, white, 
half-caste, and Indian, sitting gravely side by side on the jury bench. 
The way in which the coloured races act under the conditions of free 
citizenship, is a very interesting subject. Brazilian statesmen seem to 
have abandoned the idea, if they ever entertained it, of making this 
tropical empire a nation of whites, with a slave labouring class. The 
greatest difficulty on the Amazons is with the Indians. The general 
inflexibility of character of the race, and their abhorrence of the restraints 
of civilised life, make them very intractable subjects. Some of them, 
however, who have learned to read and write, and whose dislike to live 
in towns has been overcome by some cause acting early in life, make 
very good citizens. I have already mentioned the priest, who is a good 
example of what early training cando. There can be no doubt that 
if the docile Amazonian Indians were kindly treated by their white 
fellow-citizens, and educated, they would not be so quick as they have 
hitherto shown themselves to be to leave the towns and return into 
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