274 UPPER AMAZONS—VOYAGE TO EGA. Cuap. X. 
their half wild condition on the advancing civilisation of the places. 
The inflexibility of character, although probably organic, is seen to be 
sometimes overcome. The principal blacksmith of Ega, Senhor Macedo, 
was also an Indian, and a very sensible fellow. He sometimes filled 
minor offices in the government of the place. He used to come very 
frequently to my house to chat, and was always striving to acquire solid 
information about things. When Donati’s comet appeared, he took a 
great interest in it. We saw it at its best from the 3rd to the roth of 
October (1858), between which dates it was visible near the western 
horizon, just after sunset; the tail extending in a broad curve towards 
the north, and forming a sublime object. Macedo consulted all the 
old almanacs in the place to ascertain whether it was the same comet as 
that of 1811, which he said he well remembered. Before the Indians 
can be reclaimed in large numbers, it is most likely they will become 
extinct as arace. There is less difficulty with regard to the mamelucos, 
who, even when the proportion of white blood is small, sometimes 
become enterprising and versatile people. The Indian element in the 
blood and character seems to be quite lost, or dominated in the offspring 
of white and mameluco, that is in the fruits of the second cross. 1 saw 
a striking example of this in the family of a French blacksmith, who 
had lived for many years on the banks of the Solimoens, and had 
married a mameluco woman. His children might have all passed as 
natives of Northern Europe, a little tanned by foreign travel. One of 
them, a charming young girl named Isabel, was quite a blonde, having 
gray eyes, light brown hair, and fair complexion ; yet her grandmother 
was a tattooed Indian of the Tuctina tribe. 
Many of the Ega Indians, including all the domestic servants, are 
savages who have been brought from the neighbouring rivers; the 
Japurd, the Issd, and the Solimoens. I saw here individuals of at least 
sixteen different tribes; most of whom had been bought, when children, 
of the native chiefs. ‘This species of slave dealing, although forbidden 
by the laws of Brazil, is winked at by the authorities, because without it 
there would be no means of obtaining servants. They all become their 
own masters when they grow up, and never show the slightest inclination 
to return to utter savage life. But the boys generally run away, and 
embark on the canoes of traders ; and the girls are often badly treated 
by their mistresses, the jealous, passionate, and ill-educated Brazilian 
women. Nearly all the enmities which arise amongst residents at Ega 
and other places are caused by disputes about Indian servants. No one 
who has lived only in old settled countries, where service can be readily 
bought, can imagine the difficulties and annoyances of a land where the 
servant class are ignorant of the value of money, and hands cannot be 
obtained except by coaxing them from the employ of other masters. 
Great mortality takes place amongst the poor captive children on 
their arrival at Ega. It is a singular circumstance, that the Indians 
residing on the Japurd and other tributaries always fall ill on descending 
to the Solimoens, whilst the reverse takes place with the inhabitants of 
the banks of the main river, who never fail of taking intermittent fever 
when they first ascend these branch rivers, and of getting well when 
they return. ‘The finest tribes of savages who inhabit the country near 
