Cuap. XI. THE PASSES. 2c9 
the civilised Mamelucos; but he and his people showed a greater 
industry, and were more open, cheerful, and generous in their dealings 
than many half-castes. The authority of Pedro, like that of the Tushatias 
generally, was exercised in a mild manner. These chieftains appear 
able to command the services of their subjects, since they furnish men 
to the Brazilian authorities when requested ; but none of them, even 
those of the most advanced tribes, appear to make use of this authority 
for the accumulation of property ; the service being exacted chiefly in 
time of war. Had the ambition of the chiefs of some of these indus- 
trious tribes been turned to the acquisition of wealth, probably we 
should have seen indigenous civilised nations in the heart of South 
America similar to those found on the Andes of Peru and Mexico. It 
is very probable that the Passés adopted from the first to some extent 
the manners of the whites. Ribeiro,a Portuguese official who travelled 
in these regions in 1774-5, and wrote an account of his journey, relates 
that they buried their dead in large earthenware vessels (a custom still 
observed amongst other tribes on the Upper Amazons), and that, as to 
their marriages, the young men earned their brides by valiant deeds in 
war. He also states that they possessed a cosmogony, in which the 
belief that the sun was a fixed body with the earth revolving around it, 
was a prominent feature. He says, moreover, that they believed in a 
Creator of all things ; a future state of rewards and punishments, and 
so forth. These notions are so far in advance of the ideas of all other 
tribes of Indians, and so little likely to have been conceived and 
perfected by a people having no written language or leisured class, that 
we must suppose them to have been derived by the docile Passés from 
some early missionary or traveller. I never found that the Passés had 
more curiosity or activity of intellect than other Indians. No trace of a 
belief in a future state exists amongst Indians who have not had much 
intercourse with the civilised settlers, and even amongst those who have 
it is only a few of the more gifted individuals who show any curiosity on 
the subject. Their sluggish minds seem unable to conceive or feel the 
want of a theory of the soul, and of the relations of man to the Creator 
or the rest of Nature. But is it not so with totally uneducated and 
isolated people even in the most highly civilised parts of the world? 
The good qualities of the Passés belong to the moral part of the 
character: they lead a contented, unambitious, and friendly life, a quiet, 
domestic, orderly existence, varied by occasional drinking bouts and 
summer excursions. They are not so shrewd, energetic, and masterful 
as the Munduructs, but théy are more easily taught, because their 
disposition is more yielding than that of the Munduructs or any other 
tribe. 
We started on our return to Ega at half-past four o’clock in the after- 
noon. Our generous entertainers loaded us with presents. There was 
scarcely room for us to sit in the canoe, as they had sent down ten large 
bundles of sugar-cane, four baskets of farinha, three cedar-planks, a 
small hamper of coffee, and two heavy bunches of bananas. After we 
were embarked the old lady came with a parting gift for me—a huge 
bowl of smoking hot banana porridge. I was to eat it on the road “to 
keep my stomach warm.” Both stood on the bank as we pushed off, 
