300 EXCURSIONS IN NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA. Cuap. XI. 
and gave us their adeos, “Ikuadna Tupana eirim” (Go with God): a 
form of salutation taught by the old Jesuit missionaries. We had a most 
uncomfortable passage, for Cardozo was quite tipsy, and had not 
attended to the loading of the boat. The cargo had been placed too 
far forward, and to make matters worse my heavy friend obstinately 
insisted on sitting astride on the top of the pile, instead of taking his 
place near the stern, singing from his perch a most indecent love-song, 
and disregarding the inconvenience of having to bend down almost 
every minute to pass under the boughs and hanging sipds as we sped 
rapidly along. The canoe leaked, but not at first alarmingly. Long 
before sunset darkness began to close in under these gloomy shades, 
and our steersman could not avoid now and then running the boat into 
the thicket. The first time this happened a piece was broken off the 
square prow (rodella) ; the second time we got squeezed between two 
trees. A short time after this latter accident, being seated near the 
stern, with my feet on the bottom of the boat, I felt rather suddenly 
the cold water above my ankles. A few minutes more and we should 
have sunk, for a seam had been opened forward under the pile of sugar- 
cane. Two of us began to bale, and by the most strenuous efforts 
managed to keep afloat without throwing overboard our cargo. The 
Indians were obliged to paddle with extreme slowness to avoid shipping 
water, as the edge of our prow was nearly level with the surface; but 
Cardozo was now persuaded to change his seat. The sun set, the quick 
twilight passed, and the moon soon after began to glimmer through the 
thick canopy of foliage. The prospect of being swamped in this hideous 
solitude was by no means pleasant, although I calculated on the chance 
of swimming to a tree and finding a nice snug place in the fork of some 
large bough wherein to pass the night. At length, after four hours’ 
tedious progress, we suddenly emerged on the open stream, where the 
moonlight glittered in broad sheets on the gently rippling waters. A 
little extra care was now required in paddling. ‘The Indians plied their 
strokes with the greatest nicety ; the lights of Ega (the oil lamps in the 
houses) soon appeared beyond the black wall of forest, and in a short 
time we leapt safely ashore. 
A few months after the excursion just narrated, I accompanied 
Cardozo in many wanderings on the Solimoens, during which we visited 
the praias (sand islands), the turtle pools in the forests, and the by- 
streams and lakes of the great desert river. His object was mainly to 
superintend the business of digging up turtle eggs on the sand-banks, 
having been elected commandante for the year, by the municipal 
council of Ega, of the “ praia real” (royal sand island) of Shimuni, the 
one lying nearest'to Ega. There are four of these royal praias within 
the Ega district (a distance of 150 miles from the town), all of which 
are visited annually by the Ega people for the purpose of collecting 
eggs and extracting oil from their yolks. Each has its commander, 
whose business is to make arrangements for securing to every inhabitant 
an equal chance in the egg harvest, by placing sentinels to protect the 
turtles whilst laying, and so forth. The pregnant turtles descend from 
the interior pools to the main river in July and August, before the out- 
