Cuap. XL SPORTS ON THE PRAIA. 315 
was here added. The line of huts and sheds extended half a mile, and 
several large sailing vessels were anchored at the place. The comman- 
dante was Senhor Macedo, the Indian blacksmith of Ega before 
mentioned, who maintained excellent order during the fourteen days 
the process of excavation and oil manufacture lasted. There were 
also many primitive Indians here from the neighbouring rivers, amongst 
them a family of Shumanas, good-tempered, harmless people from the 
Lower Japura. All of them were tattooed round the mouth, the bluish 
tint forming a border to the lips, and extending in a line on the cheeks 
towards the ear on each side. They were not quite so slender in figure 
as the Passés of Pedro-uassii’s family ; but their features deviated quite 
as much as those of the Passés from the ordinary Indian type. This 
was seen chiefly in the comparatively small mouth, pointed chir, thin 
lips, and narrow, high nose. One of the daughters, a young girl of 
about seventeen years of age, was a real beauty. The colour of her 
skin approached the light tanned shade of the Mameluco women; her 
figure was almost faultless, and the blue mouth, instead of being a 
disfigurement, gave quite a captivating finish to her appearance. Her 
neck, wrists, and ankles were adorned with strings of blue beads. She 
was, however, extremely bashful, never venturing to look strangers in 
the face, and never quitting, for many minutes together, the side of her 
father and mother. ‘The family had been shamefully swindled by some 
rascally trader on another praia; and, on our arrival, came to lay their 
case before Senhor Cardozo, as the delegado of police of the district. 
The mild way in which the old man, without a trace of anger, stated his 
complaint in imperfect Tupt, quite enlisted our sympathies in his favour. 
But Cardozo could give him no redress ; he invited the family, however, 
to make their rancho near to ours, and in the end gave them the highest 
price for the surplus oil which they manufactured. 
It was not all work at Catua : indeed there was rather more play than 
work going on. ‘The people make a kind of holiday of these occasions. 
Every fine night parties of the younger people assembled on the sands, 
and dancing and games were carried on for hours together. But the 
requisite liveliness for these sports was never got up without a good 
deal of preliminary rum-drinking. The girls were so coy that the young 
men could not get sufficient partners for the dances, without first sub- 
scribing for a few flagons of the needful cashaca. ‘The coldness of the 
shy Indian and Mameluco maidens never failed to give way after a little 
of this strong drink, but it was astonishing what an immense deal they 
could take of it in the course of an evening. Coyness is not always a 
sign of innocence in these people, for most of the half-caste women on 
the Upper Amazons lead a little career of looseness before they marry 
and settle down for life; and it is rather remarkable that the men do 
not seem to object much to their brides having had a child or two by 
various fathers before marriage. The women do not lose reputation 
unless they become utterly depraved, but in that case they are condemned 
pretty strongly by public opinion. Depravity is, however, rare, for all 
require more or less to be wooed before they are won. I did not see 
(although I mixed pretty freely with the young people) any breach of 
propriety on the praias. ‘The merry-makings were carried on near the 
