316 EXCURSIONS IN NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA. Cnap XI. 
ranchos, where the more staid citizens of Ega, husbands with their wives 
and young daughters, all smoking gravely out of long pipes, sat in their 
hammocks and enjoyed the fun. ‘Towards midnight we often heard, in 
the intervals between jokes and laughter, the hoarse roar of jaguars, 
prowling about the jungle in the middle of the praia. There were 
several guitar players amongst the young men, and one most persevering 
fiddler, so there was no lack of music. 
The favourite sport was the Pira-purasséya, or fish-dance, one of the 
original games of the Indians, though now probably a little modified. 
The young men and women, mingling together, formed a ring, leaving 
one of their number in the middle, who represented the fish. They 
then all marched round, Indian file, the musicians mixed up with the 
rest, singing a monotonous but rather pretty chorus, the words of 
which were invented (under a certain form) by one of the party who 
acted as leader. This finished, all joined hands, and questions were 
put to the one in the middle, asking what kind of fish he or she might 
be. To these the individual has to reply. The end of it all is that he 
makes a rush at the ring, and if he succeeds in escaping, the person who 
allowed him to do so has to take his place ; the march and chorus then 
recommence, and so the game goes on hour after hour. Tupi was the 
language mostly used, but sometimes Portuguese was sung and spoken. 
The details of the dance were often varied. Instead of the names of 
fishes being called over by the person in the middle, the name of some 
animal, flower, or other object was given to every fresh occupier of the 
place. There was then good scope for wit in the invention of nick- 
names, and peals of laughter would often salute some particularly good 
hit. Thus a very lanky young man was called the Magoary, or the gray 
stork ; a moist, grey-eyed man, with a profile comically suggestive of a 
fish, was christened Jaraki (a kind of fish), which was considered quite 
a witty sally ; a little Mameluco girl, with light-coloured eyes and brown 
hair, got the gallant name of Rosa branca, or the white rose ; a young 
fellow who had recently singed his eyebrows by the explosion of fire- 
works was dubbed Pedro quei mado (Burnt Peter) ; in short, every one 
got a nickname, and each time the cognomen was introduced into the 
chorus as the circle marched round. 
It is said by the Portuguese and Brazilian townspeople lower down 
the river, that much disorder and all kinds of immorality prevail amongst 
these assemblages of Upper Amazons rustics on the turtle praias. Ican 
only say that nothing of the kind was seen on the occasions when I 
attended. But it may be added that there were no traders from the 
“civilised ” parts present to set a bad example. Town-bred Indians and 
half-castes will be disorderly and quarrelsome like uneducated people 
everywhere, when they can get their fill of intoxicating drinks. When 
low Portuguese traders, who are most certainly the inferiors of these 
rustics whom they despise, attend the praias, they corrupt the women, 
and bribe the Indians with cashaca to steal their masters’ oil; these 
proceedings, of course, give rise to disturbances in many ways. There 
were none of these shining examples of the superior civilisation of 
Europe in attendance at Catud. The masters kept their Indians well 
under control ; the young people enjoyed themselves upon the whole 
