CHAPTER XIII. 
EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. 
Steamboat-travelling on the Amazons—Passengers—Tunantins—Caishana Indians— 
The Jutahi—Indian tribes on the Jutahi and the Jurta—The SapOo—Maraua 
Indians—Fonte Boa—Journey to St. Paulo—Tuctina Indians—IIlness-—Descent 
to Para—Changes at Para—Departure for England. 
November 7th, 1856.—Embarked on the Upper Amazons steamer, the 
Tabatinga, for an excursion to Tunantins, a small semi-Indian settle- 
ment, lying 240 miles beyond Ega. The Zaéatinga is an iron boat of 
about 170 tons burthen, built at Rio de Janeiro, and fitted with engines 
of fifty-horse power. ‘The saloon, with berths on each side for twenty 
passengers, is above deck, and open at both ends to admit a free current 
of air. The captain or ‘‘commandante ” was a lieutenant in the Brazilian 
navy, aman of polished, sailor-like address, and a rigid disciplinarian ; 
his name, Senhor Nunes Mello Cardozo. I was obliged, as usual, to 
take with me a stock of all articles of food, except meat and fish, for the 
time I intended to be absent (three months) ; and the luggage, including 
hammocks, cooking utensils, crockery, and so forth, formed fifteen large 
packages. One volume consisted of a mosquito tent, an article I had not 
yet had occasion to use on the river, but which was indispensable in all 
excursions beyond Ega ; every person, man, woman, and child, requiring 
one, as without it existence would be scarcely possible. My tent was 
about eight feet long and five feet broad, and was made of coarse calico 
in an oblong shape, with sleeves at each end through which to pass the 
cords of a hammock. Under this shelter, which is fixed up every 
evening before sundown, one can read and write, or swing in one’s 
hammock during the long hours which intervene before bedtime, and 
feel one’s sense of comfort increased by having cheated the thirsty 
swarms of mosquitoes which fill the chamber. 
We were four days on the road. The pilot, a mameluco of Ega, 
whom I knew very well, exhibited a knowledge of the river and powers 
of endurance which were quite remarkable. He stood all this time at 
his post, with the exception of three or four hours in the middle of each 
day, when he was relieved by a young man who served as apprentice ; 
and he knew the breadth and windings of the channel, and the extent 
of all the yearly-shifting shoals from the Rio Negro to Loreto, a distance 
of more than a thousand miles. There was no slackening of speed at 
night, except during the brief but violent storms which occasionally 
364 
