310 THE LOWER AMAZONS. Chap. VII. 



of the country for generosity, and for being a firm friend 

 of foreign residents and stray travellers. Some of these 

 excellent people were men of substance, being o"vvners 

 of trading vessels, slaves, and extensive plantations of 

 cacao and tobacco. 



We stayed at Serpa five days. Some of the ceremo- 

 nies observed at Christmas were interesting, inasmuch 

 as they were the same, with little modification, as those 

 taught by the Jesuit missionaries more than a century 

 ago to the aboriginal tribes whom they had induced to 

 settle on this spot. In the morning all the women and 

 girls, dressed in white gauze chemises and showy calico 

 print petticoats, went in procession to church, first going 

 the round of the town to take up the different " mor- 

 domos " or stewards, whose office is to assist the Juiz of 

 the festa. These stewards carried each a long white reed, 

 decorated with coloured ribbons ; several children also 

 accompanied, grotesquely decked with finery. Three 

 old squaws went in front, holding the " saire,", a large 

 semicircular frame, clothed with cotton and studded 

 with ornaments, bits of looking-glass, and so forth. 

 This they danced up and down, singing all the time a 

 monotonous whining hymn in the Tupi language, and 

 at frequent intei-vals turning round to face the followers, 

 who then all stopped for a few moments. I was told 

 that this saire was a device adopted by the Jesuits to 

 attract the savages to church, for these everywhere 

 followed the miiTors, in which they saw as it were 

 magically reflected their own persons. In the evening, 

 good-humoured revelry prevailed on all sides. The 

 negroes, who had a saint of their own colour — St. Bene- 



