Chap. III. CHANGES AT EGA. 137 



travellers ; my servant ran away, and I was robbed of 

 nearly all my copper money. I was obliged then to 

 descend to Para, but returned, after finishing the exa- 

 mination of the middle part of the Lower Amazons 

 and the Tapajos, in 1855, with my Santarem assistant 

 and better provided for making collections on the upper 

 river. This second visit was in pursuit of the plan 

 before mentioned, of exploring in detail the whole 

 valley of the Amazons, which I formed in Para in the 

 year 1851. 



During so long a residence I witnessed, of course, 

 many changes in the place. Some of the good friends 

 who made me welcome on my first arrival, died, and I 

 followed their remains to their last resting-place in the 

 little rustic cemetery on the borders of the surrounding 

 forest. I lived there long enough, from first to last, to 

 see the young people grow up, attended their weddings 

 and the christenings of their children, and, before I left, 

 saw them old married folks with numerous families. 

 In 1850 Ega was only a village, dependent on Para 

 1400 miles distant, as the capital of the then undivided 

 province. In 1852, with the creation of the new pro- 

 vince of the Amazons, it became a city ; returned its 

 members to the provincial parliament at Barra ; had its 

 assizes, its resident judges, and rose to be the chief 

 town of a comarca or county. A year after this, 

 namely, in 1853, steamers were introduced on the 

 Solimoens, and from 1855, one ran regularly every two 

 months between the Rio Negro and Nauta in Peru, 

 , touching at all the villages, and accomplishing the 

 distance in ascending, about 1200 miles, in eighteen 



