188 THE UPPER AMAZONS. Chap. III. 



days. The trade and population, however, did not 

 increase. with these changes. The people became more 

 " civilised," that is, they began to dress according to 

 the latest Parisian fashions, instead of going about 

 in stockingless feet, wooden clogs and shirt sleeves ; 

 acquired a taste for money getting and office holding ; 

 became divided into parties, and lost part of their 

 former simplicity of manners. But the place remained, 

 when I left it in 1859, pretty nearly what it was when 

 I first arrived in 1850 — a semi-Indian village, with 

 much in the ways and notions of its people, more like 

 those of a small country town in Northern Europe than 

 a South American settlement. The place is healthy, 

 and almost free from insect pests ; perpetual verdure 

 surrounds it ; the soil is of marvellous fertility, even 

 for Brazil ; the endless rivers and labyrinths of chan- 

 nels teem with fish and turtle ; a fleet of steamers 

 might anchor at any season of the year in the lake, 

 which has uninterrupted water communication straight 

 to the Atlantic. What a future is in store for the sleepy 

 little tropical village ! 



After speaking of Ega as a city, it will have a ludi- 

 crous effect to mention that the total number of its 

 inhabitants is only about 1200. It contains just 107 

 houses, about half of which are miserably built mud- 

 walled cottages, thatched with palm-leaves. A fourth 

 of the population are almost always absent, trading or 

 collecting produce on the rivers. The neighbourhood 

 within a radius of thirty miles, and including two other 

 small villages, contains probably 2000 more people. 

 The settlement is one of the oldest in the country, 



