190 THE UPPER AMAZONS. Chap. III. 



and Portuguese territories in South America. The 

 chief commissioner for Spain, Don Francisco Requena, 

 lived some time in the village with his family. I found 

 only one person at Ega, my old friend Romao de 

 Oliveira, who recollected, or had any knowledge of this 

 important time, when a numerous staff of astronomers, 

 surveyors, and draughtsmen, explored much of the 

 surrounding country, with large bodies of soldiers and 

 natives. 



More than half the inhabitants of Ega are mame- 

 lucos ; there are not more than forty or fifty pure 

 whites ; the number of negroes and mulattos is proba- 

 bly a little less, and the rest of the population consists 

 of pure blood Indians. Every householder, including 

 Indians and free negroes, is entitled to a vote in the 

 elections, municipal, provincial, and imperial, and is 

 liable to be called on juries, and to serve in the national 

 guard. These privileges and duties of citizenship do 

 not seem at present to be appreciated by the more 

 ignorant coloured people. There is, hoAvever, a gradual 

 improvement taking place in this respect. Before I 

 left there was a rather sharp contest for the Presidency 

 of the Municipal Chamber, and most of the voters 

 took a lively interest in it. There was also an election 

 of members to represent the province in the Imperial 

 Parliament at Rio Janeiro, in which each party strove 

 hard to return its candidate. On this occasion, an un- 

 scrupulous lawyer was sent by the government party 

 from the capital to overawe the opposition to its 

 nominee; many of the half-castes, headed by my old 

 friend John da Cunha, who was then settled at Ega, 



