192 THE UPPER AMAZONS. Chap. III. 



quick as they have hitherto shown themselves to be to 

 leave the towns and return into their half wild condi- 

 tion on the advancing civilisation of the places. The 

 inflexibility of character, although probably organic, is 

 seen to be sometimes overcome. The principal black- 

 smith of Ega, Senhor Macedo, was also an Indian, and 

 a very sensible fellow. He sometimes filled minor offices 

 in the government of the place. He used to come 

 very frequently to my house to chat, and was always 

 striving to acquire solid information about things. 

 When Donati's comet appeared, he took a great inter- 

 est in it. We saw it at its best from the 3rd to the 

 10th of October (1858), between which dates it was 

 visible near the western horizon, just after sunset ; the 

 tail extending in a broad curve towards the north, and 

 forming a sublime object. Macedo consulted all the 

 old almanacs in the place to ascertain whether it was 

 the same comet as that of 1811, which he said he well 

 remembered. Before the Indians can be reclaimed in 

 large numbers, it is most likely they will become 

 extinct as a race. There is less difficulty with regard 

 to the mamelucos, who, even when the proportion of 

 white blood is small, sometimes become enterprising 

 and versatile people. The Indian element in the blood 

 and character seems to be quite lost, or dominated in 

 the offspring of white and mameluco, that is in the 

 fruits of the second cross. I saw a striking example of 

 this in the family of a French blacksmith, who had 

 lived for many years on the banks of the Solimoens, and 

 had married a mameluco woman. His children might 

 have all passed as natives of Northern Europe, a little 



