200 THE UPPER AMAZONS. Chai\ III. 



sary results. Their fecundity is of a low degree, for it 

 is very rare to find an Indian family having so many as 

 four children, and we have seen how great is their liability 

 to sickness and death on removal from place to place. 



I have already remarked on the different way in 

 which the climate of this equatorial region affects 

 Indians and negroes. No one could live long amongst 

 the Indians of the Upper Amazons, without being 

 struck with their constitutional dislike to the heat. 

 Europeans certainly withstand the high temperature 

 better than the original inhabitants of the country : 

 I always found I could myself bear exposure to the sun 

 or unusually hot weather, quite as well as the Indians, 

 although not well-fitted by nature for a hot climate. 

 Their skin is always hot to the touch, and they perspire 

 little. No Indian resident of Ega can be induced to 

 stay in the village (where the heat is felt more than in 

 the forest or on the river), for many days together. 

 They bathe many times a day, but do not plunge in 

 the water, taking merely a sitz-bath, as dogs may be 

 seen doing in hot climates, to cool the lower parts of the 

 body. The women and children, who often remain at 

 home, whilst the men are out for many days together 

 fishing, generally find some excuse for trooping off to 

 the shades of the forest in the hot hours of the after- 

 noons. They are restless and discontented in fine dry 

 weather, but cheerful in cool days, when the rain is 

 pouring down on their naked backs. When suffering 

 under fever, nothing but strict watching can prevent 

 them going down to bathe in the river, or from 

 eating immoderate quantities of juicy fruits, although 



