202 THE UPPER AMAZONS. Chap. III. 



attaches a kind of superstitious significance to these 

 acts, and thinks that the amusements appended to 

 the Roman Catholic holidays as celebrated by the 

 descendants of the Portuguese, are also an essential 

 part of the religious ceremonies. But in this respect, 

 the uneducated whites and half-breeds are not a bit 

 more enlightened than the poor dull-souled Indian.. 

 All look upon a religious holiday as an amusement, in 

 which the priest takes the part of director or chief actor. 



Almost every unusual event, independent of saints' 

 days, is made the occasion of a holiday by the sociable, 

 easy-going people of the white and mameluco classes ; 

 funerals, christenings, weddings, the arrival of strangers, 

 and so forth. The custom of " waking " the dead is also 

 kept up. A few days after I arrived, I was awoke in 

 the middle of a dark moist night by Cardozo, to sit up 

 with a neighbour whose wife had just died. I found 

 the body laid out on a table, with crucifix and lighted 

 wax-candles at the head, and the room full of women 

 and girls squatted on stools or on their haunches. The 

 men were seated round the open door, smoking, drink- 

 ing coffee, and telling stories ; the bereaved husband 

 exerting himself much to keep the people merry during 

 the remainder of the night. The Ega people seem to 

 like an excuse for turning night into day ; it is so cool 

 and pleasant, and they can sit about during these hours 

 in the open air, clad as usual in simple shirt and trow- 

 sers, without streaming with perspiration. 



The patron saint is Santa Theresa ; the festival at 

 whose anniversary lasts, like most of the others, ten days. 

 It begins very quietly with evening litanies sung in the 





