234 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV, 



shade of trees. Two smaller buildings, detached from 

 the shed and having mud-walls with low doorways, 

 contained apparently the sleeping apartment of differ- 

 ent members of the large household. A small mill for 

 grinding sugar-cane, having two cylinders of hard 

 notched wood ; wooden troughs, and kettles for boiling 

 the guardpa (cane juice), to make treacle, stood 

 under a separate shed, and near it was a large en- 

 closed mud-house for poultry. There was another hut 

 and shed a short distance off, inhabited by a family 

 dependent on Pedro, and a narrow pathway through 

 the luxuriant woods led to more dwellings of the same 

 kind. There was an abundance of fruit trees around 

 the place, including the never-failing banana, with its 

 long, broad, soft green leaf-blades, and groups of full- 

 grown Pupimhas, or peach palms. There was also a 

 large number of cotton and coffee trees. Amongst the 

 utensils I noticed baskets of different shapes, made of 

 flattened maranta stalks, and dyed various colours. 

 The making of these is an original art of the Passes, 

 but I believe it is also practised by other tribes, for I 

 saw several in the houses of semi-civilised Indians on 

 the Tapajos. 



There were only three persons in the house besides the 

 old couple, the rest of the people being absent ; several 

 came in, however, in the course of the day. One was 

 a daughter of Pedro's, who had an oval tattooed spot 

 over her mouth ; the second was a young grandson ; and 

 the third the son-in-law from Ega, Cardozo's com'padve. 

 The old woman was occupied, when we entered, in dis- 

 tilling spirits from cara, an eatable root similar to the 



