Chap. IV. SPORTS ON THE PEAIA. 275 



could give him no redress ; he invited the family, how- 

 ever, to make their rancho near to ours, and in the end 

 gave them the highest price for the surplus oil which 

 they manufactured. 



It was not all work at Catua ; indeed there was 

 rather more play than work going on. The people 

 make a kind of holiday of these occasions. Every fine 

 night parties of the younger people assembled on the 

 sands, and dancing and games were carried on for hours 

 together. But the requisite liveliness for these sports 

 was never got up without a good deal of preliminary 

 rum-drinking. The girls were so coy that the young 

 men could not get sufficient partners for the dances, 

 without first subscribing for a few flagons of the needful 

 casha^a. The coldness of the shy Indian and Mameluco 

 maidens never failed to give way after a little of this 

 strong drink, but it was astonishing what an immense 

 deal they could take of it in the course of an evening. 

 Coyness is not always a sign of innocence in these 

 people, for most of the half-caste women on the Upper 

 Amazons lead a little career of looseness before they 

 marry and settle down for life ; and it is rather re- 

 markable that the men do not seem to object much to 

 their brides having had a child or two by various 

 fathers before marriage. The women do not lose reputa- 

 tion unless they become utterly depraved, but in that case 

 they are condemned pretty strongly by public opinion. 

 Depravity is, however, rare, for all require more or less 

 to be wooed before they are won. I did not see 

 (although I mixed pretty freely with the young people) 

 any breach of propriety on the praias. The merry- 



t 2 



