276 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 



makings were carried on near the ranchos, where the 

 more staid citizens of Ega, husbands with their wives 

 and young daughters, all smoking gravely out of 

 long pipes, sat in their hammocks and enjoyed the 

 fun. Towards midnight we often heard, in the intervals 

 between jokes and laughter, the hoarse roar of jaguars 

 prowling about the jungle in the middle of the praia. 

 There were several guitar-players amongst the young 

 men, and one most persevering fiddler, so there was 

 no lack of music. 



The favourite sport was the Pira-purasse'ya, or fish- 

 dance, one of the original games of the Indians, though 

 now probably a little modified. The young men and 

 women, mingling together, formed a ring, leaving one of 

 their number in the middle, who represented the fish. 

 They then all marched round, Indian file, the musicians 

 mixed up with the rest, singing a monotonous but 

 rather pretty chorus, the words of which were invented 

 (under a certain form) by one of the party who acted 

 as leader. This finished, all joined hands, and questions 

 were put to the one in the middle, asking what kind of 

 fish he or she might be. To these the individual has 

 to reply. The end of it all is that he makes a rush at 

 the ring, and if he succeeds in escaping, the person who 

 allowed him to do so has to take his place ; the march 

 and chorus then recommence, and so the game goes on 

 hour after hour. Tupi was the language mostly used, 

 but sometimes Portuguese was sung and spoken. The 

 details of the dance were often varied. Instead of the 

 names of fishes being called over by the person in the 

 middle, the name of some animal, flower, or other object 



