CHAPTER VI. 



EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. 



Steamboat travelling on the Amazons — Passengers — Tunantins — Caish- 

 ana Indians — The Jutahi — Indian tribes on the Jutahi and the 

 Juriia — The Sapo — Maraud" Indians — Fonte Boa — Journey to St. 

 Paulo— Tucuna Indians — Illness — Descent to Para" — Changes at 

 Para — Departure for England. 



November 7th, 1856. — Embarked on the Upper Ama- 

 zons steamer, the " Tabatinga," for an excursion to 

 Tunantins, a small semi-Indian settlement, lying 240 

 miles beyond Ega. The Tabatinga is an iron boat of 

 about 170 tons burthen, built at Rio de Janeiro, and 

 fitted with engines of fifty horse power. The saloon, 

 with berths on each side for twenty passengers, is above 

 deck, and open at both ends to admit a free current of 

 air. The captain, or " commandante," was a lieutenant 

 in the Brazilian navy, a man of polished, sailor-like 

 address, and a rigid disciplinarian ; his name, Senhor 

 Nunes Mello Cardozo. I was obliged, as usual, to take 

 with me a stock of all articles of food, except meat and 

 fish, for the time I intended to be absent (three months) ; 

 and the luggage, including hammocks, cooking uten- 

 sils, crockery, and so forth, formed fifteen large pack- 

 ages. One volume consisted of a mosquito tent, an 



