382 EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. Chap. VI. 



skin, the effect of a cutaneous disease very prevalent 

 in this part of the country. The face of one old man 

 was completly blackened, and looked as though it had 

 been smeared with black lead, the blotches having 

 coalesced to form one large patch. Others were simply 

 mottled ; the black spots were hard and rough, but not 

 scaly, and were margined with rings of a colour paler 

 than the natural hue of the skin. I had seen many 

 Indians and a few half-castes at Tunantins, and after- 

 wards saw others at Fonte Boa blotched in the same 

 way. The disease would seem to be contagious, for I 

 was told that a Portuguese trader became disfigured 

 with it after cohabiting some years with an Indian 

 woman. It is curious that, although prevalent in 

 many places on the Solimoens, no resident of Ega 

 exhibited signs of the disease : the early explorers of 

 the country, on noticing spotted skins to be very fre- 

 quent in certain localities, thought they were peculiar 

 to a few tribes of Indians. The younger children in 

 these houses on the Sapo were free from spots ; but two 

 or three of them, about ten years of age, showed signs 

 of their commencement in rounded yellowish patches 

 on the skin, and these appeared languid ,and sickly, 

 although the blotched adults seemed not to be affected 

 in their general health. A middle-aged half-caste at 

 Fonte Boa told me he had cured himself of the disorder 

 by strong doses of salsaparilla ; the black patches had 

 caused the hair of his beard and eyebrows to fall off, 

 but it had grown again since his cure. 



When my tall friend saw me, after dinner, collecting 

 insects along the paths near the houses, he approached, 



