240 The Aj^des and the Amazon. 



esque forest, pathless, save here and there a faint hunter's 

 track leading to the untrodden interior. The sheep and 

 cattle grazing on the lawn, a rare sight in Alto Amazonas, 

 gives a peaceful and inviting aspect to the scene. The 

 inhabitants, numbering about twelve hundred, are made 

 up of pure Indians, half-castes, negroes, mulattoes, and 

 whites. Ega (also called Teffe) is the largest and most 

 thriving town between Manaos and Iquitos, a distance of 

 twelve hundred miles. It is also one of the oldest settle- 

 ments on the river, having been founded during the En- 

 glish revolution, or nearly two centuries ago. Tupi is the 

 common idiom. The productions of the country are cacao, 

 sarsaparilla, Brazil nuts, bast for caulking vessels, copaiba 

 balsam, India-rubber, salt fish, turtle-oil, manati, grass ham- 

 mocks, and tiles. Bates calculates the value of the annual 

 exports at nearly forty thousand dollars. The " Icamiaba" 

 calls here twice a month ; besides which there are small 

 schooners which occupy about five months in the round 

 trip between Ega and Para. " The place is healthy (writes 

 the charming Naturalist on the Amazon), and almost free 

 from insect pests; perpetual verdure surrounds it, the soil is 

 of marvelous fertility, even for Brazil ; the endless rivers 

 and labyrinths of channels teem with fish and turtle ; a fleet 

 of steamers might anchor at any season of the year in the 

 lake, which has uninterrupted water communication straight 

 to the Atlantic. "What a future is in store for the sleepy 

 little tropical village !" Here Bates pursued butterflies for 

 four years and a half, and Agassiz fished for six months. 



Ega is the half-way point across the continent, but its 

 exact altitude above the sea is unknown. Herndon's boil- 

 ing apparatus gave two thousand feet, and, what is worse, 

 the lieutenant believed it. Our barometer made it one 

 hundred feet ; but as our instrument, though perfect in it- 

 self, behaved very strangely on the Middle Amazon, we do 



