INDIANS OF THE JAPURA. 



249 



macaws; and where the bed of the stream is choked with immense 

 rocks, which make it impassable even for a canoe. A gentleman at 

 Egas told me of an extraordinary blowing cave among these hills. 



The Indians of the Japura are called Mirauas, (a large tribe,) Curitus, 

 and Macus. The traveller reaches them in sixteen days from the 

 mouth. The Macus have no houses, but wander in the woods ; infest 

 the river banks ; and rob and kill when they can. (These are the fruits 

 of the old Brazilian system of hunting Indians to make slaves of them.) 

 The products of the Japura are the same as those of the Jurua ; and, in 

 addition, a little carajuru, a very brilliant scarlet dye, made of the leaves 

 of a bush called pucapanga in Peru. The Indians pack it in little bags 

 made of the inner bark of a tree, and sell at the rate of twenty-five 

 cents the pound. I am surprised that it has never found its way into 

 commerce. I think it of quite as brilliant and beautiful a color as 

 cochineal. 



I judge the width of the Amazon, opposite the mouth of the Japurd, 

 to be four or five miles. It is separated into several channels by two or 

 three islands. We camped at half past 6 p. m., on an island where 

 there was a hut and a patch of mandioc and Indian corn, but no people. 

 We had a clear night, (with the exception of a low belt of stratus clouds 

 around the horizon,) the first we have seen for more than a week. 



December 17. — Started at 4 a. m. It was too dark to see the upper 

 point of an island between us and the southern shore till we had passed 

 it; so that we had to pull up for an hour against the current, so as to 

 pass the head of this island, and not fall below Egas. At half-past eight 

 we entered a narrow channel between a small island and the right bank, 

 which conducted us into the river of Teffe, about a mile inside of its 

 mouth. The river at this point is one hundred and eighty yards broad; 

 water clear and apparently deep. Just below Egas, where we arrived at 

 half-past ten, it expands into a lake ; or, rather, the lake here contracts 

 into the river. The town is situated on a low point that stretches out 

 into the lake, and has a harbor on each side of it. The point rises into 

 a regular slope, covered with grass, to the woods behind. The lake is 

 shallow, and is sometimes, with the exception of two or three channels, 

 which have always six or eight feet of water in them, entirely dry from 

 Egas to Nogueyra, a small village on the opposite side. 



On landing we showed our passports to the sub-delegado, an officer of 

 the general government who has charge of the police of the district, and 

 to the military commandant, and forthwith inducted ourselves into the 

 house of M. Fort, our French friend of Tabatinga, who had placed it at 

 our disposal. 



