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THE LOWER AMAZONS 



Portuguese, but the Tupi language was the only one 

 used amongst themselves. The festival was in honour 

 of our Lady of Conception ; and when the people learnt 

 that Penna had on board an image of the saint hand- 

 somer than their own, they put off in their canoes to 

 borrow it ; Marcellino taking charge of the doll, covering 

 it carefully with a neatly-bordered white towel. On 

 landing with the image, a procession was formed from 

 the port to the house, and salutes fired from a couple of 

 iazarino guns, the saint being afterwards carefully de- 

 posited in the family oratorio. After a litany and hymn 

 were sung in the evening, all assembled to supper around 

 a large mat spread on a smooth terrace-like space in 

 front of the house. The meal consisted of a large boiled 

 Pirarucu, which had been harpooned for the purpose 

 in the morning, stewed and roasted turtle, piles of man- 

 dioca-meal and bananas. The old lady, with two young 

 girls, showed the greatest activity in waiting on the 

 guests, Marcellino standing gravely by, observing what 

 was wanted and giving the necessary orders to his wife. 

 When all was done hard drinking began, and soon after 

 there was a dance, to which Penna and I were invited. 

 The liquor served was chiefly a spirit distilled by the 

 people themselves from mandioca cakes. The dances 

 were all of the same class, namely, different varieties of 

 the ' Landum an erotic dance similar to the fandango 

 originally learnt from the Portuguese. The music was 

 supplied by a couple of wire-stringed guitars, played 

 alternately by the young men. All passed off very 

 quietly considering the amount of strong liquor drunk, 

 and the ball was kept up until sunrise the next morning. 



We visited all the houses one after the ether. One of 

 them was situated in a charming spot, with a broad sandy 

 beach before it, at the entrance tc the Parana-mirim do 

 Mucambo, a channel leading to an interior lake peopled 

 by savages of the Mura tribe. This seemed to be the 

 abode of an industrious family, but all the men were 

 absent, salting Pirarucu on the lakes. The house, like 

 its neighbours, was simply a framework of poles thatched 

 with palm-leaves, the walls roughly latticed and plastered 

 with mud : but it was larger, and much cleaner inside 

 than the others. It was full of women and children, who 

 were busy all day with their various employments ; some 

 weaving hammocks in a large clumsy frame, which held 



