342 



THE UPPER AMAZONS 



features, whilst a little dumpy fellow, the wag of the 

 party, was quite a Mongolian in breadth and prominence 

 of cheek, spread of nostrils, and obliquity of eyes ; these 

 two formed the extremes as to face and figure. None of 

 them were tattooed or disfigured in any way ; they were 

 all quite destitute of beard. The Cucamas are notorious 

 on the river for their provident habits. The desire of 

 acquiring property is so rare a trait in Indians that the 

 habits of these people are remarked on with surprise by 

 the Brazilians. The first possession which they strive to 

 acquire on descending the river into Brazil, which all the 

 Peruvian Indians look upon as a richer country than their 

 own, is a wooden trunk with lock and key ; in this they 

 stow away carefully all their earnings converted into 

 clothing, hatchets, knives, harpoon heads, needles and 

 thread, and so forth. Their wages are only fourpence or 

 sixpence a day, which are often paid in goods charged a 

 hundred per cent, above Para prices, so that it takes them 

 a long time to fill their chest. 



It would be difficult to find a better-behaved set of men 

 in a voyage than these poor Indians. During our thirty- 

 five days' journey they lived and worked together in the 

 most perfect good fellowship. I never heard an angry 

 word pass amongst them. Senhor Estulano let them 

 navigate the vessel in their own way, exerting his authority 

 only now and then when they were inclined to be lazy. 

 Vicente regulated the working hours. These depended 

 on the darkness of the nights. In the first and second 

 quarters of the moon they kept it up with espia, or oars, 

 until towards midnight ; in the third and fourth quarters 

 they were allowed to go to sleep soon after sunset, and 

 aroused at three or four o'clock in the morning to resume 

 their work. On cool, rainy days we all bore a hand at the 

 espia, trotting with bare feet on the sloppy deck in Indian 

 file to the tune of some wild boatman's chorus. We had 

 a favourable wind for two days only out of the thirty-five, 

 by which we made about forty miles ; the rest of our 

 long journey was accomplished literally by pulling our 

 way from tree to tree. When we encountered a remanso 

 near the shore we got along very pleasantly for a few 

 miles by rowing ; but this was a rare occurrence. During 

 leisure hours the Indians employed themselves in sewing. 

 Vicente was a good hand at cutting out shirts and trousers, 

 and acted as master tailor to the whole party. Each had 



