PEOPLE OF EGA 



355 



manner : I had afterwards occasion to be astonished at 

 the boundless good nature of this excellent fellow, whose 

 greatest pleasure seemed to be to make sacrifices for his 

 friends. He was a Paraense, and came to Ega originally 

 as a trader ; but not succeeding in this, he turned planter 

 on a small scale, and collector of the natural commodities 

 of the country, employing half-a-dozen Indians in the 

 business. We then visited the military commandant, 

 an officer in the Brazilian army, named Praia. He was 

 breakfasting with the vicar, and we found the two in dis- 

 habille (morning-gown loose round the neck, and slippers), 

 seated at a rude wooden table in an open mud-floored 

 verandah, at the back of the house. Commander Praia 

 was a little curly-headed man (also somewhat of a mulatto), 

 always merry and fond of practical jokes. His wife, 

 Donna Anna, a dressy dame from Santarem, was the 

 leader of fashion in the settlement. The vicar. Father 

 Luiz Gonsalvo Gomez, was a nearly pure-blood Indian, 

 a native of one of the neighbouring villages, but educated 

 in Maranham, a city on the Atlantic seaboard. I after- 

 wards saw a good deal of him, as he was an agreeable, 

 sociable fellow, fond of reading and hearing about foreign 

 countries, and quite free from the prejudices which might 

 be expected in a man of his profession. I found him, 

 moreover, a thoroughly upright, sincere, and virtuous 

 man. He supported his aged mother and unmarried 

 sisters in a very creditable way out of his small salary and 

 emoluments. It is a pleasure to be able to speak in these 

 terms of a Brazilian priest, for the opportunity occurs 

 rarely enough. 



Leaving these agreeable new acquaintances to finish 

 their breakfast, we next called on the Director of the 

 Indians of the Japura, Senhor Jose Chrysostomo Monteiro, 

 a thin wiry Mameluco, the most enterprising person in 

 the settlement. Each of the neighbouring rivers with its 

 numerous wild tribes is under the control of a Director, 

 who is nominated by the Imperial Government. There 

 are now no missions in the region of the Upper Amazons : 

 the * gentios ' (heathens, or unbaptised Indians) being 

 considered under the management and protection of 

 these despots, who, like the captains of Trabalhadores, 

 before mentioned, use the natives for their own private 

 ends ; Senhor Chrysostomo had, at this time, 200 of the 

 Japura Indians in his employ. He was half- Indian him- 



