358 



THE UPPER AMAZONS 



collecting for the ' Museo de Londres and was paid for 

 it ; that was very intelligible. One day, soon after my 

 arrival, when I was explaining these things to a listening 

 circle seated on benches in the grassy street, one of the 

 audience, a considerable tradesman, a Mameluco native 

 of Ega, got suddenly quite enthusiastic, and exclaimed 

 * How rich are these great nations of Europe ! We half- 

 civilized creatures know nothing. Let us treat this stranger 

 well, that he may stay amongst us and teach our children 

 We very frequently had social parties, with dancing and 

 so forth ; of these relaxations I shall have more to say 

 presently. The manners of the Indian population also 

 gave me some amusement for a long time. During the 

 latter part of my residence, three wandering Frenchmen, 

 and two Italians, some of them men of good education, 

 on their road one after the other from the Andes down the 

 Amazons, became enamoured of this delightfully-situated 

 and tranquil spot, and made up their minds to settle here 

 for the remainder of their lives. Three of them ended 

 by marrying native women. I found the society of these 

 friends a ver^^ agreeable change. 



There were, of course, many drawbacks to the amenities 

 of the place as a residence for a European ; but these were 

 not of the nature that my readers would perhaps imagine. 

 There was scarcely any danger from wild animals : it 

 seems almost ridiculous to refute the idea of danger from 

 the natives in a country where even incivility to an un- 

 offending stranger is a rarity. A Jaguar, however, paid 

 us a visit one night. It was considered an extraordinary 

 event, and so much uproar was made by the men who 

 turned out with guns and bows and arrows that the 

 animal scampered off and was heard of no more. Alli- 

 gators were rather troublesome in the dry season. During 

 these months there were almost always one or two lying 

 in wait near the bathing-place for anything that might 

 turn up at the edge of the water : dog, sheep, pig, child, 

 or drunken Indian. When this visitor was about, every 

 one took extra care whilst bathing. I used to imitate the 

 natives in not advancing far from the bank and in keeping 

 my eye fixed on that of the monster, which stares with a 

 disgusting leer along the surface of the water ; the body 

 being submerged to the level of the eyes, and the top of the 

 head, with part of the dorsal crest, the only portions 

 visible. When a little motion was perceived in the water 



