362 



THE UPPER AMAZONS 



guese territories in South America. The chief commis- 

 sioner for Spain, Don Francisco Requena, lived some time 

 in the village with his family. I found only one person at 

 Ega, my old friend Romao de Oliveira, who recollected, 

 or had any knowledge of this important time, when a 

 numerous staff of astronomers, surveyors, and draughts- 

 men, explored much of the surrounding country, with 

 large bodies of soldiers and natives. 



More than half the inhabitants of Ega are mamelucos ; 

 there are not more than forty or fifty pure whites ; the 

 number of negroes and mulattos is probably a little less, 

 and the rest of the population consists of pure blood 

 Indians. Every householder, including Indians and free 

 negroes, is entitled to a vote in the elections, municipal, 

 provincial, and imperial, and is liable to be called on juries, 

 and to serve in the national guard. These privileges and 

 duties of citizenship do not seem at present to be appre- 

 ciated by the more ignorant coloured people. There is, 

 however, a gradual improvement taking place in this 

 respect. Before I left there was a rather sharp contest 

 for the Presidency of the Municipal Chamber, and most of 

 the voters took a lively interest in it. There was also an 

 election of members to represent the province in the 

 Imperial Parliament at Rio Janeiro, in which each party 

 strove hard to return its candidate. On this occasion, an 

 unscrupulous lawyer was sent by the government party 

 from the capital to overawe the opposition to its nominee ; 

 many of the half-castes, headed by my old friend John 

 da Cunha, who was then settled at Ega, fought hard, but 

 with perfect legality and good humour, against this 

 powerful interest. They did not succeed ; and although 

 the government agent committed many tyrannical and 

 illegal acts, the losing party submitted quietly to their 

 defeat. In a larger town, I believe, the government 

 would not have dared to attempt thus to control the 

 elections. I think I saw enough to warrant the conclusion 

 that the machinery of constitutional government would, 

 with a little longer trial, work well amongst the mixed 

 Indian, white, and negro population, even of this remote 

 part of the Brazilian empire. I attended, also, before I 

 left, several assize meetings at Ega, and witnessed the 

 novel sight of negro, white, half-caste, and Indian, sitting 

 gravely side by side on the jury bench. 



The way in which the coloured races act under the con- 



