CITIZENSHIP OF COLOURED PEOPLE 363 



ditions of free citizenship, is a every interesting subject. 

 Brazilian statesmen seem to have abandoned the idea, if 

 they ever entertained it, of making this tropical empire 

 a nation of whites, with a slave labouring class. The 

 greatest difficulty on the Amazons is with the Indians. 

 The general inflexibility of character of the race, and their 

 abhorrence of the restraints of civilized life, make them 

 very intractable subjects. Some of them, however, who 

 have learned to read and write, and whose dislike to live in 

 towns has been overcome by some cause acting early in 

 life, make very good citizens. I have already mentioned 

 the priest, who is a good example of what early training 

 can do. There can be no doubt that if the docile Ama- 

 zonian Indians were kindly treated by their white fellow- 

 citizens, and educated, they would not be so quick as they 

 have hitherto shown themselves to be to leave the towns 

 and return into their half wild condition on the advancing 

 civilization of the places. The inflexibility of character, 

 although probably organic, is seen to be sometimes over- 

 come. The principal blacksmith of Ega, Senhor Macedo, 

 was also an Indian, and a very sensible fellow. He some- 

 times filled minor offices in the government of the place. 

 He used to come very frequently to my house to chat, 

 and was always striving to acquire solid information 

 about things. When Donati's comet appeared, he took 

 a great interest in it. We saw it at its best from the 3rd 

 to the loth of October (1858), between which dates it was 

 visible near the western horizon, just after sunset ; the 

 tail extending in a broad curve towards the north, and 

 forming a sublime object. Macedo consulted all the old 

 almanacs in the place to ascertain whether it was the same 

 comet as that of 1 8 1 1 , which he said he well remembered. 

 Before the Indians can be reclaimed in large numbers, it 

 is most likely they will become extinct as a race. There 

 is less difficulty with regard to the mamelucos, who, even 

 when the proportion of white blood is small, sometimes 

 become enterprising and versatile people. The Indian 

 element in the blood and character seems to be quite lost, 

 or dominated in the offspring of white and mameluco, 

 that is in the fruits of the second cross. I saw a striking 

 example of this in the family of a French blacksmith, who 

 had lived for many years on the banks of the Solimoens, 

 and had married a mameluco woman. His children might 

 have all passed as natives of Northern Europe, a little 



