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THE UPPER AMAZONS 



excursions, and so forth. Sebastian was often my com- 

 panion in the woods, where he was very useful in finding 

 the small birds I shot, which sometimes fell in the thickets 

 amongst confused masses of fallen branches and dead 

 leaves. He was wonderfully expert at catching lizards 

 with his hands, and at climbing. The smoothest stems 

 of palm-trees offered little difficulty to him : he would 

 gather a few lengths of tough, flexible lianas ; tie them 

 in a short, endless band to support his feet with in em- 

 bracing the slippery shaft, and then mount upwards by 

 a succession of slight jerks. It was very amusing, during 

 the first few weeks, to witness the glee and pride with 

 which he would bring to me the bunches of fruit he had 

 gathered from almost inaccessible trees. He avoided 

 the company of boys of his own race, and was evidently 

 proud of being the servant of a real white man. We 

 brought him down with us to Para : but he showed no 

 emotion at any of the strange sights of the capital ; the 

 steam-vessels, large ships and houses, horses and carriages, 

 the pomp of church ceremonies, and so forth. In this he 

 exhibited the usual dulness of feeling and poverty of 

 thought of the Indian ; he had, nevertheless, very keen 

 perceptions, and was quick at learning any mechanical art. 

 Jose, who had resumed, some time before I left the country, 

 his old trade of goldsmith, made him his apprentice, and 

 he made very rapid progress ; for after about three 

 months' teaching he came to me one day with radiant 

 countenance and showed me a gold ring of his own making. 



The fate of the little girl, who came with a second batch 

 of children all ill of intermittent fever, a month or two 

 after Sebastian, was very different. She was brought to 

 our house, after landing, one night in the wet season, when 

 the rain was pouring in torrents, thin and haggard, 

 drenched with wet and shivering with ague. An old Indian 

 who brought her to the door, said briefly ' ecui encom- 

 menda ' ('here's your little parcel or order'), and went 

 away. There was very little of the savage in her appear- 

 ance, and she was of a much lighter colour than the boy. 

 We found she was of the Miranha tribe, all of whom are 

 distinguished by a slit, cut in the middle of each wing of 

 the nose, in which they wear on their holiday occasions a 

 large button made of pearly river-shell. We took the 

 greatest care of our little patient ; had the best nurses in 

 the town, fomented her daily, gave her quinine and the 



