390 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA 



As we landed, Pedro-uassu himself came down to the 

 port to receive us ; our arrival having been announced by 

 the barking of dogs. He was a tall and thin old man, with 

 a serious, but benignant expression of countenance, and 

 a manner much freer from shyness and distrust than is 

 usual with Indians. He was clad in a shirt of coarse 

 cotton cloth, dyed with murishi, and trousers of the same 

 material turned up to the knee. His features were sharply 

 delineated — more so than in any Indian face I had yet 

 seen ; the lips thin and the nose rather high and com- 

 pressed. A large, square, blue-black tattooed patch 

 occupied the middle of his face, which, as well as the other 

 exposed parts of his body, was of a light reddish-tan 

 colour, instead of the usual coppery-brown hue. He 

 walked with an upright, slow gait, and on reaching us 

 saluted Cardozo with the air of a man who wished it to be 

 understood that he was dealing with an equal. My 

 friend introduced me, and I was welcomed in the same 

 grave, ceremonious manner. He seemed to have many 

 questions to ask : but they were chiefly about Senhora 

 Felippa, Cardozo' s Indian housekeeper at Ega, and were 

 purely complimentary. This studied politeness is quite 

 natural to Indians of the advanced agricultural tribes. 

 The language used was Tupi : I heard no other spoken all 

 the day. It must be borne in mind that Pedro-uassu had 

 never had much intercourse with whites : he was, al- 

 though baptised, a primitive Indian, who had always lived 

 in retirement ; the ceremony of baptism having been 

 gone through, as it generally is by the aborigines, simply 

 from a wish to stand well with the whites. 



Arrived at the house, we were welcomed by Pedro's 

 wife : a thin, wrinkled, active old squaw, tattooed in pre- 

 cisely the same way as her husband. She had also sharp 

 features, but her manner was more cordial and quicker 

 than that of her husband : she talked much, and with 

 great inflection of voice ; whilst the tones of the old man 

 were rather drawling and querulous. Her clothing was 

 a long petticoat of thick cotton cloth, and a very short 

 chemise, not reaching to her waist. I was rather sur- 

 prised to find the grounds around the establishment in 

 neater order than in any sitio, even of civilized people, I 

 had yet seen on the Upper Amazons : the stock of utensils 

 and household goods of all sorts was larger, and the evi- 

 dences of regular industry and plenty more numerous than 



