398 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA 



amongst Indians who have not had much intercourse with 

 the civilized settlers, and even amongst those who have 

 it is only a few of the more gifted individuals who show 

 any curiosity on the subject. Their sluggish minds seem 

 unable to conceive or feel the want of a theory of the soul, 

 and of the relations of man to the Creator or the rest of 

 Nature. But is it not so with totally uneducated and 

 isolated people even in the most highly civilized parts of 

 the world ? The good qualities of the Passes belong to 

 the moral part of the character : they lead a contented, 

 unambitious, and friendly life, a quiet, domestic, orderly 

 existence, varied by occasional drinking bouts and summer 

 excursions. They are not so shrewd, energetic, and 

 masterful as the Mundurucus, but they are more easily 

 taught, because their disposition is more yielding than 

 that of the Mundurucus or any other tribe. 



We started on our return to Ega at half-past four o'clock 

 in the afternoon. Our generous entertainers loaded us 

 with presents. There was scarcely room for us to sit in 

 the canoe, as they had sent down ten large bundles of 

 sugar-cane, four baskets of farinha, three cedar planks, 

 a small hamper of coffee, and two heavy bunches of 

 bananas. After we were embarked the old lady came with 

 a parting gift for me — a huge bowl of smoking-hot banana 

 porridge. I was to eat it on the road ' to keep my 

 stomach warm'. Both stood on the bank as we pushed 

 off, and gave us their adeos, ' Ikuana Tupana eirum ' 

 (* Go with God ') : a form of salutation taught by the old 

 Jesuit missionaries. We had a most uncomfortable 

 passage, for Cardozo was quite tipsy and had not attended 

 to the loading of the boat. The cargo had been placed 

 too far forward, and to make matters worse my heavy 

 friend obstinately insisted on sitting astride on the top of 

 the pile, instead of taking his place near the stern ; singing 

 from his perch a most indecent love-song, and disregarding 

 the inconvenience of having to bend down almost every 

 minute to pass under the boughs and hanging sipos as 

 we sped rapidly along. The canoe leaked, but not, at 

 first, alarmingly. Long before sunset, darkness began 

 to close in under these gloomy shades, and our steers- 

 man could not avoid now and then running the boat into 

 the thicket. The first time this happened a piece was 

 broken off the square prow (rodella) ; the second time we 

 got squeezed between two trees. A short time after this 



