4i8 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA 



from the Lower Japura, All of them were tattooed 

 round the mouth, the bluish tint forming a border to the 

 lips, and extending in a line on the cheeks towards the 

 ear on each side. They were not quite so slender in figure 

 as the Passes of Pedro-uassu's family ; but their features 

 deviated quite as much as those of the Passes from the 

 ordinary Indian type. This was seen chiefly in the com- 

 paratively small mouth, pointed chin, thin lips, and 

 narrow, high nose. One of the daughters, a young girl 

 of about seventeen years of age, was a real beauty. The 

 colour of her skin approached the light tanned shade of 

 the Mameluco women ; her figure was almost faultless, 

 and the blue mouth, instead of being a disfigurement, gave 

 quite a captivating finish to her appearance. Her neck, 

 wrists, and ankles were adorned with strings of blue 

 beads. She was, however, extremely bashful, never 

 venturing to look strangers in the face, and never quitting, 

 for many minutes together, the side of her father and 

 mother. The family had been shamefully swindled by 

 some rascally trader on another praia ; and, on our 

 arrival, came to lay their case before Senhor Cardozo, 

 as the delegado of police of the district. The mild way 

 in which the old man, without a trace of anger, stated his 

 complaint in imperfect Tupl, quite enlisted our sympathies 

 in his favour. But Cardozo could give him no redress ; 

 he invited the family, however, to make their rancho near 

 to ours, and in the end gave them the highest price for 

 the surplus oil which they manufactured. 



It was not all work at Catua ; indeed there was rather 

 more play than work going on. The people make a kind 

 of holiday of these occasions. Every fine night parties 

 of the younger people assembled on the sands, and dancing 

 and games were carried on for hours together. But the 

 requisite liveliness for these sports was never got up 

 without a good deal of preliminary rum-drinking. The 

 girls were so coy that the young men could not get sufficient 

 partners for the dances, without first subscribing for a few 

 flagons of the needful casha9a. The coldness of the shy 

 Indian and Mameluco maidens never failed to give way 

 after a little of this strong drink, but it was astonishing 

 what an immense deal they could take of it in the course 

 of an evening. Coyness is not always a sign of innocence 

 in these people, for most of the half-caste women on the 

 Upper Amazons lead a little career of looseness before they 



