SPORTS ON THE PRAIA 419 



mai?ry and settle down for life ; and it is rather remark- 

 able that the men do not seem to object much to their 

 brides having had a child or two by various fathers before 

 marriage. The women do not lose reputation unless they 

 become utterly depraved, but in that case they are con- 

 demned pretty strongly by public opinion. Depravity is, 

 however, rare, for all require more or less to be wooed 

 before they are won. I did not see (although I mixed 

 pretty freely with the young people) any breach of pro- 

 priety* on the praias. The merry-makings were carried 

 on near the ranchos, where the more staid citizens of 

 Ega, husbands with their wives and young daughters, 

 all smoking gravely out of long pipes, sat in their ham- 

 mocks and enjoyed the fun. Towards midnight we often 

 heard, in the intervals between jokes and laughter, the 

 hoarse roar of jaguars prowling about the jungle in the 

 middle of the praia. There were several guitar-players 

 amongst the young men, and one most persevering fiddler, 

 so there was no lack of music. 



The favourite sport was the Pira-purasseya, or fish- 

 dance, one of the original games of the Indians, though 

 now probably a little modified. The young men and 

 women, mingling together, formed a ring, leaving one of 

 their number in the middle, who represented the fish. 

 They then all marched round, Indian file, the musicians 

 mixed up with the rest, singing a monotonous but rather 

 pretty chorus, the words of which were invented (under 

 a certain form) by one of the party who acted as leader. 

 This finished, all joined hands, and questions were put 

 to the one in the middle, asking what kind of fish he or 

 she might be. To these the individual has to reply. 

 The end of it all is that he makes a rush at the ring, and 

 if he succeeds in escaping, the person who allowed him to 

 do so has to take his place ; the march and chorus then 

 recommence, and so the game goes on hour after hour. 

 Tupi was the language mostly used, but sometimes Portu- 

 guese was sung and spoken. The details of the dance 

 were often varied. Instead of the names of fishes being 

 called over by the person in the middle, the name of some 

 animal, flower, or other object was given to every fresh 

 occupier of the place. There was then good scope for 

 wit in the invention of nicknames, and peals of laughter 

 would often salute some particularly good hit. Thus a 

 very lanky young man was called the Magoary, or the 



