RETURN TO-MANAOS. 



269 



about their own way of life. They said the present gath- 

 ering of neighbors and friends was no unusual occurrence, 

 for they have a great many festas, which, though partly 

 religious in character, are also occasions of great festivity. 

 These festas are celebrated at different sitios in turn, the 

 saint of the day being carried, with all his ornaments, can- 

 dles, bouquets, &c., to the house where the ceremony is to 

 take place, and where all the people of the village congre- 

 gate. Sometimes the festa lasts for several days, and is 

 accompanied with processions, music, and dances in the 

 evening. But the women said the forest was very sad 

 now, because their men had all been taken as recruits, 

 or were seeking safety in the woods. The old Senhora 

 told me a sad story of the brutality exercised in recruit- 

 ing the Indians. She assured me that they were taken 

 wherever found, without regard to age or circumstances, 

 women and children often being dependent upon them ; 

 and if they made resistance, were carried off by force, and 

 frequently handcuffed or had heavy weights attached to 

 their feet. Such proceedings are entirely illegal ; but these 

 forest villages are so remote, that the men employed to 

 recruit may practice any cruelty without being called to 

 account for it. If the recruits are brought in in good 

 condition, no questions are asked. These women said 

 that all the work of the sitios — the making of farinha, 

 the fishing, the turtle-hunting — was stopped for want of 

 hands. The appearance of things certainly confirms this, 

 for we scarcely see any men in the villages, and the ca- 

 noes we meet are mostly rowed by women. 



Yet I must say that the life of the Indian woman, so 

 far as we have seen it, seems enviable, in comparison with 

 that of the Brazilian lady in the Amazonian towns. The 



