VII 
AT MANAOS 
247 
patron saint. In large towns, at Santarem, for 
example, these " rulers of the feast " are called 
emperor and empress, but here they bore the more 
modest titles of Juiz " and " Juiza." As might be 
supposed, the Juiz is chosen by the weight of his 
purse and the Juiza by the amount of her personal 
attractions. I had long been desirous to see a 
dance of the country, for much of the character of a 
people is seen in their national dances ; and as I had 
received from the Juiz and Juiza a polite invitation 
to go and eat doce (sweetmeats), I resolved to 
profit by the opportunity. It was after six in the 
evening when I started, accompanied by a son of 
Senhor Brandao and a whitish young man named 
Estanislas — a native of Rio, but sent out here by 
the Government when quite a lad to aid in collect- 
ing objects of natural history. At fourteen he took 
to himself a wife, and now, at thirty-six, he has been 
some years a grandfather. As in all journeys in 
this country, our carriage was a canoe and our way 
lay on the waters. The distance was about a 
league, threading through the inundated forest, 
and had we followed the course of the river it would 
have been much longer. It was dark when we 
reached the house where the festa was held — a 
fazenda on the Rio Manaquir^ which had been lent 
for the occasion, and a room in it fitted up as a 
temporary chapel dedicated to St. John. As we 
neared the place, lights innumerable sparkled on 
the water and on the ascent to the house, and one 
canoe (which bore the image of the Saint) was a 
perfect blaze of light, proceeding from lamps made 
of half an orange skin filled with turtle oil. This 
canoe stood in the middle of the river, and then the 
