VII 
AT MANAOS 249 
Brandao's son counted Indians among his ancestors 
by the mother's side — the rest were Mamalucoes, 
the cross between a white and a Tapuya, Mulattoes, 
Tapuyas, and Mestizos of various shades). After 
doce came coffee and cachaca, the latter unfortu- 
nately in too great abundance, and meanwhile 
several people were occupied in lighting up around 
the house a number of fires, through which leaped 
boys and girls and several young men and women ; 
those who made the fiery circuit a prescribed 
number of times being freed for the coming 
twelve months from all perils of plague, pestilence, 
and sorcery. A lad dressed to resemble an ox, and 
wearing a real ox's head and horns, was also led 
round the ring and made to dance and perform 
various pranks to the sound of the instruments and 
his driver's voice, the latter extemporising a song 
describing the past and present exploits of his ox. 
Other two performers were a couple of "giants" 
about 12 feet high, the one a lady, the other a 
gentleman, their faces of painted pasteboard dis- 
playing formidable Roman noses, their bodies and 
arms of branches and leaves of trees ; within each 
was a Tapuya. This odd pair danced several pas 
de deux round and through the fires, which the 
spectators found exceedingly comic. When tired 
with this amusement, the verandah was cleared and 
a fiddle and two or three guitars put in tune for 
the ball. The first dances were contradangas 
Inglezas. I thought not of joining them, but the 
Juiz came up to me and led me to the Juiza, 
insisting that I should open the ball with her. I 
saw that it was intended to do me honour and that 
I should be accounted very proud if I refused. I 
