184 
THE UPPER AMAZ0]N:S. 
Chap. III. 
very intelligible. One day, soon after my arrival, when 
I was explaining these things to a listening circle 
seated on benches in the grassy street, one of the 
audience, a considerable tradesman, a Mameluco native 
of Ega, got suddenly quite enthusiastic, and exclaimed 
" How rich are these great nations of Europe I We 
half-civilised creatures know nothing. Let us treat this 
stranger well, that he may stay amongst us and teach 
our children." We very frequently had social parties, 
with dancing and so forth ; of i^hese relaxations I shall 
have more to say presently. The manners of the 
Indian population also gave me some amusement for a 
long time. During the latter part of my residence, 
three wandering Frenchmen, and two Italians, some of 
them men of good education, on their road one after 
the other from the Andes down the Amazons, became 
enamoured of this delightfully-situated and tranquil 
spot, and made up their minds to settle here for the 
remainder of their lives. Three of them ended by 
marrying native women. I found the society of these 
friends a very agreeable change. 
There were, of course, many drawbacks to the ame- 
nities of the place as a residence for a European ; but 
these were not of the nature that my readers would per- 
haps imagine. There was scarcely any danger from wild 
animals : it seems almost ridiculous to refute the idea 
of danger from the natives in a country where even 
incivility to an unoffending stranger is a rarity. A 
J aguar, however, paid us a visit one night. It was con- 
sidered an extraordinary event, and so much uproar 
was made by the men who turned out with guns and 
