Chap. III. 
CAPTIVE CHILDREN. 
193 
tanned by foreign travel. One of them, a charming 
young girl named Isabel, was quite a blonde, having 
gray eyes, light brown hair, and fair complexion ; yet 
her grandmother was a tattooed Indian of the Tucuna 
tribe. 
Many of the Ega Indians, including all the domestic 
servants, are savages who have been brought from the 
neighbouring rivers ; the Japura, the Issa, and the 
Solimoens. I saw here individuals of at least sixteen 
different tribes ; most of whom had been bought, when 
children, of the native chiefs. This species of slave • 
dealing, although forbidden by the laws of Brazil, is 
winked at by the authorities, because, without it, there 
would be no means of obtaining servants. They all be- 
come their own masters when they grow up, and never 
show the slightest inclination to return to utter savage 
life. But the boys generally run away and embark on 
the canoes of traders ; and the girls are often badly 
treated by their mistresses, the jealous, passionate, and 
ill-educated Brazilian women. Nearly all the enmi- 
ties which arise amongst residents at Ega and other * 
places, are caused by disputes about Indian servants. 
No one who has lived only in old settled countries, 
where service can be readily bought, can imagine the 
difficulties and annoyances of a land where the servant 
class are ignorant of the value of monej^^, and hands 
cannot be obtained except by coaxing them from the 
employ of other masters. 
Great mortality takes place amongst the poor captive 
children on their arrival at Ega. It is a singular cir- 
cumstance, that the Indians residing on the Japura 
YOL. II. o 
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