202 
THE UPPER AMAZONS. 
GhAp. III. 
attaches a kind of superstitious significance to these 
acts, and thinks that the amusements appended to 
the Roman Catholic holidays as celebrated by the 
descendants of the . Portuguese, are also an essential 
part of the religious ceremonies. But in this respect, 
the uneducated whites and half-breeds are not a bit 
more enlightened than the poor duU-souled Indian. 
All look upon a religious holiday as an amusement, in 
which the priest takes the part of director or chief actor. 
Almost every unusual event, independent of saints' 
days, is made the occasion of a holiday by the sociable, 
easy-going people of the white and mameluco classes ; 
funerals, christenings, weddings, the arrival of strangers, 
and so forth. The custom of waking " the dead is also 
kept up. A few days after I arrived, I was awoke in 
the middle of a dark moist night by Cardozo, to sit up 
with a neighbour whose wife had just died. I found 
the body laid out on a table, with crucifix and lighted 
wax-candles at the head, and the room full of women 
and girls squatted on stools or on their haunches. The 
men were seated round the open door, smoking, drink- 
ing coffee, and telling stories ; the bereaved husband 
exerting himself much to keep the people merry during 
the remainder of the night. The Ega people seem to 
like an -excuse for turning night into day ; it is so cool 
and pleasant, and they can sit about during these hours 
in the open air, clad as usual in simple shirt and trow- 
sers, without streaming with perspiration. 
The patron saint is Santa Theresa; the festival at 
whose anniversary lasts, like most of the others, ten days. 
It begins very quietly with evening litanies sung in the 
