Chap. III. 
FEAST OF FRUITS. 
207 
practise it. The Indians of the Upper Amazons, like 
those of the Lower river, mostly use fermented drinks ^ 
(called here Caysuma), made from mandioca cakes and 
different kinds of fruit. 
I did not see much fruit about. A few old women in 
one of the sheds were preparing and cooking porridge 
of bananas in large earthenware kettles. It was now 
near midday, the time when a little rest is taken before 
resuming the orgy in the evening ; but a small party of 
young men and women were keeping up the dance to 
the accompaniment of drums made of hollow logs and 
beaten with tlie hands. The men formed a curved line 
on the outside, and the women a similar line on the 
inside facing their partners. Each man had in his 
right hand a long reed representing a javelin, and 
rested his left on the shoulders of his neighbour. They 
all moved, first to the right and then to the left, with 
a slow step, singing a drawling monotonous verse, in a 
language which I did not understand. The same figure 
was repeated in the dreariest possible way for at least 
half an hour, and in fact constituted the whole of the 
dance. The assembled crowd included individuals of 
most of the tribes living in the region around Ega ; but 
the majority were Miranhas and Juris. They had no ' 
common chief, an active middle-aged Juri, named Alex- 
andre, in the employ of Senhor Chrysostomo of Ega, 
seeming to have the principal management. This festi- 
val of fruits was the only occasion in which the Indians 
of the neighbourhood assembled together or exhibited any ^ 
traces of joint action. It declined in importance every 
year, and will no doubt soon be discontinued altogether. 
