274 
EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. 
Chap. IV, 
smith of Ega before mentioned, who maintained excel- 
lent order during the fourteen days the process of 
excavation and oil manufacture lasted. There were 
also many primitive Indians here from the neighbour- 
ing rivers, amongst them a family of Shumanas, good- 
tempered, harmless people from the Lower Japura. All 
of them were tattooed round the mouth, the blueish tint 
forming a border to the lips, and extending in a line on 
the cheeks towards the ear on each side. They were 
not quite so slender in figure as the Passes of Pedro- 
uassus family; but their features deviated quite as 
much as those of the Passes from the ordinary Indian 
type. This was seen chiefly in the comparatively small 
mouth, pointed chin, thin lips, and narrow, high nose. 
One of the daughters, a young girl of about seventeen 
years of age, was a real beauty. The colour of her skin 
approached the light tanned shade of the Mameluco 
women ; her figure was almost faultless, and the blue 
mouth, instead of being a disfigurement, gave quite a 
captivating finish to her appearance. Her neck, wrists, 
and ankles were adorned with strings of blue beads. 
She was, however, extremely bashful, never veaturing 
to look strangers in the face, and never quitting, for 
many minutes together, the side of her father and 
mother. The family had been shamefully swindled 
by some rascally trader on another praia ; and, on 
our arrival, came to lay their case before Senhor 
Cardozo, as the delegado of police of the district. The 
mild way in which the old man, without a trace of 
anger, stated his complaint in imperfect Tupi, quite 
enlisted our sympathies in his favour. But Cardozo 
