Chap. IV. 
POTUGUESE TRADERS. 
277 
was given to every fresh occupier of the place. There 
was then good scope for wit in the invention of nick- 
names, and peals of laughter would often salute some 
particularly good hit. Thus a very lanky young man 
was called the Magoary, or the gray stork ; a moist 
gray-eyed man with a profile comically suggestive of a 
fish was christened Jaraki (a kind of fish), which was 
considered quite a witty sally ; a little Mameluco girl, 
with light-coloured eyes and brown hair, got the gallant 
name of Rosa branca, or the white rose ; a young fellow 
who had recently singed his eyebrows by the explosion 
of fireworks was dubbed Pedro queimado (burnt Peter) ; 
in short every one got a nickname, and each time the 
cognomen was introduced into the chorus as the circle 
marched round. 
It is said by the Portuguese and Brazilian towns- 
people lower down the river, that much disorder and all 
kinds of immorality prevail amongst these assemblages of 
Upper Amazons rustics on the turtle praias. I can only 
say that nothing of the kind was seen on the occasions 
when I attended. But it may be added that there 
were no traders from the " civilised " parts present to 
set a bad example. Town-bred Indians and half-castes 
will be disorderly and quarrelsome, like uneducated 
people everywhere, when they can get their fill of in- 
toxicating drinks. When low Portuguese traders, who 
are most certainly the inferiors of these rustics whom 
they despise, attend the praias, they corrupt the women, 
and bribe the Indians with casha§a to steal their 
masters' oil ; these proceedings, of course, give rise to 
disturbances in many ways. There were none of these 
