Chap. YI. 
(ESTEUS FLIES. 
407 
order,- despatched a party of armed men of the National 
Guard to the place to make inquhies, and, if the murder 
should appear to be unprovoked, to retaliate. When they 
reached the settlement of the horde who had eaten the 
two men, it was found evacuated, with the exception of 
one girl, who had been in the woods when the rest of 
her people had taken flight, and whom the guards 
brought with them to St. Paulo. It was gathered from 
her, and from other Indians on the Jauari, that the 
young men had brought their fate on themselves 
through improper conduct towards the Majerona 
women. The girl, on arriving at St. Paulo, was taken 
care of by Senhor Jose Patricio, baptised under the 
name of Maria, and taught Portuguese. I saw a good 
deal of her, for my friend sent her daily to my house 
to fill the water-jars, make the fire, and so forth. I 
also gained her good-will by extracting the grub of an 
(Estrus fly* from her back, and thus cured her of a 
painful tumour. She was decidedly the best-humoured 
a,nd, to all appearance, the kindest-hearted specimen of 
* A species of (Estrus or gadfly, on the upper Amazons, fixes on the 
flesh of man as breeding place for its grub. I extracted five at diff^erent 
times from my own flesh. The first was fixed in the calf of my leg, causing 
there a suppurating tumour, which, being unaware of the existence of 
this QEstrus, I thought at first was a common boil. The tumour grew and 
the pain increased until I became quite lame, and then, on carefully 
examining the supposed boil, 1 saw the head of a grub moving in a 
small hole at its apex. The extraction of the animal was a difiicult 
operation, it being an inch in' length and of increasing breadth from 
head to tail, besides being secured to the flesh of the inside of the 
tumour by two horny hooks. An old Indian of Ega showed me the 
most effective way of proceeding, which was to stupefy the grub with 
strong tobacco juice, causing it to relax its grip in the interior, and 
then pull it out of the narrow orifice of the tumour by main force. 
