He was a stout, broad-featured man, ranking as a white, but having a tinge of negro blood, his complexion, however, was ruddy, and scarcely betrayed the mixture.He received us in a very cordial, winning manner; I had afterwards occasion to be astonished at the boundless good nature of this excellent fellow, whose greatest pleasure seemed to be to make sacrifices for his friends.He was a Paraense, and came to Ega originally as a trader; but, not succeeding in this, he turned planter on a small scale and collector of the natural commodities of the country, employing half-a-dozen Indians in the business.
We then visited the military commandant, an officer in the Brazilian army, named Praia.He was breakfasting with the Vicar, and we found the two in dishabille (morning-gown, loose round the neck, and slippers), seated at a rude wooden table in an open mud-floored verandah, at the back of the house.Commander Praia was a little curly-headed man (also somewhat of a mulatto), always merry and fond of practical jokes.His wife, Donna Anna, a dressy dame from Santarem, was the leader of fashion in the settlement.The Vicar, Father Luiz Gonsalvo Gomez, was a nearly pureblood Indian, a native of one of the neighbouring villages, but educated at Maranham, a city on the Atlantic seaboard.Iafterwards saw a good deal of him, as he was an agreeable, sociable fellow, fond of reading and hearing about foreign countries, and quite free from the prejudices which might be expected in a man of his profession.I found him, moreover, a thoroughly upright, sincere, and virtuous man.He supported his aged mother and unmarried sisters in a very creditable way out of his small salary and emoluments.It is a pleasure to be able to speak in these terms of a Brazilian priest, for the opportunity occurs rarely enough.
Leaving these agreeable new acquaintances to finish their breakfast, we next called on the Director of the Indians of the Japura, Senor Jose Chrysostomo Monteiro, a thin wiry Mameluco, the most enterprising person in the settlement.Each of the neighbouring rivers with its numerous wild tribes is under the control of a Director, who is nominated by the Imperial Government.There are now no missions in the regions of the Upper Amazons; the "gentios" (heathens, or unbaptised Indians) being considered under the management and protection of these despots, who, like the captains of Trabalhadores, before mentioned, use the natives for their own private ends.Senor Chrysostomo had, at this time, 200 of the Japura Indians in his employ.He was half Indian himself, but was a far worse master to the redskins than the whites usually are.
We finished our rounds by paying our respects to a venerable native merchant, Senor Romao de Oliveira, a tall, corpulent, fine-looking old man, who received us with a naive courtesy quite original in its way.He had been an industrious, enterprising man in his younger days, and had built a substantial range of houses and warehouses.The shrewd and able old gentleman knew nothing of the world beyond the wilderness of the Solimoens and its few thousands of isolated inhabitants, yet he could converse well and sensibly, making observations on men and things as sagaciously as though he had drawn them from long experience of life in a European capital.The semi-civilised Indians respected old Romao, and he had, consequently, a great number in his employ in different parts of the river-- his vessels were always filled quicker with produce than those of his neighbours.On our leaving, he placed his house and store at my disposal.This was not a piece of empty politeness, for some time afterwards, when Iwished to settle for the goods I had had of him, he refused to take any payment.
