oor and smoking their pipes. The
house was, indeed, full to overflowing, as the whole party assembled for
the ball were to stay during the President's visit. In this way of
living it is an easy matter to accommodate any number of people; for if
they cannot all be received under the roof, they are quite as well
satisfied to put up their hammocks under the trees outside. As I went to
my room the evening before, I stopped to look at quite a pretty picture
of an Indian mother with her two little children asleep on either arm,
all in one hammock, in the open air.

My Indian friends were too much interested in my occupations to allow of
my continuing them uninterruptedly. They were delighted with my books,
(I happened to have Bates's "Naturalist on the Amazons" with me, in
which I showed them some pictures of Amazonian scenery and insects,) and
asked me many questions about my country, my voyage, and my travels
here. In return, they gave me much information about their own way of
life. They said the present gathering of neighbors and friends was no
unusual occurrence; for they have a great many festas which, though
partly religious in character, are also occasions of great festivity.
These festas are celebrated at different _sitios_ in turn, the saint of
the day being carried, with all his ornaments, candles, bouquets, etc.,
to the house where the ceremony is to take place, and where all the
people of the the village congregate. Sometimes they last for several
days, and are accompanied by processions, music, and dances in the
evening. But the women said the forest was very sad now, because their
men had all been taken as recruits, or were seeking safety in the woods.
The old senhora told me a sad story of the brutality exercised in
recruiting the Indians. She assured me that they were taken wherever
they were caught, without reference to age or circumstances, often
having women and children dependent upon them; and, if they made
resistance, were carried off by force, frequently handcuffed, or with
heavy weights attached to their feet. Such proceedings are entirely
illegal; but these forest villages are so remote, that the men employed
to recruit may practise any cruelty without being called to account for
it. If they bring in their recruits in good condition, no questions are
asked. These women assured me that all the work of the _sitios_--the
making of farinha, the fishing, the turtle-hunting--was stopped for want
of hands.