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The southern shore of the lake had to be followed to get to Ega. After two hours the pirogue arrived at the port of this ancient mission founded by the Carmelites, which became a town in 1759, and which General Gama placed forever under Brazilian rule.
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.
In the evening we arrived at a narrow opening, which would be taken by a stranger navigating the main channel for the cutlet of some insignificant stream it was the mouth of the Teffe, on whose banks Ega is situated, the termination of our voyage.
It remained only to define the frontier between the new empire and that of its neighbor, Peru. This was no easy matter. If Brazil wished to extend to the Rio Napo in the west, Peru attempted to reach eight degrees further, as far as the Lake of Ega.
Before proceeding to describe the ants, a few remarks may be made on the singular cases and cocoons woven by the caterpillars of certain moths found at Ega. The first that may be mentioned is one of the most beautiful examples of insect workmanship I ever saw.
The natives say they devour ripe cajus and guavas on trees in the gardens, but on comparing the seeds taken from their stomachs with those of all cultivated trees at Ega, I found they were unlike any of them; it is therefore, probable that they generally resort to the forest to feed, coming to the village in the morning to sleep, because they find it more secure from animals of prey than their natural abides in the woods.
It is remarkable how quickly the savages of the various nations, which each have their own, to all appearance, widely different language, learn Tupi on their arrival at Ega, where it is the common idiom. This perhaps may be attributed chiefly to the grammatical forms of all the Indian tongues being the same, although the words are different.
The commandante was Senor Macedo, the Indian blacksmith of Ega before mentioned, who maintained excellent order during the fourteen days the process of excavation and oil manufacture lasted. There were also many primitive Indians here from the neighbouring rivers, among them a family of Shumanas, good-tempered, harmless people from the Lower Japura.
The other hunting trip which I have alluded to was undertaken in company with three friendly young half-castes. The other was Jose Frazao, a nephew of Senor Chrysostomo, of Ega, an active, clever, and manly young fellow, whom I much esteemed. He was almost a white his father being a Portuguese and his mother a Mameluca.
The impression gradually forced itself on my mind that the red Indian lives as a stranger, or immigrant in these hot regions, and that his constitution was not originally adapted, and has not since become perfectly adapted, to the climate. The Indian element is very prominent in the amusements of the Ega people.
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