Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/206

quick as they have hitherto shown themselves to be to leave the towns and return into their half wild condition on the advancing civilisation of the places. The inflexibility of character, although probably organic, is seen to be sometimes overcome. The principal blacksmith of Ega, Senhor Macedo, was also an Indian, and a very sensible fellow. He sometimes filled minor offices in the government of the place. He used to come very frequently to my house to chat, and was always striving to acquire solid information about things. When Donati's comet appeared, he took a great interest in it. We saw it at its best from the 3rd to the 10th of October (1858), between which dates it was visible near the western horizon, just after sunset; the tail extending in a broad curve towards the north, and forming a sublime object. Macedo consulted all the old almanacs in the place to ascertain whether it was the same comet as that of 1811, which he said he well remembered. Before the Indians can be reclaimed in large numbers, it is most likely they will become extinct as a race. There is less difficulty with regard to the mamelucos, who, even when the proportion of white blood is small, sometimes become enterprising and versatile people. The Indian element in the blood and character seems to be quite lost, or dominated in the offspring of white and mameluco, that is in the fruits of the second cross. I saw a striking example of this in the family of a French blacksmith, who had lived for many years on the banks of the Solimoens, and had married a mameluco woman. His children might have all passed as natives of Northern Europe, a little