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+The Project Gutenberg Etext The Naturalist on the River Amazons
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+The Naturalist on the River Amazons
+
+by Henry Walter Bates
+
+December, 2000  [Etext #2440]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext The Naturalist on the River Amazons
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+
+The Naturalist on the River Amazons
+
+by Henry Walter Bates
+
+
+
+
+AN APPRECIATION
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN
+Author of "The Origin of Species," etc.
+
+From Natural History Review, vol. iii. 1863.
+
+IN April, 1848, the author of the present volume left England in
+company with Mr. A. R. Wallace--"who has since acquired wide fame
+in connection with the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection"--on
+a joint expedition up the river Amazons, for the purpose of
+investigating the Natural History of the vast wood-region
+traversed by that mighty river and its numerous tributaries. Mr.
+Wallace returned to England after four years' stay, and was, we
+believe, unlucky enough to lose the greater part of his
+collections by the shipwreck of the vessel in which he had
+transmitted them to London. Mr. Bates prolonged his residence in
+the Amazon valley seven years after Mr. Wallace's departure, and
+did not revisit his native country again until 1859. Mr. Bates
+was also more fortunate than his companion in bringing his
+gathered treasures home to England in safety. So great, indeed,
+was the mass of specimens accumulated by Mr. Bates during his
+eleven years' researches, that upon the working out of his
+collection, which has been accomplished (or is now in course of
+being accomplished) by different scientific naturalists in this
+country, it has been ascertained that representatives of no less
+than 14,712 species are amongst them, of which about 8000 were
+previously unknown to science. It may be remarked that by far the
+greater portion of these species, namely, about 14,000, belong to
+the class of Insects--to the study of which Mr. Bates principally
+devoted his attention--being, as is well known, himself
+recognised as no mean authority as regards this class of organic
+beings. In his present volume, however, Mr. Bates does not
+confine himself to his entomological discoveries, nor to any
+other branch of Natural History, but supplies a general outline
+of his adventures during his journeyings up and down the mighty
+river, and a variety of information concerning every object of
+interest, whether physical or political, that he met with by the
+way.
+
+Mr. Bates landed at Para in May, 1848. His first part is entirely
+taken up with an account of the Lower Amazons--that is, the river
+from its sources up to the city of Manaos or Barra do Rio Negro,
+where it is joined by the large northern confluent of that name--
+and with a narrative of his residence at Para and his various
+excursions in the neighbourhood of that city. The large
+collection made by Mr. Bates of the animal productions of Para
+enabled him to arrive at the following conclusions regarding the
+relations of the Fauna of the south side of the Amazonian delta
+with those of other regions.
+
+"It is generally allowed that Guiana and Brazil, to the north and
+south of the Para district, form two distinct provinces, as
+regards their animal and vegetable inhabitants. By this it means
+that the two regions have a very large number of forms peculiar
+to themselves, and which are supposed not to have been derived
+from other quarters during modern geological times. Each may be
+considered as a centre of distribution in the latest process of
+dissemination of species over the surface of tropical America.
+Para lies midway between the two centres, each of which has a
+nucleus of elevated table-land, whilst the intermediate river-
+valley forms a wide extent of low-lying country. It is,
+therefore, interesting to ascertain from which the latter
+received its population, or whether it contains so large a number
+of endemic species as would warrant the conclusion that it is
+itself an independent province. To assist in deciding such
+questions as these, we must compare closely the species found in
+the district with those of the other contiguous regions, and
+endeavour to ascertain whether they are identical, or only
+slightly modified, or whether they are highly peculiar.
+
+"Von Martius when he visited this part of Brazil forty years ago,
+coming from the south, was much struck with the dissimilarity of
+the animal and vegetable productions to those of other parts of
+Brazil. In fact the Fauna of Para, and the lower part of the
+Amazons has no close relationship with that of Brazil proper; but
+it has a very great affinity with that of the coast region of
+Guiana, from Cayenne to Demerara. If we may judge from the
+results afforded by the study of certain families of insects, no
+peculiar Brazilian forms are found in the Para district; whilst
+more than one-half of the total number are essentially Guiana
+species, being found nowhere else but in Guiana and Amazonia.
+Many of them, however, are modified from the Guiana type, and
+about one-seventh seem to be restricted to Para. These endemic
+species are not highly peculiar, and they may yet be found over a
+great part of Northern Brazil when the country is better
+explored. They do not warrant us in concluding that the district
+forms an independent province, although they show that its Fauna
+is not wholly derivative, and that the land is probably not
+entirely a new formation. From all these facts, I think we must
+conclude that the Para district belongs to the Guiana province
+and that, if it is newer land than Guiana, it must have received
+the great bulk of its animal population from that region. I am
+informed by Dr. Sclater that similar results are derivable from
+the comparison of the birds of these countries."
+
+One of the most interesting excursions made by Mr. Bates from
+Para was the ascent of the river Tocantins--the mouth of which
+lies about 4-5 miles from the city of Para. This was twice
+attempted. On the second occasion--our author being in company
+with Mr. Wallace--the travellers penetrated as far as the rapids
+of Arroyos, about 130 miles from its mouth. This district is one
+of the chief collecting-grounds of the well-known Brazil-nut
+(Bertholletia excelsa), which is here very plentiful, grove after
+grove of these splendid trees being visible, towering above their
+fellows, with the "woody fruits, large and round as cannon-balls,
+dotted over the branches." The Hyacinthine Macaw (Ara
+hyacinthina) is another natural wonder, first met with here. This
+splendid bird, which is occasionally brought alive to the
+Zoological Gardens of Europe, "only occurs in the interior of
+Brazil, from 16' S.L. to the southern border of the Amazon
+valley." Its enormous beak--which must strike even the most
+unobservant with wonder--appears to be adapted to enable it to
+feed on the nuts of the Mucuja Palm (Acrocomia lasiospatha).
+"These nuts, which are so hard as to be difficult to break with a
+heavy hammer, are crushed to a pulp by the powerful beak of this
+Macaw."
+
+Mr. Bates' later part is mainly devoted to his residence at
+Santarem, at the junction of the Rio Tapajos with the main
+stream, and to his account of Upper Amazon, or Solimoens--the
+Fauna of which is, as we shall presently see, in many respects
+very different from that of the lower part of the river. At
+Santarem--"the most important and most civilised settlement on
+the Amazon, between the Atlantic and Para "--Mr. Bates made his
+headquarters for three years and a half, during which time
+several excursions up the little-known Tapajos were effected.
+Some 70 miles up the stream, on its affluent, the Cupari, a new
+Fauna, for the most part very distinct from that of the lower
+part of the same stream, was entered upon. "At the same time a
+considerable proportion of the Cupari species were identical with
+those of Ega, on the Upper Amazon, a district eight times further
+removed than the village just mentioned." Mr. Bates was more
+successful here than on his excursion up the Tocantins, and
+obtained twenty new species of fishes, and many new and
+conspicuous insects, apparently peculiar to this part of the
+Amazonian valley.
+
+In a later chapter Mr. Bates commences his account of the
+Solimoens, or Upper Amazons, on the banks of which he passed four
+years and a half. The country is a "magnificent wilderness, where
+civilised man has, as yet, scarcely obtained a footing-the
+cultivated ground, from the Rio Negro to the Andes, amounting
+only to a few score acres." During the whole of this time Mr.
+Bates' headquarters were at Ega, on the Teffe, a confluent of the
+great river from the south, whence excursions were made sometimes
+for 300 or 400 miles into the interior. In the intervals Mr.
+Bates followed his pursuit as a collecting naturalist in the same
+"peaceful, regular way," as he might have done in a European
+village. Our author draws a most striking picture of the quiet,
+secluded life he led in this far-distant spot. The difficulty of
+getting news and the want of intellectual society were the great
+drawbacks--"the latter increasing until it became almost
+insupportable." "I was obliged at last," Mr. Bates naively
+remarks, "to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of
+Nature, alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and
+mind." Mr. Bates must indeed have been driven to great straits as
+regards his mental food, when, as he tell us, he took to reading
+the Athenaeum three times over, "the first time devouring the
+more interesting articles--the second, the whole of the
+remainder--and the third, reading all the advertisements from
+beginning to end."
+
+Ega was, indeed, as Mr. Bates remarks, a fine field for a Natural
+History collector, the only previous scientific visitants to that
+region having been the German Naturalists, Spix and Martius, and
+the Count de Castelnau when he descended the Amazons from the
+Pacific. Mr. Bates' account of the monkeys of the genera
+Brachyuyus, Nyctipithecus and Midas met with in this region, and
+the whole of the very pregnant remarks which follow on the
+American forms of the Quadrumana, will be read with interest by
+every one, particularly by those who pay attention to the
+important subject of geographical distribution. We need hardly
+say that Mr. Bates, after the attention he has bestowed upon this
+question, is a zealous advocate of the hypothesis of the origin
+of species by derivation from a common stock. After giving an
+outline of the general distribution of Monkeys, he clearly argues
+that unless the "common origin at least of the species of a
+family be admitted, the problem of their distribution must remain
+an inexplicable mystery." Mr. Bates evidently thoroughly
+understands the nature of this interesting problem, and in
+another passage, in which the very singular distribution of the
+Butterflies of the genus Heliconius is enlarged upon, concludes
+with the following significant remarks upon this important
+subject:
+
+"In the controversy which is being waged amongst Naturalists
+since the publication of the Darwinian theory of the origin of
+species, it has been rightly said that no proof at present
+existed of the production of a physiological species, that is, a
+form which will not interbreed with the one from which it was
+derived, although given ample opportunities of doing so, and does
+not exhibit signs of reverting to its parent form when placed
+under the same conditions with it. Morphological species, that
+is, forms which differ to an amount that would justify their
+being considered good species, have been produced in plenty
+through selection by man out of variations arising under
+domestication or cultivation. The facts just given are therefore
+of some scientific importance, for they tend to show that a
+physiological species can be and is produced in nature out of the
+varieties of a pre-existing closely allied one. This is not an
+isolated case, for I observed in the course of my travels a
+number of similar instances. But in very few has it happened that
+the species which clearly appears to be the parent, co-exists
+with one that has been evidently derived from it. Generally the
+supposed parent also seems to have been modified, and then the
+demonstration is not so clear, for some of the links in the chain
+of variation are wanting. The process of origination of a species
+in nature as it takes place successively, must be ever, perhaps,
+beyond man's power to trace, on account of the great lapse of
+time it requires. But we can obtain a fair view of it by tracing
+a variable and far-spreading species over the wide area of its
+present distribution; and a long observation of such will lead to
+the conclusion that new species must in all cases have arisen out
+of variable and widely-disseminated forms. It sometimes happens,
+as in the present instance, that we find in one locality a
+species under a certain form which is constant to all the
+individuals concerned; in another exhibiting numerous varieties;
+and in a third presenting itself as a constant form quite
+distinct from the one we set out with. If we meet with any two of
+these modifications living side by side, and maintaining their
+distinctive characters under such circumstances, the proof of the
+natural origination of a species is complete; it could not be
+much more so were we able to watch the process step by step. It
+might be objected that the difference between our two species is
+but slight, and that by classing them as varieties nothing
+further would be proved by them. But the differences between them
+are such as obtain between allied species generally. Large genera
+are composed in great part of such species, and it is interesting
+to show the great and beautiful diversity within a large genus as
+brought about by the working of laws within our comprehension."
+
+But to return to the Zoological wonders of the Upper Amazon,
+birds, insects, and butterflies are all spoken of by Mr. Bates in
+his chapter on the natural features of the district, and it is
+evident that none of these classes of beings escaped the
+observation of his watchful intelligence. The account of the
+foraging ants of the genus Eciton is certainly marvellous, and
+would, even of itself, be sufficient to stamp the recorder of
+their habits as a man of no ordinary mark.
+
+The last chapter of Mr. Bates' work contains the account of his
+excursions beyond Ega. Fonteboa, Tunantins--a small semi-Indian
+settlement, 240 miles up the stream--and San Paulo de Olivenca,
+some miles higher up, were the principal places visited, and new
+acquisitions were gathered at each of these localities. In the
+fourth month of Mr. Bates' residence at the last-named place, a
+severe attack of ague led to the abandonment of the plans he had
+formed of proceeding to the Peruvian towns of Pebas and
+Moyobamba, and "so completing the examination of the Natural
+History of the Amazonian plains up to the foot of the Andes."
+This attack, which seemed to be the culmination of a gradual
+deterioration of health, caused by eleven years' hard work under
+the tropics, induced him to return to Ega, and finally to Para,
+where he embarked, on the 2nd June 1859, for England. Naturally
+enough, Mr. Bates tells us he was at first a little dismayed at
+leaving the equator, "where the well-balanced forces of Nature
+maintain a land-surface and a climate typical of mind, and order
+and beauty," to sail towards the "crepuscular skies" of the cold
+north. But he consoles us by adding the remark that "three years'
+renewed experience of England" have convinced him "how
+incomparably superior is civilised life to the spiritual
+sterility of half-savage existence, even if it were passed in the
+Garden of Eden."
+
+
+
+The following is the list of H. W. Bates' published works:
+
+Contributions to an insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley, Paper read
+before the Linnean Society, June 21, 1861; The Naturalist on the
+Amazons, a Record of Adventure, Habits of Animals, Sketches of
+Brazilian and Indian Life . . . during Eleven Years of Travel,
+1863; 3rd Edition, 1873, with a Memoir of the author by E. Clodd
+to reprint of unabridged edition, 1892.
+
+Bates was for many years the editor of the Transactions of the
+Royal Geographical Society; the following works were edited and
+revised, or supplemented by him:--Mrs. Somerville's Physical
+Geography, 1870; A. Humbert, Japan and the Japanese, 1874; C.
+Koldewey, the German Arctic Expedition, 1874; P. E. Warburton,
+Journey across the Western Interior of Australia, 1875; Cassell's
+Illustrated Travels, 6 vols., 1869-1875; E. Whymper, Travels
+among the Great Andes of the Equator (Introduction to Appendix
+volume), 1892, etc.; Central America, the West Indies and South
+America; Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel, 2nd
+revised Ed., 1882; he also added a list of Coleoptera collected
+by J. S. Jameson on the Aruwini to the latter's Story of the Rear
+Column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, etc., 1890; and an
+appendix to a catalogue of Phytophaga by H. Clark, 1866, etc.;
+and contributed a biographical notice of Keith Johnson to J.
+Thomson's Central African Lakes and Back, 1881.
+
+He contributed largely to the Zoologist, Entomological Society's
+journal, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, and
+Entomologist.
+
+LIFE--Memoir by E. Clodd, 1892; short notice in Clodd's Pioneers
+of Evolution, 1897.
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1864
+
+HAVING been urged to prepare a new edition of this work for a
+wider circle than that contemplated in the former one, I have
+thought it advisable to condense those portions which, treating
+of abstruse scientific questions, presuppose a larger amount of
+Natural History knowledge than an author has a right to expect of
+the general reader. The personal narrative has been left entire,
+together with those descriptive details likely to interest all
+classes, young and old, relating to the great river itself, and
+the wonderful country through which it flows,--the luxuriant
+primaeval forests that clothe almost every part of it, the
+climate, productions, and inhabitants.
+
+Signs are not wanting that this fertile, but scantily peopled
+region will soon become, through recent efforts of the Peruvian
+and Brazilian governments to make it accessible and colonise it,
+of far higher importance to the nations of Northern Europe than
+it has been hitherto. The full significance of the title, the
+"largest river in the world," which we are all taught in our
+schoolboy days to apply to the Amazons, without having a distinct
+idea of its magnitude, will then become apparent to the English
+public. It will be new to most people, that this noble stream has
+recently been navigated by steamers to a distance of 2200
+geographical miles from its mouth at Para, or double the distance
+which vessels are able to reach on the Yang-tze-Kiang, the
+largest river of the old world; the depth of water in the dry
+season being about seven fathoms up to this terminus of
+navigation. It is not, however, the length of the trunk stream,
+that has earned for the Amazons the appellation of the
+"Mediterranean of South America," given it by the Brazilians of
+Para; but the network of by-channels and lakes, which everywhere
+accompanies its course at a distance from the banks, and which
+adds many thousands of miles of easy inland navigation to the
+total presented by the main river and its tributaries. The
+Peruvians, especially, if I may judge from letters received
+within the past few weeks, seem to be stirring themselves to
+grasp the advantages which the possession of the upper course of
+the river places within their reach. Vessels of heavy tonnage
+have arrived in Para, from England, with materials for the
+formation of shipbuilding establishments, at a point situated two
+thousand miles from the mouth of the river. Peruvian steamers
+have navigated from the Andes to the Atlantic, and a quantity of
+cotton (now exported for the first time), the product of the rich
+and healthy country bordering the Upper Amazons, has been
+conveyed by this means, and shipped from Para to Europe. The
+probability of general curiosity in England being excited before
+long with regard to this hitherto neglected country, will be
+considered, of itself, a sufficient reason for placing an account
+of its natural features and present condition within reach of all
+readers.
+
+LONDON, January, 1864.
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PARA
+
+Arrival--Aspect of the Country--The Para River--First Walk in the
+Suburbs of Para--Birds, Lizards, and Insects of the Suburbs--
+Leaf-carrying Ant--Sketch of the Climate, History, and present
+Condition of Para.
+
+I embarked at Liverpool, with Mr. Wallace, in a small trading
+vessel, on the 26th of April, 1848; and, after a swift passage
+from the Irish Channel to the equator, arrived, on the 26th of
+May, off Salinas. This is the pilot-station for vessels bound to
+Para, the only port of entry to the vast region watered by the
+Amazons. It is a small village, formerly a missionary settlement
+of the Jesuits, situated a few miles to the eastward of the Para
+River. Here the ship anchored in the open sea at a distance of
+six miles from the shore, the shallowness of the water far out
+around the mouth of the great river not permitting, in safety, a
+nearer approach; and, the signal was hoisted for a pilot.
+
+It was with deep interest that my companion and myself, both now
+about to see and examine the beauties of a tropical country for
+the first time, gazed on the land where I, at least, eventually
+spent eleven of the best years of my life. To the eastward the
+country was not remarkable in appearance, being slightly
+undulating, with bare sandhills and scattered trees; but to the
+westward, stretching towards the mouth of the river, we could see
+through the captain's glass a long line of forest, rising
+apparently out of the water; a densely-packed mass of tall trees,
+broken into groups, and finally into single trees, as it dwindled
+away in the distance. This was the frontier, in this direction,
+of the great primaeval forest characteristic of this region,
+which contains so many wonders in its recesses, and clothes the
+whole surface of the country for two thousand miles from this
+point to the foot of the Andes.
+
+On the following day and night we sailed, with a light wind,
+partly aided by the tide, up the Para river. Towards evening we
+passed Vigia and Colares, two fishing villages, and saw many
+native canoes, which seemed like toys beneath the lofty walls of
+dark forest. The air was excessively close, the sky overcast, and
+sheet lightning played almost incessantly around the horizon-- an
+appropriate greeting on the threshold of a country lying close
+under the equator! The evening was calm, this being the season
+when the winds are not strong, so we glided along in a noiseless
+manner, which contrasted pleasantly with the unceasing turmoil to
+which we had been lately accustomed on the Atlantic. The
+immensity of the river struck us greatly, for although sailing
+sometimes at a distance of eight or nine miles from the eastern
+bank, the opposite shore was at no time visible. Indeed, the Para
+river is thirty-six miles in breadth at its mouth; and at the
+city of Para, nearly seventy miles from the sea, it is twenty
+miles wide; but at that point, a series of islands commences
+which contracts the riverview in front of the port.
+
+On the morning of the 28th of May, we arrived at our destination.
+The appearance of the city at sunrise was pleasing in the highest
+degree. It is built on a low tract of land, having only one small
+rocky elevation at its southern extremity; it, therefore, affords
+no amphitheatral view from the river; but the white buildings
+roofed with red tiles, the numerous towers and cupolas of
+churches and convents, the crowns of palm trees reared above the
+buildings, all sharply defined against the clear blue sky, give
+an appearance of lightness and cheerfulness which is most
+exhilarating. The perpetual forest hems the city in on all sides
+landwards; and towards the suburbs, picturesque country houses
+are seen scattered about, half buried in luxuriant foliage. The
+port was full of native canoes and other vessels, large and
+small; and the ringing of bells and firing of rockets, announcing
+the dawn of some Roman Catholic festival day, showed that the
+population was astir at that early hour.
+
+We went ashore in due time, and were kindly received by Mr.
+Miller, the consignee of the vessel, who invited us to make his
+house our home until we could obtain a suitable residence. On
+landing, the hot moist mouldy air, which seemed to strike from
+the ground and walls, reminded me of the atmosphere of tropical
+stoves at Kew. In the course of the afternoon a heavy shower
+fell, and in the evening, the atmosphere having been cooled by
+the rain, we walked about a mile out of town to the residence of
+an American gentleman to whom our host wished to introduce us.
+
+The impressions received during this first walk can never wholly
+fade from my mind. After traversing the few streets of tall,
+gloomy, convent-looking buildings near the port, inhabited
+chiefly by merchants and shopkeepers, along which idle soldiers,
+dressed in shabby uniforms carrying their muskets carelessly over
+their arms, priests, negresses with red water-jars on their
+heads, sad-looking Indian women carrying their naked children
+astride on their hips, and other samples of the motley life of
+the place, we passed down a long narrow street leading to the
+suburbs. Beyond this, our road lay across a grassy common into a
+picturesque lane leading to the virgin forest. The long street
+was inhabited by the poorer class of the population. The houses
+were of one story only, and had an irregular and mean appearance.
+The windows were without glass, having, instead, projecting
+lattice casements. The street was unpaved, and inches deep in
+loose sand. Groups of people were cooling themselves outside
+their doors-- people of all shades in colour of skin, European,
+Negro and Indian, but chiefly an uncertain mixture of the three.
+Amongst them were several handsome women dressed in a slovenly
+manner, barefoot or shod in loose slippers, but wearing richly-
+decorated earrings, and around their necks strings of very large
+gold beads. They had dark expressive eyes, and remarkably rich
+heads of hair. It was a mere fancy, but I thought the mingled
+squalor, luxuriance and beauty of these women were pointedly in
+harmony with the rest of the scene-- so striking, in the view,
+was the mixture of natural riches and human poverty. The houses
+were mostly in a dilapidated condition, and signs of indolence
+and neglect were visible everywhere. The wooden palings which
+surrounded the weed-grown gardens were strewn about and broken;
+hogs, goats, and ill-fed poultry wandered in and out through the
+gaps.
+
+But amidst all, and compensating every defect, rose the
+overpowering beauty of the vegetation. The massive dark crowns of
+shady mangos were seen everywhere amongst the dwellings, amidst
+fragrant blossoming orange, lemon, and many other tropical fruit
+trees, some in flower, others in fruit, at varying stages of
+ripeness. Here and there, shooting above the more dome-like and
+sombre trees, were the smooth columnar stems of palms, bearing
+aloft their magnificent crowns of finely-cut fronds. Amongst the
+latter the slim assai-palm was especially noticeable, growing in
+groups of four or five; its smooth, gently-curving stem, twenty
+to thirty feet high, terminating in a head of feathery foliage,
+inexpressibly light and elegant in outline. On the boughs of the
+taller and more ordinary-looking trees sat tufts of curiously-
+leaved parasites. Slender, woody lianas hung in festoons from the
+branches, or were suspended in the form of cords and ribbons;
+whilst luxuriant creeping plants overran alike tree-trunks, roofs
+and walls, or toppled over palings in a copious profusion of
+foliage. The superb banana (Musa paradisiaca), of which I had
+always read as forming one of the charms of tropical vegetation,
+grew here with great luxuriance-- its glossy velvety-green
+leaves, twelve feet in length, curving over the roofs of
+verandahs in the rear of every house. The shape of the leaves,
+the varying shades of green which they present when lightly moved
+by the wind, and especially the contrast they afford in colour
+and form to the more sombre hues and more rounded outline of the
+other trees, are quite sufficient to account for the charm of
+this glorious tree.
+
+Strange forms of vegetation drew our attention at almost every
+step. Amongst them were the different kinds of Bromelia, or
+pineapple plants, with their long, rigid, sword-shaped leaves, in
+some species jagged or toothed along their edges. Then there was
+the bread-fruit tree--an importation, it is true; but remarkable
+from its large, glossy, dark green, strongly digitated foliage,
+and its interesting history. Many other trees and plants, curious
+in leaf, stem, or manner of growth, grew on the borders of the
+thickets along which lay our road; they were all attractive to
+newcomers, whose last country ramble of quite recent date was
+over the bleak moors of Derbyshire on a sleety morning in April.
+
+As we continued our walk the brief twilight commenced, and the
+sounds of multifarious life came from the vegetation around. The
+whirring of cicadas; the shrill stridulation of a vast number and
+variety of field crickets and grasshoppers, each species sounding
+its peculiar note; the plaintive hooting of tree frogs--all
+blended together in one continuous ringing sound--the audible
+expression of the teeming profusion of Nature. As night came on,
+many species of frogs and toads in the marshy places joined in
+the chorus-- their croaking and drumming, far louder than
+anything I had before heard in the same line, being added to the
+other noises, created an almost deafening din. This uproar of
+life, I afterwards found, never wholly ceased, night or day. In
+the course of time I became, like other residents, accustomed to
+it. It is, however, one of the peculiarities of a tropical--at
+least, a Brazilian--climate which is most likely to surprise a
+stranger.  After my return to England, the deathlike stillness of
+summer days in the country appeared to me as strange as the
+ringing uproar did on my first arrival at Para. The object of our
+visit being accomplished, we returned to the city. The fire-flies
+were then out in great numbers, flitting about the sombre woods,
+and even the frequented streets. We turned into our hammocks,
+well pleased with what we had seen, and full of anticipation with
+regard to the wealth of natural objects we had come to explore.
+
+ During the first few days, we were employed in landing our
+baggage and arranging our extensive apparatus. We then accepted
+the invitation of Mr. Miller to make use of his rocinha, or
+country-house in the suburbs, until we finally decided on a
+residence. Upon this, we made our first essay in housekeeping. We
+bought cotton hammocks, the universal substitute for beds in this
+country, cooking utensils and crockery, and engaged a free negro,
+named Isidoro, as cook and servant-of-all-work.
+
+Our first walks were in the immediate suburbs of Para. The city
+lies on a corner of land formed by the junction of the river
+Guama with the Para. As I have said before, the forest, which
+covers the whole country, extends close up to the city streets;
+indeed, the town is built on a tract of cleared land, and is kept
+free from the jungle only by the constant care of the Government.
+The surface, though everywhere low, is slightly undulating, so
+that areas of dry land alternate throughout with areas of swampy
+ground, the vegetation and animal tenants of the two being widely
+different. Our residence lay on the side of the city nearest the
+Guama, on the borders of one of the low and swampy areas which
+here extends over a portion of the suburbs. The tract of land is
+intersected by well-macadamised suburban roads, the chief of
+which, the Estrada das Mongubeiras (the Monguba road), about a
+mile long, is a magnificent avenue of silk-cotton trees (Bombax
+monguba and B. ceiba), huge trees whose trunks taper rapidly from
+the ground upwards, and whose flowers before opening look like
+red balls studding the branches. This fine road was constructed
+under the governorship of the Count dos Arcos, about the year
+1812. At right angles to it run a number of narrow green lanes,
+and the whole district is drained by a system of small canals or
+trenches through which the tide ebbs and flows, showing the
+lowness of the site.
+
+Before I left the country, other enterprising presidents had
+formed a number of avenues lined with cocoanut palms, almond and
+other trees, in continuation of the Monguba road, over the more
+elevated and drier ground to the north-east of the city. On the
+high ground the vegetation has an aspect quite different from
+that which it presents in the swampy parts. Indeed, with the
+exception of the palm trees, the suburbs here have an aspect like
+that of a village green at home. The soil is sandy, and the open
+commons are covered with a short grassy and shrubby vegetation.
+Beyond this, the land again descends to a marshy tract, where, at
+the bottom of the moist hollows, the public wells are situated.
+Here all the linen of the city is washed by hosts of noisy
+negresses, and here also the water-carts are filled--painted
+hogsheads on wheels, drawn by bullocks. In early morning, when
+the sun sometimes shines through a light mist, and everything is
+dripping with moisture, this part of the city is full of life;
+vociferous negroes and wrangling Gallegos, [Natives of Galicia,
+in Spain, who follow this occupation in Lisbon and Oporto, as
+well as at Para] the proprietors of the water-carts, are gathered
+about, jabbering continually, and taking their morning drams in
+dirty wineshops at the street corners.
+
+Along these beautiful roads we found much to interest us during
+the first few days. Suburbs of towns, and open, sunny cultivated
+places in Brazil, are tenanted by species of animals and plants
+which are mostly different from those of the dense primaeval
+forests. I will, therefore, give an account of what we observed
+of the animal world during our explorations in the immediate
+neighbourhood of Para.
+
+The number and beauty of the birds and insects did not at first
+equal our expectations. The majority of the birds we saw were
+small and obscurely coloured; they were indeed similar, in
+general appearance, to such as are met with in country places in
+England. Occasionally a flock of small parroquets, green, with a
+patch of yellow on the forehead, would come at early morning to
+the trees near the Estrada. They would feed quietly, sometimes
+chattering in subdued tones, but setting up a harsh scream, and
+flying off, on being disturbed. Hummingbirds we did not see at
+this time, although I afterwards found them by hundreds when
+certain trees were in flower. Vultures we only saw at a distance,
+sweeping round at a great height, over the public slaughter-
+houses. Several flycatchers, finches, ant-thrushes, a tribe of
+plainly-coloured birds, intermediate in structure between
+flycatchers and thrushes, some of which startle the new-comer by
+their extraordinary notes emitted from their places of
+concealment in the dense thickets; and also tanagers, and other
+small birds, inhabited the neighbourhood. None of these had a
+pleasing song, except a little brown wren (Troglodytes furvus),
+whose voice and melody resemble those of our English robin. It is
+often seen hopping and climbing about the walls and roofs of
+houses and on trees in their vicinity. Its song is more
+frequently heard in the rainy season, when the Monguba trees shed
+their leaves. At those times the Estrada das Mongubeiras has an
+appearance quite unusual in a tropical country. The tree is one
+of the few in the Amazon region which sheds all its foliage
+before any of the new leaf-buds expand. The naked branches, the
+sodden ground matted with dead leaves, the grey mist veiling the
+surrounding vegetation, and the cool atmosphere soon after
+sunrise, all combine to remind one of autumnal mornings in
+England. Whilst loitering about at such times in a half-oblivious
+mood, thinking of home, the song of this bird would create for
+the moment a perfect illusion. Numbers of tanagers frequented the
+fruit and other trees in our garden. The two principal kinds
+which attracted our attention were the Rhamphoccelus Jacapa and
+the Tanagra Episcopus. The females of both are dull in colour,
+but the male of Jacapa has a beautiful velvety purple and black
+plumage, the beak being partly white, whilst the same sex in
+Episcopus is of a pale blue colour, with white spots on the
+wings. In their habits they both resemble the common house-
+sparrow of Europe, which does not exist in South America, its
+place being in some measure filled by these familiar tanagers.
+They are just as lively, restless, bold, and wary; their notes
+are very similar, chirping and inharmonious, and they seem to be
+almost as fond of the neighbourhood of man. They do not, however,
+build their nests on houses.
+
+Another interesting and common bird was the Japim, a species of
+Cassicus ( C. icteronotus). It belongs to the same family of
+birds as our starling, magpie, and rook--it has a rich yellow and
+black plumage, remarkably compact and velvety in texture. The
+shape of its head and its physiognomy are very similar to those
+of the magpie; it has light grey eyes, which give it the same
+knowing expression. It is social in its habits, and builds its
+nest, like the English rook, on trees in the neighbourhood of
+habitations. But the nests are quite differently constructed,
+being shaped like purses, two feet in length, and suspended from
+the slender branches all around the tree, some of them very near
+the ground. The entrance is on the side near the bottom of the
+nest. The bird is a great favourite with the Brazilians of Para--
+it is a noisy, stirring, babbling creature, passing constantly to
+and fro, chattering to its comrades, and is very ready at
+imitating other birds, especially the domestic poultry of the
+vicinity. There was at one time a weekly newspaper published at
+Para, called "The Japim"; the name being chosen, I suppose, on
+account of the babbling propensities of the bird. Its eggs are
+nearly round, and of a bluish-white colour, speckled with brown.
+
+Of other vertebrate animals we saw very little, except of the
+lizards. These are sure to attract the attention of the newcomer
+from Northern Europe, by reason of their strange appearance,
+great numbers, and variety. The species which are seen crawling
+over the walls of buildings in the city are different from those
+found in the forest or in the interior of houses. They are
+unpleasant-looking animals, with colours assimilated to those of
+the dilapidated stone and mud walls on which they are seen. The
+house lizards belong to a peculiar family, the Geckos, and are
+found even in the best-kept chambers, most frequently on the
+walls and ceilings, to which they cling motionless by day, being
+active only at night. They are of speckled grey or ashy colours.
+The structure of their feet is beautifully adapted for clinging
+to and running over smooth surfaces; the underside of their toes
+being expanded into cushions, beneath which folds of skin form a
+series of flexible plates. By means of this apparatus they can
+walk or run across a smooth ceiling with their backs downwards;
+the plated soles, by quick muscular action, exhausting and
+admitting air alternately. The Geckos are very repulsive in
+appearance. The Brazilians give them the name of Osgas, and
+firmly believe them to be poisonous; they are, however, harmless
+creatures. Those found in houses are small; but I have seen
+others of great size, in crevices of tree trunks in the forest.
+Sometimes Geckos are found with forked tails; this results from
+the budding of a rudimentary tail at the side, from an injury
+done to the member. A slight rap will cause their tails to snap
+off; the loss being afterwards partially repaired by a new
+growth. The tails of lizards seem to be almost useless appendages
+to these animals. I used often to amuse myself in the suburbs,
+whilst resting in the verandah of our house during the heat of
+mid-day, by watching the variegated green, brown, and yellow
+ground-lizards. They would come nimbly forward, and commence
+grubbing with their forefeet and snouts around the roots of
+herbage, searching for insect larvae. On the slightest alarm,
+they would scamper off, their tails cocked up in the air as they
+waddled awkwardly away, evidently an incumbrance to them in their
+flight.
+
+Next to the birds and lizards, the insects of the suburbs of Para
+deserve a few remarks. The species observed in the weedy and open
+places, as already remarked, were generally different from those
+which dwell in the shades of the forest. In the gardens, numbers
+of fine showy butterflies were seen. There were two swallow-
+tailed species, similar in colours to the English Papilio
+Machaon; a white Pieris (P. Monuste), and two or three species of
+brimstone and orange coloured butterflies, which do not belong,
+however, to the same genus as our English species. In weedy
+places a beautiful butterfly, with eye-like spots on its wings
+was common, the Junonia Lavinia, the only Amazonian species which
+is at all nearly related to our Vanessas, the Admiral and Peacock
+Butterflies. One day, we made our first acquaintance with two of
+the most beautiful productions of nature in this department--
+namely, the Helicopis Cupido and Endymion. A little beyond our
+house, one of the narrow green lanes which I have already
+mentioned diverged from the Monguba avenue, and led, between
+enclosures overrun with a profusion of creeping plants and
+glorious flowers, down to a moist hollow, where there was a
+public well in a picturesque nook, buried in a grove of Mucaja
+palm trees. On the tree trunks, walls, and palings, grew a great
+quantity of climbing Pothos plants, with large glossy heart-
+shaped leaves. These plants were the resort of these two
+exquisite species, and we captured a great number of specimens.
+They are of extremely delicate texture. The wings are cream-
+coloured, the hind pair have several tail-like appendages, and
+are spangled beneath as if with silver. Their flight is very slow
+and feeble; they seek the protected under-surface of the leaves,
+and in repose close their wings over the back, so as to expose
+the brilliantly spotted under-surface.
+
+I will pass over the many other orders and families of insects,
+and proceed at once to the ants. These were in great numbers
+everywhere, but I will mention here only two kinds. We were
+amazed at seeing ants an inch and a quarter in length, and stout
+in proportion, marching in single file through the thickets.
+These belonged to the species called Dinoponera grandis. Its
+colonies consist of a small number of individuals, and are
+established about the roots of slender trees. It is a stinging
+species, but the sting is not so severe as in many of the smaller
+kinds. There was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of
+this giant among the ants. Another far more interesting species
+was the Sauba (Oecodoma cephalotes). This ant is seen everywhere
+about the suburbs, marching to and fro in broad columns. From its
+habit of despoiling the most valuable cultivated trees of their
+foliage, it is a great scourge to the Brazilians. In some
+districts it is so abundant that agriculture is almost
+impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible
+pest.
+
+The workers of this species are of three orders, and vary in size
+from two to seven lines; some idea of them may be obtained from
+the accompanying woodcut. The true working-class of a colony is
+formed by the small-sized order of workers, the worker-minors as
+they are called (Fig. I). The two other kinds, whose functions,
+as we shall see, are not yet properly understood, have enormously
+swollen and massive heads; in one (Fig. 2), the head is highly
+polished; in the other (Fig. 3), it is opaque and hairy. The
+worker-minors vary greatly in size, some being double the bulk of
+others. The entire body is of very solid consistency, and of a
+pale reddish-brown colour. The thorax or middle segment is armed
+with three pairs of sharp spines; the head, also, has a pair of
+similar spines proceeding from the cheeks behind.
+
+In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of
+earth, of a different colour from the surrounding soil, which
+were thrown up in the plantations and woods. Some of them were
+very extensive, being forty yards in circumference, but not more
+than two feet in height. We soon ascertained that these were the
+work of the Saubas, being the outworks, or domes, which overlie
+and protect the entrances to their vast subterranean galleries.
+On close examination, I found the earth of which they are
+composed to consist of very minute granules, agglomerated without
+cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and turrets. The
+difference in colour from the superficial soil of the vicinity is
+owing to their being formed of the undersoil, brought up from a
+considerable depth. It is very rarely that the ants are seen at
+work on these mounds; the entrances seem to be generally closed;
+only now and then, when some particular work is going on, are the
+galleries opened. The entrances are small and numerous; in the
+larger hillocks it would require a great amount of excavation to
+get at the main galleries; but, I succeeded in removing portions
+of the dome in smaller hillocks, and then I found that the minor
+entrances converged, at the depth of about two feet, into one
+broad, elaborately-worked gallery or mine, which was four or five
+inches in diameter.
+
+This habit of the Sauba ant, of clipping and carrying away
+immense quantities of leaves, has long been recorded in books on
+natural history. When employed on this work, their processions
+look like a multitude of animated leaves on the march. In some
+places I found an accumulation of such leaves, all circular
+pieces, about the size of a sixpence, lying on the pathway,
+unattended by ants, and at some distance from any colony. Such
+heaps are always found to be removed when the place is revisited
+the next day. In course of time I had plenty of opportunities of
+seeing them at work. They mount the tree in multitudes, the
+individuals being all worker-minors. Each one places itself on
+the surface of a leaf, and cuts, with its sharp scissor-like
+jaws, a nearly semicircular incision on the upper side; it then
+takes the edge between its jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the
+piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, where a
+little heap accumulates, until carried off by another relay of
+workers; but, generally, each marches off with the piece it has
+operated upon, and as all take the same road to their colony, the
+path they follow becomes in a short time smooth and bare, looking
+like the impression of a cartwheel through the herbage.
+
+It is a most interesting sight to see the vast host of busy
+diminutive labourers occupied on this work. Unfortunately, they
+choose cultivated trees for their purpose. This ant is quite
+peculiar to Tropical America, as is the entire genus to which it
+belongs; it sometimes despoils the young trees of species growing
+wild in its native forests, but seems to prefer, when within
+reach, plants imported from other countries, such as the coffee
+and orange trees. It has not hitherto been shown satisfactorily
+to what use it applies the leaves. I discovered this only after
+much time spent in investigation. The leaves are used to thatch
+the domes which cover the entrances to their subterranean
+dwellings, thereby protecting from the deluging rains the young
+broods in the nests beneath. The larger mounds, already
+described, are so extensive that few persons would attempt to
+remove them for the purpose of examining their interior; but
+smaller hillocks, covering other entrances to the same system of
+tunnels and chambers, may be found in sheltered places, and these
+are always thatched with leaves, mingled with granules of earth.
+The heavily-laden workers, each carrying its segment of leaf
+vertically, the lower edge secured in its mandibles, troop up and
+cast their burdens on the hillock; another relay of labourers
+place the leaves in position, covering them with a layer of
+earthy granules, which are brought one by one from the soil
+beneath.
+
+The underground abodes of this wonderful ant are known to be very
+extensive. The Rev. Hamlet Clark has related that the Sauba of
+Rio de Janeiro, a species closely allied to ours, has excavated a
+tunnel under the bed of the river Parahyba, at a place where it
+is broad as the Thames at London Bridge. At the Magoary Rice
+Mills, near Para, these ants once pierced the embankment of a
+large reservoir; the great body of water which it contained
+escaped before the damage could be repaired. In the Botanic
+Gardens, at Para, an enterprising French gardener tried all he
+could think of to extirpate the Sauba. With this object, he made
+fires over some of the main entrances to their colonies, and blew
+the fumes of sulphur down the galleries by means of bellows. I
+saw the smoke issue from a great number of outlets, one of which
+was seventy yards distant from the place where the bellows were
+used. This shows how extensively the underground galleries are
+ramified.
+
+Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of
+their foliage, the Sauba ant is troublesome to the inhabitants
+from its habit of plundering the stores of provisions in houses
+at night, for it is even more active by night than in the day-
+time. At first I was inclined to discredit the stories of their
+entering habitations and carrying off grain by grain the farinha
+or mandioca meal, the bread of the poorer classes of Brazil. At
+length, whilst residing at an Indian village on the Tapajos, I
+had ample proof of the fact. One night my servant woke me three
+or four hours before sunrise, by calling out that the rats were
+robbing the farinha baskets--the article at that time being
+scarce and dear. I got up, listened, and found the noise was very
+unlike that made by rats. So, I took the light and went into the
+storeroom, which was close to my sleeping-place. I there found a
+broad column of Sauba ants, consisting of thousands of
+individuals, as busy as possible, passing to and fro between the
+door and my precious baskets. Most of those passing outwards were
+laden each with a grain of farinha, which was, in some cases,
+larger and many times heavier than the bodies of the carriers.
+Farinha consists of grains of similar size and appearance to the
+tapioca of our shops; both are products of the same root, tapioca
+being the pure starch, and farinha the starch mixed with woody
+fibre, the latter ingredient giving it a yellowish colour. It was
+amusing to see some of the dwarfs, the smallest members of their
+family, staggering along, completely hidden under their load. The
+baskets, which were on a high table, were entirely covered with
+ants, many hundreds of whom were employed in snipping the dry
+leaves which served as lining. This produced the rustling sound
+which had at first disturbed us. My servant told me that they
+would carry off the whole contents of the two baskets (about two
+bushels) in the course of the night, if they were not driven off;
+so we tried to exterminate them by killing them with our wooden
+clogs. It was impossible, however, to prevent fresh hosts coming
+in as fast as we killed their companions. They returned the next
+night; and I was then obliged to lay trains of gunpowder along
+their line, and blow them up. This, repeated many times, at last
+seemed to intimidate them, for we were free from their visits
+during the remainder of my residence at the place. What they did
+with the hard dry grains of mandioca I was never able to
+ascertain, and cannot even conjecture. The meal contains no
+gluten, and therefore would be useless as cement. It contains
+only a smallrelative portion of starch, and, when mixed with
+water, it separates and falls away like so much earthy matter. It
+may serve as food for the subterranean workers. But the young or
+larvae of ants are usually fed by juices secreted by the worker
+nurses.
+
+Ants, it is scarcely necessary to observe, consist, in each
+species, of three sets of individuals, Or, as some express it, of
+three sexes--namely, males, females, and workers; the last-
+mentioned being undeveloped females. The perfect sexes are winged
+on their first attaining the adult state; they alone propagate
+their kind, flying away, previous to the act of reproduction,
+from the nest in which they have been reared. This winged state
+of the perfect males and females, and the habit of flying abroad
+before pairing, are very important points in the economy of ants;
+for they are thus enabled to intercross with members of distant
+colonies which swarm at the same time, and thereby increase the
+vigour of the race, a proceeding essential to the prosperity of
+any species. In many ants, especially those of tropical climates,
+the workers, again, are of two classes, whose structure and
+functions are widely different. In some species they are
+wonderfully unlike each other, and constitute two well-defined
+forms of workers. In others, there is a gradation of individuals
+between the two extremes. The curious differences in structure
+and habits between these two classes form an interesting, but
+very difficult, study. It is one of the great peculiarities of
+the Sauba ant to possess three classes of workers. My
+investigations regarding them were far from complete; I will
+relate, however, what I have observed on the subject.
+
+When engaged in leaf-cutting, plundering farinha, and other
+operations, two classes of workers are always seen (Figs. 1 and
+2, page 10). They are not, it is true, very sharply defined in
+structure, for individuals of intermediate grades occur. All the
+work, however, is done by the individuals which have small heads
+(Fig. 1), while those which have enormously large heads, the
+worker-majors (Fig. 2), are observed to be simply walking about.
+I could never satisfy myself as to the function of these worker-
+majors. They are not the soldiers or defenders of the working
+portion of the community, like the armed class in the termites,
+or white ants, for they never fight. The species has no sting,
+and does not display active resistance when interfered with. I
+once imagined they exercised a sort of superintendence over the
+others; but this function is entirely unnecessary in a community
+where all work with a precision and regularity resembling the
+subordinate parts of a piece of machinery. I came to the
+conclusion, at last, that they have no very precisely defined
+function. They cannot, however, be entirely useless to the
+community, for the sustenance of an idle class of such bulky
+individuals would be too heavy a charge for the species to
+sustain. I think they serve, in some sort, as passive instruments
+of protection to the real workers. Their enormously large, hard,
+and indestructible heads may be of use in protecting them against
+the attacks of insectivorous animals. They would be, on this
+view, a kind of "pieces de resistance," serving as a foil against
+onslaughts made on the main body of workers.
+
+The third order of workers is the most curious of all. If the top
+of a small, fresh hillock, one in which the thatching process is
+going on, is taken off, a broad cylindrical shaft is disclosed at
+a depth of about two feet from the surface. If this is probed
+with a stick, which may be done to the extent of three or four
+feet without touching bottom, a small number of colossal fellows
+(Fig. 3) will slowly begin to make their way up the smooth sides
+of the mine. Their heads are of the same size as those of the
+class Fig. 2, but the front is clothed with hairs, instead of
+being polished, and they have in the middle of the forehead a
+twin, ocellus, or simple eye, of quite different structure from
+the ordinary compound eyes, on the sides of the head. This
+frontal eye is totally wanting in the other workers, and is not
+known in any other kind of ant. The apparition of these strange
+creatures from the cavernous depths of the mine reminded me, when
+I first observed them, of the Cyclopes of Homeric fable. They
+were not very pugnacious, as I feared they would be, and I had no
+difficulty in securing a few with my fingers. I never saw them
+under any other circumstances than those here related, and what
+their special functions may be I cannot divine.
+
+The whole arrangement of a Formicarium, or ant-colony, and all
+the varied activity of ant-life, are directed to one main
+purpose--the perpetuation and dissemination of the species. Most
+of the labour which we see performed by the workers has for its
+end the sustenance and welfare of the young brood, which are
+helpless grubs. The true females are incapable of attending to
+the wants of their offspring; and it is on the poor sterile
+workers, who are denied all the other pleasures of maternity,
+that the entire care devolves. The workers are also the chief
+agents in carrying out the different migrations of the colonies,
+which are of vast importance to the dispersal and consequent
+prosperity of the species. The successful debut of the winged
+males and females depends likewise on the workers. It is amusing
+to see the activity and excitement which reigns in an ant's nest
+when the exodus of the winged individuals is taking place. The
+workers clear the roads of exit, and show the most lively
+interest in their departure, although it is highly improbable
+that any of them will return to the same colony. The swarming or
+exodus of the winged males and females of the Sauba ant takes
+place in January and February, that is, at the commencement of
+the rainy season. They come out in the evening in vast numbers,
+causing quite a commotion in the streets and lanes. They are of
+very large size, the female measuring no less than two-and-a-
+quarter inches in expanse of wing; the male is not much more than
+half this size. They are so eagerly preyed upon by insectivorous
+animals that on the morning after their flight not an individual
+is to be seen, a few impregnated females alone escaping the
+slaughter to found new colonies.
+
+At the time of our arrival, Para had not quite recovered from the
+effects of a series of revolutions, brought about by the hatred
+which existed between the native Brazilians and the Portuguese;
+the former, in the end, calling to their aid the Indian and mixed
+coloured population. The number of inhabitants of the city had
+decreased, in consequence of these disorders, from 24,500 in
+1819, to 15,000 in 1848. Although the public peace had not been
+broken for twelve years before the date of our visit, confidence
+was not yet completely restored, and the Portuguese merchants and
+tradesmen would not trust themselves to live at their beautiful
+country houses or rocinhas, which lie embosomed in the luxuriant
+shady gardens around the city. No progress had been made in
+clearing the second-growth forest which had grown over the once
+cultivated grounds, and now reached the end of all the suburban
+streets. The place had the aspect of one which had seen better
+days; the public buildings, including the palaces of the
+President and Bishop, the cathedral, the principal churches and
+convents, all seemed constructed on a scale of grandeur far
+beyond the present requirements of the city. Streets full of
+extensive private residences, built in the Italian style of
+architecture, were in a neglected condition, weeds and
+flourishing young trees growing from large cracks in the masonry.
+The large public squares were overgrown with weeds and
+impassable, on account of the swampy places which occupied
+portions of their areas. Commerce, however, was now beginning to
+revive, and before I left the country I saw great improvements,
+as I shall have to relate towards the conclusion of this
+narrative.
+
+The province of which Para is the capital, was at the time I
+allude to, the most extensive in the Brazilian empire, being
+about 1560 miles in length from east to west, and about 600 in
+breadth. Since that date--namely in 1853--it has been divided
+into two by the separation of the Upper Amazons as a distinct
+province. It formerly constituted a section, capitania, or
+governorship of the Portuguese colony. Originally it was well
+peopled by Indians, varying much in social condition according to
+their tribe, but all exhibiting the same general physical
+characters, which are those of the American red man, somewhat
+modified by long residence in an equatorial forest country.
+
+Most of the tribes are now extinct or forgotten, at least those
+which originally peopled the banks of the main river, their
+descendants having amalgamated with the white and negro
+immigrants. [The mixed breeds which now form, probably, the
+greater part of the population, each have a distinguishing name.
+Mameluco denotes the offspring of White with Indian; Mulatto,
+that of White with Negro; Cafuzo, the mixture of the Indian and
+Negro; Curiboco, the cross between the Cafuzo and the Indian;
+Xibaro, that between the Cafuzo and Negro. These are seldom,
+however, well-demarcated, and all shades of colour exist; the
+names are generally applied only approximatively. The term Creole
+is confined to negroes born in the country. The civilised Indian
+is called Tapuyo or Caboclo.]   Many still exist, however, in
+their original state on the Upper Amazons and most of the branch
+rivers. On this account, Indians in this province are far more
+numerous than elsewhere in Brazil, and the Indian element may be
+said to prevail in the mongrel population-- the negro proportion
+being much smaller than in South Brazil.
+
+The city is built on the best available site for a port of entry
+to the Amazons region, and must in time become a vast emporium;
+the northern shore of the main river, where alone a rival capital
+could be founded, is much more difficult of access to vessels,
+and is besides extremely unhealthy. Although lying so near the
+equator (1 28' S. lat.) the climate is not excessively hot. The
+temperature during three years only once reached 95 degrees
+Fahrenheit. The greatest heat of the day, about 2 p.m., ranges
+generally between 89 and 94; but on the other hand, the air is
+never cooler than 73, so that a uniformly high temperature
+exists, and the mean of the year is 81. North American residents
+say that the heat is not so oppressive as it is in summer in New
+York and Philadelphia. The humidity is, of course, excessive, but
+the rains are not so heavy and continuous in the wet season as in
+many other tropical climates. The country had for a long time a
+reputation for extreme salubrity. Since the small-pox in 1819,
+which attacked chiefly the Indians, no serious epidemic had
+visited the province. We were agreeably surprised to find no
+danger from exposure to the night air or residence in the low
+swampy lands. A few English residents, who had been established
+here for twenty or thirty years, looked almost as fresh in colour
+as if they had never left their native country. The native women,
+too, seemed to preserve their good looks and plump condition
+until late in life. I nowhere observed that early decay of
+appearance in Brazilian ladies, which is said to be so general in
+the women of North America.
+
+Up to 1848 the salubrity of Para was quite remarkable for a city
+lying in the delta of a great river, in the middle of the tropics
+and half surrounded by swamps. It did not much longer enjoy its
+immunity from epidemics. In 1850 the yellow fever visited the
+province for the first time, and carried off in a few weeks more
+than four percent of the population. One disease after another
+succeeded, until in 1855 cholera swept through the country and
+caused fearful havoc. Since then, the healthfulness of the
+climate has been gradually restored, and it is now fast
+recovering its former good reputation. Para is free from serious
+endemic disorders, and was once a resort of invalids from New
+York and Massachusetts. The equable temperature, the perpetual
+verdure, the coolness of the dry season when the sun's heat is
+tempered by the strong sea-breezes and the moderation of the
+periodical rains, make the climate one of the most enjoyable on
+the face of the earth.
+
+The province is governed, like all others in the empire, by a
+President, as chief civil authority. At the time of our arrival
+he also held, exceptionally, the chief military command. This
+functionary, together with the head of the police administration
+and the judges, is nominated by the central Government at Rio
+Janeiro. The municipal and internal affairs are managed by a
+provincial assembly elected by the people. Every villa or borough
+throughout the province also possesses its municipal council, and
+in thinly-populated districts the inhabitants choose every four
+years a justice of the peace, who adjudicates in small disputes
+between neighbours. A system of popular education exists, and
+every village has its school of first letters, the master being
+paid by the government, the salary amounting to about £70, or the
+same sum as the priests receive. Besides common schools, a well-
+endowed classical seminary is maintained at Para, to which the
+sons of most of the planters and traders in the interior are sent
+to complete their education. The province returns its quota of
+members every four years to the lower and upper houses of the
+imperial parliament. Every householder has a vote. Trial by jury
+has been established, the jurymen being selected from
+householders, no matter what their race or colour; and I have
+seen the white merchant, the negro husbandman, the mameluco, the
+mulatto, and the Indian, all sitting side by side on the same
+bench. Altogether the constitution of government in Brazil seems
+to combine happily the principles of local self-government and
+centralisation, and only requires a proper degree of virtue and
+intelligence in the people to lead the nation to great
+prosperity.
+
+The province of Para, or, as we may now say, the two provinces of
+Para and the Amazons, contain an area of 800,000 square miles,
+the population of which is only about 230,000, or in the ratio of
+one person to four square miles! The country is covered with
+forests, and the soil is fertile in the extreme, even for a
+tropical country. It is intersected throughout by broad and deep
+navigable rivers. It is the pride of the Paraenses to call the
+Amazons the Mediterranean of South America. The colossal stream
+perhaps deserves the name, for not only have the main river and
+its principal tributaries an immense expanse of water bathing the
+shores of extensive and varied regions, but there is also
+throughout a system of back channels, connected with the main
+rivers by narrow outlets and linking together a series of lakes,
+some of which are fifteen, twenty, and thirty miles in length.
+The whole Amazons valley is thus covered by a network of
+navigable waters, forming a vast inland freshwater sea with
+endless ramifications-- rather than a river.
+
+The city of Para was founded in 1615, and was a place of
+considerable importance towards the latter half of the eighteenth
+century, under the government of the brother of Pombal, the
+famous Portuguese statesman. The province was the last in Brazil
+to declare its independence of the mother-country and acknowledge
+the authority of the first emperor, Don Pedro. This was owing to
+the great numbers and influence of the Portuguese, and the rage
+of the native party was so great in consequence, that immediately
+after independence was proclaimed in 1823, a counter revolution
+broke out, during which many hundred lives were lost and much
+hatred engendered. The antagonism continued for many years,
+partial insurrections taking place when the populace thought that
+the immigrants from Portugal were favoured by the governors sent
+from the capital of the empire. At length, in 1835, a serious
+revolt took place which in a short time involved the entire
+province. It began by the assassination of the President and the
+leading members of the government; the struggle was severe, and
+the native party in an evil hour called to their aid the ignorant
+and fanatic part of the mongrel and Indian population. The cry of
+death to the Portuguese was soon changed to death to the
+freemasons, then a powerfully organised society embracing the
+greater part of the male white inhabitants. The victorious native
+party endeavoured to establish a government of their own.
+
+After this state of things had endured six months, they accepted
+a new President sent from Rio Janeiro, who, however, again
+irritated them by imprisoning their favourite leader, Vinagre.
+The revenge which followed was frightful. A vast host of half-
+savage coloured people assembled in the retired creeks behind
+Para, and on a day fixed, after Vinagre's brother had sent a
+message three times to the President demanding, in vain, the
+release of their leader, the whole body poured into the city
+through the gloomy pathways of the forest which encircles it. A
+cruel battle, lasting nine days, was fought in the streets; an
+English, French, and Portuguese man-of-war, from the side of the
+river, assisting the legal authorities. All the latter, however,
+together with every friend of peace and order, were finally
+obliged to retire to an island a few miles distant. The city and
+province were given up to anarchy; the coloured people, elated
+with victory, proclaimed the slaughter of all whites, except the
+English, French, and American residents. The mistaken principals
+who had first aroused all this hatred of races were obliged now
+to make their escape. In the interior, the supporters of lawful
+authority including, it must be stated, whole tribes of friendly
+Indians and numbers of the better disposed negroes and mulattos,
+concentrated themselves in certain strong positions and defended
+themselves, until the reconquest of the capital and large towns
+of the interior in 1836 by a force sent from Rio Janeiro-- after
+ten months of anarchy.
+
+Years of conciliatory government, the lesson learned by the
+native party and the moderation of the Portuguese, aided by the
+indolence and passive goodness of the Paraenses of all classes
+and colours, were only beginning to produce their good effects
+about the time I am speaking of. Life, however, was now and had
+been for some time quite safe throughout the country. Some few of
+the worst characters had been transported or imprisoned, and the
+remainder, after being pardoned, were converted once more into
+quiet and peaceable citizens.
+
+I resided at Para nearly a year and a half altogether, returning
+thither and making a stay of a few months after each of my
+shorter excursions into the interior, until the 6th of November,
+1851, when I started on my long voyage to the Tapajos and the
+Upper Amazons, which occupied me seven years and a half. I became
+during this time tolerably familiar with the capital of the
+Amazons region, and its inhabitants. Compared with other
+Brazilian seaport towns, I was always told, Para shone to great
+advantage. It was cleaner, the suburbs were fresher, more rural
+and much pleasanter on account of their verdure, shade, and
+magnificent vegetation. The people were simpler, more peaceable
+and friendly in their manners and dispositions; and
+assassinations, which give the southern provinces so ill a
+reputation, were almost unknown. At the same time the Para people
+were much inferior to Southern Brazilians in energy and industry.
+Provisions and house rents being cheap and the wants of the
+people few--for they were content with food and lodging of a
+quality which would be spurned by paupers in England--they spent
+the greater part of their time in sensual indulgences and in
+amusements which the government and wealthier citizens provided
+for them gratis.
+
+The trade, wholesale and retail, was in the hands of the
+Portuguese, of whom there were about 2500 in the place. Many
+handicrafts were exercised by coloured people, mulattos,
+mamelucos, free negroes, and Indians. The better sort of
+Brazilians dislike the petty details of shop-keeping, and if they
+cannot be wholesale merchants, prefer the life of planters in the
+country, however small may be the estate and the gains. The
+negroes constituted the class of field-labourers and porters;
+Indians were universally the watermen, and formed the crews of
+the numberless canoes of all sizes and shapes which traded
+between Para and the interior. The educated Brazilians, not many
+of whom are of pure Caucasian descent--for the immigration of
+Portuguese, for many years, has been almost exclusively of the
+male sex--are courteous, lively, and intelligent people. They
+were gradually weaning themselves of the ignorant, bigoted
+notions which they inherited from their Portuguese ancestors,
+especially those entertained with regard to the treatment of
+women. Formerly, the Portuguese would not allow their wives to go
+into society, or their daughters to learn reading and writing. In
+1848, Brazilian ladies were only just beginning to emerge from
+this inferior position, and Brazilian fathers were opening their
+eyes to the advantages of education for their daughters. Reforms
+of this kind are slow. It is, perhaps, in part owing to the
+degrading position always held by women, that the relations
+between the sexes were, and are still, on so unsatisfactory a
+footing, and private morality at so low an ebb, in Brazil. In
+Para, I believe that an improvement is now taking place, but
+formerly promiscuous intercourse seemed to be the general rule
+among all classes, and intrigues and love-making the serious
+business of the greater part of the population. That this state
+of things is a necessity depending on the climate and
+institutions I do not believe, as I have resided at small towns
+in the interior, where the habits, and the general standard of
+morality of the inhabitants, were as pure as they are in similar
+places in England.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PARA
+
+The Swampy Forests of Para--A Portuguese Landed Proprietor--
+Country House at Nazareth--Life of a Naturalist under the
+Equator--The drier Virgin Forests--Magoary--Retired Creeks--
+Aborigines
+
+After having resided about a fortnight at Mr. Miller's rocinha,
+we heard of another similar country-house to be let, much better
+situated for our purpose, in the village of Nazareth, a mile and
+a half from the city and close to the forest. The owner was an
+old Portuguese gentleman named Danin, who lived at his tile
+manufactory at the mouth of the Una, a small river lying two
+miles below Para. We resolved to walk to his place through the
+forest, a distance of three miles, although the road was said to
+be scarcely passable at this season of the year, and the Una much
+more easily accessible by boat. We were glad, however, of this
+early opportunity of traversing the rich swampy forest which we
+had admired so much from the deck of the ship; so, about eleven
+o'clock one sunny morning, after procuring the necessary
+information about the road, we set off in that direction. This
+part of the forest afterwards became one of my best hunting-
+grounds. I will narrate the incidents of the walk, giving my
+first impressions and some remarks on the wonderful vegetation.
+The forest is very similar on most of the low lands, and
+therefore, one description will do for all.
+
+On leaving the town we walked along a straight, suburban road
+constructed above the level of the surrounding land. It had low
+swampy ground on each side, built upon, however, and containing
+several spacious rocinhas which were embowered in magnificent
+foliage. Leaving the last of these, we arrived at a part where
+the lofty forest towered up like a wall five or six yards from
+the edge of the path to the height of, probably, a hundred feet.
+The tree trunks were only seen partially here and there, nearly
+the whole frontage from ground to summit being covered with a
+diversified drapery of creeping plants, all of the most vivid
+shades of green; scarcely a flower to be seen, except in some
+places a solitary scarlet passion-flower set in the green mantle
+like a star. The low ground on the borders between the forest
+wall and the road was encumbered with a tangled mass of bushy and
+shrubby vegetation, amongst which prickly mimosas were very
+numerous, covering the other bushes in the same way as brambles
+do in England. Other dwarf mimosas trailed along the ground close
+to the edge of the road, shrinking at the slightest touch of the
+feet as we passed by. Cassia trees, with their elegant pinnate
+foliage and conspicuous yellow flowers, formed a great proportion
+of the lower trees, and arborescent arums grew in groups around
+the swampy hollows. Over the whole fluttered a larger number of
+brilliantly-coloured butterflies than we had yet seen; some
+wholly orange or yellow (Callidryas), others with excessively
+elongated wings, sailing horizontally through the air, coloured
+black, and varied with blue, red, and yellow (Heliconii). One
+magnificent grassy-green species (Colaenis Dido) especially
+attracted our attention. Near the ground hovered many other
+smaller species very similar in appearance to those found at
+home, attracted by the flowers of numerous leguminous and other
+shrubs. Besides butterflies, there were few other insects except
+dragonflies, which were in great numbers, similar in shape to
+English species, but some of them looking conspicuously different
+on account of their fiery red colours.
+
+After stopping repeatedly to examine and admire, we at length
+walked onward. The road then ascended slightly, and the soil and
+vegetation became suddenly altered in character. The shrubs here
+were grasses, low sedges and other plants, smaller in foliage
+than those growing in moist grounds. The forest was second
+growth, low, consisting of trees which had the general aspect of
+laurels and other evergreens in our gardens at home-- the leaves
+glossy and dark green. Some of them were elegantly veined and
+hairy (Melastomae), while many, scattered amongst the rest, had
+smaller foliage (Myrtles), but these were not sufficient to
+subtract much from the general character of the whole.
+
+The sun, now, for we had loitered long on the road, was
+exceedingly powerful. The day was most brilliant; the sky without
+a cloud. In fact, it was one of those glorious days which
+announce the commencement of the dry season. The radiation of
+heat from the sandy ground was visible by the quivering motion of
+the air above it. We saw or heard no mammals or birds; a few
+cattle belonging to an estate down a shady lane were congregated,
+panting, under a cluster of wide spreading trees. The very soil
+was hot to our feet, and we hastened onward to the shade of the
+forest which we could see not far ahead. At length, on entering
+it, what a relief! We found ourselves in a moderately broad
+pathway or alley, where the branches of the trees crossed
+overhead and produced a delightful shade. The woods were at first
+of recent growth, dense, and utterly impenetrable; the ground,
+instead of being clothed with grass and shrubs as in the woods of
+Europe, was everywhere carpeted with Lycopodiums (fern-shaped
+mosses). Gradually the scene became changed. We descended
+slightly from an elevated, dry, and sandy area to a low and
+swampy one; a cool air breathed on our faces, and a mouldy smell
+of rotting vegetation greeted us. The trees were now taller, the
+underwood less dense, and we could obtain glimpses into the
+wilderness on all sides. The leafy crowns of the trees, scarcely
+two of which could be seen together of the same kind, were now
+far away above us, in another world as it were. We could only see
+at times, where there was a break above, the tracery of the
+foliage against the clear blue sky. Sometimes the leaves were
+palmate, or of the shape of large outstretched hands; at others,
+finely cut or feathery, like the leaves of Mimosae. Below, the
+tree trunks were everywhere linked together by sipos; the woody,
+flexible stems of climbing and creeping trees, whose foliage is
+far away above, mingled with that of the taller independent
+trees. Some were twisted in strands like cables, others had thick
+stems contorted in every variety of shape, entwining snake-like
+round the tree trunks, or forming gigantic loops and coils among
+the larger branches; others, again, were of zigzag shape, or
+indented like the steps of a staircase, sweeping from the ground
+to a giddy height.
+
+It interested me much afterwards to find that these climbing
+trees do not form any particular family. There is no distinct
+group of plants whose special habit is to climb, but species of
+many and the most diverse families, the bulk of whose members are
+not climbers, seem to have been driven by circumstances to adopt
+this habit. There is even a climbing genus of palms (Desmoncus),
+the species of which are called, in the Tupi language, Jacitara.
+These have slender, thickly-spined, and flexuous stems, which
+twine about the taller trees from one to the other, and grow to
+an incredible length. The leaves, which have the ordinary pinnate
+shape characteristic of the family, are emitted from the stems at
+long intervals, instead of being collected into a dense crown,
+and have at their tips a number of long recurved spines. These
+structures are excellent contrivances to enable the trees to
+secure themselves by in climbing, but they are a great nuisance
+to the traveller, for they sometimes hang over the pathway and
+catch the hat or clothes, dragging off the one or tearing the
+other as he passes. The number and variety of climbing trees in
+the Amazons forests are interesting, taken in connection with the
+fact of the very general tendency of the animals, also, to become
+climbers.
+
+All the Amazonian, and in fact all South American, monkeys are
+climbers. There is no group answering to the baboons of the Old
+World, which live on the ground. The Gallinaceous birds of the
+country, the representatives of the fowls and pheasants of Asia
+and Africa, are all adapted by the position of the toes to perch
+on trees, and it is only on trees, at a great height, that they
+are to be seen. A genus of Plantigrade Carnivora, allied to the
+bears (Cercoleptes), found only in the Amazonian forests, is
+entirely arboreal, and has a long flexible tail like that of
+certain monkeys. Many other similar instances could be
+enumerated, but I will mention only the Geodephaga, or
+carnivorous ground beetles, a great proportion of whose genera
+and species in these forest regions are, by the structure of
+their feet, fitted to live exclusively on the branches and leaves
+of trees.
+
+Many of the woody lianas suspended from trees are not climbers,
+but the air-roots of epiphytous plants (Aroideae), which sit on
+the stronger boughs of the trees above and hang down straight as
+plumb-lines. Some are suspended singly, others in clusters; some
+reach halfway to the ground and others touch it, striking their
+rootlets into the earth. The underwood in this part of the forest
+was composed partly of younger trees of the same species as their
+taller neighbours, and partly of palms of many species, some of
+them twenty to thirty feet in height, others small and delicate,
+with stems no thicker than a finger. These latter (different
+kinds of Bactris) bore small bunches of fruit, red or black,
+often containing a sweet, grape-like juice.
+
+Further on, the ground became more swampy and we had some
+difficulty in picking our way. The wild banana (Urania Amazonica)
+here began to appear, and, as it grew in masses, imparted a new
+aspect to the scene. The leaves of this beautiful plant are like
+broad-sword blades, eight feet in length and a foot broad; they
+rise straight upwards, alternately, from the top of a stem five
+or six feet high. Numerous kinds of plants with leaves similar in
+shape to these but smaller clothed the ground. Amongst them were
+species of Marantaceae, some of which had broad glossy leaves,
+with long leaf-stalks radiating from joints in a reed-like stem.
+The trunks of the trees were clothed with climbing ferns, and
+Pothos plants with large, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves. Bamboos
+and other tall grass and reed-like plants arched over the
+pathway. The appearance of this part of the forest was strange in
+the extreme; description can convey no adequate idea of it. The
+reader who has visited Kew may form some notion by conceiving a
+vegetation like that in the great palm-house, spread over a large
+tract of swampy ground, but he must fancy it mingled with large
+exogenous trees similar to our oaks and elms covered with
+creepers and parasites, and figure to himself the ground
+encumbered with fallen and rotting trunks, branches, and leaves;
+the whole illuminated by a glowing vertical sun, and reeking with
+moisture.
+
+At length we emerged from the forest, on the banks of the Una,
+near its mouth. It was here about one hundred yards wide. The
+residence of Senor Danin stood on the opposite shore; a large
+building, whitewashed and red-tiled as usual, raised on wooden
+piles above the humid ground. The second story was the part
+occupied by the family, and along it was an open verandah, where
+people, both male and female, were at work. Below were several
+negroes
+employed carrying clay on their heads. We called out for a boat,
+and one of them crossed over to fetch us. Senor Danin received
+us with the usual formal politeness of the Portuguese, he spoke
+English very well, and after we had arranged our business, we
+remained conversing with him on various subjects connected with
+the country. Like all employers in this province, he was full of
+one topic--the scarcity of hands. It appeared that he had made
+great exertions to introduce white labour, but had failed, after
+having brought numbers of men from Portugal and other countries
+under engagement to work for him. They all left him one by one
+soon after their arrival. The abundance of unoccupied land, the
+liberty that exists, a state of things produced by the half-wild
+canoe-life of the people, and the case with which a mere
+subsistence can be obtained with moderate work, tempt even the
+best-disposed to quit regular labour as soon as they can. He
+complained also of the dearness of slaves, owing to the
+prohibition of the African traffic, telling us that formerly a
+slave could be bought for 120 dollars, whereas they are now
+difficult to procure at 400 dollars.
+
+Mr. Danin told us that he had travelled in England and the United
+States, and that he had now two sons completing their education
+in those countries. I afterwards met with many enterprising
+persons of Mr. Danin's order, both Brazilians and Portuguese;
+their great ambition is to make a voyage to Europe or North
+America, and to send their sons to be educated there. The land on
+which his establishment is built, he told us, was an artificial
+embankment on the swamp; the end of the house was built on a
+projecting point overlooking the river, so that a good view was
+obtained, from the sitting-rooms, of the city and the shipping.
+We learned there was formerly a large and flourishing cattle
+estate on this spot, with an open grassy space like a park. On
+Sundays, gay parties of forty or fifty persons used to come by
+land and water, in carriages and gay galliotas, to spend the day
+with the hospitable owner. Since the political disorders which I
+have already mentioned, decay had come upon this as on most other
+large establishments in the country. The cultivated grounds, and
+the roads leading to them, were now entirely overgrown with dense
+forest. When we were ready to depart, Senor Danin lent a canoe
+and two negroes to take us to the city, where we arrived in the
+evening after a day rich in new experiences.
+
+Shortly afterwards, we took possession of our new residence. The
+house was a square building, consisting of four equal-sized
+rooms; the tiled roof projected all round, so as to form a broad
+verandah, cool and pleasant to sit and work in. The cultivated
+ground, which appeared as if newly cleared from the forest, was
+planted with fruit trees and small plots of coffee and mandioca.
+The entrance to the grounds was by an iron-grille gateway from a
+grassy square, around which were built the few houses and palm-
+thatched huts which then constituted the village. The most
+important building was the chapel of our Lady of Nazareth, which
+stood opposite our place. The saint here enshrined was a great
+favourite with all orthodox Paraenses, who attributed to her the
+performance of many miracles. The image was to be seen on the
+altar, a handsome doll about four feet high, wearing a silver
+crown and a garment of blue silk, studded with golden stars. In
+and about the chapel were the offerings that had been made to
+her, proofs of the miracles which she had performed. There were
+models of legs, arms, breasts, and so forth, which she had cured.
+But most curious of all was a ship's boat, deposited here by the
+crew of a Portuguese vessel which had foundered, a year or two
+before our arrival, in a squall off Cayenne; part of them having
+been saved in the boat, after invoking the protection of the
+saint here enshrined. The annual festival in honour of our Lady
+of Nazareth is the greatest of the Para holidays; many persons
+come to it from the neighbouring city of Maranham, 300 miles
+distant. Once the President ordered the mail steamer to be
+delayed two days at Para for the convenience of these visitors.
+The popularity of the festival is partly owing to the beautiful
+weather that prevails when it takes place, namely, in the middle
+of the fine season, on the ten days preceding the full moon in
+October or November. Para is then seen at its best. The weather
+is not too dry, for three weeks never follow in succession
+without a shower; so that all the glory of verdure and flowers
+can be enjoyed with clear skies. The moonlit nights are then
+especially beautiful, the atmosphere is transparently clear, and
+the light sea-breeze produces an agreeable coolness.
+
+We now settled ourselves for a few months' regular work. We had
+the forest on three sides of us; it was the end of the wet
+season; most species of birds had finished moulting, and every
+day the insects increased in number and variety. Behind the
+rocinha, after several days' exploration, I found a series of
+pathways through the woods, which led to the Una road; about half
+way was the house in which the celebrated travellers Spix and
+Martius resided during their stay at Para, in 1819. It was now in
+a neglected condition, and the plantations were overgrown with
+bushes. The paths hereabout were very productive of insects, and
+being entirely under shade, were very pleasant for strolling.
+Close to our doors began the main forest road. It was broad
+enough for two horsemen abreast, and branched off in three
+directions; the main line going to the village of Ourem, a
+distance of fifty miles. This road formerly extended to Maranham,
+but it had been long in disuse and was now grown up, being
+scarcely passable between Para and Ourem.
+
+Our researches were made in various directions along these paths,
+and every day produced us a number of new and interesting
+species. Collecting, preparing our specimens, and making notes,
+kept us well occupied. One day was so much like another, that a
+general description of the diurnal round of incidents, including
+the sequence of natural phenomena, will be sufficient to give an
+idea of how days pass to naturalists under the equator.
+
+We used to rise soon after dawn, when Isidoro would go down to
+the city, after supplying us with a cup of coffee, to purchase
+the fresh provisions for the day. The two hours before breakfast
+were devoted to ornithology. At that early period of the day the
+sky was invariably cloudless (the thermometer marking 72 or 73
+Fahr.); the heavy dew or the previous night's rain, which lay on
+the moist foliage, becoming quickly dissipated by the glowing
+sun, which rising straight out of the east, mounted rapidly
+towards the zenith. All nature was fresh, new leaf and flower-
+buds expanding rapidly. Some mornings a single tree would appear
+in flower amidst what was the preceding evening a uniform green
+mass of forest--a dome of blossom suddenly created as if by
+magic. The birds were all active; from the wild-fruit trees, not
+far off, we often heard the shrill yelping of the Toucans
+(Ramphastos vitellinus). Small flocks of parrots flew over on
+most mornings, at a great height, appearing in distinct relief
+against the blue sky, always two-by-two chattering to each other,
+the pairs being separated by regular intervals; their bright
+colours, however, were not apparent at that height. After
+breakfast we devoted the hours from 10 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. to
+entomology; the best time for insects in the forest being a
+little before the greatest heat of the day.
+
+The heat increased rapidly towards two o'clock (92 and 93 Fahr.),
+by which time every voice of bird or mammal was hushed; only in
+the trees was heard at intervals the harsh whirr of a cicada. The
+leaves, which were so moist and fresh in early morning, now
+become lax and drooping; the flowers shed their petals. Our
+neighbours, the Indian and Mulatto inhabitants of the open palm-
+thatched huts, as we returned home fatigued with our ramble, were
+either asleep in their hammocks or seated on mats in the shade,
+too languid even to talk. On most days in June and July a heavy
+shower would fall some time in the afternoon, producing a most
+welcome coolness. The approach of the rain-clouds was after a
+uniform fashion very interesting to observe. First, the cool sea-
+breeze, which commenced to blow about ten o'clock, and which had
+increased in force with the increasing power of the sun, would
+flag and finally die away. The heat and electric tension of the
+atmosphere would then become almost insupportable. Languor and
+uneasiness would seize on every one, even the denizens of the
+forest, betraying it by their motions. White clouds would appear
+in the cast and gather into cumuli, with an increasing blackness
+along their lower portions. The whole eastern horizon would
+become almost suddenly black, and this would spread upwards, the
+sun at length becoming obscured. Then the rush of a mighty wind
+is heard through the forest, swaying the tree-tops; a vivid flash
+of lightning bursts forth, then a crash of thunder, and down
+streams the deluging rain. Such storms soon cease, leaving
+bluish-black, motionless clouds in the sky until night. Meantime
+all nature is refreshed; but heaps of flower-petals and fallen
+leaves are seen under the trees. Towards evening life revives
+again, and the ringing uproar is resumed from bush and tree. The
+following morning the sun again rises in a cloudless sky, and so
+the cycle is completed; spring, summer, and autumn, as it were,
+in one tropical day.
+
+The days are more or less like this throughout the year in this
+country. A little difference exists between the dry and wet
+seasons;
+but generally, the dry season, which lasts from July to December,
+is
+varied with showers, and the wet, from January to June, with
+sunny days.
+It results from this, that the periodical phenomena of plants and
+animals
+do not take place at about the same time in all species, or in
+the
+individuals of any given species, as they do in temperate
+countries. Of course there is no hybernation; nor, as the dry
+season is not excessive, is there any summer torpidity as in some
+tropical countries. Plants do not flower or shed their leaves,
+nor do birds moult, pair, or breed simultaneously. In Europe, a
+woodland scene has its spring, its summer, its autumn, and its
+winter aspects. In the equatorial forests the aspect is the same
+or nearly so every day in the year: budding, flowering, fruiting,
+and leaf shedding are always going on in one species or other.
+The activity of birds and insects proceeds without interruption,
+each species having its own separate times; the colonies of
+wasps, for instance, do not die off annually, leaving only the
+queens, as in cold climates; but the succession of generations
+and colonies goes on incessantly. It is never either spring,
+summer, or autumn, but each day is a combination of all three.
+With the day and night always of equal length, the atmospheric
+disturbances of each day neutralising themselves before each
+succeeding morn; with the sun in its course proceeding midway
+across the sky, and the daily temperature the same within two or
+three degrees throughout the year--how grand in its perfect
+equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under the
+equator!
+
+Our evenings were generally fully employed preserving our
+collections, and making notes. We dined at four, and took tea
+about seven o'clock. Sometimes we walked to the city to see
+Brazilian life or enjoy the pleasures of European and American
+society. And so the time passed away from June 15th to August
+26th. During this period we made two excursions of greater length
+to the rice and saw-mills of Magoary, an establishment owned by
+an American gentleman, Mr. Upton, situated on the banks of a
+creek in the heart of the forest, about twelve miles from Para. I
+will narrate some of the incidents of these excursions, and give
+an account of the more interesting observations made on the
+Natural History and inhabitants of these interior creeks and
+forests.
+
+Our first trip to the mills was by land. The creek on whose banks
+they stand, the Iritiri, communicates with the river Pars,
+through another larger creek, the Magoary; so that there is a
+passage by water; but this is about twenty miles round. We
+started at sunrise, taking Isidoro with us. The road plunged at
+once into the forest after leaving Nazareth, so that in a few
+minutes we were enveloped in shade. For some distance the woods
+were of second growth, the original forest near the town having
+been formerly cleared or thinned. They were dense and
+impenetrable on account of the close growth of the young trees
+and the mass of thorny shrubs and creepers. These thickets
+swarmed with ants and ant-thrushes; they were also frequented by
+a species of puff-throated manikin, a little bird which flies
+occasionally across the road, emitting a strange noise, made, I
+believe, with its wings, and resembling the clatter of a small
+wooden rattle.
+
+A mile or a mile and a half further on, the character of the
+woods began to change, and we then found ourselves in the
+primaeval forest. The appearance was greatly different from that
+of the swampy tract I have already described. The land was rather
+more elevated and undulating; the many swamp plants with their
+long and broad leaves were wanting, and there was less underwood,
+although the trees were wider apart. Through this wilderness the
+road continued for seven or eight miles. The same unbroken forest
+extends all the way to Maranham and in other directions, as we
+were told, a distance of about 300 miles southward and eastward
+of Para. In almost every hollow part the road was crossed by a
+brook, whose cold, dark, leaf-stained waters were bridged over by
+tree trunks. The ground was carpeted, as usual, by Lycopodiums,
+but it was also encumbered with masses of vegetable debris and a
+thick coating of dead leaves. Fruits of many kinds were scattered
+about, amongst which were many sorts of beans, some of the pods a
+foot long, flat and leathery in texture, others hard as stone. In
+one place there was a quantity of large empty wooden vessels,
+which Isidoro told us fell from the Sapucaya tree. They are
+called Monkey's drinking-cups (Cuyas de Macaco), and are the
+capsules which contain the nuts sold under the name just
+mentioned, in Covent Garden Market. At the top of the vessel is a
+circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly. When the nuts
+are ripe this lid becomes loosened and the heavy cup falls with a
+crash, scattering the nuts over the ground. The tree which yields
+the nut (Lecythis ollaria), is of immense height. It is closely
+allied to the Brazil-nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), whose seeds
+are also enclosed in large woody vessels; but these have no lid,
+and fall to the ground intact. This is the reason why the one
+kind of nut is so much dearer than the other. The Sapucaya is not
+less abundant, probably, than the Bertholletia, but its nuts in
+falling are scattered about and eaten by wild animals; whilst the
+full, whole capsules of Brazil-nuts are collected by the natives.
+
+What attracted us chiefly were the colossal trees. The general
+run of trees had not remarkably thick stems; the great and
+uniform height to which they grow without emitting a branch, was
+a much more noticeable feature than their thickness; but at
+intervals of a furlong or so a veritable giant towered up. Only
+one of these monstrous trees can grow within a given space; it
+monopolises the domain, and none but individuals of much inferior
+size can find a footing near it. The cylindrical trunks of these
+larger trees were generally about twenty to twenty-five feet in
+circumference. Von Martius mentions having measured trees in the
+Para district belonging to various species (Symphonia coccinea,
+Lecythis sp. and Crataeva Tapia), which were fifty to sixty feet
+in girth at the point where they become cylindrical. The height
+of the vast column-like stems could not be less than 100 feet
+from the ground to their lowest branch. Mr. Leavens, at the
+sawmills, told me they frequently squared logs for sawing a
+hundred feet long, of the Pao d'Arco and the Massaranduba. The
+total height of these trees, stem and crown together, may be
+estimated at from 180 to 200 feet; where one of them stands, the
+vast dome of foliage rises above the other forest trees as a
+domed cathedral does above the other buildings in a city.
+
+A very remarkable feature in these trees is the growth of
+buttress-shaped projections around the lower part of their stems.
+The spaces between these buttresses, which are generally thin
+walls of wood, form spacious chambers, and may be compared to
+stalls in a stable; some of them are large enough to hold a half-
+dozen persons. The purpose of these structures is as obvious, at
+the first glance, as that of the similar props of brickwork which
+support a high wall. They are not peculiar to one species, but
+are common to most of the larger forest trees. Their nature and
+manner of growth are explained when a series of young trees of
+different ages is examined. It is then seen that they are the
+roots which have raised themselves ridge-like out of the earth;
+growing gradually upwards as the increasing height of the tree
+required augmented support. Thus, they are plainly intended to
+sustain the massive crown and trunk in these crowded forests,
+where lateral growth of the roots in the earth is rendered
+difficult by the multitude of competitors.
+
+The other grand forest trees whose native names we learned, were
+the Moiratinga (the White or King tree), probably the same as, or
+allied to, the Mora Excelsa, which Sir Robert Schomburgh
+discovered in British Guiana; the Samauma (Eriodendron Samauma)
+and the Massaranduba, or Cow tree. The last-mentioned is the most
+remarkable. We had already heard a good deal about this tree, and
+about its producing from its bark a copious supply of milk as
+pleasant to drink as that of the cow. We had also eaten its fruit
+in Para, where it is sold in the streets by negro market women;
+and had heard a good deal of the durableness in water of its
+timber. We were glad, therefore, to see this wonderful tree
+growing in its native wilds. It is one of the largest of the
+forest monarchs, and is peculiar in appearance on account of its
+deeply-scored reddish and ragged bark. A decoction of the bark, I
+was told, is used as a red dye for cloth. A few days afterwards
+we tasted its milk, which was drawn from dry logs that had been
+standing many days in the hot sun, at the saw-mills. It was
+pleasant with coffee, but had a slight rankness when drunk pure;
+it soon thickens to a glue, which is excessively tenacious, and
+is often used to cement broken crockery. I was told that it was
+not safe to drink much of it, for a slave had recently nearly
+lost his life through taking it too freely.
+
+In some parts of the road ferns were conspicuous objects. But I
+afterwards found them much more numerous on the Maranham road,
+especially in one place where the whole forest glade formed a
+vast fernery; the ground was covered with terrestrial species,
+and the tree trunks clothed with climbing and epiphytous kinds. I
+saw no tree ferns in the Para district; they belong to hilly
+regions; some occur, however, on the Upper Amazons.
+
+Such were the principal features in the vegetation of the
+wilderness; but where were the flowers? To our great
+disappointment we saw none, or only such as were insignificant in
+appearance. Orchids are very rare in the dense forests of the low
+lands. I believe it is now tolerably well ascertained that the
+majority of forest trees in equatorial Brazil have small and
+inconspicuous flowers. Flower-frequenting insects are also rare
+in the forest. Of course they would not be found where their
+favourite food was wanting, but I always noticed that even where
+flowers occurred in the forest, few or no insects were seen upon
+them. In the open country or campos of Santarem on the Lower
+Amazons, flowering trees and bushes are more abundant, and there
+a large number of floral insects are attracted. The forest bees
+of South America belonging to the genera Melipona and Euglossa
+are more frequently seen feeding on the sweet sap which exudes
+from the trees or on the excrement of birds on leaves, rather
+than
+on flowers.
+
+We were disappointed also in not meeting with any of the larger
+animals in the forest. There was no tumultuous movement, or sound
+of life. We did not see or hear monkeys, and no tapir or jaguar
+crossed our path. Birds, also, appeared to be exceedingly
+scarce. We heard, however, occasionally, the long-drawn, wailing
+note of the Inambu, a kind of partridge (Crypturus cincreus?);
+and, also, in the hollows on the banks, of the rivulets, the
+noisy
+notes of another bird, which seemed to go in pairs, amongst the
+tree-tops, calling to each other as they went. These notes
+resounded through the wilderness. Another solitary bird had
+a most sweet and melancholy song; it consisted simply of a
+few notes, uttered in a plaintive key, commencing high, and
+descending by harmonic intervals. It was probably a species
+of warbler of the genus Trichas. All these notes of birds
+are very striking and characteristic of the forest.
+
+I afterwards saw reason to modify my opinion, founded on these
+first impressions, with regard to the amount and variety of
+animal life in this and other parts of the Amazonian forests.
+There is, in fact, a great variety of mammals, birds, and
+reptiles, but they are widely scattered, and all excessively shy
+of man. The region is so extensive, and uniform in the forest
+clothing of its surface, that it is only at long intervals that
+animals are seen in abundance when some particular spot is found
+which is more attractive than others. Brazil, moreover, is
+poor throughout in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of
+small size; they do not, therefore, form a conspicuous feature in
+its forests. The huntsman would be disappointed who expected to
+find here flocks of animals similar to the buffalo herds of North
+America, or the swarms of antelopes and herds of ponderous
+pachyderms of Southern Africa. The largest and most interesting
+portion of the Brazilian mammal fauna is arboreal in its habits;
+this feature of the animal denizens of these forests I have
+already alluded to. The most intensely arboreal animals in the
+world are the South American monkeys of the family Cebidae, many
+of which have a fifth hand for climbing in their prehensile
+tails, adapted for this function by their strong muscular
+development, and the naked palms under their tips. This seems to
+teach us that the South American fauna has been slowly adapted to
+a forest life, and, therefore, that extensive forests must have
+always existed since the region was first peopled by mammalia.
+But to this subject, and to the natural history of the monkeys,
+of which thirty-eight species inhabit the Amazon region, I shall
+have to return.
+
+We often read, in books of travels, of the silence and gloom of
+the Brazilian forests. They are realities, and the impression
+deepens on a longer acquaintance. The few sounds of birds are of
+that pensive or mysterious character which intensifies the
+feeling of solitude rather than imparts a sense of life and
+cheerfulness. Sometimes, in the midst of the stillness, a sudden
+yell or scream will startle one; this comes from some defenseless
+fruit-eating animal, which is pounced upon by a tiger-cat or
+stealthy boa-constrictor. Morning and evening the howling monkeys
+make a most fearful and harrowing noise, under which it is
+difficult to keep up one's buoyancy of spirit. The feeling of
+inhospitable wildness, which the forest is calculated to inspire,
+is increased tenfold under this fearful uproar. Often, even in
+the still hours of midday, a sudden crash will be heard
+resounding afar through the wilderness, as some great bough or
+entire tree falls to the ground. There are, besides, many sounds
+which it is impossible to account for. I found the natives
+generally as much at a loss in this respect as myself. Sometimes
+a sound is heard like the clang of an iron bar against a hard,
+hollow tree, or a piercing cry rends the air; these are not
+repeated, and the succeeding silence tends to heighten the
+unpleasant impression which they make on the mind. With the
+native it is always the Curupira, the wild man or spirit of the
+forest, which produces all noises they are unable to explain. For
+myths are the rude theories which mankind, in the infancy of
+knowledge, invent to explain natural phenomena. The Curupira is a
+mysterious being, whose attributes are uncertain, for they vary
+according to locality. Sometimes he is described as a kind of
+orangutang, being covered with long, shaggy hair, and living in
+trees. At others, he is said to have cloven feet and a bright red
+face. He has a wife and children, and sometimes comes down to the
+rocas to steal the mandioca. At one time I had a Mameluco youth
+in my service, whose head was full of the legends and
+superstitions of the country. He always went with me into the
+forest; in fact, I could not get him to go alone, and whenever we
+heard any of the strange noises mentioned above. he used to
+tremble with fear. He would crouch down behind me, and beg of me
+to turn back; his alarm ceasing only after he had made a charm to
+protect us from the Curupira. For this purpose, he took a young
+palm leaf, plaited it, and formed it into a ring, which he hung
+to a branch on our track.
+
+At length, after a six hour walk, we arrived at our
+destination, the last mile or two having been again through
+second-growth forest. The mills formed a large pile of buildings,
+pleasantly situated in a cleared tract of land, many acres in
+extent, and everywhere surrounded by the perpetual forest. We
+were received in the kindest manner by the overseer, Mr. Leavens,
+who showed us all that was interesting about the place, and took
+us to the best spots in the neighbourhood for birds and insects.
+The mills were built a long time ago by a wealthy Brazilian. They
+had belonged to Mr. Upton for many years. I was told that when
+the dark-skinned revolutionists were preparing for their attack
+on Para, they occupied the place, but not the slightest injury
+was done to the machinery or building, for the leaders said it
+was against the Portuguese and their party that they were at war,
+not against the other foreigners.
+
+The Iritiri Creek at the mills is only a few yards wide; it winds
+about between two lofty walls of forest for some distance, then
+becomes much broader, and finally joins the Magoary. There are
+many other ramifications, creeks or channels, which lead to
+retired hamlets and scattered houses, inhabited by people of
+mixed white, Indian, and negro descent. Many of them did business
+with Mr. Leavens, bringing for sale their little harvests of
+rice, or a few logs of timber. It was interesting to see them in
+their little, heavily-laden montarias. Sometimes the boats were
+managed by handsome, healthy young lads, loosely clad in a straw
+hat, white shirt, and dark blue trousers, turned up to the knee.
+They steered, paddled, and managed the varejao (the boating
+pole), with much grace and dexterity.
+
+We made many excursions down the Iritiri, and saw much of these
+creeks; besides, our second visit to the mills was by water. The
+Magoary is a magnificent channel; the different branches form
+quite a labyrinth, and the land is everywhere of little
+elevation.  All these smaller rivers, throughout the Para
+Estuary, are of the nature of creeks. The land is so level, that
+the short local rivers have no sources and downward currents like
+rivers as we generally understand them. They serve the purpose of
+draining the land, but instead of having a constant current one
+way, they have a regular ebb and flow with the tide. The natives
+call them, in the Tupi language, Igarapes, or canoe-paths. The
+igarapes and furos or channels, which are infinite in number in
+this great river delta, are characteristic of the country. The
+land is everywhere covered with impenetrable forests; the houses
+and villages are all on the waterside, and nearly all
+communication is by water. This semi-aquatic life of the people
+is one of the most interesting features of the country. For short
+excursions, and for fishing in still waters, a small boat, called
+montaria, is universally used. It is made of five planks; a broad
+one for the bottom, bent into the proper shape by the action of
+heat, two narrow ones for the sides, and two small triangular
+pieces for stem and stern. It has no rudder; the paddle serves
+for both steering and propelling. The montaria takes here the
+place of the horse, mule, or camel of other regions. Besides one
+or more montarias, almost every family has a larger canoe, called
+igarite. This is fitted with two masts, a rudder, and keel, and
+has an arched awning or cabin near the stern, made of a framework
+of tough lianas thatched with palm leaves. In the igarite they
+will cross stormy rivers fifteen or twenty miles broad. The
+natives are all boat-builders. It is often remarked, by white
+residents, that an Indian is a carpenter and shipwright by
+intuition. It is astonishing to see in what crazy vessels these
+people will risk themselves. I have seen Indians cross rivers in
+a leaky montaria, when it required the nicest equilibrium to keep
+the leak just above water; a movement of a hair's breadth would
+send all to the bottom, but they managed to cross in safety. They
+are especially careful when they have strangers under their
+charge, and it is the custom of Brazilian and Portuguese
+travellers to leave the whole management to them. When they are
+alone they are more reckless, and often have to swim for their
+lives. If a squall overtakes them as they are crossing in a
+heavily-laden canoe, they all jump overboard and swim about until
+the heavy sea subsides, then they re-embark.
+
+A few words on the aboriginal population of the Para estuary will
+not be out of place here. The banks of the Para were originally
+inhabited by a number of distinct tribes, who, in their habits,
+resembled very much the natives of the sea-coast from Maranham to
+Bahia. It is related that one large tribe, the Tupinambas,
+migrated from Pernambuco to the Amazons. One fact seems to be
+well-established, namely, that all the coast tribes were far more
+advanced in civilisation, and milder in their manners, than the
+savages who inhabited the interior lands of Brazil. They were
+settled in villages, and addicted to agriculture. They navigated
+the rivers in large canoes, called ubas, made of immense
+hollowed-out tree trunks; in these they used to go on war
+expeditions, carrying in the prows their trophies and calabash
+rattles, whose clatter was meant to intimidate their enemies.
+They were gentle in disposition, and received the early
+Portuguese settlers with great friendliness. The inland savages,
+on the other hand, led a wandering life, as they do at the
+present time, only coming down occasionally to rob the
+plantations of the coast tribes, who always entertained the
+greatest enmity towards them.
+
+The original Indian tribes of the district are now either
+civilised, or have amalgamated with the white and negro
+immigrants. Their distinguishing tribal names have long been
+forgotten, and the race bears now the general appellation of
+Tapuyo, which seems to have been one of the names of the ancient
+Tupinambas. The Indians of the interior, still remaining in the
+savage state, are called by the Brazilians Indios, or Gentios
+(Heathens). All the semi-civilised Tapuyos of the villages, and
+in fact the inhabitants of retired places generally, speak the
+Lingoa geral, a language adapted by the Jesuit missionaries from
+the original idiom of the Tupinambas. The language of the
+Guaranis, a nation living on the banks of the Paraguay, is a
+dialect of it, and hence it is called by philologists the Tupi-
+Guarani language; printed grammars of it are always on sale at
+the shops of the Para booksellers. The fact of one language
+having been spoken over so wide an extent of country as that from
+the Amazons to Paraguay, is quite an isolated one in this
+country, and points to considerable migrations of the Indian
+tribes in former times. At present the languages spoken by
+neighbouring tribes on the banks of the interior rivers are
+totally distinct; on the Jurua, even scattered hordes belonging
+to the same tribe are not able to understand each other.
+
+The civilised Tapuyo of Para differs in no essential point, in
+physical or moral qualities, from the Indian of the interior. He
+is more stoutly built, being better fed than some of them; but in
+this respect there are great differences amongst the tribes
+themselves. He presents all the chief characteristics of the
+American red man. The skin of a coppery brown colour, the
+features of the face broad, and the hair black, thick, and
+straight. He is generally about the middle height, thick-set, has
+a broad muscular chest, well-shaped but somewhat thick legs and
+arms, and small hands and feet. The cheek bones are not generally
+prominent; the eyes are black, and seldom oblique like those of
+the Tartar races of Eastern Asia, which are supposed to have
+sprung from the same original stock as the American red man. The
+features exhibit scarcely any mobility of expression; this is
+connected with the excessively apathetic and undemonstrative
+character of the race. They never betray, in fact they do not
+feel keenly, the emotions of joy, grief, wonder, fear, and so
+forth. They can never be excited to enthusiasm; but they have
+strong affections, especially those connected with family. It is
+commonly stated by the whites and negroes that the Tapuyo is
+ungrateful. Brazilian mistresses of households, who have much
+experience of Indians, have always a long list of instances to
+relate to the stranger, showing their base ingratitude. They
+certainly do not appear to remember or think of repaying
+benefits, but this is probably because they did not require, and
+do not value such benefits as their would-be masters confer upon
+them. I have known instances of attachment and fidelity on the
+part of Indians towards their masters, but these are exceptional
+cases. All the actions of the Indian show that his ruling desire
+is to be let alone; he is attached to his home, his quiet
+monotonous forest and river life; he likes to go to towns
+occasionally, to see the wonders introduced by the white man, but
+he has a great repugnance to living in the midst of the crowd; he
+prefers handicraft to field labour, and especially dislikes
+binding himself to regular labour for hire. He is shy and uneasy
+before strangers, but if they visit his abode, he treats them
+well, for he has a rooted appreciation of the duty of
+hospitality; there is a pride about him, and being naturally
+formal and polite, he acts the host with great dignity. He
+withdraws from towns as soon as the stir of civilisation begins
+to make itself felt. When we first arrived at Para many Indian
+families resided there, for the mode of living at that time was
+more like that of a large village than a city; but as soon as
+river steamers and more business activity were introduced, they
+all gradually took themselves away.
+
+These characteristics of the Para Indians are applicable, of
+course, to some extent, to the Mamelucos, who now constitute a
+great proportion of the population. The inflexibility of
+character of the Indian, and his total inability to accommodate
+himself to new arrangements, will infallibly lead to his
+extinction, as immigrants, endowed with more supple
+organisations, increase, and civilisation advances in the Amazon
+region. But, as the different races amalgamate readily, and the
+offspring of white and Indian often become distinguished
+Brazilian citizens, there is little reason to regret the fate of
+the race. Formerly the Indian was harshly treated, and even now
+he is so, in many parts of the interior. But, according to the
+laws of Brazil, he is a free citizen, having equal privileges
+with the whites; and there are very strong enactments providing
+against the enslaving and ill-treatment of the Indians. The
+residents of the interior, who have no higher principles to
+counteract instinctive selfishness or antipathy of race, cannot
+comprehend why they are not allowed to compel Indians to work for
+them, seeing that they will not do it of their own accord. The
+inevitable result of the conflict of interests between a European
+and a weaker indigenous race, when the two come in contact, is
+the sacrifice of the latter. In the Para district, the Indians
+are no longer enslaved, but they are deprived of their lands, and
+this they feel bitterly, as one of them, an industrious and
+worthy man, related to me. Is not a similar state of things now
+exhibited in New Zealand, between the Maoris and the English
+colonists?
+
+It is very interesting to read of the bitter contests that were
+carried on from the year 1570 to 1759, between the Portuguese
+immigrants in Brazil, and the Jesuit and other missionaries. They
+were similar to those which have recently taken place in South
+Africa, between the Beers and the English missionaries, but they
+were on a much larger scale. The Jesuits, as far as I could glean
+from tradition and history, were actuated by the same motives as
+our missionaries; and they seemed like them to have been, in
+great measure, successful, in teaching the pure and elevated
+Christian morality to the simple natives. But the attempt was
+vain to protect the weaker race from the inevitable ruin which
+awaited it in the natural struggle with the stronger one; in
+1759, the white colonists finally prevailed, the Jesuits were
+forced to leave the country, and the fifty-one happy mission
+villages went to ruin. Since then, the aboriginal race has gone
+on decreasing in numbers under the treatment which it has
+received; it is now, as I have already stated, protected by the
+laws of the central government.
+
+On our second visit to the mills, we stayed ten days. There is a
+large reservoir and also a natural lake near the place, both
+containing aquatic plants, whose leaves rest on the surface like
+our water lilies, but they are not so elegant as our nymphaea,
+either in leaf or flower. On the banks of these pools grow
+quantities of a species of fan-leaved palm tree, the Carana,
+whose stems are surrounded by whorls of strong spines. I
+sometimes took a montaria, and paddled myself alone down the
+creek. One day I got upset, and had to land on a grassy slope
+leading to an old plantation, where I ran about naked while my
+clothes were being dried on a bush. The Iritiri Creek is not so
+picturesque as many others which I subsequently explored. Towards
+the Magoary, the banks at the edge of the water are clothed with
+mangrove bushes, and beneath them the muddy banks into which the
+long roots that hang down from the fruit before it leaves the
+branches strike their fibres, swarm with crabs. On the lower
+branches the beautiful bird, Ardea helias, is found. This is a
+small heron of exquisitely graceful shape and mien; its plumage
+is minutely variegated with bars and spots of many colours, like
+the wings of certain kinds of moths. It is difficult to see the
+bird in the woods, on account of its sombre colours, and the
+shadiness of its dwelling-places; but its note, a soft long-drawn
+whistle, often betrays its hiding place. I was told by the
+Indians that it builds in trees, and that the nest, which is made
+of clay, is beautifully constructed. It is a favourite pet-bird
+of the Brazilians, who call it Pavao (pronounced Pavaong), or
+peacock. I often had opportunities to observe its habits. It
+soon becomes tame, and walks about the floors of houses picking
+up scraps of food or catching insects, which it secures by
+walking gently to the place where they settle, and spearing them
+with its long, slender beak. It allows itself to be handled by
+children, and will answer to its name "Pavao! Pavao!" walking up
+with a dainty, circumspect gait, and taking a fly or beetle from
+the hand.
+
+During these rambles by land and water we increased our
+collections considerably. Before we left the mills, we arranged a
+joint excursion to the Tocantins. Mr. Leavens wished to ascend
+that river to ascertain if the reports were true, that cedar grew
+abundantly between the lowermost cataract and the mouth of the
+Araguava, and we agreed to accompany him.
+
+While we were at the mills, a Portuguese trader arrived with a
+quantity of worm-eaten logs of this cedar, which he had gathered
+from the floating timber in the current of the main Amazons. The
+tree producing this wood, which is named cedar on account of the
+similarity of its aroma to that of the true cedars, is not, of
+course, a coniferous tree, as no member of that class is found in
+equatorial America, at least in the Amazons region. It is,
+according to Von Martius, the Cedrela Odorata, an exogen
+belonging to the same order as the mahogany tree. The wood is
+light, and the tree is therefore, on falling into the water,
+floated down with the river currents. It must grow in great
+quantities somewhere in the interior, to judge from the number of
+uprooted trees annually carried to the sea, and as the wood is
+much esteemed for cabinet work and canoe building, it is of some
+importance to learn where a regular supply can be obtained. We
+were glad of course to arrange with Mr. Leavens, who was familiar
+with the language, and an adept in river navigation--so we
+returned to Para to ship our collections for England, and prepare
+for the journey to a new region.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PARA
+
+Religious Holidays--Marmoset Monkeys--Serpents--Insects
+
+Before leaving the subject of Para, where I resided, as already
+stated, in all eighteen months, it will be necessary to give a
+more detailed account of several matters connected with the
+customs of the people and the Natural History of the
+neighbourhood, which have hitherto been only briefly mentioned. I
+reserve an account of the trade and improved condition of Para in
+1859 for the end of this narrative.
+
+During the first few weeks of our stay, many of those religious
+festivals took place, which occupied so large a share of the time
+and thoughts of the people. These were splendid affairs, wherein
+artistically-arranged processions through the streets,
+accompanied by thousands of people, military displays, the
+clatter of fireworks, and the clang of military music, were
+superadded to pompous religious services in the churches. To
+those who had witnessed similar ceremonies in the Southern
+countries of Europe, there would be nothing remarkable perhaps in
+these doings, except their taking place amidst the splendours of
+tropical nature; but to me they were full of novelty, and were
+besides interesting as exhibiting much that was peculiar in the
+manners of the people.
+
+The festivals celebrate either the anniversaries of events
+concerning saints, or those of the more important transactions in
+the life of Christ. To them have been added, since the
+Independence, many gala days connected with the  events in the
+Brazilian national history; but these have all a semi-religious
+character. The holidays had become so numerous, and interfered so
+much with trade and industry towards the year 1852, that the
+Brazilian Government was obliged to reduce them; obtaining the
+necessary permission from Rome to abolish several which were of
+minor importance. Many of those which have been retained are
+declining in importance since the introduction of railways and
+steamboats, and the increased devotion of the people to commerce;
+at the time of our arrival, however, they were in full glory. The
+way they were managed was in this fashion. A general manager or
+"Juiz" for each festival was elected by lot every year in the
+vestry of the church, and to him were handed over all the
+paraphernalia pertaining to the particular festival which he was
+chosen to manage; the image of the saint, the banners, silver
+crowns and so forth. He then employed a number of people to go
+the round of the parish, and collect alms towards defraying the
+expenses. It was considered that the greater the amount of money
+spent in wax candles, fireworks, music and feasting, the greater
+the honour done to the saint. If the Juiz was a rich man, he
+seldom sent out alms-gatherers, but celebrated the whole affair
+at his own expense, which was sometimes to the extent of several
+hundred pounds. Each festival lasted nine days (a novena), and in
+many cases refreshments for the public were provided every
+evening. In the smaller towns a ball took place two or three
+evenings during the novena, and on the last day there was a grand
+dinner. The priest, of course, had to be paid very liberally,
+especially for the sermon delivered on the Saint's Day or
+termination of the festival, sermons being extra duty in Brazil.
+
+There was much difference as to the accessories of these
+festivals between the interior towns and villages and the
+capital; but little or no work was done anywhere whilst they
+lasted, and they tended much to demoralise the people. It was
+soon perceived that religion is rather the amusement of the
+Paraenses, than their serious exercise. The ideas of the majority
+evidently do not reach beyond the belief that all the proceedings
+are, in each case, in honour of the particular wooden image
+enshrined at the church. The uneducated Portuguese immigrants
+seemed to me to have very degrading notions of religion.
+
+I have often travelled in the company of these shining examples
+of European enlightenment. They generally carry with them,
+wherever they go, a small image of some favourite saint in their
+trunks, and when a squall or any other danger arises, their first
+impulse is to rush to the cabin, take out the image and clasp it
+to their lips, whilst uttering a prayer for protection. The
+negroes and mulattos are similar in this respect to the low
+Portuguese, but I think they show a purer devotional feeling; and
+in conversation, I have always found them to be more rational in
+religious views than the lower orders of Portuguese. As to the
+Indians; with the exception of the more civilised families
+residing near the large towns, they exhibit no religious
+sentiment at all. They have their own patron saint, St. Thome,
+and celebrate his anniversary in the orthodox way, for they are
+fond of observing all the formalities; but they think the
+feasting to be of equal importance with the church ceremonies. At
+some of the festivals, masquerading forms a large part of the
+proceedings, and then the Indians really shine. They get up
+capital imitations of wild animals, dress themselves to represent
+the Caypor and other fabulous creatures of the forest, and act
+their parts throughout with great cleverness. When St. Thome's
+festival takes place, every employer of Indians knows that all
+his men will get drunk. The Indian, generally too shy to ask
+directly for cashaca (rum), is then very bold; he asks for a
+frasco at once (two-and-a-half bottles), and says, if
+interrogated, that he is going to fuddle in honour of St. Thome.
+
+In the city of Para, the provincial government assists to augment
+the splendour of the religious holidays. The processions which
+traverse the principal streets consist, in the first place, of
+the image of the saint, and those of several other subordinate
+ones belonging to the same church; these are borne on the
+shoulders of respectable householders, who volunteer for the
+purpose--sometimes you will see your neighbour the grocer or the
+carpenter groaning under the load. The priest and his crowd of
+attendants precede the images, arrayed in embroidered robes, and
+protected by magnificent sunshades--no useless ornament here, for
+the heat is very great when the sun is not obscured. On each side
+of the long line the citizens walk, clad in crimson silk cloaks
+and holding each a large lighted wax candle. Behind follows a
+regiment or two of foot soldiers with their bands of music, and
+last of all the crowd--the coloured people being cleanly dressed
+and preserving a grave demeanour. The women are always in great
+force, their luxuriant black hair decorated with jasmines, white
+orchids and other tropical flowers. They are dressed in their
+usual holiday attire, gauze chemises and black silk petticoats;
+their necks are adorned with links of gold beads, which when they
+are slaves are generally the property of their mistresses, who
+love thus to display their wealth.
+
+At night, when festivals are going on in the grassy squares
+around the suburban churches, there is really much to admire. A
+great deal that is peculiar in the land and the life of its
+inhabitants can be seen best at those times. The cheerful white
+church is brilliantly lighted up, and the music, not of a very
+solemn description, peals forth from the open windows and doors.
+Numbers of young gaudily-dressed negresses line the path to the
+church doors with stands of liqueurs, sweetmeats, and cigarettes,
+which they sell to the outsiders. A short distance off is heard
+the rattle of dice-boxes and roulette at the open-air gambling-
+stalls. When the festival happens on moonlit nights, the whole
+scene is very striking to a newcomer. Around the square are
+groups of tall palm trees, and beyond it, over the illuminated
+houses, appear the thick groves of mangoes near the suburban
+avenues, from which comes the perpetual ringing din of insect
+life. The soft tropical moonlight lends a wonderful charm to the
+whole.
+
+The inhabitants are all out, dressed in their best. The upper
+classes, who come to enjoy the fine evening and the general
+cheerfulness, are seated on chairs around the doors of friendly
+houses. There is no boisterous conviviality, but a quiet
+enjoyment seems to be felt everywhere, and a gentle courtesy
+rules among all classes and colours. I have seen a splendidly-
+dressed colonel, from the President's palace, walk up to a
+mulatto, and politely ask his permission to take a light from his
+cigar. When the service is over, the church bells are set
+ringing, a shower of rockets mounts upwards, the bands strike up,
+and parties of coloured people in the booths begin their dances.
+About ten o'clock the Brazilian national air is played, and all
+disperse quietly and soberly to their homes.
+
+At the festival of Corpus Christi, there was a very pretty
+arrangement. The large green square of the Trinidade was lighted
+up all round with bonfires. On one side a fine pavilion was
+erected, the upright posts consisting of real fan-leaved palm
+trees--the Mauritia flexuosa, which had been brought from the
+forest, stems and heads entire, and fixed in the ground. The
+booth was illuminated with coloured lamps, and lined with red and
+white cloth. In it were seated the ladies, not all of pure
+Caucasian blood, but presenting a fine sample of Para beauty and
+fashion.
+
+The grandest of all these festivals is that held in honour of Our
+Lady of Nazareth: it is, I believe, peculiar to Para. As I have
+said before, it falls in the second quarter of the moon, about
+the middle of the dry season--that is, in October or November--
+and lasts, like the others, nine days. On the first day, a very
+extensive procession takes place, starting from the Cathedral,
+whither the image of the saint had been conveyed some days
+previous, and terminating at the chapel or hermitage, as it is
+called, of the saint at Nazareth--a distance of more than two
+miles. The whole population turns out on this occasion. All the
+soldiers, both of the line and the National Guard, take part in
+it, each battalion accompanied by its band of music. The civil
+authorities, also, with the President at their head, and the
+principal citizens, including many of the foreign residents, join
+in the line. The boat of the shipwrecked Portuguese vessel is
+carried after the saint on the shoulders of officers or men of
+the Brazilian navy, and along with it are borne the other symbols
+of the miracles which Our Lady is supposed to have performed. The
+procession starts soon after the sun's heat begins to moderate--
+that is, about half-past four o'clock in the afternoon. When the
+image is deposited in the chapel the festival is considered to be
+inaugurated, and the village every evening becomes the resort of
+the pleasure-loving population, the holiday portion of the
+programme being preceded, of course, by a religious service in
+the chapel. The aspect of the place is then that of a fair,
+without the humour and fun, but, at the same time, without the
+noise and coarseness of similar holidays in England. Large rooms
+are set apart for panoramic and other exhibitions, to which the
+public is admitted gratis. In the course of each evening, large
+displays of fireworks take place, all arranged according to a
+published programme of the festival.
+
+The various ceremonies which take place during Lent seemed to me
+the most impressive, and some of them were exceedingly well-
+arranged. The people, both performers and spectators, conduct
+themselves with more gravity on these occasions, and there is no
+holiday-making. Performances, representing the last events in the
+life of Christ, are enacted in the churches or streets in such a
+way as to remind one of the old miracle plays or mysteries. A few
+days before Good Friday, a torchlight procession takes place by
+night from one church to another, in which is carried a large
+wooden image of Christ bent under the weight of the cross. The
+chief members of the government assist, and the whole slowly
+moves to the sound of muffled drums. A double procession is
+managed a few days afterwards. The image of St. Mary is carried
+in one direction, and that of the Saviour in another. The two
+images meet in the middle of one of the most beautiful of the
+churches, which is previously filled to excess with the
+multitudes anxious to witness the affecting meeting of mother and
+son a few days before the crucifixion. The images are brought
+face to face in the middle of the church, the crowd falls
+prostrate, and a lachrymose sermon is delivered from the pulpit.
+
+The whole thing, as well as many other spectacles arranged during
+the few succeeding days, is highly theatrical and well calculated
+to excite the religious emotions of the people-- although,
+perhaps, only temporarily. On Good Friday the bells do not ring,
+all musical sounds are interdicted, and the hours, night and day,
+are announced by the dismal noise of wooden clappers, wielded by
+negroes stationed near the different churches. A sermon is
+delivered in each church. In the middle of it, a scroll is
+suddenly unfolded from the pulpit, upon which is an exaggerated
+picture of the bleeding Christ. This act is accompanied by loud
+groans, which come from stout-lunged individuals concealed in the
+vestry and engaged for the purpose. The priest becomes greatly
+excited, and actually sheds tears. On one of these occasions I
+squeezed myself into the crowd, and watched the effect of the
+spectacle on the audience. Old Portuguese men and Brazilian women
+seemed very much affected-- sobbing, beating their breasts, and
+telling their beads. The negroes themselves behaved with great
+propriety, but seemed moved more particularly by the pomp, the
+gilding, the dresses, and the general display. Young Brazilians
+laughed. Several aborigines were there, coolly looking on. One
+old Indian, who was standing near me, said, in a derisive manner,
+when the sermon was over: "It's all very good; better it could
+not be" (Esta todo bom; melhor nao pude ser).
+
+The negroes of Para are very devout. They have built, by slow
+degrees, as I was told, a fine church by their own unaided
+exertions. It is called Nossa Senhora do Rosario, or Our Lady of
+the Rosary. During the first weeks of our residence at Para, I
+frequently observed a line of negroes and negresses, late at
+night, marching along the streets, singing a chorus. Each carried
+on his or her head a quantity of building materials--stones,
+bricks, mortar, or planks. I found they were chiefly slaves, who,
+after their hard day's work, were contributing a little towards
+the construction of their church. The materials had all been
+purchased by their own savings. The interior was finished about a
+year afterwards, and is decorated, I thought, quite as superbly
+as the other churches which were constructed, with far larger
+means, by the old religious orders more than a century ago.
+Annually, the negroes celebrate the festival of Nossa Senora de
+Rosario, and generally make it a complete success.
+
+I will now add a few more notes which I have accumulated on the
+subject of the natural history, and then we shall have done, for
+the present, with Para and its neighbourhood.
+
+I have already mentioned that monkeys were rare in the immediate
+vicinity of Para. I met with only three species in the forest
+near the city; they are shy animals, and avoid the neighbourhood
+of towns, where they are subject to much persecution by the
+inhabitants, who kill them for food. The only kind which I saw
+frequently was the little Midas ursulus, one of the Marmosets, a
+family peculiar to tropical America, and differing in many
+essential points of structure and habits from all other apes.
+They are small in size, and more like squirrels than true monkeys
+in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind
+thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squirrels, and the
+thumbs of the fore extremities, or hands, are not opposable to
+the other fingers. I do not mean to imply that they have a near
+relationship to squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an
+inferior order of mammals; their resemblance to those animals is
+merely a superficial one. They have two molar teeth less in each
+jaw than the Cebidae, the other family of American monkeys; they
+agree with them, however, in the sideway position of the
+nostrils, a character which distinguishes both from all the
+monkeys of the old world. The body is long and slender, clothed
+with soft hairs, and the tail, which is nearly twice the length
+of the trunk, is not prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger
+in volume than the anterior pair. The Midas ursulus is never seen
+in large flocks; three or four is the greatest number observed
+together. It seems to be less afraid of the neighbourhood of man
+than any other monkey. I sometimes saw it in the woods which
+border the suburban streets, and once I espied two individuals in
+a thicket behind the English consul's house at Nazareth. Its mode
+of progression along the main boughs of the lofty trees is like
+that of the squirrel; it does not ascend to the slender branches,
+or take those wonderful flying leaps which the Cebidae do, whose
+prehensile tails and flexible hands fit them for such headlong
+travelling. It confines itself to the larger boughs and trunks of
+trees, the long nails being of great assistance to the creature,
+enabling it to cling securely to the bark, and it is often seen
+passing rapidly around the perpendicular cylindrical trunks. It
+is a quick, restless, timid little creature, and has a great
+share of curiosity, for when a person passes by under the trees
+along which a flock is running, they always stop for a few
+moments to have a stare at the intruder.
+
+In Para, Midas ursulus is often seen in a tame state in the
+houses of the inhabitants. When full grown it is about nine
+inches long, independently of the tail, which measures fifteen
+inches. The fur is thick, and black in colour, with the exception
+of a reddish-brown streak down the middle of the back. When first
+taken, or when kept tied up, it is very timid and irritable. It
+will not allow itself to be approached, but keeps retreating
+backwards when any one attempts to coax it. It is always in a
+querulous humour, uttering a twittering, complaining noise; its
+dark, watchful eyes are expressive of distrust, and observant of
+every movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly,
+however, as it generally is in the houses of the natives, it
+becomes very tame and familiar. I once saw one as playful as a
+kitten, running about the house after the negro children, who
+fondled it to their hearts' content. It acted somewhat
+differently towards strangers, and seemed not to like them to sit
+in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up, trying to
+bite, and otherwise annoying them. It is generally fed sweet
+fruits, such as the banana; but it is also fond of insects,
+especially soft-bodied spiders and grasshoppers, which it will
+snap up with eagerness when within reach. The expression of
+countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing.
+This is partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given as
+one of 60; but the quick movements of the head, and the way they
+have of inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited,
+contribute very much to give them a knowing expression.
+
+On the Upper Amazons I once saw a tame individual of the Midas
+leoninus, a species first described by Humboldt, which was still
+more playful and intelligent than the one just described. This
+rare and beautiful little monkey is only seven inches in length,
+exclusive of the tail. It is named leoninus on account of the
+long brown mane which depends from the neck, and which gives it
+very much the appearance of a diminutive lion. In the house where
+it was kept, it was familiar with everyone; its greatest pleasure
+seeming to be to climb about the bodies of different persons who
+entered. The first time I went in, it ran across the room
+straightway to the chair on which I had sat down, and climbed up
+to my shoulder; having arrived there, it turned round and looked
+into my face, showing its little teeth and chattering, as though
+it would say, "Well, and how do you do?" It showed more affection
+towards its master than towards strangers, and would climb up to
+his head a dozen times in the course of an hour, making a great
+show every time of searching there for certain animalcula.
+Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire relates of a species of this genus,
+that it distinguished between different objects depicted on an
+engraving. M. Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a
+wasp; at these it became much terrified; whereas, at the sight of
+a figure of a grasshopper or beetle, it precipitated itself on
+the picture, as if to seize the objects there represented.
+
+Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near Para, a great
+number may be seen semi-domesticated in the city. The Brazilians
+are fond of pet animals. Monkeys, however, have not been known to
+breed in captivity in this country. I counted, in a short time,
+thirteen different species, whilst walking about the Para
+streets, either at the doors or windows of houses, or in the
+native canoes. Two of them I did not meet with afterwards in any
+other part of the country. One of these was the well-known Hapale
+Jacchus, a little creature resembling a kitten, banded with black
+and grey all over the body and tail, and having a fringe of long
+white hairs surrounding the ears. It was seated on the shoulder
+of a young mulatto girl, as she was walking along the street, and
+I was told had been captured in the island of Marajo. The other
+was a species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It had
+ruddy-brown fur, paler on the face, but presenting a blackish
+tuft on the top of the forehead.
+
+In the wet season serpents are common in the neighbourhood of
+Para. One morning, in April, 1849, after a night of deluging
+rain, the lamplighter, on his rounds to extinguish the lamps,
+woke me up to show me a boa-constrictor he had just killed in the
+Rua St. Antonio, not far from my door. He had cut it nearly in
+two with a large knife, as it was making its way down the sandy
+street. Sometimes the native hunters capture boa- constrictors
+alive in the forest near the city. We bought one which had been
+taken in this way, and kept it for some time in a large box under
+our verandah. This is not, however, the largest or most
+formidable serpent found in the Amazons region. It is far
+inferior, in these respects, to the hideous Sucuruju, or Water
+Boa (Eunectes murinus), which sometimes attacks man; but of this
+I shall have to give an account in a subsequent chapter.
+
+It frequently happened, in passing through the thickets, that a
+snake would fall from the boughs close to me. Once for a few
+moments I got completely entangled in the folds of one, a
+wonderfully slender kind, being nearly six feet in length, and
+not more than half an inch in diameter at its broadest part. It
+was a species of Dryophis. The majority of the snakes seen were
+innocuous. One day, however, I trod on the tail of a young
+serpent belonging to a very poisonous kind, the Jararaca
+(Craspedocephalus atrox). It turned round and bit my trousers;
+and a young Indian lad, who was behind me, dexterously cut it
+through with his knife before it had time to free itself. In some
+seasons snakes are very abundant, and it often struck me as
+strange that accidents did not occur more frequently than was the
+case.
+
+Amongst the most curious snakes found here were the Amphisbaenae,
+a genus allied to the slow-worm of Europe. Several species occur
+at Para. Those brought to me were generally not much more than a
+foot in length. They are of cylindrical shape, having, properly
+speaking, no neck, and the blunt tail which is only about an inch
+in length, is of the same shape as the head. This peculiar form,
+added to their habit of wriggling backwards as well as forwards,
+has given rise to the fable that they have two heads, one at each
+extremity. They are extremely sluggish in their motions, and are
+clothed with scales that have the form of small imbedded plates
+arranged in rings round the body. The eye is so small as to be
+scarcely perceptible. They live habitually in the subterranean
+chambers of the Sauba ant; only coming out of their abodes
+occasionally in the night time. The natives call the Amphisbaena
+the "Mai das Saubas," or Mother of the Saubas, and believe it to
+be poisonous, although it is perfectly harmless. It is one of the
+many curious animals which have become the subject of mythical
+stories with the natives. They say the ants treat it with great
+affection, and that if the snake be taken away from a nest, the
+Saubas will forsake the spot. I once took one quite whole out of
+the body of a young Jararaca, the poisonous species already
+alluded to, whose body was so distended with its contents that
+the skin was stretched out to a film over the contained
+Amphisbaena. I was, unfortunately, not able to ascertain the
+exact relation which subsists between these curious snakes and
+the Sauba ants. I believe however, they feed upon the Saubas, for
+I once found remains of ants in the stomach of one of them. Their
+motions are quite peculiar; the undilatable jaws, small eyes and
+curious plated integument also distinguish them from other
+snakes. These properties have evidently some relation to their
+residence in the subterranean abodes of ants. It is now well
+ascertained by naturalists, that some of the most anomalous forms
+amongst Coleopterous insects are those which live solely in the
+nests of ants, and it is curious that an abnormal form of snakes
+should also be found in the society of these insects.
+
+The neighbourhood of Para is rich in insects. I do not speak of
+the number of individuals, which is probably less than one meets
+with, excepting ants and termites, in summer days in temperate
+latitudes; but the variety, or in other words, the number of
+species, is very great. It will convey some idea of the diversity
+of butterflies when I mention that about 700 species of that
+tribe are found within an hour's walk of the town; while the
+total number found in the British Islands does not exceed 66, and
+the whole of Europe supports only 321. Some of the most showy
+species, such as the swallow-tailed kinds, Papilio Polycaon,
+Thoas, Torquatus, and others, are seen flying about the streets
+and gardens; sometimes they come through the open windows,
+attracted by flowers in the apartments. Those species of Papilio
+which are most characteristic of the country, so conspicuous in
+their velvety-black, green, and rose-coloured hues, which
+Linnaeus, in pursuance of his elegant system of nomenclature--
+naming the different kinds after the heroes of Greek mythology--
+called Trojans, never leave the shades of the forest. The
+splendid metallic blue Morphos, some of which measure seven
+inches in expanse, are generally confined to the shady alleys of
+the forest. They sometimes come forth into the broad sunlight.
+
+When we first went to look at our new residence in Nazareth, a
+Morpho Menelaus, one of the most beautiful kinds, was seen
+flapping its huge wings like a bird along the verandah. This
+species, however, although much admired, looks dull in colour by
+the side of its congener, the Morpho Rhetenor, whose wings, on
+the upper face, are of quite a dazzling lustre. Rhetenor usually
+prefers the broad sunny roads in the forest, and is an almost
+unattainable prize, on account of its lofty flight, for it very
+rarely descends nearer the ground than about twenty feet. When it
+comes sailing along, it occasionally flaps its wings, and then
+the blue surface flashes in the sunlight, so that it is visible a
+quarter of a mile off. There is another species of this genus, of
+a satiny-white hue, the Morpho Uraneis; this is equally difficult
+to obtain; the male only has the satiny lustre, the female being
+of a pale-lavender colour. It is in the height of the dry season
+that the greatest number and variety of butterflies are found in
+the woods; especially when a shower falls at intervals of a few
+days. An infinite number of curious and rare species may then be
+taken, most diversified in habits, mode of flight, colours, and
+markings: some yellow, others bright red, green, purple, and
+blue, and many bordered or spangled with metallic lines and spots
+of a silvery or golden lustre. Some have wings transparent as
+glass-- one of these clear wings is especially beautiful, namely,
+the Hetaira Esmeralda. It has one spot only of opaque colouring
+on its wings, which is of a violet and rose hue; this is the only
+part visible when the insect is flying low over dead leaves in
+the gloomy shades where alone it is found, and it then looks like
+a wandering petal of a flower.
+
+Bees and wasps are not especially numerous near Para, and I will
+reserve an account of their habits for a future chapter. Many
+species of Mygale, those monstrous hairy spiders, half a foot in
+expanse, which attract the attention so much in museums, are
+found in sandy places at Nazareth. The different kinds have the
+most diversified habits. Some construct, amongst the tiles or
+thatch of houses, dens of closely-woven web, which, in its
+texture, very much resembles fine muslin; these are often seen
+crawling over the walls of apartments. Others build similar nests
+in trees, and are known to attack birds. One very robust fellow,
+the Mygale Blondii, burrows into the earth, forming a broad,
+slanting gallery, about two feet long, the sides of which he
+lines beautifully with silk. He is nocturnal in his habits. Just
+before sunset he may be seen keeping watch within the mouth of
+his tunnel, disappearing suddenly when he hears a heavy foot-
+tread near his hiding place. The number of spiders ornamented
+with showy colours was somewhat remarkable. Some double
+themselves up at the base of leaf-stalks, so as to resemble
+flower-buds, and thus deceive the insects on which they prey. The
+most extraordinary-looking spider was a species of Acrosoma,
+which had two curved bronze-coloured spines, an inch and a half
+in length, proceeding from the tip of its abdomen. It spins a
+large web, the monstrous appendages being apparently no
+impediment to it in its work; but what their use can be I am
+unable to divine.
+
+Coleoptera, or beetles, at first seemed to be very scarce. This
+apparent scarcity has been noticed in other equatorial countries,
+and arises, probably, from the great heat of the sun not
+permitting them to exist in exposed situations, where they form
+such conspicuous objects in Europe. Many hundred species of the
+different families can be found when they are patiently searched
+for in the shady places to which they are confined. It is vain to
+look for the Geodephaga, or carnivorous beetles, under stones, or
+anywhere, indeed, in open, sunny places. The terrestrial forms of
+this interesting family, which abound in England and temperate
+countries generally, are scarce in the neighbourhood of Para; in
+fact, I met with only four or five species.
+
+On the other hand, the purely arboreal kinds were rather
+numerous. The contrary of this happens in northern latitudes,
+where the great majority of the species and genera are
+exclusively terrestrial. The arboreal forms are distinguished by
+the structure of the feet, which have broad spongy soles and
+toothed claws, enabling them to climb over  and cling to branches
+and leaves. The remarkable scarcity of ground beetles is,
+doubtless, attributable to the number of ants and Termites which
+people every inch of surface in all shady places, and which would
+most likely destroy the larvae of Coleoptera. Moreover, these
+active creatures have the same functions as Coleoptera, and thus
+render their existence unnecessary. The large proportion of
+climbing forms of carnivorous beetles is an interesting fact,
+because it affords another instance of the arboreal character
+which animal forms tend to assume in equinoctial America, a
+circumstance which points to the slow adaptation of the fauna to
+a forest-clad country throughout an immense lapse of geological
+time.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETA
+
+Preparations for the journey--The Bay of Goajara--Grove of fan-
+leaved Palms--The lower Tocantins--Sketch of the River-Vista
+Alegre--Baiao--Rapids--Boat journey to the Guariba Falls--Native
+Life on the Tocantins--Second journey to Cameta.
+
+August 26th, 1848--Mr. Wallace and I started today on the
+excursion ,which I have already mentioned as having been planned
+with Mr. Leavens, up the river Tocantins, whose mouth lies about
+forty-five miles in a straight line, but eighty miles following
+the bends of the river channels to the southwest of Para. This
+river, as before stated, has a course of 1600 miles, and stands
+third in rank amongst the streams which form the Amazons system.
+The preparations for the journey took a great deal of time and
+trouble. We had first to hire a proper vessel, a two-masted
+vigilinga twenty-seven feet long, with a flat prow and great
+breadth of beam and fitted to live in heavy seas; for, although
+our voyage was only a river trip, there were vast sea-like
+expanses of water to traverse. It was not decked over, but had
+two arched awnings formed of strong wickerwork, and thatched with
+palm leaves. We then had to store it with provisions for three
+months, the time we at first intended to be away; procure the
+necessary passports; and, lastly, engage a crew. Mr. Leavens,
+having had much experience in the country, managed all these
+matters. He brought two Indians from the rice-mills, and these
+induced another to enroll himself. We, on our parts, took our
+cook Isidoro, and a young Indian lad, named Antonio, who had
+attached himself to us in the course of our residence at
+Nazareth. Our principal man was Alexandro, one of Mr. Leavens's
+Indians. He was an intelligent and well-disposed young Tapuyo, an
+expert sailor, and an indefatigable hunter. To his fidelity we
+were indebted for being enabled to carry out any of the objects
+of our voyage. Being a native of a district near the capital,
+Alexandro was a civilised Tapuyo, a citizen as free as his white
+neighbours. He spoke only Portuguese. He was a spare-built man,
+rather under the middle height, with fine regular features, and,
+what was unusual in Indians, the upper lip decorated with a
+moustache. Three years afterwards I saw him at Para in the
+uniform of the National Guard, and he called on me often to talk
+about old times. I esteemed him as a quiet, sensible, manly young
+fellow.
+
+We set sail in the evening, after waiting several hours in vain
+for one of our crew. It was soon dark, the wind blew stiffly, and
+the tide rushed along with great rapidity, carrying us swiftly
+past the crowd of vessels which were anchored in the port. The
+canoe rolled a good deal. After we had made five or six miles of
+way, the tide turned and we were obliged to cast anchor. Not long
+after, we lay ourselves down, all three together, on the mat
+which was spread over the floor of our cabin, and soon fell
+asleep.
+
+On awaking at sunrise the next morning, we found ourselves
+gliding upwards with the tide, along the Bahia or Bay, as it is
+called, of Goajara. This is a broad channel lying between the
+mainland and a line of islands which extends some distance beyond
+the city. Into it three large rivers discharge their waters,
+namely, the Guama, the Acara, and the Moju-- so that it forms a
+kind of sub-estuary within the grand estuary of Para. It is
+nearly four miles broad. The left bank, along which we were now
+sailing, was beautiful in the extreme; not an inch of soil was to
+be seen; the water frontage presented a compact wall of rich and
+varied forest, resting on the surface of the stream. It seemed to
+form a finished border to the water scene, where the dome-like,
+rounded shapes of exogenous trees which constituted the mass
+formed the groundwork, and the endless diversity of broad-leaved
+Heliconiae and Palms--each kind differing in stem, crown, and
+fronds--the rich embroidery. The morning was calm and cloudless;
+and the slanting beams of the early sun, striking full on the
+front of the forest, lighted up the whole most gloriously. The
+only sound of life which reached us was the call of the Serracura
+(Gallinula Cayennensis), a kind of wild-fowl; all else was so
+still that the voices of boatmen could be plainly heard from
+canoes passing a mile or two distant from us. The sun soon gains
+great power on the water, but with it the sea-breeze increases in
+strength, moderating the heat which would otherwise be almost
+insupportable. We reached the end of the Goajara about midday,
+and then entered the narrower channel of the Moju. Up this we
+travelled, partly rowing and partly sailing between the same
+unbroken walls of forest, until the morning of the 28th.
+
+August 29th--The Moju, a stream slightly inferior to the Thames
+in size, is connected about twenty miles from its mouth by means
+of a short, artificial canal with a small stream, the Igarape-
+mirim, which flows the opposite way into the water-system of the
+Tocantins. Small vessels like ours take this route in preference
+to the stormy passage by way of the main river, although the
+distance is considerably greater. We passed through the canal
+yesterday, and today have been threading our way through a
+labyrinth of narrow channels, their banks all clothed with the
+same magnificent forest, but agreeably varied by houses of
+planters and settlers. We passed many quite large establishments,
+besides one pretty little village called Santa Anna. All these
+channels are washed through by the tides--the ebb, contrary to
+what takes place in the short canal, setting towards the
+Tocantins. The water is almost tepid (77 Fahr.), and the rank
+vegetation all around seems reeking with moisture. The country
+however, as we were told, is perfectly healthy. Some of the
+houses are built on wooden piles driven into the mud of the
+swamp.
+
+In the afternoon we reached the end of the last channel, called
+the Murut Ipucu, which runs for several miles between two
+unbroken lines of fan-leaved palms, forming colossal palisades
+with their straight stems . On rounding a point of land, we came
+in full view of the Tocantins. The event was announced by one of
+our Indians, who was on the lookout at the prow, shouting: "La
+esta o Parana-uassu!" "Behold, the great river!" It was a grand
+sight- -a broad expanse of dark waters dancing merrily to the
+breeze; the opposite shore, a narrow blue line, miles away.
+
+We went ashore on an island covered with palm trees, to make a
+fire and boil our kettle for tea. I wandered a short way inland,
+and was astounded at the prospect. The land lay below the upper
+level of the daily tides, so that there was no underwood, and the
+ground was bare. The trees were almost all of one species of
+Palm, the gigantic fan-leaved Mauritia flexuosa; only on the
+borders was there a small number of a second kind, the equally
+remarkable Ubussu palm, Manicaria saccifera. The Ubussu has
+erect, uncut leaves, twenty-five feet long, and six feet wide,
+all arranged round the top of a four-foot high stem, so as to
+form a figure like that of a colossal shuttlecock. The fan-leaved
+palms, which clothed nearly the entire islet, had huge
+cylindrical smooth stems, three feet in diameter, and about a
+hundred feet high. The crowns were formed of enormous clusters of
+fan-shaped leaves, the stalks alone of which measured seven to
+ten feet in length. Nothing in the vegetable world could be more
+imposing than this grove of palms. There was no underwood to
+obstruct the view of the long perspective of towering columns.
+The crowns, which were densely packed together at an immense
+height overhead, shut out the rays of the sun; and the gloomy
+solitude beneath, through which the sound of our voices seemed to
+reverberate, could be compared to nothing so well as a solemn
+temple. The fruits of the two palms were scattered over the
+ground; those of the Ubussu adhere together by twos and threes,
+and have a rough, brown-coloured shell; the fruit of the
+Mauritia, on the contrary, is of a bright red hue, and the skin
+is impressed with deep-crossing lines, which give it a
+resemblance to a quilted cricket-ball.
+
+About midnight, the tide being favourable and the breeze strong,
+we crossed the river, taking it in a slanting direction a
+distance of sixteen miles, and arrived at eight o'clock the
+following morning at Cameta. This is a town of some importance,
+pleasantly situated on the somewhat high terra firma of the left
+bank of the Tocantins. I will defer giving an account of the
+place till the end of this narrative of our Tocantins voyage. We
+lost here another of our men, who got drinking with some old
+companions ashore, and were obliged to start on the difficult
+journey up the river with two hands only, and they in a very
+dissatisfied humour with the prospect.
+
+The river view from Cameta is magnificent. The town is situated,
+as already mentioned, on a high bank, which forms quite a
+considerable elevation for this flat country, and the broad
+expanse of dark-green waters is studded with low, palm-clad
+islands-- the prospect down river, however, being clear, or
+bounded only by a sea-like horizon of water and sky. The shores
+are washed by the breeze-tossed waters into little bays and
+creeks, fringed with sandy beaches. The Tocantins has been
+likened, by Prince Adalbert of Prussia, who crossed its mouth in
+1846, to the Ganges. It is upwards of ten miles in breadth at its
+mouth; opposite Cameta it is five miles broad. Mr. Burchell, the
+well-known English traveller, descended the river from the mining
+provinces of interior Brazil some years before our visit.
+Unfortunately, the utility of this fine stream is impaired by the
+numerous obstructions to its navigation in the shape of cataracts
+and rapids, which commence, in ascending, at about 120 miles
+above Cameta, as will be seen in the sequel.
+
+August 30th.--Arrived, in company with Senor Laroque, an
+intelligent Portuguese merchant, at Vista Alegre, fifteen miles
+above Cameta. This was the residence of Senor Antonio Ferreira
+Gomez, and was a fair sample of a Brazilian planter's
+establishment in this part of the country. The buildings covered
+a wide space, the dwelling-house being separated from the place
+of business, and as both were built on low, flooded ground, the
+communication between the two was by means of a long wooden
+bridge. From the office and visitors' apartments a wooden pier
+extended into the river. The whole was raised on piles above the
+high-water mark. There was a rude mill for grinding sugar-cane,
+worked by bullocks; but cashaca, or rum, was the only article
+manufactured from the juice. Behind the buildings was a small
+piece of ground cleared from the forest, and planted with fruit
+trees-- orange, lemon, genipapa, goyava, and others; and beyond
+this, a broad path through a neglected plantation of coffee and
+cacao, led to several large sheds, where the farinha, or mandioca
+meal, was manufactured. The plantations of mandioca are always
+scattered about in the forest, some of them being on islands in
+the middle of the river. Land being plentiful, and the plough, as
+well as, indeed, nearly all other agricultural implements,
+unknown, the same ground is not planted three years together; but
+a new piece of forest is cleared every alternate year, and the
+old clearing suffered to relapse into jungle.
+
+We stayed here two days, sleeping ashore in the apartment devoted
+to strangers. As usual in Brazilian houses of the middle class,
+we were not introduced to the female members of the family, and,
+indeed, saw nothing of them except at a distance. In the forest
+and thickets about the place we were tolerably successful in
+collecting, finding a number of birds and insects which do not
+occur at Para. I saw here, for the first time, the sky-blue
+Chatterer (Ampelis cotinga). It was on the topmost bough of a
+very lofty tree, and completely out of the reach of an ordinary
+fowling-piece. The beautiful light-blue colour of its plumage was
+plainly discernible at that distance. It is a dull, quiet bird. A
+much commoner species was the Cigana or Gipsy (Opisthocomus
+cristatus), a bird belonging to the same order (Gallinacea) as
+our domestic fowl. It is about the size of a pheasant; the
+plumage is dark brown, varied with reddish, and the head is
+adorned with a crest of long feathers. It is a remarkable bird in
+many respects. The hind toe is not placed high above the level of
+the other toes, as it is in the fowl order generally, but lies on
+the same plane with them; the shape of the foot becomes thus
+suited to the purely arboreal habits of the bird, enabling it to
+grasp firmly the branches of trees. This is a distinguishing
+character of all the birds in equinoctial America which
+represents the fowl and pheasant tribes of the old world, and
+affords another proof of the adaptation of the fauna to a forest
+region. The Cigana lives in considerable flocks on the lower
+trees and bushes bordering the streams and lagoons, and feeds on
+various wild fruits, especially the sour Goyava (Psidium sp). The
+natives say it devours the fruit of arborescent Arums (Caladium
+arborescens), which grow in crowded masses around the swampy
+banks of lagoons. Its voice is a harsh, grating hiss; it makes
+the noise when alarmed or when disturbed by passing canoes, all
+the individuals sibilating as they fly heavily away from tree to
+tree. It is polygamous, like other members of the same order. It
+is never, however, by any chance, seen on the ground, and is
+nowhere domesticated. The flesh has an unpleasant odour of musk
+combined with wet hides--a smell called by the Brazilians
+catinga; it is, therefore, uneatable. If it be as unpalatable to
+carnivorous animals as it is to man, the immunity from
+persecution which it would thereby enjoy would account for its
+existing in such great numbers throughout the country.
+
+We lost another of our crew here; and thus, at the commencement
+of our voyage, had before us the prospect of being forced to
+return, from sheer want of hands, to manage the canoe. Senor
+Gomez, to whom we had brought letters of introduction from Senor
+Joao Augusto Correia, a Brazilian gentlemen of high standing at
+Para, tried what he could do to induce the canoe-men of his
+neighbourhood to engage with us, but it was a vain endeavour. The
+people of these parts seemed to be above working for wages. They
+are naturally indolent, and besides, have all some little
+business or plantation of their own, which gives them a
+livelihood with independence. It is difficult to obtain hands
+under any circumstances, but it was particularly so in our case,
+from being foreigners, and suspected, as was natural amongst
+ignorant people, of being strange in our habits. At length, our
+host lent us two of his slaves to help us on another stage,
+namely, to the village of Baiao, where we had great hopes of
+having this, our urgent want, supplied by the military commandant
+of the district.
+
+September 2nd--The distance from Vista Alegre to Baiao is about
+twenty-five miles. We had but little wind, and our men were
+therefore obliged to row the greater part of the way. The oars
+used in such canoes as ours are made by tying a stout paddle to
+the end of a long pole by means of woody lianas. The men take
+their stand on a raised deck, formed by a few rough planks placed
+over the arched covering in the fore part of the vessel, and pull
+with their backs to the stern. We started at six a.m., and about
+sunset reached a point where the west channel of the river, along
+which we had been travelling since we left Cameta, joined a
+broader middle one, and formed with it a great expanse of water.
+The islands here seem to form two pretty regular lines, dividing
+the great river into three channels. As we progressed slowly, we
+took the montaria, and went ashore, from time to time, to the
+houses, which were numerous on the river banks as well as on the
+larger islands. In low situations they had a very unfinished
+appearance, being mere frameworks raised high on wooden piles,
+and thatched with the leaves of the Ubussu palm. In their
+construction another palm tree is made much use of, viz., the
+Assai (Euterpe oleracea). The outer part of the stem of this
+species is hard and tough as horn-- it is split into narrow
+planks, and these form a great portion of the walls and flooring.
+The residents told us that the western channel becomes nearly dry
+in the middle of the fine season, but that at high water, in
+April and May, the river rises to the level of the house floors.
+The river bottom is everywhere sandy, and the country perfectly
+healthy. The people seemed to all be contented and happy, but
+idleness and poverty were exhibited by many unmistakeable signs.
+As to the flooding of their island abodes, they did not seem to
+care about that at all. They seem to be almost amphibious, or as
+much at home on the water as on land. It was really quite
+alarming to see men and women and children, in little leaky
+canoes laden to the water-level with bag and baggage, crossing
+broad reaches of river.
+
+Most of them have houses also on the terra firma, and reside in
+the cool palm swamps of the Ygapo islands, as they are called,
+only in the hot and dry season. They live chiefly on fish,
+shellfish (amongst which were large Ampullariae, whose flesh I
+found, on trial, to be a very tough morsel), the never failing
+farinha, and the fruits of the forest. Among the latter, the
+fruits of palm trees occupied the chief place. The Assai is the
+most in use, but this forms a universal article of diet in all
+parts of the country. The fruit, which is perfectly round, and
+about the size of a cherry, contains but a small portion of pulp
+lying between the skin and the hard kernel. This is made, with
+the addition of water, into a thick, violet-coloured beverage,
+which stains the lips like blackberries. The fruit of the Miriti
+is also a common article of food, although the pulp is sour and
+unpalatable, at least to European tastes. It is boiled, and then
+eaten with farinha. The Tucuma (Astrocaryum tucuma), and the
+Mucuja (Acrocomia lasiospatha), grow only on the mainland. Their
+fruits yield a yellowish, fibrous pulp, which the natives eat in
+the same way as the Miriti. They contain so much fatty matter,
+that vultures and dogs devour them greedily.
+
+Early on the morning of September 3rd we reached the right or
+eastern bank, which is forty to sixty feet high at this point.
+The houses were more substantially built than those we had
+hitherto seen. We succeeded in buying a small turtle; most of the
+inhabitants had a few of these animals, which they kept in little
+enclosures made with stakes. The people were of the same class
+everywhere, Mamelucos. They were very civil; we were not able,
+however, to purchase much fresh food from them. I think this was
+owing to their really not having more than was absolutely
+required to satisfy their own needs. In these districts, where
+the people depend solely on fishing for animal food, there is a
+period of the year when they suffer hunger, so that they are
+disposed to highly prize a small stock when they have it. They
+generally answered in the negative when we asked, money in hand,
+whether they had fowls, turtles, or eggs to sell. "Nao ha, sinto
+que nao posso lhe ser bom"; or, "Nao ha, men coracao-- we have
+none; I am sorry I cannot oblige you"; or, "There is none, my
+heart."
+
+Sept. 3rd to 7th.--At half-past eight a.m. we arrived at Baiao,
+which is built on a very high bank, and contains about 400
+inhabitants. We had to climb to the village up a ladder, which is
+fixed against the bank, and, on arriving at the top, took
+possession of a room, which Senhor Seixas had given orders to be
+prepared for us. He himself was away at his sitio, and would not
+be here until the next day. We were now quite dependent upon him
+for men to enable us to continue our voyage, and so had no remedy
+but to wait his leisure. The situation of the place, and the
+nature of the woods around it, promised well for novelties in
+birds and insects; so we had no reason to be vexed at the delay,
+but brought our apparatus and store-boxes up from the canoe, and
+set to work.
+
+The easy, lounging life of the people amused us very much. I
+afterwards had plenty of time to become used to tropical village
+life. There is a free, familiar, pro-bono publico style of living
+in these small places, which requires some time for a European to
+fall into. No sooner were we established in our rooms, than a
+number of lazy young fellows came to look on and make remarks,
+and we had to answer all sorts of questions. The houses have
+their doors and windows open to the street, and people walk in
+and out as they please; there is always, however, a more secluded
+apartment, where the female members of the families reside. In
+their familiarity there is nothing intentionally offensive, and
+it is practised simply in the desire to be civil and sociable. A
+young Mameluco, named Soares, an Escrivao, or public clerk, took
+me into his house to show me his library. I was rather surprised
+to see a number of well-thumbed Latin classics: Virgil, Terence,
+Cicero's Epistles, and Livy. I was not familiar enough, at this
+early period of my residence in the country, with Portuguese to
+converse freely with Senhor Scares, or ascertain what use he made
+of these books; it was an unexpected sight, a classical library
+in a mud-plastered and palm-thatched hut on the banks of the
+Tocantins.
+
+The prospect from the village was magnificent, over the green
+wooded islands, far away to the grey line of forest on the
+opposite shore of the Tocantins. We were now well out of the low
+alluvial country of the Amazons proper, and the climate was
+evidently much drier than it is near Para. They had had no rain
+here for many weeks, and the atmosphere was hazy around the
+horizon-- so much so that the sun, before setting, glared like a
+blood-red globe. At Para this never happens; the stars and sun
+are as clear and sharply defined when they peep above the distant
+treetops as they are at the zenith. This beautiful transparency
+of the air arises, doubtless, from the equal distribution through
+it of invisible vapour. I shall ever remember, in one of my
+voyages along the Para river, the grand spectacle that was once
+presented at sunrise. Our vessel was a large schooner, and we
+were bounding along before a spanking breeze, which tossed the
+waters into foam as the day dawned. So clear was the air, that
+the lower rim of the full moon remained sharply defined until it
+touched the western horizon, while at the same time, the sun rose
+in the east. The two great orbs were visible at the same time,
+and the passage from the moonlit night to day was so gentle that
+it seemed to be only the brightening of dull weather.
+
+The woods around Baiao were of second growth, the ground having
+been formerly cultivated. A great number of coffee and cotton
+trees grew amongst the thickets. A fine woodland pathway extends
+for miles over the high, undulating bank, leading from one house
+to another along the edge of the cliff. I went into several of
+them, and talked to their inmates. They were all poor people. The
+men were out fishing, some far away, a distance of many days
+journey; the women plant mandioca, make the farinha, spin and
+weave cotton, manufacture soap of burnt cacao shells and andiroba
+oil, and follow various other domestic employments. I asked why
+they allowed their plantations to run to waste. They said that it
+was useless trying to plant anything hereabout; the Sauba ant
+devoured the young coffee trees, and everyone who attempted to
+contend against this universal ravager was sure to be defeated.
+The country, for many miles along the banks of the river, seemed
+to be well peopled. The inhabitants were nearly all of the tawny-
+white Mameluco class. I saw a good many mulattos, but very few
+negroes and Indians, and none that could be called pure whites.
+
+When Senor Seixas arrived, he acted very kindly. He provided us
+at once with two men, killed an ox in our honour, and treated us
+altogether with great consideration. We were not, however,
+introduced to his family. I caught a glimpse once of his wife, a
+pretty little Mameluco woman, as she was tripping with a young
+girl, whom I supposed to be her daughter, across the backyard.
+Both wore long dressing-gowns made of bright-coloured calico
+print, and had long wooden tobacco-pipes in their mouths. The
+room in which we slept and worked had formerly served as a
+storeroom for cacao, and at night I was kept awake for hours by
+rats and cockroaches, which swarm in all such places. The latter
+were running about all over the walls; now and then one would
+come suddenly with a whirr full at my face, and get under my
+shirt if I attempted to jerk it off. As to the rats, they were
+chasing one another by the dozens all night long over the floor,
+up and down the edges of the doors, and along the rafters of the
+open roof.
+
+September 7th.--We started from Baiao at an early hour. One of
+our new men was a good-humoured, willing young mulatto named
+Jose; the other was a sulky Indian called Manoel, who seemed to
+have been pressed into our service against his will. Senor
+Seixas, on parting, sent a quantity of fresh provisions on board.
+A few miles above Baiao the channel became very shallow; we ran
+aground several times, and the men had to disembark and shove the
+vessel off. Alexandro shot several fine fish here, with bow and
+arrow. It was the first time I had seen fish captured in this
+way. The arrow is a reed, with a steel barbed point, which is
+fixed in a hole at the end, and secured by fine twine made from
+the fibres of pineapple leaves. It is only in the clearest water
+that fish can be thus shot--and the only skill required is to
+make, in taking aim, the proper allowance for refraction.
+
+The next day before sunrise a fine breeze sprang up, and the men
+awoke and set the sails. We glided all day through channels
+between islands with long, white, sandy beaches, over which, now
+and then, aquatic and wading birds were seen running. The forest
+was low, and had a harsh, dry aspect. Several palm trees grew
+here which we had not before seen. On low bushes, near the water,
+pretty, red-headed tanagers (Tanagra gularis) were numerous,
+flitting about and chirping like sparrows. About half-past four
+p.m., we brought to at the mouth of a creek or channel, where
+there was a great extent of sandy beach. The sand had been blown
+by the wind into ridges and undulations, and over the more moist
+parts, large flocks of sandpipers were running about. Alexandro
+and I had a long ramble over the rolling plain, which came as an
+agreeable change after the monotonous forest scenery amid which
+we had been so long travelling. He pointed out to me the tracks
+of a huge jaguar on the sand. We found here, also, our first
+turtle's nest, and obtained 120 eggs from it, which were laid at
+a depth of nearly two feet from the surface-- the mother first
+excavating a hole and afterwards, covering it up with sand. The
+place is discoverable only by following the tracks of the turtle
+from the water. I saw here an alligator for the first time, which
+reared its head and shoulders above the water just after I had
+taken a bath near the spot. The night was calm and cloudless, and
+we employed the hours before bedtime in angling by moonlight.
+
+On the 10th, we reached a small settlement called Patos,
+consisting of about a dozen houses, and built on a high, rocky
+bank, on the eastern shore. The rock is the same nodular
+conglomerate which is found at so many places, from the seacoast
+to a distance of 600 miles up the Amazons. Mr. Leavens made a
+last attempt here to engage men to accompany us to the Araguaya,
+but it was in vain; not a soul could be induced by any amount of
+wages to go on such an expedition. The reports as to the
+existence of cedar were very vague. All said that the tree was
+plentiful somewhere, but no one could fix on the precise
+locality. I believe that the cedar grows, like all other forest
+trees, in a scattered way, and not in masses anywhere. The fact
+of its being the principal tree observed floating down with the
+current of the Amazons is to be explained by its wood being much
+lighter than that of the majority of trees. When the banks are
+washed away by currents, trees of all species fall into the
+river; but the heavier ones, which are the most numerous, sink,
+and the lighter, such as the cedar, alone float down to the sea.
+
+Mr. Leavens was told that there were cedar trees at Trocara, on
+the opposite side of the river, near some fine rounded hills
+covered with forest, visible from Patos; so there we went. We
+found here several families encamped in a delightful spot. The
+shore sloped gradually down to the water, and was shaded by a few
+wide-spreading trees. There was no underwood. A great number of
+hammocks were seen slung between the tree trunks, and the litter
+of a numerous household lay scattered about. Women, old and
+young, some of the latter very good-looking, and a large number
+of children, besides pet animals, enlivened the encampment. They
+were all half-breeds, simple, well-disposed people, and explained
+to us that they were inhabitants of Cameta, who had come thus
+far, eighty miles, to spend the summer months. The only motive
+they could give for coming was that: "it was so hot in the town
+in the verao (summer), and they were all so fond of fresh fish."
+
+Thus, these simple folks think nothing of leaving home and
+business to come on a three months' picnic. It is the annual
+custom of this class of people throughout the province to spend a
+few months of the fine season in the wilder parts of the country.
+They carry with them all the farinha they can scrape together,
+this being the only article of food necessary to provide. The men
+hunt and fish for the day's wants, and sometimes collect a little
+India-rubber, salsaparilla, or copaiba oil, to sell to traders on
+their return; the women assist in paddling the canoes, do the
+cooking, and sometimes fish with rod and line. The weather is
+enjoyable the whole time, and so days and weeks pass happily
+away.
+
+One of the men volunteered to walk with us into the forest, and
+show us a few cedar trees. We passed through a mile or two of
+spiny thickets, and at length came upon the banks of the rivulet
+Trocara, which flows over a stony bed, and, about a mile above
+its mouth, falls over a ledge of rocks, thus forming a very
+pretty cascade. In the neighbourhood, we found a number of
+specimens of a curious land-shell, a large flat Helix, with a
+labyrinthine mouth (Anastoma). We learned afterwards that it was
+a species which had been discovered a few years previously by Dr.
+Gardner, the botanist, on the upper part of the Tocantins.
+
+We saw here, for the first time, the splendid Hyacinthine macaw
+(Macrocercus hyacinthinus, Lath., the Araruna of the natives),
+one of the finest and rarest species of the Parrot family. It
+only occurs in the interior of Brazil, from 16' S. lat. to the
+southern border of the Amazons valley. It is three feet long from
+the beak to the tip of the tail, and is entirely of a soft
+hyacinthine blue colour, except round the eyes, where the skin is
+naked and white. It flies in pairs, and feeds on the hard nuts of
+several palms, but especially of the Mucuja (Acrocomia
+lasiospatha). These nuts, which are so hard as to be difficult to
+break with a heavy hammer, are crushed to a pulp by the powerful
+beak of this macaw.
+
+Mr. Leavens was thoroughly disgusted with the people of Patos.
+Two men had come from below with the intention, I believe, of
+engaging with us, but they now declined. The inspector,
+constable, or governor of the place appeared to be a very
+slippery customer, and I fancy discouraged the men from going,
+whilst making a great show of forwarding our views. These
+outlying settlements are the resort of a number of idle,
+worthless characters. There was a kind of festival going on, and
+the people fuddled themselves with cashiri, an intoxicating drink
+invented by the Indians. It is made by soaking mandioca cakes in
+water until fermentation takes place, and tastes like new beer.
+
+Being unable to obtain men, Mr. Leavens now gave up his project
+of ascending the river as far as the Araguaya. He assented to our
+request, however, to ascend to the cataracts near Arroyos. We
+started, therefore, from Patos with a more definite aim before us
+than we had hitherto. The river became more picturesque as we
+advanced. The water was very low, it being now the height of the
+dry reason; the islands were smaller than those further down, and
+some of them were high and rocky. Bold wooded bluffs projected
+into the stream, and all the shores were fringed with beaches of
+glistening white sand. On one side of the river there was an
+extensive grassy plain or campo with isolated patches of trees
+scattered over it. On the 14th and following day we stopped
+several times to ramble ashore. Our longest excursion was to a
+large shallow lagoon, choked up with aquatic plants, which lay
+about two miles across the campo. At a place called Juquerapua,
+we engaged a pilot to conduct us to Arroyos, and a few miles
+above the pilot's house, arrived at a point where it was not
+possible to advance further in our large canoe on account of the
+rapids.
+
+September 16th.--Embarked at six a.m. in a large montaria which
+had been lent to us for this part of our voyage by Senor Seixas,
+leaving the vigilinga anchored close to a rocky islet, named
+Santa Anna, to await our return. Isidoro was left in charge, and
+we were sorry to be obliged to leave behind also our mulatto
+Jose, who had fallen ill since leaving Baiao. We had then
+remaining only Alexandro, Manoel, and the pilot, a sturdy Tapuyo
+named Joaquim-- scarcely a sufficient crew to paddle against the
+strong currents.
+
+At ten a.m. we arrived at the first rapids, which are called
+Tapaiunaquara. The river, which was here about a mile wide, was
+choked up with rocks, a broken ridge passing completely across
+it. Between these confused piles of stone the currents were
+fearfully strong, and formed numerous eddies and whirlpools. We
+were obliged to get out occasionally and walk from rock to rock,
+whilst the men dragged the canoe over the obstacles. Beyond
+Tapaiunaquara, the stream became again broad and deep, and the
+river scenery was beautiful in the extreme. The water was clear
+and of a bluish-green colour. On both sides of the stream
+stretched ranges of wooded hills, and in the middle picturesque
+islets rested on the smooth water, whose brilliant green woods
+fringed with palms formed charming bits of foreground to the
+perspective of sombre hills fading into grey in the distance.
+Joaquim pointed out to us grove after grove of Brazil nut trees
+(Bertholletia excelsa) on the mainland. This is one of the chief
+collecting grounds for this nut. The tree is one of the loftiest
+in the forest, towering far above its fellows; we could see the
+woody fruits, large and round as cannon-balls, dotted over the
+branches. The currents were very strong in some places, so that
+during the greater part of the way the men preferred to travel
+near the shore, and propel the boat by means of long poles.
+
+We arrived at Arroyos about four o'clock in the afternoon, after
+ten hours' hard pull. The place consists simply of a few houses
+built on a high bank, and forms a station where canoemen from the
+mining countries of the interior of Brazil stop to rest
+themselves before or after surmounting the dreaded falls and
+rapids of Guaribas, situated a couple of miles further up. We
+dined ashore, and in the evening again embarked to visit the
+falls. The vigorous and successful way in which our men battled
+with the terrific currents excited our astonishment. The bed of
+the river, here about a mile wide, is strewn with blocks of
+various sizes, which lie in the most irregular manner, and
+between them rush currents of more or less rapidity. With an
+accurate knowledge of the place and skillful management, the
+falls can be approached in small canoes by threading the less
+dangerous channels. The main fall is about a quarter of a mile
+wide; we climbed to an elevation overlooking it, and had a good
+view of the cataract. A body of water rushes with terrific force
+down a steep slope, and boils up with deafening roar around the
+boulders which obstruct its course. The wildness of the whole
+scene was very impressive. As far as the eye could see, stretched
+range after range of wooded hills and scores of miles of
+beautiful wilderness, inhabited only by scanty tribes of wild
+Indians. In the midst of such a solitude, the roar of the
+cataract seemed fitting music.
+
+September 17th.--We commenced early in the morning our downward
+voyage. Arroyos is situated in about 4 10' S. lat.; and lies,
+therefore, about 130 miles from the mouth of the Tocantins.
+Fifteen miles above Guaribas, another similar cataract called
+Tabocas lies across the river. We were told that there were in
+all fifteen of these obstructions to navigate, between Arroyos
+and the mouth of the Araguaya. The worst was the Inferno, the
+Guaribas standing second to it in evil reputation. Many canoes
+and lives have been lost here, most of the accidents arising
+through the vessels being hurled against an enormous cubical mass
+of rock called the Guaribinha, which we, on our trip to the falls
+in the small canoe, passed round with the greatest ease about a
+quarter of a mile below the main falls. This, however, was the
+dry season; in the time of full waters, a tremendous current sets
+against it. We descended the river rapidly, and found it
+excellent fun shooting the rapids. The men seemed to delight in
+choosing the swiftest parts of the current; they sang and yelled
+in the greatest excitement, working the paddles with great force,
+and throwing clouds of spray above us as we bounded downwards. We
+stopped to rest at the mouth of a rivulet named Caganxa. The
+pilot told us that gold had been found in the bed of this brook;
+so we had the curiosity to wade several hundred yards through the
+icy cold waters in search of it. Mr. Leavens seemed very much
+interested in the matter. He picked up all the shining stones he
+could espy in the pebbly bottom, in hopes of finding diamonds
+also. There is, in fact, no reason why both gold and diamonds
+should not be found here, the hills being a continuation of those
+of the mining countries of interior Brazil, and the brooks
+flowing through the narrow valleys between them.
+
+On arriving at the place where we had left our canoe, we found
+poor Jose the mulatto much worse, so we hastened on to Juquerapua
+to procure aid. An old half-caste woman took charge of him; she
+made poultices of the pulp of a wild fruit, administered cooling
+draughts made from herbs which grew near the house, and in fact,
+acted the part of nurse admirably. We stayed at this place all
+night and part of the following day, and I had a stroll along a
+delightful pathway, which led over hill and dale, two or three
+miles through the forest. I was surprised at the number and
+variety of brilliantly-coloured butterflies; they were all of
+small size and started forth from the low bushes, which bordered
+the road, at every step I took. I first heard here the notes of a
+trogon; it was seated alone on a branch, at no great elevation; a
+beautiful bird, with glossy-green back and rose-coloured breast
+(probably Trogon melanurus). At intervals it uttered, in a
+complaining tone, a sound resembling the words "qua, qua." It is
+a dull inactive bird, and not very ready to take flight when
+approached. In this respect, however, the trogons are not equal
+to the jacamars, whose stupidity in remaining at their posts,
+seated on low branches in the gloomiest shades of the forest, is
+somewhat remarkable in a country where all other birds are
+exceedingly wary. One species of jacamar was not uncommon here
+(Galbula viridis); I sometimes saw two or three together seated
+on a slender branch, silent and motionless with the exception of
+a slight movement of the head; when an insect flew past within a
+short distance, one of the birds would dart off, seize it, and
+return again to its sitting-place. The trogons are found in the
+tropics of both hemispheres. The jacamars, which are clothed in
+plumage of the most beautiful golden-bronze and steel colours,
+are peculiar to tropical America.
+
+At night I slept ashore as a change from the confinement of the
+canoe, having obtained permission from Senor Joaquim to sling my
+hammock under his roof. The house, like all others in these out-
+of-the-way parts of the country, was a large open, palm-thatched
+shed, having one end enclosed by means of partitions also made of
+palm-leaves, so as to form a private apartment. Under the shed
+were placed all the household utensils-- earthenware jars, pots,
+and kettles, hunting and fishing implements, paddles, bows and
+arrows, harpoons, and so forth. One or two common wooden chests
+serve to contain the holiday clothing of the females. There is no
+other furniture except a few stools and the hammock, which
+answers the purposes of chair and sofa. When a visitor enters, he
+is asked to sit down in a hammock; persons who are on intimate
+terms with each other recline together in the same hammock, one
+at each end. This is a very convenient arrangement for friendly
+conversation. There are neither tables nor chairs; the cloth for
+meals is spread on a mat, and the guests squat round in any
+position they choose. There is no cordiality of manners, but the
+treatment of the guests shows a keen sense of the duties of
+hospitality on the part of the host. There is a good deal of
+formality in the intercourse of these half-wild mamelucos, which,
+I believe, has been chiefly derived from their Indian
+forefathers, although a little of it may have been copied from
+the Portuguese.
+
+A little distance from the house were the open sheds under which
+the farinha for the use of the establishment was manufactured. In
+the centre of each shed stood the shallow pans, made of clay and
+built over ovens, where the meal is roasted. A long flexible
+cylinder made of the peel of a marantaceous plant, plaited into
+the proper form, hung suspended from a beam; it is in this that
+the pulp of the mandioca is pressed, and from it the juice, which
+is of a highly poisonous nature, although the pulp is wholesome
+food, runs into pans placed beneath to receive it. A wooden
+trough, such as is used in all these places for receiving the
+pulp before the poisonous matter is extracted, stood on the
+ground, and from the posts hung the long wicker-work baskets, or
+aturas, in which the women carry the roots from the roca or
+clearing; a broad ribbon made from the inner bark of the monguba
+tree is attached to the rims of the baskets, and is passed round
+the forehead of the carriers, to relieve their backs in
+supporting the heavy load. Around the shed were planted a number
+of banana and other fruit trees; among them were the never-
+failing capsicum-pepper bushes, brilliant as holly-trees at
+Christmas time with their fiery-red fruit, and lemon trees; the
+one supplying the pungent, the other the acid, for sauce to the
+perpetual meal of fish. There is never in such places any
+appearance of careful cultivation-- no garden or orchard. The
+useful trees are surrounded by weeds and bushes, and close behind
+rises the everlasting forest.
+
+There were other strangers under Senor Joaquim's roof besides
+myself--mulattos, mamelucos, and Indian,--so we formed altogether
+a large party. Houses occur at rare intervals in this wild
+country, and hospitality is freely given to the few passing
+travellers. After a frugal supper, a large wood fire was lighted
+in the middle of the shed, and all turned in to their hammocks,
+and began to converse. A few of the party soon dropped asleep;
+others, however, kept awake until a very late hour telling
+stories. Some related adventures which had happened to them while
+hunting or fishing; others recounted myths about the Curupira,
+and other demons or spirits of the forest. They were all very
+appropriate to the time and place, for now and then a yell or a
+shriek resounded through the gloomy wilderness around the shed.
+One old parchment-faced fellow, with a skin the colour of
+mahogany, seemed to be a capital story-teller; but I was sorry I
+did not know enough of the language to follow him in all the
+details which he gave. Amongst other things, he related an
+adventure he had once had with a jaguar. He got up from his
+hammock in the course of the narrative to give it the greater
+effect by means of gestures; he seized a bow and a large taquara
+arrow to show how he slew the beast, imitated its hoarse growl,
+and danced about the fire like a demon.
+
+In descending the river we landed frequently, and Mr. Wallace and
+I lost no chance of adding to our collections, so that before the
+end of our journey, we had got together a very considerable
+number of birds, insects, and shells, chiefly taken, however, in
+the low country. Leaving Baiao, we took our last farewell of the
+limpid waters and varied scenery of the upper river, and found
+ourselves again in the humid flat region of the Amazons valley.
+We sailed down this lower part of the river by a different
+channel from the one we travelled along in ascending, and
+frequently went ashore on the low islands in mid-river. As
+already stated, these are covered with water in the wet season;
+but at this time, there having been three months of fine weather,
+they were dry throughout, and by the subsidence of the waters,
+placed four or five feet above the level of the river. They are
+covered with a most luxuriant forest, comprising a large number
+of india-rubber trees. We found several people encamped here, who
+were engaged in collecting and preparing the rubber, and thus had
+an opportunity of observing the process.
+
+The tree which yields this valuable sap is the Siphonia elastica,
+a member of the Euphorbiaceous order; it belongs, therefore, to a
+group of plants quite different from that which furnishes the
+caoutchouc of the East Indies and Africa. This latter is the
+product of different species of Ficus, and is considered, I
+believe, in commerce, an inferior article to the India-rubber of
+Para. The Siphonia elastica grows only on the lowlands in the
+Amazons region; hitherto, the rubber has been collected chiefly
+in the islands and swampy parts of the mainland within a distance
+of fifty to a hundred miles to the west of Para; but there are
+plenty of untapped trees still growing in the wilds of the
+Tapajos, Madeira, Jurua, and Jauari, as far as 1800 miles from
+the Atlantic coast. The tree is not remarkable in appearance; in
+bark and foliage it is not unlike the European ash. But the
+trunk, like that of all forest trees, shoots up to an immense
+height before throwing off branches. The trees seem to be no
+man's property hereabout. The people we met with told us they
+came every year to collect rubber on these islands as soon as the
+waters had subsided, namely in August, and remained until January
+or February.
+
+The process is very simple. Every morning each person, man or
+woman, to whom is allotted a certain number of trees, goes the
+round of the whole and collects in a large vessel the milky sap
+which trickles from gashes made in the bark on the preceding
+evening, and which is received in little clay cups, or in
+ampullaria shells stuck beneath the wounds. The sap, which at
+first is of the consistence of cream, soon thickens; the
+collectors are provided with a great number of wooden moulds of
+the shape in which the rubber is wanted, and when they return to
+the camp, they dip them into the liquid, laying on, in the course
+of several days, one coat after another. When this is done, the
+substance is white and hard; the proper colour and consistency
+are given by passing it repeatedly through a thick black smoke
+obtained by burning the nuts of certain palm trees, after which
+process the article is ready for sale.
+
+India-rubber is known throughout the province only by the name of
+seringa, the Portuguese word for syringe; it owes this
+appellation to the circumstance that it was only in this form
+that the first Portuguese settlers noticed it to be employed by
+the aborigines. It is said that the Indians were first taught to
+make syringes of rubber by seeing natural tubes formed by it when
+the spontaneously-flowing sap gathered round projecting twigs.
+Brazilians of all classes still use it extensively in the form of
+syringes, for injections form a great feature in the popular
+system of cures; the rubber for this purpose is made into a pear-
+shaped bottle, and a quill fixed in the long neck.
+
+September 24th.--Opposite Cameta, the islands are all planted
+with cacao, the tree which yields the chocolate nut. The forest
+is not cleared for the purpose, but the cacao plants are stuck in
+here and there almost at random amongst the trees. There are many
+houses on the banks of the river, all elevated above the swampy
+soil on wooden piles, and furnished with broad ladders by which
+to mount to the ground floor. As we passed by in our canoe, we
+could see the people at their occupations in the open verandas,
+and in one place saw a ball going on in broad daylight; there
+were fiddles and guitars hard at work, and a number of lads in
+white shirts and trousers dancing with brown damsels clad in
+showy print dresses. The cacao tree produces a curious impression
+on account of the flowers and fruit growing directly out of the
+trunk and branches. There is a whole group of wild fruit trees
+which have the same habit in this country. In the wildernesses
+where the cacao is planted, the collecting of the fruit is
+dangerous due to the number of poisonous snakes which inhabit the
+places. One day, when we were running our montaria to a landing-
+place, we saw a large serpent on the trees overhead as we were
+about to brush past; the boat was stopped just in the nick of
+time, and Mr. Leavens brought the reptile down with a charge of
+shot.
+
+September 26th.--At length we got clear of the islands, and saw
+once more before us the sea-like expanse of waters which forms
+the mouth of the Tocantins. The river had now sunk to its lowest
+point, and numbers of fresh-water dolphins were rolling about in
+shoaly places. There are here two species, one of which was new
+to science when I sent specimens to England; it is called the
+Tucuxi (Steno tucuxi of Gray). When it comes to the surface to
+breathe, it rises horizontally, showing first its back fin, then
+draws an inspiration, and dives gently down, head foremost. This
+mode of proceeding distinguishes the Tucuxi at once from the
+other species, which is called Bouto or porpoise by the natives
+(Inia Geoffroyi of Desmarest). When this rises the top of the
+head is the part first seen; it then blows, and immediately
+afterwards dips head downwards, its back curving over, exposing
+successively the whole dorsal ridge with its fin. It seems thus
+to pitch heels over head, but does not show the tail fin. Besides
+this peculiar motion, it is distinguished from the Tucuxi by its
+habit of generally going in pairs. Both species are exceedingly
+numerous throughout the Amazons and its larger tributaries, but
+they are nowhere more plentiful than in the shoaly water at the
+mouth of the Tocantins, especially in the dry season. In the
+Upper Amazons a third pale flesh-coloured species is also
+abundant (the Delphinus pallidus of Gervais). With the exception
+of a species found in the Ganges, all other varieties of dolphin
+inhabit the sea exclusively. In the broader parts of the Amazons,
+from its mouth to a distance of fifteen hundred miles in the
+interior, one or other of the three kinds here mentioned are
+always heard rolling, blowing, and snorting, especially at night,
+and these noises contribute much to the impression of sea-wide
+vastness and desolation which haunts the traveller. Besides
+dolphins in the water, frigate birds in the air are
+characteristic of this lower part of the Tocantins. Flocks of
+them were seen the last two or three days of our journey,
+hovering above at an immense height. Towards night, we were
+obliged to cast anchor over a shoal in the middle of the river to
+await the ebb tide. The wind blew very strongly, and this,
+together with the incoming flow, caused such a heavy sea that it
+was impossible to sleep. The vessel rolled and pitched until
+every bone in our bodies ached with the bumps we received, and we
+were all more or less seasick. On the following day we entered
+the Anapu, and on the 30th September, after threading again the
+labyrinth of channels communicating between the Tocantins and the
+Moju, arrived at Para.
+
+I will now give a short account of Cameta, the principal town on
+the banks of the Tocantins, which I visited for the second time,
+in June,1849. Mr. Wallace, in the same month, departed from Para
+to explore the rivers Guama and Capim. I embarked as passenger in
+a Cameta trading vessel, the St. John, a small schooner of thirty
+tons burthen. I had learnt by this time that the only way to
+attain the objects for which I had come to this country was to
+accustom myself to the ways of life of the humbler classes of the
+inhabitants. A traveller on the Amazons gains little by being
+furnished with letters of recommendation to persons of note, for
+in the great interior wildernesses of forest and river the
+canoemen have pretty much their own way; the authorities cannot
+force them to grant passages or to hire themselves to travellers,
+and therefore, a stranger is obliged to ingratiate himself with
+them in order to get conveyed from place to place. I thoroughly
+enjoyed the journey to Cameta; the weather was again beautiful in
+the extreme. We started from Para at sunrise on the 8th of June,
+and on the 10th emerged from the narrow channels of the Anapu
+into the broad Tocantins. The vessel was so full of cargo that
+there was no room to sleep in the cabin; so we passed the nights
+on deck. The captain or supercargo, called in Portuguese cabo,
+was a mameluco, named Manoel, a quiet, good-humoured person, who
+treated me with the most unaffected civility during the three
+days' journey. The pilot was also a mameluco, named John Mendez,
+a handsome young fellow, full of life and spirit. He had on board
+a wire guitar or viola, as it is here called; and in the bright
+moonlight nights, as we lay at anchor hour after hour waiting for
+the tide, he enlivened us all with songs and music. He was on the
+best of terms with the cabo, both sleeping in the same hammock
+slung between the masts. I passed the nights wrapped in an old
+sail outside the roof of the cabin. The crew, five in number,
+were Indians and half-breeds, all of whom treated their two
+superiors with the most amusing familiarity, yet I never sailed
+in a better managed vessel than the St. John.
+
+In crossing to Cameta we had to await the flood-tide in a channel
+called Entre-as-Ilhas, which lies between two islands in mid-
+river, and John Mendez, being in good tune, gave us an extempore
+song, consisting of a great number of verses. The crew lay about
+the deck listening, and all joined in the chorus. Some stanzas
+related to me, telling how I had come all the way from
+"Inglaterra," to skin monkeys and birds and catch insects; the
+last-mentioned employment of course giving ample scope for fun.
+He passed from this to the subject of political parties in
+Cameta; and then, as all the hearers were Cametaenses and
+understood the hits, there were roars of laughter, some of them
+rolling over and over on the deck, so much were they tickled.
+Party spirit runs high at Cameta, not merely in connection with
+local politics, but in relation to affairs of general concern,
+such as the election of members to the Imperial Parliament, and
+so forth. This political strife is partly attributable to the
+circumstance that a native of Cameta, Dr. Angelo Custodio
+Correia, had been in almost every election, one of the candidates
+for the representation of the province. I fancied these shrewd
+but unsophisticated canoe-men saw through the absurdities
+attending these local contests, and hence their inclination to
+satirise them; they were, however, evidently partisans of Dr.
+Angelo. The brother of Dr. Angelo, Joao Augusto Correia, a
+distinguished merchant, was an active canvasser. The party of the
+Correias was the Liberal, or, as it is called throughout Brazil,
+the Santa Luzia faction; the opposite side, at the head of which
+was one Pedro Moraes, was the Conservative, or Saquarema party. I
+preserved one of the stanzas of the song, which, however, does
+not contain much point; it ran thus:
+
+Ora pana, tana pana!, pana tana, Joao Augusto he bonito e homem
+pimpao, Mas Pedro he feio e hum grande ladrao, (Chorus) Ora pana,
+etc.
+
+John Augustus is handsome and as a man ought to be, But Peter is
+ugly and a great thief. (Chorus) Ora pana, etc.
+
+The canoe-men of the Amazons have many songs and choruses, with
+which they are in the habit of relieving the monotony of their
+slow voyages, and which are known all over the interior. The
+choruses consist of a simple strain, repeated almost to
+weariness, and sung generally in unison, but sometimes with an
+attempt at harmony. There is a wildness and sadness about the
+tunes which harmonise well with, and in fact are born of, the
+circumstances of the canoe-man's life: the echoing channels, the
+endless gloomy forests, the solemn nights, and the desolate
+scenes of broad and stormy waters and falling banks. Whether they
+were invented by the Indians or introduced by the Portuguese it
+is hard to decide, as many of the customs of the lower classes of
+Portuguese are so similar to those of the Indians that they have
+become blended with them. One of the commonest songs is very wild
+and pretty. It has for refrain the words "Mai, Mai" ("Mother,
+Mother"), with a long drawl on the second word. The stanzas are
+quite variable; the best wit on board starts the verse,
+improvising as he goes on, and the others join in the chorus.
+They all relate to the lonely river life and the events of the
+voyage-- the shoals, the wind, how far they shall go before they
+stop to sleep, and so forth. The sonorous native names of places,
+Goajara, Tucumanduba, etc., add greatly to the charm of the wild
+music. Sometimes they bring in the stars thus:
+
+A lua esta sahindo, Mai, Mai! A lua esta sahindo, Mai, Mai! As
+sete estrellas estao chorando, Mai, Mai! Por s'acharem
+desamparados, Mai, Mai!
+
+The moon is rising, Mother, Mother! The moon is rising, Mother,
+Mother! The seven stars (Pleiades) are weeping, Mother, Mother!
+To find themselves forsaken, Mother, mother!
+
+I fell asleep about ten o'clock, but at four in the morning John
+Mendez woke me to enjoy the sight of the little schooner tearing
+through the waves before a spanking breeze. The night was
+transparently clear and almost cold, the moon appeared sharply
+defined against the dark blue sky, and a ridge of foam marked
+where the prow of the vessel was cleaving its way through the
+water. The men had made a fire in the galley to make tea of an
+acid herb, called erva cidreira, a quantity of which they had
+gathered at the last landing-place, and the flames sparkled
+cheerily upwards. It is at such times as these that Amazon
+travelling is enjoyable, and one no longer wonders at the love
+which many, both natives and strangers, have for this wandering
+life. The little schooner sped rapidly on with booms bent and
+sails stretched to the utmost; just as day dawned, we ran with
+scarcely slackened speed into the port of Cameta, and cast
+anchor.
+
+I stayed at Cameta until the 16th of July, and made a
+considerable collection of the natural productions of the
+neighbourhood. The town in 1849 was estimated to contain about
+5000 inhabitants, but the municipal district of which Cameta is
+the capital numbered 20,000; this, however, comprised the whole
+of the lower part of the Tocantins, which is the most thickly
+populated part of the province of Para. The productions of the
+district are cacao, india-rubber, and Brazil nuts. The most
+remarkable feature in the social aspect of the place is the
+hybrid nature of the whole population, the amalgamation of the
+white and Indian races being here complete. The aborigines were
+originally very numerous on the western bank of the Tocantins,
+the principal tribe having been the Camutas, from which the city
+takes its name. They were a superior nation, settled, and
+attached to agriculture, and received with open arms the white
+immigrants who were attracted to the district by its fertility,
+natural beauty, and the healthfulness of the climate. The
+Portuguese settlers were nearly all males, the Indian women were
+good-looking, and made excellent wives; so the natural result has
+been, in the course of two centuries, a complete blending of the
+two races. There is now, however, a considerable infusion of
+negro blood in the mixture, several hundred African slaves having
+been introduced during the last seventy years. The few whites are
+chiefly Portuguese, but there are also two or three Brazilian
+families of pure European descent. The town consists of three
+long streets, running parallel to the river, with a few shorter
+ones crossing them at right angles. The houses are very plain,
+being built, as usual in this country, simply of a strong
+framework, filled up with mud, and coated with white plaster. A
+few of them are of two or three stories. There are three
+churches, and also a small theatre, where a company of native
+actors at the time of my visit were representing light Portuguese
+plays with considerable taste and ability. The people have a
+reputation all over the province for energy and perseverance; and
+it is often said that they are as keen in trade as the
+Portuguese. The lower classes are as indolent and sensual here as
+in other parts of the province, a moral condition not to be
+wondered at in a country where perpetual summer reigns, and where
+the necessities of life are so easily obtained. But they are
+light-hearted, quick-witted, communicative, and hospitable. I
+found here a native poet, who had written some pretty verses,
+showing an appreciation of the natural beauties of the country,
+and was told that the Archbishop of Bahia, the primate of Brazil,
+was a native of Cameta. It is interesting to find the mamelucos
+displaying talent and enterprise, for it shows that degeneracy
+does not necessarily result from the mixture of white and Indian
+blood. The Cametaenses boast, as they have a right to do, of
+theirs being the only large town which resisted successfully the
+anarchists in the great rebellion of 1835-6. While the whites of
+Para were submitting to the rule of half-savage revolutionists,
+the mamelucos of Cameta placed themselves under the leadership of
+a courageous priest, named Prudencio. They armed themselves,
+fortified the place, and repulsed the large forces which the
+insurgents of Para sent to attack the place. The town not only
+became the refuge for all loyal subjects, but was a centre whence
+large parties of volunteers sallied forth repeatedly to attack
+the anarchists in their various strongholds.
+
+The forest behind Cameta is traversed by several broad roads,
+which lead over undulating ground many miles into the interior.
+They pass generally under shade, and part of the way through
+groves of coffee and orange trees, fragrant plantations of cacao,
+and tracts of second-growth woods. The narrow brook-watered
+valleys, with which the land is intersected, alone have remained
+clothed with primaeval forest, at least near the town. The houses
+along these beautiful roads belong chiefly to Mameluco, mulatto,
+and Indian families, each of which has its own small plantation.
+There are only a few planters with larger establishments, and
+these have seldom more than a dozen slaves. Besides the main
+roads, there are endless bypaths which thread the forest and
+communicate with isolated houses. Along these the traveller may
+wander day after day without leaving the shade, and everywhere
+meet with cheerful, simple, and hospitable people.
+
+Soon after landing, I was introduced to the most distinguished
+citizen of the place, Dr. Angelo Custodio Correia, whom I have
+already mentioned. This excellent man was a favourable specimen
+of the highest class of native Brazilians. He had been educated
+in Europe, was now a member of the Brazilian Parliament, and had
+been twice president of his native province.His manners were less
+formal, and his goodness more thoroughly genuine, perhaps, than
+is the rule generally with Brazilians. He was admired and loved,
+as I had ample opportunity of observing, throughout all Amazonia.
+He sacrificed his life in 1855, for the good of his fellow-
+townsmen, when Cameta was devastated by the cholera; having
+stayed behind with a few heroic spirits to succour invalids and
+direct the burying of the dead, when nearly all the chief
+citizens had fled from the place. After he had done what he
+could, he embarked for Para but was himself then attacked with
+cholera, and died on board the steamer before he reached the
+capital. Dr. Angelo received me with the usual kindness which he
+showed to all strangers. He procured me, unsolicited, a charming
+country house, free of rent, hired a mulatto servant for me, and
+thus relieved me of the many annoyances and delays attendant on a
+first arrival in a country town where even the name of an inn is
+unknown. The rocinha, thus given up for my residence, belonged to
+a friend of his, Senor Jose Raimundo Furtado, a stout florid-
+complexioned gentleman, such a one as might be met with any day
+in a country town in England. To him also I was indebted for many
+acts of kindness.
+
+The rocinha was situated near a broad grassy road bordered by
+lofty woods, which leads from Cameta to the Aldeia, a village two
+miles distant. My first walks were along this road. From it
+branches another similar but still more picturesque road, which
+runs to Curima and Pacaja, two small settlements, several miles
+distant, in the heart of the forest. The Curima road is beautiful
+in the extreme. About half a mile from the house where I lived,
+it crosses a brook flowing through a deep dell by means of a long
+rustic wooden bridge. The virgin forest is here left untouched;
+numerous groups of slender palms, mingled with lofty trees
+overrun with creepers and parasites, fill the shady glen and arch
+over the bridge, forming one of the most picturesque scenes
+imaginable. A little beyond the bridge there was an extensive
+grove of orange and other trees, which yielded me a rich harvest.
+The Aldeia road runs parallel to the river, the land from the
+border of the road to the indented shore of the Tocantins forming
+a long slope which was also richly wooded; this slope was
+threaded by numerous shady paths, and abounded in beautiful
+insects and birds. At the opposite or southern end of the town,
+there was a broad road called the Estrada da Vacaria-- this ran
+along the banks of the Tocantins at some distance from the river,
+and continued over hill and dale, through bamboo thickets and
+palm swamps, for about fifteen miles.
+
+At Cameta I chanced to verify a fact relating to the habits of a
+large hairy spider of the genus Mygale, in a manner worth
+recording. The species was M. avicularia, or one very closely
+allied to it; the individual was nearly two inches in length of
+body, but the legs expanded seven inches, and the entire body and
+legs were covered with coarse grey and reddish hairs. I was
+attracted by a movement of the monster on a tree-trunk; it was
+close beneath a deep crevice in the tree, across which was
+stretched a dense white web. The lower part of the web was
+broken, and two small birds, finches, were entangled in the
+pieces; they were about the size of the English siskin, and I
+judged the two to be male and female. One of them was quite dead,
+the other lay under the body of the spider, not quite dead, and
+was smeared with the filthy liquor or saliva exuded by the
+monster. I drove away the spider and took the birds, but the
+second one soon died. The fact of species of Mygale sallying
+forth at night, mounting trees, and sucking the eggs and young of
+hummingbirds, has been recorded long ago by Madame Merian and
+Palisot de Beauvois; but, in the absence of any confirmation, it
+has come to be discredited. From the way the fact has been
+related, it would appear that it had been merely derived from the
+report of natives, and had not been witnessed by the narrators.
+Count Langsdorff, in his Expedition into the Interior of Brazil,
+states that he totally disbelieved the story. I found the
+circumstance to be quite a novelty to the residents hereabout.
+The Mygales are quite common insects: some species make their
+cells under stones, others form artistical tunnels in the earth,
+and some build their dens in the thatch of houses. The natives
+call them Aranhas carangueijeiras, or crab-spiders. The hairs
+with which they are clothed come off when touched, and cause a
+peculiar and almost maddening irritation. The first specimen that
+I killed and prepared was handled incautiously, and I suffered
+terribly for three days afterwards. I think this is not owing to
+any poisonous quality residing in the hairs, but to their being
+short and hard, and thus getting into the fine creases of the
+skin. Some Mygales are of immense size. One day I saw the
+children belonging to an Indian family, who collected for me with
+one of these monsters secured by a cord round its waist, by which
+they were leading it about the house as they would a dog.
+
+The only monkeys I observed at Cameta were the Couxio (Pithecia
+Satanas)--a large species, clothed with long brownish-black hair-
+-and the tiny Midas argentatus. The Couxio has a thick bushy
+tail, and the hair of the head, which looks as if it had been
+carefully combed, sits on it like a wig. It inhabits only the
+most retired parts of the forest, on the terra firma, and I
+observed nothing of its habits. The little Midas argentatus is
+one of the rarest of the American monkeys; indeed, I have not
+heard of its being found anywhere except near Cameta, where I
+once saw three individuals, looking like so many white kittens,
+running along a branch in a cacao grove; in their motions, they
+resembled precisely the Midas ursulus already described. I saw
+afterwards a pet animal of this species, and heard that there
+were many so kept, and that they were esteemed as great
+treasures. The one mentioned was full-grown, although it measured
+only seven inches in length of body. It was covered with long,
+white, silky hairs, the tail being blackish, and the face nearly
+naked and flesh-coloured. It was a most timid and sensitive
+little thing. The woman who owned it carried it constantly in her
+bosom, and no money would induce her to part with her pet. She
+called it Mico. It fed from her mouth and allowed her to fondle
+it freely, but the nervous little creature would not permit
+strangers to touch it. If any one attempted to do so, it shrank
+back, the whole body trembling with fear, and its teeth chattered
+while it uttered its tremulous, frightened tones. The expression
+of its features was like that of its more robust brother, Midas
+ursulus; the eyes, which were black, were full of curiosity and
+mistrust, and were always kept fixed upon the person who
+attempted to advance towards it.
+
+In the orange groves and other parts, hummingbirds were
+plentiful, but I did not notice more than three species. I saw
+one day a little pigmy belonging to the genus Phaethornis in the
+act of washing itself in a brook; perched on a thin branch, one
+end of which was under water. It dipped itself, then fluttered
+its wings and pruned its feathers, and seemed thoroughly to enjoy
+itself alone in the shady nook which it had chosen--a place
+overshadowed by broad leaves of ferns and Heliconiae. I thought,
+as I watched it, that there was no need for poets to invent elves
+and gnomes while Nature furnishes us with such marvellous little
+sprites ready at hand.
+
+My return journey to Para afforded many incidents characteristic
+of Amazonian travelling. I left Cameta on the 16th of July. My
+luggage was embarked in the morning in the Santa Rosa, a vessel
+of the kind called cuberta, or covered canoe. The cuberta is very
+much used on these rivers. It is not decked, but the sides
+forward are raised and arched over so as to admit of cargo being
+piled high above the water-line. At the stern is a neat square
+cabin, also raised, and between the cabin and covered forepart is
+a narrow piece decked over, on which are placed the cooking
+arrangements. This is called the tombadilha or quarterdeck, and
+when the canoe is heavily laden, it goes underwater as the vessel
+heels over to the wind. There are two masts, rigged with fore and
+aft sails--the foremast has often besides a main and top sail.
+The forepart is planked over at the top, and on this raised deck
+the crew work the vessel, pulling it along, when there is no
+wind, by means of the long oars already described.
+
+As I have just said, my luggage was embarked in the morning. I
+was informed that we should start with the ebb-tide in the
+afternoon; so I thought I should have time to pay my respects to
+Dr. Angelo and other friends, whose extreme courtesy and goodness
+had made my residence at Cameta so agreeable. After dinner the
+guests, according to custom at the house of the Correias, walked
+into the cool verandah which overlooks the river; and there we
+saw the Santa Rosa, a mere speck in the offing miles away,
+tacking down river with a fine breeze. I was now in a fix, for it
+would be useless attempting to overtake the cuberta, and besides
+the sea ran too high for any montaria. I was then told that I
+ought to have been aboard hours before the time fixed for
+starting, because when a breeze springs up, vessels start before
+the tide turns; the last hour of the flood not being very strong.
+All my precious collections, my clothes, and other necessaries
+were on board, and it was indispensable that I should be at Para
+when the things were disembarked. I tried to hire a montaria and
+men, but was told that it would be madness to cross the river in
+a small boat with this breeze. On going to Senor Laroque, another
+of my Cameta friends, I was relieved of my embarrassment, for I
+found there an English gentleman, Mr. Patchett of Pernambuco, who
+was visiting Para and its neighbourhood on his way to England,
+and who, as he was going back to Para in a small boat with four
+paddles, which would start at midnight, kindly offered me a
+passage.
+
+The evening from seven to ten o'clock was very stormy. About
+seven, the night became intensely dark, and a terrific squall of
+wind burst forth, which made the loose tiles fly over the
+housetops; to this succeeded lightning and stupendous claps of
+thunder, both nearly simultaneous. We had had several of these
+short and sharp storms during the past month. At midnight, when
+we embarked, all was as calm as though a ruffle had never
+disturbed air, forest, or river. The boat sped along like an
+arrow to the rhythmic paddling of the four stout youths we had
+with us, who enlivened the passage with their wild songs. Mr.
+Patchett and I tried to get a little sleep, but the cabin was so
+small and encumbered with boxes placed at all sorts of angles,
+that we found sleep impossible. I was just dozing when the day
+dawned, and, on awakening, the first object I saw was the Santa
+Rosa, at anchor under a green island in mid-river. I preferred to
+make the remainder of the voyage in company of my collections, so
+bade Mr. Patchett good-day. The owner of the Santa Rosa, Senor
+Jacinto Machado, whom I had not seen before, received me aboard,
+and apologised for having started without me. He was a white man,
+a planter, and was now taking his year's production of cacao,
+about twenty tons, to Para. The canoe was very heavily laden, and
+I was rather alarmed to see that it was leaking at all points.
+The crew were all in the water diving about to feel for the
+holes, which they stopped with pieces of ray and clay, and an old
+negro was baling the water out of the hold. This was a pleasant
+prospect for a three-day voyage! Senor Machado treated it as the
+most ordinary incident possible: "It was always likely to leak,
+for it was an old vessel that had been left as worthless high and
+dry on the beach, and he had bought it very cheap."
+
+When the leaks were stopped, we proceeded on our journey and at
+night reached the mouth of the Anapu. I wrapped myself in an old
+sail, and fell asleep on the raised deck. The next day, we
+threaded the Igarape-mirim, and on the 19th descended the Moju.
+Senor Machado and I by this time had become very good friends. At
+every interesting spot on the banks of the Moju, he manned the
+small boat and took me ashore. There are many large houses on
+this river belonging to what were formerly large and flourishing
+plantations, but which, since the Revolution of 1835-6, had been
+suffered to go to decay. Two of the largest buildings were
+constructed by the Jesuits in the early part of the last century.
+We were told that there were formerly eleven large sugar mills on
+the banks of the Moju, while now there are only three.
+
+At Burujuba, there is a large monastery in a state of ruin; part
+of the edifice, however, was still inhabited by a Brazilian
+family. The walls are four feet in thickness. The long dark
+corridors and gloomy cloisters struck me as very inappropriate in
+the midst of this young and radiant nature. They would be better
+if placed on some barren moor in Northern Europe than here in the
+midst of perpetual summer. The next turn in the river below
+Burujuba brought the city of Para into view. The wind was now
+against us, and we were obliged to tack about. Towards evening,
+it began to blow stiffly, the vessel heeled over very much, and
+Senor Machado, for the first time, trembled for the safety of his
+cargo; the leaks burst out afresh when we were yet two miles from
+the shore. He ordered another sail to be hoisted in order to run
+more quickly into port, but soon afterwards an extra puff of wind
+came, and the old boat lurched alarmingly, the rigging gave way,
+and down fell boom and sail with a crash, encumbering us with the
+wreck. We were then obliged to have recourse to oars; and as soon
+as we were near the land, fearing that the crazy vessel would
+sink before reaching port, I begged Senor Machado to send me
+ashore in the boat with the more precious portion of my
+collections.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CARIPI AND THE BAY OF MARAJO
+
+River Para and Bay of Marajo--Journey to Caripi--Negro Observance
+of Christmas--A German Family--Bats--Ant-eaters--Hummingbirds--
+Excursion to the Murucupi--Domestic Life of the Inhabitants--
+Hunting Excursion with Indians--White Ants
+
+That part of the Para river which lies in front of the city, as I
+have already explained, forms a narrow channel, being separated
+from the main waters of the estuary by a cluster of islands. This
+channel is about two miles broad, and constitutes part of the
+minor estuary of Goajara, into which the three rivers Guama,
+Moju, and Acara discharge their waters. The main channel of the
+Para lies ten miles away from the city, directly across the
+river; at that point, after getting clear of the islands, a great
+expanse of water is beheld, ten to twelve miles in width; on the
+opposite shore the island of Marajo, being visible only in clear
+weather as a line of tree-tops dotting the horizon. A little
+further upwards, that is to the southwest, the mainland on the
+right or eastern shore appears--this is called Carnapijo; it is
+rocky, covered with the neverending forest, and the coast, which
+is fringed with broad sandy beaches, describes a gentle curve
+inwards. The broad reach of the Para in front of this coast is
+called the Bahia, or Bay of Marajo. The coast and the interior of
+the land are peopled by civilised Indians and Mamelucos, with a
+mixture of free negroes and mulattos. They are poor, for the
+waters are not abundant in fish, and they are dependent for a
+livelihood solely on their small plantations, and the scant
+supply of game found in the woods. The district was originally
+peopled by various tribes of Indians, of whom the principal were
+the Tupinambas and Nhengahibas. Like all the coast tribes,
+whether inhabiting the banks of the Amazons or the seashore
+between Para and Bahia, they were far more advanced in
+civilisation than the hordes scattered through the interior of
+the country, some of which still remain in the wild state,
+between the Amazons and the Plata. There are three villages on
+the coast of Carnapijo, and several planters' houses, formerly
+the centres of flourishing estates, which have now relapsed into
+forest in consequence of the scarcity of labour and diminished
+enterprise. One of the largest of these establishments is called
+Caripi. At the time of which I am speaking, it belonged to a
+Scotch gentleman, Mr. Campbell, who had married the daughter of a
+large Brazilian proprietor. Most of the occasional English and
+American visitors to Para had made some stay at Caripi, and it
+had obtained quite a reputation for the number and beauty of the
+birds and insects found there; I therefore applied for, and
+obtained permission, to spend two or three months at the place.
+The distance from Para was about twenty-three miles, round by the
+northern end of the Ilha das oncas (Isle of Tigers), which faces
+the city. I bargained for a passage thither with the cabo of a
+small trading-vessel, which was going past the place, and started
+on the 7th of December, 1848.
+
+We were thirteen persons aboard: the cabo, his pretty mulatto
+mistress, the pilot and five Indian canoemen, three young
+mamelucos (tailor-apprentices who were taking a holiday trip to
+Cameta), a heavily chained runaway slave, and myself. The young
+mamelucos were pleasant, gentle fellows; they could read and
+write, and amused themselves on the voyage with a book containing
+descriptions and statistics of foreign countries, in which they
+seemed to take great interest--one reading while the others
+listened. At Uirapiranga, a small island behind the Ilha das
+oncas, we had to stop a short time to embark several pipes of
+cashaca at a sugar estate. The cabo took the montaria and two
+men; the pipes were rolled into the water and floated to the
+canoe, the men passing cables round and towing them through a
+rough sea. Here we slept, and the following morning, continuing
+our voyage, entered a narrow channel which intersects the land of
+Carnapijo. At 2 p.m. we emerged from this channel, which is
+called the Aitituba, or Arrozal, into the broad Bahia, and then
+saw, two or three miles away to the left, the red-tiled mansion
+of Caripi, embosomed in woods on the shores of a charming little
+bay.
+
+The water is very shallow near the shore, and when the wind blows
+there is a heavy ground swell. A few years previously, an English
+gentleman, Mr. Graham, an amateur naturalist, was capsized here
+and drowned with his wife and child, while passing in a heavily-
+laden montaria to his large canoe. Remembering their fate, I was
+rather alarmed to see that I should be obliged to take all my
+luggage ashore in one trip in a leaky little boat. The pile of
+chests with two Indians and myself sank the montaria almost to
+the level of the water. I was kept busy bailing all the way. The
+Indians manage canoes in this condition with admirable skill.
+They preserve the nicest equilibrium, and paddle so gently that
+not the slightest oscillation is perceptible. On landing, an old
+negress named Florinda, the feitora or manageress of the
+establishment (which was kept only as a poultry-farm and hospital
+for sick slaves), gave me the keys, and I forthwith took
+possession of the rooms I required.
+
+I remained here nine weeks, or until the 12th of February, 1849.
+The house was very large and most substantially built, but
+consisted of only one story. I was told it was built by the
+Jesuits more than a century ago. The front had no veranda, the
+doors opening upon a slightly elevated terrace about a hundred
+yards distant from the broad sandy beach. Around the residence
+the ground had been cleared to the extent of two or three acres,
+and was planted with fruit trees. Well-trodden pathways through
+the forest led to little colonies of the natives on the banks of
+retired creeks and rivulets in the interior. I led here a
+solitary but not unpleasant life; for there was a great charm in
+the loneliness of the place. The swell of the river beating on
+the sloping beach caused an unceasing murmur, which lulled me to
+sleep at night, and seemed appropriate music in those midday
+hours when all nature was pausing breathless under the rays of a
+vertical sun. Here I spent my first Christmas Day in a foreign
+land. The festival was celebrated by the negroes of their own
+free will and in a very pleasing manner. The room next to the one
+I had chosen was the capella, or chapel. It had a little altar
+which was neatly arranged, and the room was furnished with a
+magnificent brass chandelier. Men, women, and children were busy
+in the chapel all day on the 24th of December decorating the
+altar with flowers and strewing the floor with orange-leaves.
+They invited some of their neighbours to the evening prayers, and
+when the simple ceremony began an hour before midnight, the
+chapel was crowded. They were obliged to dispense with the mass,
+for they had no priest; the service therefore consisted merely of
+a long litany and a few hymns. There was placed on the altar a
+small image of the infant Christ, the "Menino Deos" as they
+called it, or the child-god, which had a long ribbon depending
+from its waist. An old white-haired negro led off the litany, and
+the rest of the people joined in the responses. After the service
+was over they all went up to the altar, one by one, and kissed
+the end of the ribbon. The gravity and earnestness shown
+throughout the proceedings were remarkable. Some of the hymns
+were very simple and beautiful, especially one beginning
+"Virgensoberana," a trace of whose melody springs to my
+recollection whenever I think on the dreamy solitude of Caripi.
+
+The next day after I arrived, two blue-eyed and red-haired boys
+came up and spoke to me in English, and presently their father
+made his appearance. They proved to be a German family named
+Petzell, who were living in the woods, Indian fashion, about a
+mile from Caripi. Petzell explained to me how he came here. He
+said that thirteen years ago he came to Brazil with a number of
+other Germans under engagement to serve in the Brazilian army.
+When his time had expired he came to Para to see the country, but
+after a few months' rambling left the place to establish himself
+in the United States. There he married, went to Illinois, and
+settled as farmer near St. Louis. He remained on his farm seven
+or eight years, and had a family of five children. He could never
+forget, however, the free river-life and perpetual summer of the
+banks of the Amazons; so, he persuaded his wife to consent to
+break up their home in North America, and migrate to Para. No one
+can imagine the difficulties the poor fellow had to go through
+before reaching the land of his choice. He first descended the
+Mississippi, feeling sure that a passage to Para could be got at
+New Orleans. He was there told that the only port in North
+America he could start from was New York, so away he sailed for
+New York; but there was no chance of a vessel sailing thence to
+Para, so he took a passage to Demerara, as bringing him, at any
+rate, near to the desired land. There is no communication
+whatever between Demerara and Para, and he was forced to remain
+here with his family four or five months, during which they all
+caught the yellow fever, and one of his children died. At length,
+he heard of a small coasting vessel going to Cayenne, so he
+embarked, and thereby got another stage nearer the end of his
+journey. A short time after reaching Cayenne, he shipped in a
+schooner that was going to Para, or rather the island of Marajo,
+for a cargo of cattle. He had now fixed himself, after all his
+wanderings, in a healthy and fertile little nook on the banks of
+a rivulet near Caripi, built himself a log-hut, and planted a
+large patch of mandioca and Indian corn. He seemed to be quite
+happy, but his wife complained much of the want of wholesome
+food, meat, and wheaten bread. I asked the children whether they
+liked the country; they shook their heads, and said they would
+rather be in Illinois. Petzell told me that his Indian neighbours
+treated him very kindly; one or other of them called almost every
+day to see how he was getting on, and they had helped him in many
+ways. He had a high opinion of the Tapuyos, and said, "If you
+treat them well, they will go through fire to serve you."
+
+Petzell and his family were expert insect-collectors, so I
+employed them at this work during my stay at Caripi. The daily
+occurrences here were after a uniform fashion. I rose with the
+dawn, took a cup of coffee, and then sallied forth after birds.
+At ten I breakfasted, and devoted the hours from ten until three
+to entomology. The evening was occupied in preserving and storing
+my captures. Petzell and I sometimes undertook long excursions,
+occupying the whole day. Our neighbours used to bring me all the
+quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and shells they met with, and so
+altogether I was enabled to acquire a good collection of the
+productions of the district.
+
+The first few nights I was much troubled by bats. The room where
+I slept had not been used for many months, and the roof was open
+to the tiles and rafters. The first night I slept soundly and did
+not perceive anything unusual, but on the next I was aroused
+about midnight by the rushing noise made by vast hosts of bats
+sweeping about the room. The air was alive with them; they had
+put out the lamp, and when I relighted it the place appeared
+blackened with the impish multitudes that were whirling round and
+round. After I had laid about well with a stick for a few
+minutes, they disappeared amongst the tiles, but when all was
+still again they returned, and once more extinguished the light.
+I took no further notice of them, and went to sleep. The next
+night several got into my hammock; I seized them as they were
+crawling over me, and dashed them against the wall. The next
+morning I found a wound, evidently caused by a bat, on my hip.
+This was rather unpleasant, so I set to work with the negroes,
+and tried to exterminate them. I shot a great many as they hung
+from the rafters, and the negroes having mounted with ladders to
+the roof outside, routed out from beneath the caves many hundreds
+of them, including young broods. There were altogether four
+species--two belonging to the genus Dysopes, one to Phyllostoma,
+and the fourth to Glossophaga. By far the greater number belonged
+to the Dysopes perotis, a species having very large ears, and
+measuring two feet from tip to tip of the wings. The Phyllostoma
+was a small kind, of a dark-grey colour, streaked with white down
+the back, and having a leaf-shaped fleshy expansion on the tip of
+the nose. I was never attacked by bats except on this occasion.
+The fact of their sucking the blood of persons sleeping, from
+wounds which they make in the toes, is now well established; but
+it is only a few persons who are subject to this blood-letting.
+According to the negroes, the Phyllostoma is the only kind which
+attacks man. Those which I caught crawling over me were Dysopes,
+and I am inclined to think many different kinds of bats have this
+propensity.
+
+One day I was occupied searching for insects in the bark of a
+fallen tree, when I saw a large cat-like animal advancing towards
+the spot. It came within a dozen yards before perceiving me. I
+had no weapon with me but an old chisel, and was getting ready to
+defend myself if it should make a spring, when it turned around
+hastily and trotted off. I did not obtain a very distinct view of
+it, but I could see its colour was that of the Puma, or American
+Lion, although it was rather too small for that species. The Puma
+is not a common animal in the Amazons forests. I did not see
+altogether more than a dozen skins, in the possession of the
+natives. The fur is of a fawn colour. On account of its hue
+resembling that of a deer common in the forests, the natives call
+it the Sassu-arana, [The old zoologist Marcgrave called the Puma
+the Cuguacuarana, probably (the c's being soft) a misspelling of
+Sassu-arana; hence, the name Cougouar employed by French
+zoologists, and copied in most works on natural history.] or the
+false deer; that is, an animal which deceives one at first sight
+by its superficial resemblance to a deer. The hunters are not at
+all afraid of it, and speak always in disparaging terms of its
+courage. Of the Jaguar, they give a very different account.
+
+The only species of monkey I met with at Caripi was the same
+dark-coloured little Midas already mentioned as found near Para.
+The great Anteater, Tamandua of the natives (Myrmecophaga
+jubata), was not uncommon here. After the first few weeks of
+residence, I ran short of fresh provisions. The people of the
+neighbourhood had sold me all the fowls they could spare; I had
+not yet learned to eat the stale and stringy salt-fish which is
+the staple food in these places, and for several days I had lived
+on rice-porridge, roasted bananas, and farinha. Florinda asked me
+whether I could eat Tamandua. I told her almost anything in the
+shape of flesh would be acceptable; so the same day she went with
+an old negro named Antonio and the dogs, and in the evening
+brought one of the animals. The meat was stewed and turned out
+very good, something like goose in flavour. The people at Caripi
+would not touch a morsel, saying it was not considered fit to eat
+in these parts; I had read, however, that it was an article of
+food in other countries of South America. During the next two or
+three weeks, whenever we were short of fresh meat, Antonio was
+always ready, for a small reward, to get me a Tamandua. But one
+day he came to me in great distress, with the news that his
+favourite dog, Atrevido, had been caught in the grip of an ant-
+eater, and was killed. We hastened to the place, and found the
+dog was not dead, but severely torn by the claws of the animal,
+which itself was mortally wounded, and was now relaxing its
+grasp.
+
+The habits of the Myrmecophaga jubata are now pretty well known.
+It is not uncommon in the drier forests of the Amazons valley,
+but is not found, I believe, in the Ygapo, or flooded lands. The
+Brazilians call the species the Tamandua bandeira, or the Banner
+Anteater, the term banner being applied in allusion to the
+curious colouration of the animal, each side of the body having a
+broad oblique stripe, half grey and half black, which gives it
+some resemblance to a heraldic banner. It has an excessively long
+slender muzzle, and a wormlike extensile tongue. Its jaws are
+destitute of teeth. The claws are much elongated, and its gait is
+very awkward. It lives on the ground, and feeds on termites, or
+white ants -- the long claws being employed to pull in pieces the
+solid hillocks made by the insects, and the long flexible tongue
+to lick them up from the crevices. All the other species of this
+singular genus are arboreal. I met with four species altogether.
+One was the Myrmecophaga tetradactyla; the two others, more
+curious and less known, were very small kinds, called Tamandua-i.
+Both are similar in size--ten inches in length, exclusive of the
+tail--and in the number of the claws, having two of unequal
+length to the anterior feet, and four to the hind feet. One
+species is clothed with greyish-yellow silky hair-- this is of
+rare occurrence. The other has a fur of a dingy brown colour,
+without silky lustre. One was brought to me alive at Caripi,
+having been caught by an Indian, clinging motionless inside a
+hollow tree. I kept it in the house about twenty-four hours. It
+had a moderately long snout, curved downwards, and extremely
+small eyes. It remained nearly all the time without motion except
+when irritated, in which case it reared itself on its hind legs
+from the back of a chair to which it clung, and clawed out with
+its forepaws like a cat. Its manner of clinging with its claws,
+and the sluggishness of its motions, gave it a great resemblance
+to a sloth. It uttered no sound, and remained all night on the
+spot where I had placed it in the morning. The next day, I put it
+on a tree in the open air, and at night it escaped. These small
+Tamanduas are nocturnal in their habits, and feed on those
+species of termites which construct earthy nests that look like
+ugly excrescences on the trunks and branches of trees. The
+different kinds of ant-eaters are thus adapted to various modes
+of life, terrestrial and arboreal. Those which live on trees are
+again either diurnal or nocturnal, for Myrmecophaga tetradactyla
+is seen moving along the main branches in the daytime. The allied
+group of the Sloths, which are still more exclusively South
+American forms than ant-eaters are, at the present time furnish
+arboreal species only, but formerly terrestrial forms of sloths
+also existed, as the Megatherium, whose mode of life was a
+puzzle, seeing that it was of too colossal a size to live on
+trees, until Owen showed how it might have obtained its food from
+the ground.
+
+In January the orange-trees became covered with blossom, at least
+to a greater extent than usual, for they flower more or less in
+this country all the year round--and attracting a great number of
+hummingbirds. Every day, in the cooler hours of the morning, and
+in the evening from four o'clock until six, they were to be seen
+whirring about the trees by scores. Their motions are unlike
+those of all other birds. They dart to and fro so swiftly that
+the eye can scarcely follow them, and when they stop before a
+flower, it is only for a few moments. They poise themselves in an
+unsteady manner, their wings moving with inconceivable rapidity,
+probe the flower, and then shoot off to another part of the tree.
+They do not proceed in that methodical manner which bees follow,
+taking the flowers seriatim, but skip about from one part of the
+tree to another in the most capricious way. Sometimes two males
+close with each other and fight, mounting upwards in the
+struggle, as insects are often seen to do when similarly engaged,
+and then separating hastily and darting back to their work. Now
+and then they stop to rest, perching on leafless twigs, where
+they may be sometimes seen probing, from the places where they
+sit, the flowers within their reach. The brilliant colours with
+which they are adorned cannot be seen whilst they are fluttering
+about, nor can the different species be distinguished unless they
+have a deal of white hue in their plumage, such as Heliothrix
+auritus, which is wholly white underneath, although of a
+glittering green colour above, and the white-tailed Florisuga
+mellivora.
+
+There is not a great variety of hummingbirds in the Amazons
+region, the number of species being far smaller in these uniform
+forest plains than in the diversified valleys of the Andes, under
+the same parallels of latitude. The family is divisible into two
+groups, contrasted in form and habits: one containing species
+which live entirely in the shade of the forest, and the other
+comprising those which prefer open sunny places. The forest
+species (Phaethorninae) are seldom seen at flowers, flowers
+being, in the shady places where they abide, of rare occurrence;
+but they search for insects on leaves, threading the bushes and
+passing above and beneath each leaf with wonderful rapidity. The
+other group (Trochilinae) are not quite confined to cleared
+places, as they come into the forest wherever a tree is in
+blossom, and descend into sunny openings where flowers are to be
+found. But it is only where the woods are less dense than usual
+that this is the case; in the lofty forests and twilight shades
+of the lowlands and islands, they are scarcely ever seen. I
+searched well at Caripi, expecting to find the Lophornis Gouldii,
+which I was told had been obtained in the locality. This is one
+of the most beautiful of all hummingbirds, having round the neck
+a frill of long white feathers tipped with golden green. I was
+not, however, so fortunate as to meet with it. Several times I
+shot by mistake a hummingbird hawk-moth instead of a bird. This
+moth (Macroglossa Titan) is somewhat smaller than hummingbirds
+generally are; but its manner of flight, and the way it poises
+itself before a flower whilst probing it with its proboscis, are
+precisely like the same actions of hummingbirds. It was only
+after many days' experience that I learned to distinguish one
+from the other when on the wing. This resemblance has attracted
+the notice of the natives, all of whom, even educated whites,
+firmly believe that one is transmutable into the other. They have
+observed the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies, and
+think it not at all more wonderful that a moth should change into
+a hummingbird. The resemblance between this hawk-moth and a
+hummingbird is certainly very curious, and strikes one even when
+both are examined in the hand. Holding them sideways, the shape
+of the head and position of the eyes in the moth are seen to be
+nearly the same as in the bird, the extended proboscis
+representing the long beak. At the tip of the moth's body there
+is a brush of long hair-scales resembling feathers, which, being
+expanded, looks very much like a bird's tail. But, of course, all
+these points of resemblance are merely superficial. The negroes
+and Indians tried to convince me that the two were of the same
+species. "Look at their feathers," they said; "their eyes are the
+same, and so are their tails." This belief is so deeply rooted
+that it was useless to reason with them on the subject. The
+Macroglossa moths are found in most countries, and have
+everywhere the same habits; one well-known species is found in
+England. Mr. Gould relates that he once had a stormy altercation
+with an English gentleman, who affirmed that hummingbirds were
+found in England, for he had seen one flying in Devonshire,
+meaning thereby the moth Macroglossa stellatarum. The analogy
+between the two creatures has been brought about, probably, by
+the similarity of their habits, there being no indication of the
+one having been adapted in outward appearance with reference to
+the other.
+
+It has been observed that hummingbirds are unlike other birds in
+their mental qualities, resembling in this respect insects rather
+than warm-blooded vertebrate animals. The want of expression in
+their eyes, the small degree of versatility in their actions, the
+quickness and precision of their movements, are all so many
+points of resemblance between them and insects.
+
+In walking along the alleys of the forest, a Phaethornis
+frequently crosses one's path, often stopping suddenly and
+remaining poised in midair, a few feet distant from the face of
+the intruder. The Phaethorninae are certainly more numerousin the
+Amazons region that the Trochilinae. They build their nests,
+which are made of fine vegetable fibres and lichens; densely
+woven together and thickly lined with silk-cotton from the fruit
+of the samauma tree (Eriodendron samauma); and on the inner sides
+lined with of the tips of palm-fronds. They are long and
+purseshaped. The young when first hatched have very much shorter
+bills than their parents. The only species of Trochilinae which I
+found at Caripi were the little brassy-green Polytmus
+viridissimus, the sapphire and emerald (Thalurania furcata), and
+the large falcate-winged Campylopterus obscurus.
+
+Snakes were very numerous at Caripi; many harmless species were
+found near the house, and these sometimes came into the rooms. I
+was wandering one day amongst the green bushes of Guajara, a tree
+which yields a grape-like berry (Chrysobalanus Icaco) and grows
+along all these sandy shores, when I was startled by what
+appeared to be the flexuous stem of a creeping plant endowed with
+life and threading its way amongst the leaves and branches. This
+animated liana turned out to be a pale-green snake, the Dryophis
+fulgida. Its whole body is of the same green hue, and it is thus
+rendered undistinguishable amidst the foliage of the Guajara
+bushes, where it prowls in search of its prey-- treefrogs and
+lizards. The forepart of its head is prolonged into a slender
+pointed beak, and the total length of the reptile was six feet.
+There was another kind found amongst bushes on the borders of the
+forest closely allied to this, but much more slender, viz., the
+Dryophis acuminata. This grows to a length of four feet eight
+inches, the tail alone being twenty-two inches; but the diameter
+of the thickest part of the body is little more than a quarter of
+an inch. It is of light-brown colour, with iridescent shades
+variegated with obscurer markings, and looks like a piece of
+whipcord. One individual which I caught of this species had a
+protuberance near the middle of the body. Upon opening it, I
+found a half-digested lizard which was much more bulky than the
+snake itself.
+
+Another kind of serpent found here, a species of Helicops, was
+amphibiousin its habits. I saw several of this in wet weather on
+the beach, which, on being approached, always made straightway
+for the water, where they swamwith much grace and dexterity.
+Florinda one day caught a Helicops while angling for fish, it
+having swallowed the fishhook with the bait. She and others told
+me these water-snakes lived on small fishes, but I did not meet
+with any proof of the statement. In the woods, snakes were
+constantly occurring; it was not often, however, that I saw
+poisonous species. There were many arboreal kinds besides the two
+just mentioned; and it was rather alarming, in entomologising
+about the trunks of trees, to suddenly encounter, on turning
+round, as sometimes happened, a pair of glittering eyes and a
+forked tongue within a few inches of one's head. The last kind I
+shall mention is the Coral-snake, which is a most beautiful
+object when seen coiled up on black soil in the woods. The one I
+saw here was banded with black and vermilion, the black bands
+having each two clear white rings. The state of specimens
+preserved in spirits can give no idea of the brilliant colours
+which adorn the Coral-snake in life.
+
+Petzell and I, as already mentioned, made many excursions of long
+extent in the neighbouring forest. We sometimes went to Murucupi,
+a creek which passes through the forest, about four miles behind
+Caripi, the banks of which are inhabited by Indians and half-
+breeds who have lived there for many generations in perfect
+seclusion from the rest of the world-- the place being little
+known or frequented. A path from Caripi leads to it through a
+gloomy tract of virgin forest, where the trees are so closely
+packed together that the ground beneath is thrown into the
+deepest shade, under which nothing but fetid fungi and rotting
+vegetable debris is to be seen. On emerging from this unfriendly
+solitude near the banks of the Murucupi, a charming contrast is
+presented. A glorious vegetation, piled up to an immense height,
+clothes the banks of the creek, which traverses a broad tract of
+semi-cultivated ground, and the varied masses of greenery are
+lighted up with the sunny glow. Open palm-thatched huts peep
+forth here and there from amidst groves of banana, mango, cotton,
+and papaw trees and palms. On our first excursion, we struck the
+banks of the river in front of a house of somewhat more
+substantial architecture than the rest, having finished mud walls
+that were plastered and whitewashed, and had a covering of red
+tiles. It seemed to be full of children, and the aspect of the
+household was improved by a number of good-looking mameluco
+women, who were busily employed washing, spinning, and making
+farinha. Two of them, seated on a mat in the open verandah, were
+engaged sewing dresses, for a festival was going to take place a
+few days hence at Balcarem, a village eight miles distant from
+Murucupi, and they intended to be present to hear mass and show
+their finery. One of the children, a naked boy about seven years
+of age, crossed over with the montaria to fetch us. We were made
+welcome at once, and asked to stay for dinner. On our accepting
+the invitation, a couple of fowls were killed, and a wholesome
+stew of seasoned rice and fowls soon put into preparation. It is
+not often that the female members of a family in these retired
+places are familiar with strangers; but, these people had lived a
+long time in the capital, and therefore, were more civilised than
+their neighbours. Their father had been a prosperous tradesman,
+and had given them the best education the place afforded. After
+his death the widow with several daughters, married and
+unmarried, retired to this secluded spot, which had been their
+sitio, farm or country-house, for many years. One of the
+daughters was married to a handsome young mulatto, who was
+present, and sang us some pretty songs, accompanying himself on
+the guitar.
+
+After dinner I expressed a wish to see more of the creek; so a
+lively and polite old man, whom I took to be one of the
+neighbours, volunteered as guide. We embarked in a little
+montaria, and paddled some three or four miles up and down the
+stream. Although I had now become familiarised with beautiful
+vegetation, all the glow of fresh admiration came again to me in
+this place. The creek was about a hundred yards wide, but
+narrower in some places. Both banks were masked by lofty walls of
+green drapery, here and there a break occurring, through which,
+under overarching trees, glimpses were obtained of the palm-
+thatched huts of settlers. The projecting boughs of lofty trees,
+which in some places stretched half-way across the creek, were
+hung with natural garlands and festoons, and an endless variety
+of creeping plants clothed the water-frontage, some of which,
+especially the Bignonias, were ornamented with large gaily-
+coloured flowers. Art could not have assorted together beautiful
+vegetable forms so harmoniously as was here done by Nature.
+Palms, as usual, formed a large proportion of the lower trees;
+some of them, however, shot up their slim stems to a height of
+sixty feet or more, and waved their bunches of nodding plumes
+between us and the sky. One kind of palm, the Pashiuba (Iriartea
+exorhiza), which grows here in greater abundance than elsewhere,
+was especially attractive. It is not one of the tallest kinds,
+for when full-grown its height is not more, perhaps, than forty
+feet; the leaves are somewhat less drooping, and the leaflets
+much broader than in other species, so that they have not that
+feathery appearance which those of some palms have, but still
+they possess their own peculiar beauty. My guide put me ashore in
+one place to show me the roots of the Pashiuba. These grow above
+ground, radiating from the trunk many feet above the surface, so
+that the tree looks as if supported on stilts; and a person can,
+in old trees, stand upright amongst the roots with the
+perpendicular stem wholly above his head. It adds to the
+singularity of their appearance that these roots, which have the
+form of straight rods, are studded with stout thorns, while the
+trunk of the tree is quite smooth. The purpose of this curious
+arrangement is, perhaps, similar to that of the buttress roots
+already described--namely, to recompense the tree by root-growth
+above the soil for its inability, in consequence of the
+competition of neighbouring roots, to extend it underground. The
+great amount of moisture and nutriment contained in the
+atmosphere may also favour these growths.
+
+On returning to the house, I found Petzell had been well occupied
+during the hot hours of the day collecting insects in a
+neighbouring clearing. Our kind hosts gave us a cup of coffee
+about five o'clock, and we then started for home. The last mile
+of our walk was performed in the dark. The forest in this part is
+obscure even in broad daylight, but I was scarcely prepared for
+the intense opacity of darkness which reigned here on this night,
+and which prevented us from seeing each other while walking side
+by side. Nothing occurred of a nature to alarm us, except that
+now and then a sudden rush was heard among the trees, and once a
+dismal shriek startled us. Petzell tripped at one place and fell
+all his length into the thicket. With this exception, we kept
+well to the pathway, and in due time arrived safely at Caripi.
+
+One of my neighbours at Murucupi was a hunter of reputation in
+these parts. He was a civilised Indian, married and settled,
+named Raimundo, whose habit was to sally forth at intervals to
+certain productive hunting-grounds, the situation of which he
+kept secret, and procure fresh provisions for his family. I had
+found out by this time that animal food was as much a necessary
+of life in this exhausting climate as it is in the North of
+Europe. An attempt which I made to live on vegetable food was
+quite a failure, and I could not eat the execrable salt-fish
+which Brazilians use. I had been many days without meat of any
+kind, and nothing more was to be found near Caripi, so I asked as
+a favour of Senor Raimundo permission to accompany him on one of
+his hunting-trips, and shoot a little game for my own use. He
+consented, and appointed a day on which I was to come over to his
+house to sleep, so as to be ready for starting with the ebb-tide
+shortly after midnight.
+
+The locality we were to visit was situated near the extreme point
+of the land of Carnapijo, where it projects northwardly into the
+middle of the Para estuary, and is broken into a number of
+islands. On the afternoon of January 11th, 1849, I walked through
+the woods to Raimundo's house, taking nothing with me but a
+double-barrelled gun, a supply of ammunition, and a box for the
+reception of any insects I might capture. Raimundo was a
+carpenter, and seemed to be a very industrious, man; he had two
+apprentices, Indians like himself: one a young lad, and the other
+apparently about twenty years of age. His wife was of the same
+race. The Indian women are not always of a taciturn disposition
+like their husbands. Senora Dominga was very talkative; there was
+another old squaw at the house on a visit, and the tongues of the
+two were going at a great rate the whole evening, using only the
+Tupi language. Raimundo and his apprentices were employed
+building a canoe. Notwithstanding his industry, he seemed to be
+very poor, and this was the condition of most of the residents on
+the banks of the Murucupi. They have, nevertheless, considerable
+plantations of mandioca and Indian corn, besides small plots of
+cotton, coffee, and sugarcane; the soil is very fertile, they
+have no rent to pay, and no direct taxes. There is, moreover,
+always a market in Para, twenty miles distant, for their surplus
+produce, and a ready communication with it by water.
+
+In the evening we had more visitors. The sounds of pipe and tabor
+were heard, and presently a procession of villagers emerged from
+a pathway through the mandioca fields. They were on a begging
+expedition for St. Thome, the patron saint of Indians and
+Mamelucos. One carried a banner, on which was crudely painted the
+figure of St. Thome with a glory round his head. The pipe and
+tabor were of the simplest description. The pipe was a reed
+pierced with four holes, by means of which a few unmusical notes
+were produced, and the tabor was a broad hoop with a skin
+stretched over each end. A deformed young man played both the
+instruments. Senor Raimundo received them with the quiet
+politeness which comes so naturally to the Indian when occupying
+the position of host. The visitors, who had come from the Villa
+de Conde, five miles through the forest, were invited to rest.
+
+Raimundo then took the image of St. Thome from one of the party,
+and placed it by the side of Nossa Senhora in his own oratorio, a
+little decorated box in which every family keeps its household
+gods, finally lighting a couple of wax candles before it. Shortly
+afterwards a cloth was laid on a mat, and all the guests were
+invited to supper. The fare was very scanty-- a boiled fowl with
+rice, a slice of roasted pirarucu, farinha, and bananas. Each one
+partook very sparingly, some of the young men contenting
+themselves with a plateful of rice. One of the apprentices stood
+behind with a bowl of water and a towel, with which each guest
+washed his fingers and rinsed his mouth after the meal. They
+stayed all night-- the large open shed was filled with hammocks,
+which were slung from pole to pole; and upon retiring, Raimundo
+gave orders for their breakfast in the morning.
+
+Raimundo called me at two o'clock, when we embarked (he, his
+older apprentice Joaquim, and myself) in a shady place where it
+was so dark that I could see neither canoe nor water, taking with
+us five dogs. We glided down a winding creek where huge trunks of
+trees slanted across close overhead, and presently emerged into
+the Murucupi. A few yards further on we entered the broader
+channel of the Aitituba. This we crossed, and entered another
+narrow creek on the opposite side. Here the ebb-tide was against
+us, and we had great difficulty in making progress. After we had
+struggled against the powerful current a distance of two miles,
+we came to a part where the ebb-tide ran in the opposite
+direction, showing that we had crossed the watershed. The tide
+flows into this channel or creek at both ends simultaneously, and
+meets in the middle, although there is apparently no difference
+of level, and the breadth of the water is the same. The tides are
+extremely intricate throughout all the infinite channels and
+creeks which intersect the lands of the Amazons delta.
+
+The moon now broke forth and lighted up the trunks of colossal
+trees, the leaves of monstrous Jupati palms which arched over the
+creek, and revealed groups of arborescent arums standing like
+rows of spectres on its banks. We had a glimpse now and then into
+the black depths of the forest, where all was silent except the
+shrill stridulation of wood-crickets. Now and then a sudden
+plunge in the water ahead would startle us, caused by heavy fruit
+or some nocturnal animal dropping from the trees. The two Indians
+here rested on their paddles and allowed the canoe to drift with
+the tide. A pleasant perfume came from the forest, which Raimundo
+said proceeded from a cane-field. He told me that all this land
+was owned by large proprietors at Para, who had received grants
+from time to time from the Government for political services.
+Raimundo was quite in a talkative humour; he related to me many
+incidents of the time of the "Cabanagem," as the revolutionary
+days of 1835-6 are popularly called. He said he had been much
+suspected himself of being a rebel, but declared that the
+suspicion was unfounded. The only complaint he had to make
+against the white man was that he monopolised the land without
+having any intention or prospect of cultivating it. He had been
+turned out of one place where he had squatted and cleared a large
+piece of forest. I believe the law of Brazil at this time was
+that the new lands should become the property of those who
+cleared and cultivated them, if their right was not disputed
+within a given term of years by some one who claimed the
+proprietorship. This land-law has since been repealed, and a new
+one adopted founded on that of the United States. Raimundo spoke
+of his race as the redskins, "pelle vermelho." They meant well to
+the whites, and only begged to be let alone. "God," he said, "had
+given room enough for us all."
+
+It was pleasant to hear the shrewd good-natured fellow talk in
+this strain. Our companion, Joaquim, had fallen asleep; the night
+air was cool, and the moonlight lit up the features of Raimundo,
+revealing a more animated expression than is usually observable
+in Indian countenances. I always noticed that Indians were more
+cheerful on a voyage, especially in the cool hours of night and
+morning, than when ashore. There is something in their
+constitution of body which makes them feel excessively depressed
+in the hot hours of the day, especially inside their houses.
+Their skin is always hot to the touch. They certainly do not
+endure the heat of their own climate so well as the whites. The
+negroes are totally different in this respect; the heat of midday
+has very little effect on them, and they dislike the cold nights
+on the river.
+
+We arrived at our hunting-ground about half-past four. The
+channel was broader here and presented several ramifications. It
+yet wanted an hour and a half to daybreak, so
+Raimundo,recommended me to have a nap. We both stretched
+ourselves on the benches of the canoe and fell asleep, letting
+the boat drift with the tide, which was now slack. I slept well
+considering the hardness of our bed, and when I awoke in the
+middle of a dream about home-scenes, the day was beginning to
+dawn. My clothes were quite wet with the dew. The birds were
+astir, the cicadas had begun their music, and the Urania Leilus,
+a strange and beautiful tailed and gilded moth, whose habits are
+those of a butterfly, commenced to fly in flocks over the tree-
+tops. Raimundo exclaimed "Clareia o dia!"--"The day brightens!"
+The change was rapid: the sky in the east assumed suddenly the
+loveliest azure colour, across which streaks of thin white clouds
+were painted. It is at such moments as this when one feels how
+beautiful our earth truly is! The channel on whose waters our
+little boat was floating was about two hundred yards wide; others
+branched off right and left, surrounding the group of lonely
+islands which terminate the land of Carnapijo. The forest on all
+sides formed a lofty hedge without a break; below, it was fringed
+with mangrove bushes, whose small foliage contrasted with the
+large glossy leaves of the taller trees, or the feather and fan-
+shaped fronds of palms.
+
+Being now arrived at our destination, Raimundo turned up his
+trousers and shirt-sleeves, took his long hunting-knife, and
+leapt ashore with the dogs. He had to cut a gap in order to enter
+the forest. We expected to find Pacas and Cutias; and the method
+adopted to secure them was this: at the present early hour they
+would be seen feeding on fallen fruits, but would quickly, on
+hearing a noise, betake themselves to their burrows; Raimundo was
+then to turn them out by means of the dogs, and Joaquim and I
+were to remain in the boat with our guns, ready to shoot all that
+came to the edge of the stream--the habits of both animals, when
+hard-pressed, being to take to the water. We had not long to
+wait. The first arrival was a Paca, a reddish, nearly tail-less
+rodent, spotted with white on the sides, and intermediate in size
+and appearance between a hog and a hare. My first shot did not
+take effect; the animal dived into the water and did not
+reappear. A second was brought down by my companion as it was
+rambling about under the mangrove bushes. A Cutia next appeared:
+this is also a rodent, about one-third the size of the Paca; it
+swims, but does not dive, and I was fortunate enough to shoot it.
+We obtained in this way two more Pacas and another Cutia. All the
+time the dogs were yelping in the forest.
+
+Shortly afterwards Raimundo made his appearance, and told us to
+paddle to the other side of the island. Arrived there, we landed
+and prepared for breakfast. It was a pretty spot--a clean, white,
+sandy beach beneath the shade of wide-spreading trees. Joaquim
+made a fire. He first scraped fine shavings from the midrib of a
+Bacaba palm-leaf; these he piled into a little heap in a dry
+place, and then struck a light in his bamboo tinderbox with a
+piece of an old file and a flint, the tinder being a felt-like
+substance manufactured by an ant (Polyrhachis bispinosus). By
+gentle blowing, the shavings ignited, dry sticks were piled on
+them, and a good fire soon resulted. He then singed and prepared
+the cutia, finishing by running a spit through the body and
+fixing one end in the ground in a slanting position over the
+fire. We had brought with us a bag of farinha and a cup
+containing a lemon, a dozen or two of fiery red peppers, and a
+few spoonsful of salt. We breakfasted heartily when our cutia was
+roasted, and washed the meal down with a calabash full of the
+pure water of the river.
+
+After breakfast the dogs found another cutia, which was hidden in
+its burrow two or three feet beneath the roots of a large tree,
+and it took Raimundo nearly an hour to disinter it. Soon
+afterwards we left this place, crossed the channel, and, paddling
+past two islands, obtained a glimpse of the broad river between
+them, with a long sandy spit, on which stood several scarlet
+ibises and snow-white egrets. One of the islands was low and
+sandy, and half of it was covered with gigantic arum-trees, the
+often-mentioned Caladium arborescens, which presented a strange
+sight. Most people are acquainted with the little British
+species, Arum maculatum, which grows in hedge-bottoms, and many,
+doubtless, have admired the larger kinds grown in hothouses; they
+can therefore form some idea of a forest of arums. On this islet
+the woody stems of the plants near the bottom were eight to ten
+inches in diameter, and the trees were twelve to fifteen feet
+high-- all growing together in such a manner that there was just
+room for a man to walk freely between them. There was a canoe
+inshore, with a man and a woman-- the man, who was hooting with
+all his might, told us in passing that his son was lost in the
+"aningal" (arum-grove). He had strayed while walking ashore, and
+the father had now been an hour waiting for him in vain.
+
+About one o'clock we again stopped at the mouth of a little
+creek. It was now intensely hot. Raimundo said deer were found
+here; so he borrowed my gun, as being a more effective weapon
+than the wretched arms called Lazarinos, which he, in common with
+all the native hunters, used, and which sell at Para for seven or
+eight shillings apiece. Raimundo and Joaquim now stripped
+themselves quite naked, and started off in different directions
+through the forest, going naked in order to move with less noise
+over the carpet of dead leaves, among which they stepped so
+stealthily that not the slightest rustle could be heard. The dogs
+remained in the canoe, in the neighbourhood of which I employed
+myself two hours entomologising. At the end of that time my two
+companions returned, having met with no game whatever.
+
+We now embarked on our return voyage. Raimundo cut two slender
+poles, one for a mast and the other for a sprit-- to these he
+rigged a sail we had brought in the boat, for we were to return
+by the open river, and expected a good wind to carry us to
+Caripi. As soon as we got out of the channel we began to feel the
+wind--the sea-breeze, which here makes a clean sweep from the
+Atlantic. Our boat was very small and heavily laden; and when,
+after rounding a point, I saw the great breadth we had to
+traverse (seven miles), I thought the attempt to cross in such a
+slight vessel foolhardy in the extreme. The waves ran very high,
+there was no rudder, Raimundo steered with a paddle, and all we
+had to rely upon to save us from falling into the trough of the
+sea and being instantly swamped were his nerve and skill. There
+was just room in the boat for our three selves, the dogs, and the
+game we had killed, and when between the swelling ridges of waves
+in so frail a shell, our destruction seemed inevitable; as it
+was, we shipped a little water now and then. Joaquim assisted
+with his paddle to steady the boat-- my time was fully occupied
+in bailing out the water and watching the dogs, which were
+crowded together in the prow, yelling with fear-- one or other of
+them occasionally falling over the side and causing great
+commotion in scrambling in again. Off the point was a ridge of
+rocks, over which the surge raged furiously. Raimundo sat at the
+stern, rigid and silent, his eye steadily watching the prow of
+the boat. It was almost worth the risk and discomfort of the
+passage to witness the seamanlike ability displayed by Indians on
+the water. The little boat rode beautifully, rising well with
+each wave, and in the course of an hour and a half we arrived at
+Caripi, thoroughly tired and wet through to the skin.
+
+On the 16th of January, the dry season came abruptly to an end.
+The sea-breezes, which had been increasing in force for some
+days, suddenly ceased, and the atmosphere became misty; at length
+heavy clouds collected where a uniform blue sky had for many
+weeks prevailed, and down came a succession of heavy showers, the
+first of which lasted a whole day and night. This seemed to give
+a new stimulus to animal life. On the first night there was a
+tremendous uproar--tree-frogs, crickets, goat-suckers, and owls
+all joining to perform a deafening concert. One kind of goat-
+sucker kept repeating at intervals throughout the night a phrase
+similar to the Portuguese words, "Joao corta pao,"--"John, cut
+wood"-- a phrase which forms the Brazilian name of the bird. An
+owl in one of the Genipapa trees muttered now and then a
+succession of syllables resembling the word "Murucututu."
+Sometimes the croaking and hooting of frogs and toads were so
+loud that we could not hear one another's voices within doors.
+Swarms of dragonflies appeared in the daytime about the pools of
+water created by the rain, and ants and termites came forth in
+the winged state in vast numbers. I noticed that the winged
+termites, or white ants, which came by hundreds to the lamps at
+night, when alighting on the table, often jerked off their wings
+by a voluntary movement. On examination I found that the wings
+were not shed by the roots, for a small portion of the stumps
+remained attached to the thorax. The edge of the fracture was in
+all cases straight, not ruptured; there is, in fact, a natural
+seam crossing the member towards its root, and at this point the
+long wing naturally drops or is jerked off when the insect has no
+further use for it. The white ant is endowed with wings simply
+for the purpose of flying away from the colony peopled by its
+wingless companions, to pair with individuals of the same or
+other colonies, and thus propagate and disseminate its kind. The
+winged individuals are males and females, while the great bulk of
+their wingless fraternity are of no sex, but are of two castes,
+soldiers and workers, which are restricted to the functions of
+building the nests, nursing, and defending the young brood. The
+two sexes mate while on the ground, after the wings are shed; and
+then the married couples, if they escape the numerous enemies
+which lie in wait for them, proceed to the task of founding new
+colonies. Ants and white ants have much that is analogous in
+their modes of life-- they belong, however, to two widely
+different orders of insects, strongly contrasted in their
+structure and manner of growth.
+
+I amassed at Caripi a very large collection of beautiful and
+curious insects, amounting altogether to about twelve hundred
+species. The number of Coleoptera was remarkable, seeing that
+this order is so poorly represented near Para. I attributed their
+abundance to the number of new clearings made in the virgin
+forest by the native settlers. The felled timber attracts
+lignivorous insects, and these draw in their train the predaceous
+species of various families. As a general rule, the species were
+smaller and much less brilliant in colours than those of Mexico
+and South Brazil. The species too, although numerous, were not
+represented by great numbers of individuals; they were also
+extremely nimble, and therefore much less easy of capture than
+insects of the same order in temperate climates. The carnivorous
+beetles at Caripi were, like those of Para, chiefly arboreal.
+Most of them exhibited a beautiful contrivance for enabling them
+to cling to and run over smooth or flexible surfaces, such as
+leaves. Their tarsi or feet are broad, and furnished beneath with
+a brush of short stiff hairs; while their claws are toothed in
+the form of a comb, adapting them for clinging to the smooth
+edges of leaves, the joint of the foot which precedes the claw
+being cleft so as to allow free play to the claw in grasping. The
+common dung-beetles at Caripi, which flew about in the evening
+like the Geotrupes, the familiar "shard-borne beetle with his
+drowsy hum" of our English lanes, were of colossal size and
+beautiful colours. One kind had a long spear-shaped horn
+projecting from the crown of its head (Phanaeus lancifer). A blow
+from this fellow, as he came heavily flying along, was never very
+pleasant. All the tribes of beetles which feed on vegetable
+substances, fresh or decayed, were very numerous. The most
+beautiful of these, but not the most common, were the
+Longicornes; very graceful insects, having slender bodies and
+long antennae, often ornamented with fringes and tufts of hair.
+They were found on flowers, on trunks of trees, or flying about
+the new clearings. One small species (Coremia hirtipes) has a
+tuft of hairs on its hind legs, while many of its sister species
+have a similar ornament on the antennae. It suggests curious
+reflections when we see an ornament like the feather of a
+grenadier's cap situated on one part of the body in one species,
+and in a totally different part in nearly allied ones. I tried in
+vain to discover the use of these curious brush-like decorations.
+On the trunk of a living leguminous tree, Petzell found a number
+of a very rare and handsome species, the Platysternus hebraeus,
+which is of a broad shape, coloured ochreous, but spotted and
+striped with black, so as to resemble a domino. On the felled
+trunks of trees, swarms of gilded-green Longicornes occurred, of
+small size (Chrysoprasis), which looked like miniature musk-
+beetles, and, indeed, are closely allied to those well-known
+European insects.
+
+At length, on the 12th of February, I left Caripi, my Negro and
+Indian neighbours bidding me a warm "adios." I had passed a
+delightful time, notwithstanding the many privations undergone in
+the way of food. The wet season had now set in; the lowlands and
+islands would soon become flooded daily at high water, and the
+difficulty of obtaining fresh provisions would increase. I
+intended, therefore, to spend the next three months at Para, in
+the neighbourhood of which there was still much to be done in the
+intervals of fine weather, and then start off on another
+excursion into the interior.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE LOWER AMAZONS-PARA TO OBYDOS
+
+Modes of Travelling on the Amazons--Historical Sketch of the
+Early Explorations of the River--Preparations for Voyage--Life on
+Board a Large Trading Vessel--The narrow channels joining the
+Para to the Amazons--First Sight of the Great River--Gurupa--The
+Great Shoal--Flat-topped Mountains--Santarem--Obydos
+
+At the time of my first voyage up the Amazons--namely, in 1849--
+nearly all communication with the interior was by means of small
+sailing-vessels, owned by traders residing in the remote towns
+and villages, who seldom came to Para themselves, but entrusted
+vessels and cargoes to the care of half-breeds or Portuguese
+cabos. Sometimes, indeed, they risked all in the hands of the
+Indian crew, making the pilot, who was also steersman, do duty as
+supercargo. Now and then, Portuguese and Brazilian merchants at
+Para furnished young Portuguese with merchandise, and dispatched
+them to the interior to exchange the goods for produce among the
+scattered population. The means of communication, in fact, with
+the upper parts of the Amazons had been on the decline for some
+time, on account of the augmented difficulty of obtaining hands
+to navigate vessels. Formerly, when the Government wished to send
+any important functionary, such as a judge or a military
+commandant, into the interior, they equipped a swift-sailing
+galliota manned with ten or a dozen Indians. These could travel,
+on the average, in one day farther than the ordinary sailing
+craft could in three. Indian paddlers were now, however, almost
+impossible to be obtained, and Government officers were obliged
+to travel as passengers in trading-vessels. The voyage made in
+this way was tedious in the extreme. When the regular east-wind
+blew--the "vento geral," or trade-wind of the Amazons--sailing-
+vessels could get along very well; but when this failed, they
+were obliged to remain, sometimes many days together, anchored
+near the shore, or progress laboriously by means of the "espia."
+
+The latter mode of travelling was as follows. The montaria, with
+twenty or thirty fathoms of cable, one end of which was attached
+to the foremast, was sent ahead with a couple of hands, who
+secured the other end of the rope to some strong bough or tree-
+trunk; the crew then hauled the vessel up to the point, after
+which the men in the boat re-embarked the cable, and paddled
+forwards to repeat the process. In the dry season, from August to
+December, when the trade-wind is strong and the currents slack, a
+schooner could reach the mouth of the Rio Negro, a thousand miles
+from Para, in about forty days; but in the wet season, from
+January to July, when the east-wind no longer blows and the
+Amazons pours forth its full volume of water, flooding the banks
+and producing a tearing current, it took three months to travel
+the same distance. It was a great blessing to the inhabitants
+when, in 1853, a line of steamers was established, and this same
+journey could be accomplished with ease and comfort, at all
+seasons, in eight days!
+
+It is, perhaps, not generally known that the Portuguese, as early
+as 1710, had a fair knowledge of the Amazons; but the information
+gathered by their Government, from various expeditions undertaken
+on a grand scale, was long withheld from the rest of the world,
+through the jealous policy which ruled in their colonial affairs.
+From the foundation of Para by Caldeira, in 1615, to the
+settlement of the boundary line between the Spanish and
+Portuguese possessions, Peru and Brazil, in 1781-91, numbers of
+these expeditions were undertaken in succession . The largest was
+the one commanded by Pedro Texeira in 1637-9, who ascended the
+river to Quito by way of the Napo, a distance of about 2800
+miles, with 45 canoes and 900 men, and returned to Para without
+any great misadventure by the same route. The success of this
+remarkable undertaking amply proved, at that early date, the
+facility of the river navigation, the practicability of the
+country, and the good disposition of the aboriginal inhabitants.
+The river, however, was first discovered by the Spaniards, the
+mouth having been visited by Pinzon in 1500, and nearly the whole
+course of the river navigated by Orellana in 1541-2. The voyage
+of the latter was one of the most remarkable on record. Orellana
+was a lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro, Governor of Quito, and
+accompanied the latter in an adventurous journey which he
+undertook across the easternmost chain of the Andes, down into
+the sweltering valley of the Napo, in search of the land of El
+Dorado, or the Gilded King. They started with 300 soldiers and
+4000 Indian porters; but, arrived on the banks of one of the
+tributaries of the Napo, their followers were so greatly
+decreased in number by disease and hunger, and the remainder so
+much weakened, that Pizarro was obliged to despatch Orellana with
+fifty men, in a vessel they had built, to the Napo, in search of
+provisions. It can be imagined by those acquainted with the
+Amazons country how fruitless this errand would be in the
+wilderness of forest where Orellana and his followers found
+themselves when they reached the Napo, and how strong their
+disinclination would be to return against the currents and rapids
+which they had descended. The idea then seized them to commit
+themselves to the chances of the stream, although ignorant
+whither it would lead. So onward they went. From the Napo they
+emerged into the main Amazons, and, after many and various
+adventures with the Indians on its banks, reached the Atlantic--
+eight months from the date of their entering the great river. [It
+was during this voyage that the nation of female warriors was
+said to have been met with; a report which gave rise to the
+Portuguese name of the river, Amazonas. It is now pretty well
+known that this is a mere fable, originating in the love of the
+marvellous which distinguished the early Spanish adventurers, and
+impaired the credibility of their narratives.]
+
+Another remarkable voyage was accomplished, in a similar manner,
+by a Spaniard named Lopez d'Aguirre, from Cusco, in Peru, down
+the Ucayali, a branch of the Amazons flowing from the south, and
+therefore, from an opposite direction to that of the Napo. An
+account of this journey was sent by D'Aguirre, in a letter to the
+King of Spain, from which Humboldt has given an extract in his
+narrative. As it is a good specimen of the quaintness of style
+and looseness of statement exhibited by these early narrators of
+adventures in South America, I will give a translation of it:
+
+"We constructed rafts, and, leaving behind our horses and
+baggage, sailed down the river (the Ucayali) with great risk,
+until we found ourselves in a gulf of fresh water. In this river
+Maranon we continued more than ten months and a half, down to its
+mouth, where it falls into the sea. We made one hundred days'
+journey, and travelled 1500 leagues. It is a great and fearful
+stream, has 80 leagues of fresh water at its mouth, vast shoals,
+and 800 leagues of wilderness without any kind of inhabitants,
+[This account disagrees with that of Acunna, the historiographer
+of Texeira's expedition, who accompanied him, in 1639, on his
+return voyage from Quito. Acunna speaks of a very numerous
+population on the banks of the Amazons.] as your Majesty will see
+from the true and correct narrative of the journey which we have
+made. It has more than 6000 islands. God knows how we came out of
+this fearful sea!"
+
+Many expeditions were undertaken in the course of the eighteenth
+century; in fact, the crossing of the continent from the Pacific
+to the Atlantic, by way of the Amazons, seems to have become by
+this time a common occurrence. The only voyage, however, which
+yielded much scientific information to the European public was
+that of the French astronomer, La Condamine, in 1743-4. The most
+complete account yet published of the river is that given by Von
+Martius in the third volume of Spix and Martius' Travels. These
+most accomplished travellers were eleven months in the country--
+namely, from July, 1819, to June, 1820--and ascended the river to
+the frontiers of the Brazilian territory. The accounts they have
+given of the geography, ethnology, botany, history, and
+statistics of the Amazons region are the most complete that have
+ever been given to the world. Their narrative was not published
+until 1831, and was unfortunately inaccessible to me during the
+time I travelled in the same country.
+
+While preparing for my voyage it happened, fortunately, that the
+half-brother of Dr. Angelo Custodio, a young mestizo named Joao
+da Cunha Correia, was about to start for the Amazons on a trading
+expedition in his own vessel, a schooner of about forty tons'
+burthen. A passage for me was soon arranged with him through the
+intervention of Dr. Angelo, and we started on the 5th of
+September, 1849. I intended to stop at some village on the
+northern shore of the Lower Amazons, where it would be
+interesting to make collections, in order to show the relations
+of the fauna to those of Para and the coast region of Guiana. As
+I should have to hire a house or hut wherever I stayed, I took
+all the materials for housekeeping--cooking utensils, crockery,
+and so forth. To these were added a stock of such provisions as
+it would be difficult to obtain in the interior--also ammunition,
+chests, store-boxes, a small library of natural history books,
+and a hundredweight of copper money. I engaged, after some
+trouble, a Mameluco youth to accompany me as servant--a short,
+fat, yellow-faced boy named Luco, whom I had already employed at
+Para in collecting. We weighed anchor at night, and on the
+following day found ourselves gliding along the dark-brown waters
+of the Moju.
+
+Joao da Cunha, like most of his fellow countrymen, took matters
+very easily. He was going to be absent in the interior several
+years, and therefore, intended to diverge from his route to visit
+his native place, Cameta, and spend a few days with his friends.
+It seemed not to matter to him that he had a cargo of
+merchandise, vessel, and crew of twelve persons, which required
+an economical use of time; "pleasure first and business
+afterwards" appeared to be his maxim. We stayed at Cameta twelve
+days. The chief motive for prolonging the stay to this extent was
+a festival at the Aldeia, two miles below Cameta, which was to
+commence on the 21st, and which my friend wished to take part in.
+On the day of the festival the schooner was sent down to anchor
+off the Aldeia, and master and men gave themselves up to revelry.
+In the evening a strong breeze sprang up, and orders were given
+to embark. We scrambled down in the dark through the thickets of
+cacao, orange, and coffee trees which clothed the high bank, and,
+after running great risk of being swamped by the heavy sea in the
+crowded montaria, got all aboard by nine o'clock. We made all
+sail amidst the "adios" shouted to us by Indian and mulatto
+sweethearts from the top of the bank, and, tide and wind being
+favourable, were soon miles away.
+
+Our crew consisted, as already mentioned, of twelve persons. One
+was a young Portuguese from the province of Traz os Montes, a
+pretty sample of the kind of emigrants which Portugal sends to
+Brazil. He was two or three and twenty years of age, and had been
+about two years in the country, dressing and living like the
+Indians, to whom he was certainly inferior in manners. He could
+not read or write, whereas one at least of our Tapuyos had both
+accomplishments. He had a little wooden image of Nossa Senora in
+his rough wooden clothes-chest, and to this he always had
+recourse when any squall arose, or when we ran aground on a
+shoal. Another of our sailors was a tawny white of Cameta; the
+rest were Indians, except the cook, who was a Cafuzo, or half-
+breed between the Indian and negro. It is often said that this
+class of mestizos is the most evilly-disposed of all the numerous
+crosses between the races inhabiting Brazil; but Luiz was a
+simple, good-hearted fellow, always ready to do one a service.
+The pilot was an old Tapuyo of Para, with regular oval face and
+well-shaped features. I was astonished at his endurance. He never
+quitted the helm night or day, except for two or three hours in
+the morning. The other Indians used to bring him his coffee and
+meals, and after breakfast one of them relieved him for a time,
+when he used to lie down on the quarterdeck and get his two hours
+nap. The Indians forward had things pretty much their own way. No
+system of watches was followed; when any one was so disposed, he
+lay down on the deck and went to sleep; but a feeling of good
+fellowship seemed always to exist amongst them. One of them was a
+fine specimen of the Indian race-- a man just short of six feet
+high, with remarkable breadth of shoulder and full muscular
+chest. His comrades called him the commandant, on account of his
+having been one of the rebel leaders when the Indians and others
+took Santarem in 1835. They related of him that, when the legal
+authorities arrived with an armed flotilla to recapture the town,
+he was one of the last to quit, remaining in the little fortress
+which commands the place to make a show of loading the guns,
+although the ammunition had given out long ago. Such were our
+travelling companions. We lived almost the same as on board ship.
+Our meals were cooked in the galley; but, where practicable, and
+during our numerous stoppages, the men went in the montaria to
+fish near the shore, so that our breakfasts and dinners of salt
+pirarucu were sometimes varied with fresh food.
+
+September 24th--We passed Entre-as-Ilhas with the morning tide
+yesterday, and then made across to the eastern shore--the
+starting-point for all canoes which have to traverse the broad
+mouth of the Tocantins going west. Early this morning we
+commenced the passage. The navigation is attended with danger on
+account of the extensive shoals in the middle of the river, which
+are covered only by a small depth of water at this season of the
+year. The wind was fresh, and the schooner rolled and pitched
+like a ship at sea. The distance was about fifteen miles. In the
+middle, the river-view was very imposing. Towards the northeast
+there was a long sweep of horizon clear of land, and on the
+southwest stretched a similar boundless expanse, but varied with
+islets clothed with fan-leaved palms, which, however, were
+visible only as isolated groups of columns, tufted at the top,
+rising here and there amidst the waste of waters. In the
+afternoon we rounded the westernmost point; the land, which is
+not terra firma, but simply a group of large islands forming a
+portion of the Tocantins delta, was then about three miles
+distant.
+
+On the following day (25th) we sailed towards the west, along the
+upper portion of the Para estuary, which extends seventy miles
+beyond the mouth of the Tocantins. It varies in width from three
+to five miles, but broadens rapidly near its termination, where
+it is eight or nine miles wide. The northern shore is formed by
+the island of Marajo, and is slightly elevated and rocky in some
+parts. A series of islands conceals the southern shore from view
+most of the way. The whole country, mainland and islands, is
+covered with forest. We had a good wind all day, and about 7 p.m.
+entered the narrow river of Breves, which commences abruptly the
+extensive labyrinth of channels that connects the Para with the
+Amazons. The sudden termination of the Para at a point where it
+expands to so great a breadth is remarkable; the water, however,
+is very shallow over the greater portion of the expanse. I
+noticed both on this and on the three subsequent occasions of
+passing this place in ascending and descending the river, that
+the flow of the tide from the east along the estuary, as well as
+up the Breves, was very strong. This seems sufficient to prove
+that no considerable volume of water passes by this medium from
+the Amazons to the Para, and that the opinion of those
+geographers is an incorrect one, who believe the Para to be one
+of the mouths of the great river. There is, however, another
+channel connecting the two rivers, which enters the Para six
+miles to the south of the Breves. The lower part of its course
+for eighteen miles is formed by the Uanapu, a large and
+independent river flowing from the south. The tidal flow is said
+by the natives to produce little or no current up this river--a
+fact which seems to afford a little support to the view just
+stated.
+
+We passed the village of Breves at 3 p.m. on the 26th. It
+consists of about forty houses, most of which are occupied by
+Portuguese shopkeepers. A few Indian families reside here, who
+occupy themselves with the manufacture of ornamental pottery and
+painted cuyas, which they sell to traders or passing travellers.
+The cuyas--drinking-cups made from gourds--are sometimes very
+tastefully painted. The rich black ground colour is produced by a
+dye made from the bark of a tree called Comateu, the gummy nature
+of which imparts a fine polish. The yellow tints are made with
+the Tabatinga clay; the red with the seeds of the Urucu, or
+anatto plant; and the blue with indigo, which is planted round
+the huts. The art is indigenous with the Amazonian Indians, but
+it is only the settled agricultural tribes belonging to the Tupi
+stock who practise it.
+
+September 27th-30th.--After passing Breves, we continued our way
+slowly along a channel, or series of channels, of variable width.
+On the morning of the 27th we had a fair wind, the breadth of the
+stream varying from about 150 to 400 yards. About midday we
+passed, on the western side, the mouth of the Aturiazal, through
+which, on account of its swifter current, vessels pass in
+descending from the Amazons to Para. Shortly afterwards we
+entered the narrow channel of the Jaburu, which lies twenty miles
+above the mouth of the Breves. Here commences the peculiar
+scenery of this remarkable region. We found ourselves in a narrow
+and nearly straight canal, not more than eighty to a hundred
+yards in width, and hemmed in by two walls of forest, which rose
+quite perpendicularly from the water to a height of seventy or
+eighty feet. The water was of great and uniform depth, even close
+to the banks. We seemed to be in a deep gorge, and the strange
+impression the place produced was augmented by the dull echoes
+wakened by the voices of our Indians and the splash of their
+paddles. The forest was excessively varied. Some of the trees,
+the dome-topped giants of the Leguminous and Bombaceous orders,
+reared their heads far above the average height of the green
+walls. The fan-leaved Miriti palm was scattered in some numbers
+amidst the rest, a few solitary specimens shooting up their
+smooth columns above the other trees. The graceful Assai palm
+grew in little groups, forming feathery pictures set in the
+rounder foliage of the mass. The Ubussu, lower in height, showed
+only its shuttlecock shaped crowns of huge undivided fronds,
+which, being of a vivid pale-green, contrasted forcibly against
+the sombre hues of the surrounding foliage. The Ubussu grew here
+in great numbers; the equally remarkable Jupati palm (Rhaphia
+taedigera), which, like the Ubussu, is peculiar to this district,
+occurred more sparsely, throwing its long shaggy leaves, forty to
+fifty feet in length, in broad arches over the canal. An infinite
+diversity of smaller-sized palms decorated the water's edge, such
+as the Maraja-i (Bactris, many species), the Ubim (Geonoma), and
+a few stately Bacabas (Oenocarpus Bacaba). The shape of this last
+is exceedingly elegant, the size of the crown being in proper
+proportion to the straight smooth stem. The leaves, down even to
+the bases of the glossy petioles, are of a rich dark-green
+colour, and free from spines.
+
+"The forest wall"--I am extracting from my journal-"under which
+we are now moving, consists, besides palms, of a great variety of
+ordinary forest trees. From the highest branches of these down to
+the water sweep ribbons of climbing plants of the most diverse
+and ornamental foliage possible. Creeping convolvuli and others
+have made use of the slender lianas and hanging air roots as
+ladders to climb by. Now and then appears a Mimosa or other tree
+having similar fine pinnate foliage, and thick masses of Inga
+border the water, from whose branches hang long bean-pods, of
+different shape and size according to the species, some of them a
+yard in length. Flowers there are very few. I see, now and then,
+a gorgeous crimson blossom on long spikes ornamenting the sombre
+foliage towards the summits of the forest. I suppose it to belong
+to a climber of the Combretaceous order. There are also a few
+yellow and violet Trumpet-flowers (Bignoniae). The blossoms of
+the Ingas, although not conspicuous, are delicately beautiful.
+The forest all along offers so dense a front that one never
+obtains a glimpse into the interior of the wilderness."
+
+The length of the Jaburu channel is about thirty-five miles,
+allowing for the numerous abrupt bends which occur between the
+middle and the northern end of its course. We were three days and
+a half accomplishing the passage. The banks on each side seemed
+to be composed of hard river-mud with a thick covering of
+vegetable mold, so that I should imagine this whole district
+originated in a gradual accumulation of alluvium, through which
+the endless labyrinths of channels have worked their deep and
+narrow beds. The flood-tide as we travelled northward became
+gradually of less assistance to us, as it caused only a feeble
+current upwards. The pressure of the waters from the Amazons here
+makes itself felt; as this is not the case lower down, I suppose
+the currents are diverted through some of the numerous channels
+which we passed on our right, and which traverse, in their course
+towards the sea, the northwestern part of Marajo. In the evening
+of the 29th we arrived at a point where another channel joins the
+Jaburu from the northeast. Up this the tide was flowing; we
+turned westward, and thus met the flood coming from the Amazons.
+This point is the object of a strange superstitious observance on
+the part of the canoemen. It is said to be haunted by a Paje, or
+Indian wizard, whom it is necessary to propitiate by depositing
+some article on the spot, if the voyager wishes to secure a safe
+return from the "sertao," as the interior of the country is
+called. The trees were all hung with rags, shirts, straw hats,
+bunches of fruit, and so forth. Although the superstition
+doubtless originated with the aborigines, I observed in both my
+voyages, that it was only the Portuguese and uneducated
+Brazilians who deposited anything. The pure Indians gave nothing,
+and treated the whole affair as a humbug; but they were all
+civilised Tapuyos.
+
+On the 30th, at 9 p.m., we reached a broad channel called Macaco,
+and now left the dark, echoing Jaburu. The Macaco sends off
+branches towards the northwest coast of Marajo. It is merely a
+passage amongst a cluster of islands, between which a glimpse is
+occasionally obtained of the broad waters of the main Amazons. A
+brisk wind carried us rapidly past its monotonous scenery, and
+early in the morning of the 1st of October we reached the
+entrance of the Uituquara, or the Wind-hole, which is fifteen
+miles distant from the end of the Jaburu. This is also a winding
+channel, thirty-five miles in length, threading a group of
+islands, but it is much narrower than the Macaco.
+
+On emerging from the Uituquara on the 2nd, we all went ashore--
+the men to fish in a small creek; Joao da Cunha and I to shoot
+birds. We saw a flock of scarlet and blue macaws (Macrocercus
+Macao) feeding on the fruits of a Bacaba palm, and looking like a
+cluster of flaunting banners beneath its dark-green crown. We
+landed about fifty yards from the place, and crept cautiously
+through the forest, but before we reached them they flew off with
+loud harsh screams. At a wild fruit tree we were more successful,
+as my companion shot an anaca (Derotypus coronatus), one of the
+most beautiful of the parrot family. It is of a green colour, and
+has a hood of feathers, red bordered with blue, at the back of
+its head, which it can elevate or depress at pleasure. The anaca
+is the only new-world parrot which nearly resembles the cockatoo
+of Australia. It is found in all the lowlands throughout the
+Amazons region, but is not a common bird anywhere. Few persons
+succeed in taming it, and I never saw one that had been taught to
+speak. The natives are very fond of the bird nevertheless, and
+keep it in their houses for the sake of seeing the irascible
+creature expand its beautiful frill of feathers, which it readily
+does when excited.
+
+The men returned with a large quantity of fish. I was surprised
+at the great variety of species; the prevailing kind was a
+species of Loricaria, a foot in length, and wholly encased in
+bony armour. It abounds at certain seasons in shallow water. The
+flesh is dry, but very palatable. They brought also a small
+alligator, which they called Jacare curua, and said it was a kind
+found only in shallow creeks. It was not more than two feet in
+length, although full-grown according to the statement of the
+Indians, who said it was a "mai d'ovos," or mother of eggs, as
+they had pillaged the nest, which they had found near the edge of
+the water. The eggs were rather larger than a hen's, and
+regularly oval in shape, presenting a rough hard surface of
+shell. Unfortunately, the alligator was cut up ready for cooking
+when we returned to the schooner, and I could not therefore make
+a note of its peculiarities. The pieces were skewered and roasted
+over the fire, each man being his own cook. I never saw this
+species of alligator afterwards.
+
+October 3rd--About midnight the wind, for which we had long been
+waiting, sprang up; the men weighed anchor, and we were soon
+fairly embarked on the Amazons. I rose long before sunrise to see
+the great river by moonlight. There was a spanking breeze, and
+the vessel was bounding gaily over the waters. The channel along
+which we were sailing was only a narrow arm of the river, about
+two miles in width: the total breadth at this point is more than
+twenty miles, but the stream is divided into three parts by a
+series of large islands. The river, notwithstanding this
+limitation of its breadth, had a most majestic appearance. It did
+not present that lake-like aspect which the waters of the Para
+and Tocantins affect, but had all the swing, so to speak, of a
+vast flowing stream. The ochre-coloured turbid waters offered
+also a great contrast to the rivers belonging to the Para system.
+The channel formed a splendid reach, sweeping from southwest to
+northeast, with a horizon of water and sky both upstream and
+down. At 11 a.m. we arrived at Gurupa, a small village situated
+on a rocky bank thirty or forty feet high. Here we landed, and I
+had an opportunity of rambling in the neighbouring woods, which
+are intersected by numerous pathways, and carpeted with Lycopodia
+growing to a height of eight or ten inches, and enlivened by
+numbers of glossy blue butterflies of the Theclidae or hairstreak
+family. At 5 p.m. we were again under way. Soon after sunset, as
+we were crossing the mouth of the Xingu, the first of the great
+tributaries of the Amazons, 1200 miles in length, a black cloud
+arose suddenly in the northeast. Joao da Cunha ordered all sails
+to be taken in, and immediately afterwards a furious squall burst
+forth, tearing the waters into foam, and producing a frightful
+uproar in the neighbouring forests. A drenching rain followed,
+but in half an hour all was again calm and the full moon appeared
+sailing in a cloudless sky.
+
+From the mouth of the Xingu the route followed by vessels leads
+straight across the river, here ten miles broad. Towards midnight
+the wind failed us, when we were close to a large shoal called
+the Baixo Grande. We lay here becalmed in the sickening heat for
+two days, and when the trade-wind recommenced with the rising
+moon at 10 p.m. on the 6th, we found ourselves on a ice-shore.
+Notwithstanding all the efforts of our pilot to avoid it, we ran
+aground. Fortunately the bottom consisted only of soft mud, so
+that by casting anchor to windward, and hauling in with the whole
+strength of crew and passengers, we got off after spending an
+uncomfortable night. We rounded the point of the shoal in two
+fathoms' water; the head of the vessel was then put westward, and
+by sunrise we were bounding forward before a steady breeze, all
+sail set and everybody in good humour.
+
+The weather was now delightful for several days in succession,
+the air transparently clear, and the breeze cool and
+invigorating. At daylight, on the 6th, a chain of blue hills, the
+Serra de Almeyrim, appeared in the distance on the north bank of
+the river. The sight was most exhilarating after so long a
+sojourn in a flat country. We kept to the southern shore, passing
+in the course of the day the mouths of the Urucuricaya and the
+Aquiqui, two channels which communicate with the Xingu. The whole
+of this southern coast hence to near Santarem, a distance of 130
+miles, is lowland and quite uninhabited. It is intersected by
+short arms or back waters of the Amazons, which are called in the
+Tupi language Paranamirims, or little rivers. By keeping to
+these, small canoes can travel a great part of the distance
+without being much exposed to the heavy seas of the main river.
+The coast throughout has a most desolate aspect; the forest is
+not so varied as on the higher land; and the water-frontage,
+which is destitute of the green mantle of climbing plants that
+form so rich a decoration in other parts, is encumbered at every
+step with piles of fallen trees; and peopled by white egrets,
+ghostly storks, and solitary herons.
+
+In the evening we passed Almeyrim. The hills, according to Von
+Martius, who landed here, are about 800 feet above the level of
+the river, and are thickly wooded to the summit. They commence on
+the east by a few low isolated and rounded elevations; but
+towards the west of the village, they assume the appearance of
+elongated ridges which seem as if they had been planed down to a
+uniform height by some external force. The next day we passed in
+succession a series of similar flat-topped hills, some isolated
+and of a truncated-pyramidal shape, others prolonged to a length
+of several miles. There is an interval of low country between
+these and the Almeyrim range, which has a total length of about
+twenty-five miles; then commences abruptly the Serra de
+Marauaqua, which is succeeded in a similar way by the Velha Pobre
+range, the Serras de Tapaiuna-quara, and Paraua-quara. All these
+form a striking contrast to the Serra de Almeyrim in being quite
+destitute of trees. They have steep rugged sides, apparently
+clothed with short herbage, but here and there exposing bare
+white patches. Their total length is about forty miles. In the
+Tear, towards the interior, they are succeeded by other ranges of
+hills communicating with the central mountain-chain of Guiana,
+which divides Brazil from Cayenne.
+
+As we sailed along the southern shore, during the 6th and two
+following days, the table-topped hills on the opposite side
+occupied most of our attention. The river is from four to five
+miles broad, and in some places long, low wooded islands
+intervene in mid-stream, whose light-green, vivid verdure formed
+a strangely beautiful foreground to the glorious landscape of
+broad stream and grey mountain. Ninety miles beyond Almeyrim
+stands the village of Monte Alegre, which is built near the
+summit of the last hill visible of this chain. At this point the
+river bends a little towards the south, and the hilly country
+recedes from its shores to reappear at Obydos, greatly decreased
+in height, about a hundred miles further west.
+
+We crossed the river three times between Monte Alegre and the
+next town, Santarem. In the middle the waves ran very high, and
+the vessel lurched fearfully, hurling everything that was not
+well secured from one side of the deck to the other. On the
+morning of the 9th of October, a gentle wind carried us along a
+"remanso," or still water, under the southern shore. These tracts
+of quiet water are frequent on the irregular sides of the stream,
+and are the effect of counter movements caused by the rapid
+current of its central parts. At 9 a.m. we passed the mouth of a
+Parana-mirim, called Mahica, and then found a sudden change in
+the colour of the water and aspect of the banks. Instead of the
+low and swampy water-frontage which had prevailed from the mouth
+of the Xingu, we saw before us a broad sloping beach of white
+sand. The forest, instead of being an entangled mass of irregular
+and rank vegetation as hitherto, presented a rounded outline, and
+created an impresssion of repose that was very pleasing. We now
+approached, in fact, the mouth of the Tapajos, whose clear olive-
+green waters here replaced the muddy current against which we had
+so long been sailing. Although this is a river of great extent--
+1000 miles in length, and, for the last eighty miles of its
+course, four to ten in breadth--its contribution to the Amazons
+is not perceptible in the middle of the stream. The white turbid
+current of the main river flows disdainfully by, occupying nearly
+the whole breadth of the channel, while the darker water of its
+tributary seems to creep along the shore, and is no longer
+distinguishable four or five miles from its mouth.
+
+We reached Santarem at 11 a.m. The town has a clean and cheerful
+appearance from the river. It consists of three long streets,
+with a few short ones crossing them at right angles, and contains
+about 2500 inhabitants. It lies just within the mouth of Tapajos,
+and is divided into two parts, the town and the aldeia or
+village. The houses of the white and trading classes are
+substantially built, many being of two and three stories, and all
+white-washed and tiled. The aldeia, which contains the Indian
+portion of the population, or did so formerly, consists mostly of
+mud huts, thatched with palm leaves. The situation of the town is
+very beautiful. The land, although but slightly elevated, does
+not form, strictly speaking, a portion of the alluvial river
+plains of the Amazons, but is rather a northern prolongation of
+the Brazilian continental land. It is scantily wooded, and
+towards the interior consists of undulating campos, which are
+connected with a series of hills extending southward as far as
+the eye can reach. I subsequently made this place my head-
+quarters for three years; an account of its neighbourhood is
+therefore, reserved for another chapter. At the first sight of
+Santarem, one cannot help being struck with the advantages of its
+situation. Although 400 miles from the sea, it is accessible to
+vessels of heavy tonnage coming straight from the Atlantic. The
+river has only two slight bends between this port and the sea,
+and for five or six months in the year the Amazonian trade wind
+blows with very little interruption, so that sailing ships coming
+from foreign countries could reach the place with little
+difficulty. We ourselves had accomplished 200 miles, or about
+half the distance from the sea, in an ill-rigged vessel, in three
+days and a half. Although the land in the immediate neighbourhood
+is perhaps ill adapted for agriculture, an immense tract of rich
+soil, with forest and meadowland, lies on the opposite banks of
+the river, and the Tapajos leads into the heart of the mining
+provinces of interior Brazil. But where is the population to come
+from to develop the resources of this fine country? At present,
+the district within a radius of twenty-five miles contains barely
+6500 inhabitants; behind the town, towards the interior, the
+country is uninhabited, and jaguars roam nightly, at least in the
+rainy season, close up to the ends of the suburban streets.
+
+From information obtained here, I fixed upon the next town,
+Obydos, as the best place to stay for a few weeks, in order to
+investigate the natural productions of the north side of the
+Lower Amazons. We started at sunrise on the 10th, and being still
+favoured by wind and weather, made a pleasant passage, reaching
+Obydos, which is nearly fifty miles distant from Santarem, by
+midnight. We sailed all day close to the southern shore, and
+found the banks here and there dotted with houses of settlers,
+each surrounded by its plantation of cacao, which is the staple
+product of the district. This coast has an evil reputation for
+storms and mosquitoes, but we fortunately escaped both. It was
+remarkable that we had been troubled by mosquitoes only on one
+night, and then to a small degree, during the whole of our
+voyage.
+
+I landed at Obydos the next morning, and then bid adieu to my
+kind friend Joao da Cunha, who, after landing my baggage, got up
+his anchor and continued on his way. The town contains about 1200
+inhabitants, and is airily situated on a high bluff, ninety or a
+hundred feet above the level of the river. The coast is
+precipitous for two or three miles hence to the west. The cliffs
+consist of the parti-coloured clay, or Tabatinga, which occurs so
+frequently throughout the Amazons region; the strong current of
+the river sets full against them in the season of high water, and
+annually carries away large portions. The clay in places is
+stratified alternately pink and yellow, the pink beds being the
+thickest and of much harder texture than the others.
+
+When I descended the river in 1859, a German Major of Engineers,
+in the employ of the Government, told me that he had found
+calcareous layers, thickly studded with marine shells
+interstratified with the clay. On the top of the Tabatinga lies a
+bed of sand, in some places several feet thick, and the whole
+formation rests on strata of sandstone, which are exposed only
+when the river reaches its lowest level. Behind the town rises a
+fine rounded hill, and a range of similar elevations extends six
+miles westward, terminating at the mouth of the Trombetas, a
+large river flowing through the interior of Guiana. Hills and
+lowlands alike are covered with a sombre rolling forest. The
+river here is contracted to a breadth of rather less than a mile
+(1738 yards), and the entire volume of its waters, the collective
+product of a score of mighty streams, is poured through the
+strait with tremendous velocity. It must be remarked, however,
+that the river valley itself is not contracted to this breadth,
+the opposite shore not being continental land, but a low alluvial
+tract, subject to inundation more or less in the rainy season.
+Behind it lies an extensive lake, called the Lago Grande da Villa
+Franca, which communicates with the Amazons, both above and below
+Obydos, and has therefore, the appearance of a by-water or an old
+channel of the river. This lake is about thirty-five miles in
+length, and from four to ten in width; but its waters are of
+little depth, and in the dry season its dimensions are much
+lessened. It has no perceptible current, and does not therefore,
+now divert any portion of the waters of the Amazons from their
+main course past Obydos.
+
+I remained at Obydos from the 11th of October to the 19th of
+November. I spent three weeks here, also, in 1859, when the place
+was much changed through the influx of Portuguese immigrants and
+the building of a fortress on the top of the bluff. It is one of
+the pleasantest towns on the river. The houses are all roofed
+with tiles, and are mostly of substantial architecture. The
+inhabitants, at least at the time of my first visit, were naive
+in their ways, kind and sociable. Scarcely any palm-thatched huts
+are to be seen, for very few Indians now reside here. It was one
+of the early settlements of the Portuguese, and the better class
+of the population consists of old-established white families, who
+exhibit however, in some cases, traces of cross with the Indian
+and negro. Obydos and Santarem have received, during the last
+eighty years, considerable importations of negro slaves; before
+that time, a cruel traffic was carried on in Indians for the same
+purpose of forced servitude, but their numbers have gradually
+dwindled away, and Indians now form an insignificant element in
+the population of the district.
+
+Most of the Obydos townsfolk are owners of cacao plantations,
+which are situated on the low lands in the vicinity. Some are
+large cattle proprietors, and possess estates of many square
+leagues' extent in the campo, or grass-land districts, which
+border the Lago Grande, and other similar inland lakes, near the
+villages of Faro and Alemquer. These campos bear a crop of
+nutritious grass; but in certain seasons, when the rising of the
+Amazons exceeds the average, they are apt to be flooded, and then
+the large herds of half wild cattle suffer great mortality from
+drowning, hunger, and alligators. Neither in cattle-keeping nor
+cacao-growing are any but the laziest and most primitive methods
+followed, and the consequence is that the proprietors are
+generally poor. A few, however, have become rich by applying a
+moderate amount of industry and skill to the management of their
+estates. People spoke of several heiresses in the neighbourhood
+whose wealth was reckoned in oxen and slaves; a dozen slaves and
+a few hundred head of cattle being considered a great fortune.
+Some of them I saw had already been appropriated by enterprising
+young men, who had come from Para and Maranham to seek their
+fortunes in this quarter.
+
+The few weeks I spent here passed away pleasantly. I generally
+spent the evenings in the society of the townspeople, who
+associated together (contrary to Brazilian custom) in European
+fashion; the different families meeting at one another's houses
+for social amusement, bachelor friends not being excluded, and
+the whole company, married and single, joining in simple games.
+The meetings used to take place in the sitting-rooms, and not in
+the open verandas--a fashion almost compulsory on account of the
+mosquitoes; but the evenings here are very cool, and the
+closeness of a room is not so much felt as it is in Para. Sunday
+was strictly observed at Obydos--at least all the shops were
+closed, and almost the whole population went to church. The
+Vicar, Padre Raimundo do Sanchez Brito, was an excellent old man,
+and I fancy the friendly manners of the people, and the general
+purity of morals at Obydos, were owing in great part to the good
+example he set to his parishioners.
+
+The forest at Obydos seemed to abound in monkeys, for I rarely
+passed a day without seeing several. I noticed four species: the
+Coaita (Ateles paniscus), the Chrysothrix sciureus, the
+Callithrix torquatus, and our old Para friend, Midas ursulus. The
+Coaita is a large black monkey, covered with coarse hair, and
+having the prominent parts of the face of a tawny flesh-coloured
+hue. It is the largest of the Amazonian monkeys in stature, but
+is excelled in bulk by the "Barrigudo" (Lagothrix Humboldtii) of
+the Upper Amazons. It occurs throughout the lowlands of the Lower
+and Upper Amazons, but does not range to the south beyond the
+limits of the river plains. At that point an allied species, the
+White-whiskered Coaita (Ateles marginatus) takes its place. The
+Coaitas are called by zoologists spider monkeys, on account of
+the length and slenderness of their body and limbs. In these apes
+the tail, as a prehensile organ, reaches its highest degree of
+perfection; and on this account it would, perhaps, be correct to
+consider the Coaitas as the extreme development of the American
+type of apes. As far as we know, from living and fossil species,
+the New World has progressed no farther than the Coaita towards
+the production of a higher form of the Quadrumanous order. The
+tendency of Nature here has been, to all appearance, simply to
+perfect those organs which adapt the species more and more
+completely to a purely arboreal life; and no nearer approach has
+been made towards the more advanced forms of anthropoid apes,
+which are the products of the Old World solely. The flesh of this
+monkey is much esteemed by the natives in this part of the
+country, and the Military Commandant of Obydos, Major Gama, every
+week sent a negro hunter to shoot one for his table. One day I
+went on a Coaita hunt, borrowing a negro slave of a friend to
+show me the way. When in the deepest part of a ravine we heard a
+rustling sound in the trees overheard, and Manoel soon pointed
+out a Coaita to me. There was something human-like in its
+appearance, as the lean, dark, shaggy creature moved deliberately
+amongst the branches at a great height. I fired, but
+unfortunately only wounded it in the belly. It fell with a crash
+headlong about twenty or thirty feet, and then caught a bough
+with its tail, which grasped it instantaneously, and then the
+animal remained suspended in mid-air. Before I could reload, it
+recovered itself and mounted nimbly to the topmost branches out
+of the reach of a fowling-piece, where we could perceive the poor
+thing apparently probing the wound with its fingers.
+
+Coaitas are more frequently kept in a tame state than any other
+kind of monkey. The Indians are very fond of them as pets, and
+the women often suckle them when young at their breasts. They
+become attached to their masters, and will sometimes follow them
+on the ground to considerable distances. I once saw a most
+ridiculously tame Coaita. It was an old female which accompanied
+its owner, a trader on the river, in all his voyages. By way of
+giving me a specimen of its intelligence and feeling, its master
+set to and rated it soundly, calling it scamp, heathen, thief,
+and so forth, all through the copious Portuguese vocabulary of
+vituperation. The poor monkey, quietly seated on the ground,
+seemed to be in sore trouble at this display of anger. It began
+by looking earnestly at him, then it whined, and lastly rocked
+its body to and fro with emotion, crying piteously, and passing
+its long gaunt arms continually over its forehead; for this was
+its habit when excited, and the front of the head was worn quite
+bald in consequence. At length its master altered his tone. "It's
+all a lie, my old woman; you're an angel, a flower, a good
+affectionate old creature," and so forth. Immediately the poor
+monkey ceased its wailing, and soon after came over to where the
+man sat. The disposition of the Coaita is mild in the extreme--
+it has none of the painful, restless vivacity of its kindred, the
+Cebi, and no trace of the surly, untameable temper of its still
+nearer relatives, the Mycetes, or howling monkeys. It is,
+however, an arrant thief, and shows considerable cunning in
+pilfering small articles of clothing, which it conceals in its
+sleeping place. The natives of the Upper Amazons procure the
+Coaita, when full grown, by shooting it with the blowpipe and
+poisoned darts, and restoring life by putting a little salt (the
+antidote to the Urari poison with which the darts are tipped) in
+its mouth. The animals thus caught become tame forthwith. Two
+females were once kept at the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, and
+Geoffroy St. Hilaire relates of them that they rarely quitted
+each other, remaining most of the time in close embrace, folding
+their tails around one another's bodies. They took their meals
+together; and it was remarked on such occasions, when the
+friendship of animals is put to a hard test, that they never
+quarrelled or disputed the possession of a favourite fruit with
+each other.
+
+The neighbourhood of Obydos was rich also in insects. In the
+broad alleys of the forest a magnificent butterfly of the genus
+Morpho, six to eight inches in expanse, the Morpho Hecuba, was
+seen daily gliding along at a height of twenty feet or more from
+the ground. Amongst the lower trees and bushes numerouskinds of
+Heliconii, a group of butterflies peculiar to tropical America,
+having long narrow wings, were very abundant. The prevailing
+ground colour of the wings of these insects is a deep black, and
+on this are depicted spots and streaks of crimson, white, and
+bright yellow, in different patterns according to the species.
+Their elegant shape, showy colours, and slow, sailing mode of
+flight, make them very attractive objects, and their numbers are
+so great that they form quite a feature in the physiognomy of the
+forest, compensating for the scarcity of flowers.
+
+Next to the Heliconii, the Catagrammas (C. astarte and C.
+peristera) were the most conspicuous. These have a very rapid and
+short flight, settling frequently and remaining stationary for a
+long time on the trunks of trees. The colours of their wings are
+vermilion and black, the surface having a rich velvety
+appearance. The genus owes its Greek name Catagramma (signifying
+"a letter beneath") to the curious markings of the underside of
+the wings, resembling Arabic numerals. The species and varieties
+are of almost endless diversity, but the majority inhabit the hot
+valleys of the eastern parts of the Andes. Another butterfly
+nearly allied to these, Callithea Leprieurii, was also very
+abundant here at the marshy head of the pool before mentioned.
+The wings are of a rich dark-blue colour, with a broad border of
+silvery green. These two groups of Callithea and Catagramma are
+found only in tropical America, chiefly near the equator, and are
+certainly amongst the most beautiful productions of a region
+where the animals and plants seem to have been fashioned in
+nature's choicest moulds.
+
+A great variety of other beautiful and curious insects adorned
+these pleasant woods. Others were seen only in the sunshine in
+open places. As the waters retreated from the beach, vast numbers
+of sulphur-yellow and orange coloured butterflies congregated on
+the moist sand. The greater portion of them belonged to the genus
+Callidryas. They assembled in densely-packed masses, sometimes
+two or three yards in circumference, their wings all held in an
+upright position, so that the beach looked as though variegated
+with beds of crocuses. These Callidryades seem to be migratory
+insects, and have large powers of dissemination. During the last
+two days of our voyage, the great numbers constantly passing over
+the river attracted the attention of every one on board. They all
+crossed in one direction, namely, from north to south, and the
+processions were uninterrupted from an early hour in the morning
+until sunset. All the individuals which resort to the margins of
+sandy beaches are of the male sex. The females are much more
+rare, and are seen only on the borders of the forest, wandering
+from tree to tree, and depositing their eggs on low mimosas which
+grow in the shade. The migrating hordes, as far as I could
+ascertain, are composed only of males, and on this account I
+believe their wanderings do not extend very far.
+
+A strange kind of wood-cricket is found in this neighbourhood,
+the males of which produce a very loud and not unmusical noise by
+rubbing together the overlapping edges of their wing-cases. The
+notes are certainly the loudest and most extraordinary that I
+ever heard produced by an orthopterous insect. The natives call
+it the Tanana, in allusion to its music, which is a sharp,
+resonant stridulation resembling the syllables ta-na-na, ta-na-
+na, succeeding each other with little intermission. It seems to
+be rare in the neighbourhood. When the natives capture one, they
+keep it in a wicker-work cage for the sake of hearing it sing. A
+friend of mine kept one six days. It was lively only for two or
+three, and then its loud note could be heard from one end of the
+village to the other. When it died he gave me the specimen, the
+only one I was able to procure. It is a member of the family
+Locustidae, a group intermediate between the Cricket (Achetidae)
+and the Grasshoppers (Acridiidae). The total length of the body
+is two inches and a quarter; when the wings are closed the insect
+has an inflated vesicular or bladder-like shape, owing to the
+great convexity of the thin but firm parchmenty wing-cases, and
+the colour is wholly pale-green. The instrument by which the
+Tanana produces its music is curiously contrived out of the
+ordinary nervures of the wing-cases. In each wing-case the inner
+edge, near its origin, has a horny expansion or lobe; on one wing
+(b) this lobe has sharp raised margins; on the other (a), the
+strong nervure which traverses the lobe on the under side is
+crossed by a number of fine sharp furrows like those of a file.
+When the insect rapidly moves its wings, the file of the one lobe
+is scraped sharply across the horny margin of the other, thus
+producing the sounds; the parchmenty wing-cases and the hollow
+drum-like space which they enclose assist in giving resonance to
+the tones. The projecting portions of both wing-cases are
+traversed by a similar strong nervure, but this is scored like a
+file only in one of them, in the other remaining perfectly
+smooth.
+
+Other species of the family to which the Tanana belongs have
+similar stridulating organs, but in none are these so highly
+developed as in this insect; they exist always in the males only,
+the other sex having the edges of the wing-cases quite straight
+and simple. The mode of producing the sounds and their object
+have been investigated by several authors with regard to certain
+European species. They are the call-notes of the males. In the
+common field-cricket of Europe the male has been observed to
+place itself, in the evening, at the entrance of its burrow, and
+stridulate until a female approaches, when the louder notes are
+succeeded by a more subdued tone, while the successful musician
+caresses with his antennae the mate he has won. Anyone who will
+take the trouble may observe a similar proceeding in the common
+house-cricket. The nature and object of this insect music are
+more uniform than the structure and situation of the instrument
+by which it is produced. This differs in each of the three allied
+families above mentioned. In the crickets the wing-cases are
+symmetrical; both have straight edges and sharply-scored nervures
+adapted to produce the stridulation. A distinct portion of their
+edges is not, therefore, set apart for the elaboration of a
+sound-producing instrument. In this family the wing-cases lie
+flat on the back of the insect, and overlap each other for a
+considerable portion of their extent. In the Locustidae the same
+members have a sloping position on each side of the body, and do
+not overlap, except to a small extent near their bases; it is out
+of this small portion that the stridulating organ is contrived.
+Greater resonance is given in most species by a thin transparent
+plate, covered by a membrane, in the centre of the overlapping
+lobes. In the Grasshoppers (Acridiidae) the wing-cases meet in a
+straight suture, and the friction of portions of their edges is
+no longer possible. But Nature exhibits the same fertility of
+resource here as elsewhere; and in contriving other methods of
+supplying the males with an instrument for the production of
+call-notes indicates the great importance which she attaches to
+this function. The music in the males of the Acridiidae is
+produced by the scraping of the long hind thighs against the
+horny nervures of the outer edges of the wing-cases; a drum-
+shaped organ placed in a cavity near the insertion of the thighs
+being adapted to give resonance to the tones.
+
+I obtained very few birds at Obydos. There was no scarcity of
+birds, but they were mostly common Cayenne species. In early
+morning, the woods near my house were quite animated with their
+songs--an unusual thing in this country. I heard here for the
+first time the pleasing wild notes of the Carashue, a species of
+thrush, probably the Mimus lividus of ornithologists. I found it
+afterwards to be a common bird in the scattered woods of the
+campo district near Santarem. It is a much smaller and plainer-
+coloured bird than our thrush, and its song is not so loud,
+varied, or so long sustained; but the tone is of a sweet and
+plaintive quality, which harmonises well with the wild and silent
+woodlands, where alone it is heard in the mornings and evenings
+of sultry tropical days. In course of time the song of this
+humble thrush stirred up pleasing associations in my mind, in the
+same way as those of its more highly endowed sisters formerly did
+at home. There are several allied species in Brazil; in the
+southern provinces they are called Sabiahs. The Brazilians are
+not insensible to the charms of this their best songster, for I
+often heard some pretty verses in praise of the Sabiah sung by
+young people to the accompaniment of the guitar.
+
+I found several times the nest of the Carashue, which is built of
+dried grass and slender twigs, and lined with mud; the eggs are
+coloured and spotted like those of our blackbird, but they are
+considerably smaller. I was much pleased with a brilliant little
+red-headed mannikin, which I shot here (Pipra cornuta). There
+were three males seated on a low branch, and hopping slowly
+backwards and forwards, near to one another, as though engaged in
+a kind of dance. In the pleasant airy woods surrounding the sandy
+shores of the pool behind the town, the yellow-bellied Trogon (T.
+viridis) was very common. Its back is of a brilliant metallic-
+green colour, and the breast steel blue. The natives call it the
+Suruqua do Ygapo, or Trogon of the flooded lands, in
+contradistinction to the red-breasted species, which are named
+Surtiquas da terra firma. I often saw small companies of half a
+dozen individuals quietly seated on the lower branches of trees.
+They remained almost motionless for an hour or two at a time,
+simply moving their heads, on the watch for passing insects; or,
+as seemed more generally to be the case, scanning the
+neighbouring trees for fruit, which they darted off now and then,
+at long intervals to secure, returning always to the same perch.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE LOWER AMAZONS--OBYDOS TO MANAOS, OR THE BARRA OF THE RIO
+NEGRO
+
+Departure from Obydos--River Banks and By-channels--Cacao
+Planters--Daily Life on Board Our Vessel--Great Storm--Sand-
+Island and Its Birds--Hill of Parentins--Negro Trader and Mauhes
+Indians--Villa Nova: Its Inhabitants, Forest, and Animal
+Productions--Cararaucu--A rustic Festival--Lake of Cararaucu--
+Motuca--Flies--Serpa--Christmas Holidays--River Madeira--A
+Mameluco Farmer--Mura Indians--Rio Negro--Description of Barra--
+Descent to Para--Yellow Fever
+
+A Trader of Obydos, named Penna, was proceeding about in a
+cuberta laden with merchandise to the Rio Negro, intending to
+stop frequently on the road, so I bargained with him for a
+passage. He gave up a part of the toldo, or fore-cabin as it may
+be called, and here I slung my hammock and arranged my boxes so
+as to be able to work as we went along. The stoppages I thought
+would be an advantage, as I could collect in the woods whilst he
+traded, and thus acquire a knowledge of the productions of many
+places on the river which on a direct voyage would be impossible
+to do. I provided a stock of groceries for two months'
+consumption; and, after the usual amount of unnecessary fuss and
+delay on the part of the owner, we started on the 19th of
+November. Penna took his family with him-- this comprised a
+smart, lively mameluco woman, named Catarina, whom we called
+Senora Katita, and two children. The crew consisted of three men:
+one a sturdy Indian, another a Cafuzo, godson of Penna, and the
+third, our best hand, a steady, good-natured mulatto, named
+Joaquim. My boy Luco was to assist in rowing and so forth. Penna
+was a timid middle-aged man, a white with a slight cross of
+Indian; when he was surly and obstinate, he used to ask me to
+excuse him on account of the Tapuyo blood in his veins. He tried
+to make me as comfortable as the circumstances admitted, and
+provided a large stock of eatables and drinkables; so that
+altogether the voyage promised to be a pleasant one.
+
+On leaving the port of Obydos, we crossed over to the right bank
+and sailed with a light wind all day, passing numerous houses,
+each surrounded by its grove of cacao trees. On the 20th we made
+slow progress. After passing the high land at the mouth of the
+Trombetas, the banks were low, clayey, or earthy on both sides.
+The breadth of the river varies hereabout from two and a half to
+three miles, but neither coast is the true terra firma. On the
+northern side a by-channel runs for a long distance inland,
+communicating with the extensive lake of Faro; on the south,
+three channels lead to the similar fresh-water sea of Villa
+Franca; these are in part arms of the river, so that the land
+they surround consists, properly speaking, of islands. When this
+description of land is not formed wholly of river deposit, as
+sometimes happens, or is raised above the level of the highest
+floods, it is called Ygapo alto, and is distinguished by the
+natives from the true islands of mid-river, as well as from the
+terra firma. We landed at one of the cacao plantations. The house
+was substantially built; the walls formed of strong upright
+posts, lathed across, plastered with mud and whitewashed, and the
+roof tiled. The family were mamelucos, and seemed to be an
+average sample of the poorer class of cacao growers. All were
+loosely dressed and bare-footed. A broad verandah extended along
+one side of the house, the floor of which was simply the well-
+trodden earth; and here hammocks were slung between the bare
+upright supports, a large rush mat being spread on the ground,
+upon which the stout matron-like mistress, with a tame parrot
+perched upon her shoulder, sat sewing with two pretty little
+mulatto girls. The master, coolly clad in shirt and drawers, the
+former loose about the neck, lay in his hammock smoking a long
+gaudily-painted wooden pipe. The household utensils, earthenware
+jars, water-pots and saucepans lay at one end, near which was a
+wood fire, with the ever-ready coffee-pot simmering on the top of
+a clay tripod. A large shed stood a short distance off, embowered
+in a grove of banana, papaw, and mango trees; and under it were
+the ovens, troughs, sieves, and all other apparatus for the
+preparation of mandioca. The cleared space around the house was
+only a few yards in extent; beyond it lay the cacao plantations,
+which stretched on each side parallel to the banks of the river.
+There was a path through the forest which led to the mandioca
+fields, and several miles beyond to other houses on the banks of
+an interior channel. We were kindly received, as is always the
+case when a stranger visits these out-of-the-way habitations--
+the people being invariably civil and hospitable. We had a long
+chat, took coffee, and upon departing, one of the daughters sent
+a basket full of oranges for our use down to the canoe.
+
+The cost of a cacao plantation in the Obydos district is after
+the rate of 240 reis or sixpence per tree, which is much higher
+than at Cameta, where I believe the yield is not so great. The
+forest here is cleared before planting, and the trees are grown
+in rows. The smaller cultivators are all very poor. Labour is
+scarce; one family generally manages its own small plantation of
+10,000 to 15,000 trees, but at the harvest time neighbours assist
+each other. It appeared to me to be an easy, pleasant life; the
+work is all done under shade, and occupies only a few weeks in
+the year. The incorrigible nonchalance and laziness of the people
+alone prevent them from surrounding themselves with all the
+luxuries of a tropical country. They might plant orchards of the
+choicest fruit trees around their houses, grow Indian corn, and
+rear cattle and hogs, as intelligent settlers from Europe would
+certainly do, instead of indolently relying solely on the produce
+of their small plantations, and living on a meagre diet of fish
+and farinha. In preparing the cacao they have not devised any
+means of separating the seeds well from the pulp, or drying it in
+a systematic way; the consequence is that, although naturally of
+good quality, it molds before reaching the merchants' stores, and
+does not fetch more than half the price of the same article grown
+in other parts of tropical America. The Amazons region is the
+original home of the principal species of chocolate tree, the
+Theobroma cacao; and it grows in abundance in the forests of the
+upper river. The cultivated crop appears to be a precarious one;
+little or no care, however, is bestowed on the trees, and even
+weeding is done very inefficiently. The plantations are generally
+old, and have been made on the low ground near the river, which
+renders them liable to inundation when this rises a few inches
+more than the average. There is plenty of higher land quite
+suitable to the tree, but it is uncleared, and the want of labour
+and enterprise prevents the establishment of new plantations.
+
+We passed the last houses in the Obydos district on the 20th, and
+the river scenery then resumed its usual wild and solitary
+character, which the scattered human habitations relieved,
+although in a small degree. We soon fell into a regular mode of
+life on board our little ark. Penna would not travel by night;
+indeed, our small crew, wearied by the day's labour, required
+rest, and we very rarely had wind in the night. We used to moor
+the vessel to a tree, giving out plenty of cable, so as to sleep
+at a distance from the banks and free of mosquitoes, which
+although swarming in the forest, rarely came many yards out into
+the river at this season of the year. The strong current at a
+distance of thirty or forty yards from the coast steadied the
+cuberta head to stream, and kept us from drifting ashore. We all
+slept in the open air, as the heat of the cabins was stifling in
+the early part of the night. Penna, Senhora Katita, and I slung
+our hammocks in triangle between the mainmast and two stout poles
+fixed in the raised deck. A sheet was the only covering required,
+besides our regular clothing, for the decrease of temperature at
+night on the Amazons is never so great as to be felt otherwise
+than as a delightful coolness after the sweltering heat of the
+afternoons.
+
+We used to rise when the first gleam of dawn showed itself above
+the long, dark line of forest. Our clothes and hammocks were then
+generally soaked with dew, but this was not felt to be an
+inconvenience. The Indian Manoel used to revive himself by a
+plunge in the river, under the bows of the vessel. It is the
+habit of all Indians, male and female, to bathe early in the
+morning; they do it sometimes for warmth's sake, the temperature
+of the water being often considerably higher than that of the
+air. Penna and I lolled in our hammocks, while Katita prepared
+the indispensable cup of strong coffee, which she did with
+wonderful celerity, smoking meanwhile her early morning pipe of
+tobacco. Liberal owners of river craft allow a cup of coffee
+sweetened with molasses, or a ration of cashaca, to each man of
+their crews; Penna gave them coffee. When all were served, the
+day's work began. There was seldom any wind at this early hour,
+so if there was still water along the shore, the men rowed, if
+not, there was no way of progressing but by espia.
+
+In some places the currents ran with great force close to the
+banks, especially where these receded to form long bays or
+enseadas, as they are called, and then we made very little
+headway. In such places the banks consist of loose earth, a rich
+crumbly vegetable mold supporting a growth of most luxuriant
+forest, of which the currents almost daily carry away large
+portions, so that the stream for several yards out is encumbered
+with fallen trees whose branches quiver in the current. When
+projecting points of land were encountered, it was impossible,
+with our weak crew, to pull the cuberta against the whirling
+torrents which set round them; and in such cases we had to cross
+the river, drifting often with the current, a mile or two lower
+down on the opposite shore. There generally sprung a light wind
+as the day advanced, and then we took down our hammocks, hoisted
+all sail, and bowled away merrily. Penna generally preferred to
+cook the dinner ashore, when there was little or no wind. About
+midday on these calm days, we used to look out for a nice shady
+nook in the forest with cleared space sufficient to make a fire
+upon. I then had an hour's hunting in the neighbouring
+wilderness, and was always rewarded by the discovery of some new
+species. During the greater part of our voyage, however, we
+stopped at the house of some settler, and made our fire in the
+port. Just before dinner it was our habit to take a bath in the
+river, and then, according to the universal custom on the
+Amazons, where it seems to be suitable on account of the weak
+fish diet, we each took half a tea-cup full of neat cashaca, the
+"abre" or " opening," as it is called, and set to on our mess of
+stewed pirarucu, beans, and bacon. Once or twice a week we had
+fowls and rice; at supper, after sunset, we often had fresh fish
+caught by our men in the evening. The mornings were cool and
+pleasant until towards midday; but in the afternoons, the heat
+became almost intolerable, especially in gleamy, squally weather,
+such as generally prevailed. We then crouched in the shade of the
+sails, or went down to our hammocks in the cabin, choosing to be
+half stifled rather than expose ourselves on deck to the
+sickening heat of the sun.
+
+We generally ceased travelling about nine o'clock, fixing upon a
+safe spot wherein to secure the vessel for the night. The cool
+evening hours were delicious; flocks of whistling ducks (Anas
+autumnalis), parrots, and hoarsely-screaming macaws, pair by
+pair, flew over from their feeding to their resting places, as
+the glowing sun plunged abruptly beneath the horizon. The brief
+evening chorus of animals then began, the chief performers being
+the howling monkeys, whose frightful unearthly roar deepened the
+feeling of solitude which crept up as darkness closed around us.
+Soon after, the fireflies in great diversity of species came
+forth and flitted about the trees. As night advanced, all became
+silent in the forest, save the occasional hooting of tree-frogs,
+or the monotonous chirping of wood-crickets and grasshoppers.
+
+We made but little progress on the 20th and two following days,
+on account of the unsteadiness of the wind. The dry season had
+been of very brief duration this year; it generally lasts in this
+part of the Amazons from July to January, with a short interval
+of showery weather in November. The river ought to sink thirty or
+thirty-five feet below its highest point; this year it had
+declined only about twenty-five feet, and the November rains
+threatened to be continuous. The drier the weather the stronger
+blows the east wind; it now failed us altogether, or blew gently
+for a few hours merely in the afternoons. I had hitherto seen the
+great river only in its sunniest aspect; I was now about to
+witness what it could furnish in the way of storms.
+
+On the night of the 22nd the moon appeared with a misty halo. As
+we went to rest, a fresh watery wind was blowing, and a dark pile
+of clouds gathered up river in a direction opposite to that of
+the wind. I thought this betokened nothing more than a heavy rain
+which would send us all in a hurry to our cabins. The men moored
+the vessel to a tree alongside a hard clayey bank, and after
+supper, all were soon fast asleep, scattered about the raised
+deck. About eleven o'clock I was awakened by a horrible uproar,
+as a hurricane of wind suddenly swept over from the opposite
+shore. The cuberta was hurled with force against the clayey bank;
+Penna shouted out, as he started to his legs, that a trovoada de
+cima, or a squall from up-river, was upon us. We took down our
+hammocks, and then all hands were required to save the vessel
+from being dashed to pieces. The moon set, and a black pall of
+clouds spread itself over the dark forests and river; a frightful
+crack of thunder now burst over our heads, and down fell the
+drenching rain. Joaquim leapt ashore through the drowning spray
+with a strong pole, and tried to pass the cuberta round a small
+projecting point, while we on deck aided in keeping her off and
+lengthened the cable. We succeeded in getting free, and the
+stout-built boat fell off into the strong current farther away
+from the shore, Joaquim swinging himself dexterously aboard by
+the bowsprit as it passed the point. It was fortunate for us that
+he happened to be on a sloping clayey bank where there was no
+fear of falling trees; a few yards farther on, where the shore
+was perpendicular and formed of crumbly earth, large portions of
+loose soil, with all their superincumbent mass of forest, were
+being washed away; the uproar thus occasioned adding to the
+horrors of the storm.
+
+The violence of the wind abated in the course of an hour, but the
+deluge of rain continued until about three o'clock in the
+morning; the sky was lighted up by almost incessant flashes of
+pallid lightning, and the thunder pealing from side to side
+without interruption. Our clothing, hammocks, and goods were
+thoroughly soaked by the streams of water which trickled through
+between the planks. In the morning all was quiet, but an opaque,
+leaden mass of clouds overspread the sky, throwing a gloom over
+the wild landscape that had a most dispiriting effect. These
+squalls from the west are always expected about the time of the
+breaking up of the dry season in these central parts of the Lower
+Amazons. They generally take place about the beginning of
+February, so that this year they had commenced much earlier than
+usual. The soil and climate are much drier in this part of the
+country than in the region lying farther to the west, where the
+denser forests and more clayey, humid soil produce a considerably
+cooler atmosphere. The storms may be, therefore, attributed to
+the rush of cold moist air from up river, when the regular trade-
+wind coming from the sea has slackened or ceased to blow.
+
+On the 26th we arrived at a large sand bank connected with an
+island in mid-river, in front of an inlet called Maraca-uassu.
+Here we anchored and spent half a day ashore. Penna's object in
+stopping was simply to enjoy a ramble on the sands with the
+children, and give Senora Katita an opportunity to wash the
+linen. The sandbank was now fast going under water with the rise
+of the river; in the middle of the dry season it is about a mile
+long and half a mile in width. The canoe-men delight in these
+open spaces, which are a great relief to the monotony of the
+forest that clothes the land in every other part of the river.
+Farther westward they are much more frequent, and of larger
+extent. They lie generally at the upper end of islands; in fact,
+the latter originate in accretions of vegetable matter formed by
+plants and trees growing on a shoal. The island was wooded
+chiefly with the trumpet tree (Cecropia peltata), which has a
+hollow stem and smooth pale bark. The leaves are similar in shape
+to those of the horse-chestnut, but immensely larger; beneath
+they are white, and when the welcome trade-wind blows they show
+their silvery undersides--a pleasant signal to the weary canoe
+traveller. The mode of growth of this tree is curious: the
+branches are emitted at nearly right angles with the stem, the
+branchlets in minor whorls around these, and so forth, the leaves
+growing at their extremities, so that the total appearance is
+that of a huge candelabrum. Cecropiae of different species are
+characteristic of Brazilian forest scenery; the kind of which I
+am speaking grows in great numbers everywhere on the banks of the
+Amazons where the land is low. In the same places the curious
+Monguba tree (Bombax ceiba) is also plentiful; the dark green
+bark of its huge tapering trunk, scored with grey, forming a
+conspicuous object. The principal palm tree on the lowlands is
+the Jauari (Astrvocaryum Jauari), whose stem, surrounded by
+whorls of spines, shoots up to a great height. On the borders of
+the island were large tracts of arrow-grass (Gynerium
+saccharoides), which bears elegant plumes of flowers, like those
+of the reed, and grows to a height of twenty feet, the leaves
+arranged in a fan-shaped figure near the middle of the stem. I
+was surprised to find on the higher parts of the sandbank the
+familiar foliage of a willow (Salix Humboldtiana). It is a dwarf
+species, and grows in patches resembling beds of osiers; as in
+the English willows, the leaves were peopled by small
+chrysomelideous beetles.
+
+In wandering about, many features reminded me of the seashore.
+Flocks of white gulls were flying overhead, uttering their well-
+known cry, and sandpipers coursed along the edge of the water.
+Here and there lonely wading-birds were stalking about; one of
+these, the Curiaca (Ibis melanopis), flew up with a low cackling
+noise, and was soon joined by a unicorn bird (Palamedea cornuta),
+which I startled up from amidst the bushes, whose harsh screams,
+resembling the bray of a jackass, but shriller, disturbed
+unpleasantly the solitude of the place. Amongst the willow bushes
+were flocks of a handsome bird belonging to the Icteridae or
+troupial family, adorned with a rich plumage of black and
+saffron-yellow. I spent some time watching an assemblage of a
+species of bird called by the natives Tumburi-para, on the
+Cecropia trees. It is the Monasa nigrifrons of ornithologists,
+and has a plain slate-coloured plumage with the beak of an orange
+hue. It belongs to the family of Barbets, most of whose members
+are remarkable for their dull, inactive temperament. Those
+species which are arranged by ornithologists under the genus
+Bucco are called by the Indians, in the Tupi language, Tai-assu
+uira, or pig-birds. They remain seated sometimes for hours
+together on low branches in the shade, and are stimulated to
+exertion only when attracted by passing insects. This flock of
+Tamburi-para were the reverse of dull; they were gambolling and
+chasing each other amongst the branches. As they sported about,
+each emitted a few short tuneful notes, which altogether produced
+a ringing, musical chorus that quite surprised me.
+
+On the 27th we reached an elevated wooded promontory, called
+Parentins, which now forms the boundary between the provinces of
+Para and the Amazons. Here we met a small canoe descending to
+Santarem. The owner was a free negro named Lima, who, with his
+wife, was going down the river to exchange his year's crop of
+tobacco for European merchandise. The long shallow canoe was
+laden nearly to the water level. He resided on the banks of the
+Abacaxi, a river which discharges its waters into the Canoma, a
+broad interior channel which extends from the river Madeira to
+the Parentins, a distance of 180 miles. Penna offered him
+advantageous terms, so a bargain was struck, and the man saved
+his long journey. The negro seemed a frank, straightforward
+fellow; he was a native of Pernambuco, but had settled many years
+ago in this part of the country. He had with him a little Indian
+girl belonging to the Mauhes tribe, whose native seat is the
+district of country lying in the rear of the Canoma, between the
+Madeira and the Tapajos. The Mauhes are considered, I think with
+truth, to be a branch of the great Mundurucu nation, having
+segregated from them at a remote period, and by long isolation
+acquired different customs and a totally different language, in a
+manner which seems to have been general with the Brazilian
+aborigines. The Mundurucus seem to have retained more of the
+general characteristics of the original Tupi stock than the
+Mauhes. Senor Lima told me, what I afterwards found to be
+correct, that there were scarcely two words alike in the
+languages of the two peoples, although there are words closely
+allied to Tupi in both.
+
+The little girl had not the slightest trace of the savage in her
+appearance. Her features were finely shaped, the cheekbones not
+at all prominent, the lips thin, and the expression of her
+countenance frank and smiling. She had been brought only a few
+weeks previously from a remote settlement of her tribe on the
+banks of the Abacaxi, and did not yet know five words of
+Portuguese. The Indians, as a general rule, are very manageable
+when they are young, but it is a general complaint that when they
+reach the age of puberty they become restless and discontented.
+The rooted impatience of all restraint then shows itself, and the
+kindest treatment will not prevent them running away from their
+masters; they do not return to the malocas of their tribes, but
+join parties who go out to collect the produce of the forests and
+rivers, and lead a wandering semi-savage kind of life.
+
+We remained under the Serra dos Parentins all night. Early the
+next morning a light mist hung about the tree-tops, and the
+forest resounded with the yelping of Whaiapu-sai monkeys. I went
+ashore with my gun and got a glimpse of the flock, but did not
+succeed in obtaining a specimen. They were of small size and
+covered with long fur of a uniform grey colour. I think the
+species was the Callithrix donacophilus. The rock composing the
+elevated ridge of the Parentins is the same coarse iron-cemented
+conglomerate which I have often spoken of as occurring near Para
+and in several other places. Many loose blocks were scattered
+about. The forest was extremely varied, and inextricable coils of
+woody climbers stretched from tree to tree. Throngs of cacti were
+spread over the rocks and tree-trunks. The variety of small,
+beautifully-shaped ferns, lichens, and boleti, made the place
+quite a museum of cryptogamic plants. I found here two exquisite
+species of Longicorn beetles, and a large kind of grasshopper
+(Pterochroza) whose broad fore-wings resembled the leaf of a
+plant, providing the insect with a perfect disguise when they
+were closed; while the hind wings were decorated with gaily-
+coloured eye-like spots.
+
+The negro left us and turned up a narrow channel, the Parana-
+mirim dos Ramos (the little river of the branches, i.e., having
+many ramifications), on the road to his home, 130 miles distant.
+We then continued our voyage, and in the evening arrived at Villa
+Nova, a straggling village containing about seventy houses, many
+of which scarcely deserve the name, being mere mud-huts roofed
+with palm-leaves. We stayed here four days. The village is built
+on a rocky bank, composed of the same coarse conglomerate as that
+already so often mentioned. In some places a bed of Tabatinga
+clay rests on the conglomerate. The soil in the neighbourhood is
+sandy, and the forest, most of which appears to be of second
+growth, is traversed by broad alleys which terminate to the south
+and east on the banks of pools and lakes, a chain of which
+extends through the interior of the land. As soon as we anchored
+I set off with Luco to explore the district. We walked about a
+mile along the marly shore, on which was a thick carpet of
+flowering shrubs, enlivened by a great variety of lovely little
+butterflies, and then entered the forest by a dry watercourse.
+
+About a furlong inland this opened on a broad placid pool, whose
+banks, clothed with grass of the softest green hue, sloped gently
+from the water's edge to the compact wall of forest which
+encompassed the whole. The pool swarmed with water-fowl; snowy
+egrets, dark-coloured striped herons, and storks of various
+species standing in rows around its margins. Small flocks of
+macaws were stirring about the topmost branches of the trees.
+Long-legged piosocas (Perra Jacana) stalked over the water plants
+on the surface of the pool, and in the bushes on its margin were
+great numbers of a kind of canary (Sycalis brasiliensis) of a
+greenish-yellow colour, which has a short and not very melodious
+song. We had advanced but a few steps when we startled a pair of
+the Jaburu-moleque (Mycteria americana), a powerful bird of the
+stork family, four and a half feet in height, which flew up and
+alarmed the rest, so that I got only one bird out of the
+tumultuous flocks which passed over our heads. Passing towards
+the farther end of the pool I saw, resting on the surface of the
+water, a number of large round leaves turned up at their edges;
+they belonged to the Victoria water-lily. The leaves were just
+beginning to expand (December 3rd), some were still under water,
+and the largest of those which had reached the surface measured
+not quite three feet in diameter. We found a montaria with a
+paddle in it, drawn up on the bank, which I took leave to borrow
+of the unknown owner, and Luco paddled me amongst the noble
+plants to search for flowers-- meeting, however, with no success.
+I learned afterwards that the plant is common in nearly all the
+lakes of this neighbourhood. The natives call it the furno do
+Piosoca, or oven of the Jacana, the shape of the leaves being
+like that of the ovens on which Mandioca meal is roasted.
+
+We saw many kinds of hawks and eagles, one of which, a black
+species, the Caracara-i (Milvago nudicollis), sat on the top of a
+tall naked stump, uttering its hypocritical whining notes. This
+eagle is considered a bird of ill omen by the Indians: it often
+perches on the tops of trees in the neighbourhood of their huts,
+and is then said to bring a warning of death to some member of
+the household. Others say that its whining cry is intended to
+attract other defenseless birds within its reach. The little
+courageous flycatcher Bemti-vi (Saurophagus sulphuratus)
+assembles in companies of four or five, and attacks it boldly,
+driving it from the perch where it would otherwise sit for hours.
+I shot three hawks of as many different species; and these, with
+a Magoary stork, two beautiful gilded-green jacamars (Galbula
+chalcocephala), and half-a-dozen leaves of the water-lily, made a
+heavy load, with which we trudged off back to the canoe.
+
+A few years after this visit, namely, in 1854-5, I passed eight
+months at Villa Nova. The district of which it is the chief town
+is very extensive, for it has about forty miles of linear extent
+along the banks of the river; but, the whole does not contain
+more than 4000 inhabitants. More than half of these are pureblood
+Indians who live in a semi-civilised condition on the banks of
+the numerous channels and lakes. The trade of the place is
+chiefly in India-rubber, balsam of Copaiba (which are collected
+on the banks of the Madeira and the numerous rivers that enter
+the Canoma channel), and salt fish, prepared in the dry season,
+nearer home. These articles are sent to Para in exchange for
+European goods. The few Indian and half-breed families who reside
+in the town are many shades inferior in personal qualities and
+social condition to those I lived amongst near Para and Cameta.
+They live in wretched dilapidated mud-hovels; the women cultivate
+small patches of mandioca; the men spend most of their time in
+fishing, selling what they do not require themselves and getting
+drunk with the most exemplary regularity on cashaca, purchased
+with the proceeds.
+
+I made, in this second visit to Villa Nova, an extensive
+collection of the natural productions of the neighbourhood. A few
+remarks on some of the more interesting of these must suffice.
+The forests are very different in their general character from
+those of Para, and in fact those of humid districts generally
+throughout the Amazons. The same scarcity of large-leaved
+Musaceous and Marantaceous plants was noticeable here as at
+Obydos. The low-lying areas of forest or Ygapos, which alternate
+everywhere with the more elevated districts, did not furnish the
+same luxuriant vegetation as they do in the Delta region of the
+Amazons. They are flooded during three or four months in the
+year, and when the waters retire, the soil--to which the very
+thin coating of alluvial deposit imparts little fertility--
+remains bare, or covered with a matted bed of dead leaves until
+the next flood season. These tracts have then a barren
+appearance; the trunks and lower branches of the trees are coated
+with dried slime, and disfigured by rounded masses of fresh-water
+sponges, whose long horny spiculae and dingy colours give them
+the appearance of hedgehogs.
+
+Dense bushes of a harsh, cutting grass, called Tiririca, form
+almost the only fresh vegetation in the dry season. Perhaps the
+dense shade, the long period during which the land remains under
+water, and the excessively rapid desiccation when the waters
+retire, all contribute to the barrenness of these Ygapos. The
+higher and drier land is everywhere sandy, and tall coarse
+grasses line the borders of the broad alleys which have been cut
+through the second-growth woods. These places swarm with
+carapatos, ugly ticks belonging to the genus Ixodes, which mount
+to the tips of blades of grass, and attach themselves to the
+clothes of passers-by. They are a great annoyance. It occupied me
+a full hour daily to pick them off my flesh after my diurnal
+ramble. There are two species; both are much flattened in shape,
+have four pairs of legs, a thick short proboscis and a horny
+integument. Their habit is to attach themselves to the skin by
+plunging their proboscides into it, and then suck the blood until
+their flat bodies are distended into a globular form. The whole
+proceeding, however, is very slow, and it takes them several days
+to pump their fill. No pain or itching is felt, but serious sores
+are caused if care is not taken in removing them, as the
+proboscis is liable to break off and remain in the wound. A
+little tobacco juice is generally applied to make them loosen
+their hold. They do not cling firmly to the skin by their legs,
+although each of these has a pair of sharp and fine claws
+connected with the tips of the member by means of a flexible
+pedicle. When they mount to the summits of slender blades of
+grass, or the tips of leaves, they hold on by their forelegs
+only, the other three pairs being stretched out so as to fasten
+onto any animal which comes their way. The smaller of the two
+species is of a yellowish colour; it is the most abundant, and
+sometimes falls upon one by scores. When distended, it is about
+the size of a No. 8 shot; the larger kind, which fortunately
+comes only singly to the work, swells to the size of a pea.
+
+In some parts of the interior, the soil is composed of very
+coarse sand and small fragments of quartz; in these places no
+trees grow. I visited, in company with the priest, Padre
+Torquato, one of these treeless spaces or campos, as they are
+called, situated five miles from the village. The road thither
+led through a varied and beautiful forest, containing many
+gigantic trees. I missed the Assai, Mirti, Paxiuba, and other
+palms which are all found only on rich moist soils, but the noble
+Bacaba was not uncommon, and there was a great diversity of dwarf
+species of Maraja palms (Bactris), one of which, called the
+Peuririma, was very elegant, growing to a height of twelve or
+fifteen feet, with a stem no thicker than a man's finger. On
+arriving at the campo, all this beautiful forest abruptly ceased,
+and we saw before us an oval tract of land three or four miles in
+circumference, destitute even of the smallest bush. The only
+vegetation was a crop of coarse hairy grass growing in patches.
+The forest formed a hedge all round the isolated field, and its
+borders were composed in great part of trees which do not grow in
+the dense virgin forest, such as a great variety of bushy
+Melastomas, low Byrsomina trees, myrtles, and Lacre-trees, whose
+berries exude globules of wax resembling gamboge. On the margins
+of the campo wild pineapples also grew in great quantity. The
+fruit was of the same shape as our cultivated kind, but much
+smaller, the size being that of a moderately large apple. We
+gathered several quite ripe ones; they were pleasant to the
+taste, of the true pineapple flavour, but had an abundance of
+fully developed seeds, and only a small quantity of eatable pulp.
+There was no path beyond this campo; in fact, all beyond is terra
+incognita to the inhabitants of Villa Nova.
+
+The only interesting Mammalian animal which I saw at Villa Nova
+was a monkey of a species new to me; it was not, however, a
+native of the district, having been brought by a trader from the
+river Madeira, a few miles above Borba. It was a howler, probably
+the Mycetes stramineus of Geoffroy St. Hilaire. The howlers are
+the only kinds of monkey which the natives have not succeeded in
+taming. They are often caught, but they do not survive captivity
+many weeks. The one of which I am speaking was not quite full
+grown. It measured sixteen inches in length, exclusive of the
+tail-- the whole body was covered with rather long and shining
+dingy-white hair, the whiskers and beard only being of a tawny
+hue. It was kept in a house, together with a Coaita and a
+Caiarara monkey (Cebus albifrons). Both these lively members of
+the monkey order seemed rather to court attention, but the
+Mycetes slunk away when anyone approached it. When it first
+arrived, it occasionally made a gruff subdued howling noise early
+in the morning. The deep volume of sound in the voice of the
+howling monkeys, as is well known, is produced by a drum-shaped
+expansion of the larynx. It was curious to watch the animal while
+venting its hollow cavernous roar, and observe how small was the
+muscular exertion employed. When howlers are seen in the forest,
+there are generally three or four of them mounted on the topmost
+branches of a tree. It does not appear that their harrowing roar
+is emitted from sudden alarm; at least, it was not so in captive
+individuals. It is probable, however, that the noise serves to
+intimidate their enemies. I did not meet with the Mycetes
+stramineus in any other part of the Amazons region; in the
+neighbourhood of Para a reddish-coloured species prevails (M.
+Belzebuth); in the narrow channels near Breves I shot a large,
+entirely black kind; another yellow-handed species, according to
+the report of the natives, inhabits the island of Macajo, which
+is probably the M. flavimanus of Kuhl; some distance up the
+Tapajos the only howler found is a brownish-black species; and on
+the Upper Amazons, the sole species seen was the Mycetes ursinus,
+whose fur is of a shining yellowish-red colour.
+
+In the dry forests of Villa Nova I saw a rattlesnake for the
+first time. I was returning home one day through a narrow alley,
+when I heard a pattering noise close to me. Hard by was a tall
+palm tree, whose head was heavily weighted with parasitic plants,
+and I thought the noise was a warning that it was about to fall.
+The wind lulled for a few moments, and then there was no doubt
+that the noise proceeded from the ground. On turning my head in
+that direction, a sudden plunge startled me, and a heavy gliding
+motion betrayed a large serpent making off almost from beneath my
+feet. The ground is always so encumbered with rotting leaves and
+branches that one only discovers snakes when they are in the act
+of moving away. The residents of Villa Nova would not believe
+that I had seen a rattlesnake in their neighbourhood; in fact, it
+is not known to occur in the forests at all, its place being the
+open campos, where, near Santarem, I killed several. On my second
+visit to Villa Nova I saw another. I had then a favourite little
+dog, named Diamante, who used to accompany me in my rambles. One
+day he rushed into the thicket, and made a dead set at a large
+snake, whose head I saw raised above the herbage. The foolish
+little brute approached quite close, and then the serpent reared
+its tail slightly in a horizontal position and shook its terrible
+rattle. It was many minutes before I could get the dog away; and
+this incident, as well as the one already related, shows how slow
+the reptile is to make the fatal spring.
+
+I was much annoyed, and at the same time amused, with the Urubu
+vultures. The Portuguese call them corvos or crows; in colour and
+general appearance they somewhat resemble rooks, but they are
+much larger, and have naked, black, wrinkled skin about their
+face and throat. They assemble in great numbers in the villages
+about the end of the wet season, and are then ravenous with
+hunger. My cook could not leave the kitchen open at the back of
+the house for a moment while the dinner was cooking, on account
+of their thievish propensities. Some of them were always
+loitering about, watching their opportunity, and the instant the
+kitchen was left unguarded, the bold marauders marched in and
+lifted the lids off the saucepans with their beaks to rob them of
+their contents. The boys of the village lie in wait, and shoot
+them with bow and arrow; and vultures have consequently acquired
+such a dread of these weapons, that they may be often kept off by
+hanging a bow from the rafters of the kitchen. As the dry season
+advances, the hosts of Urubus follow the fishermen to the lakes,
+where they gorge themselves with the offal of the fisheries.
+Towards February, they return to the villages, and are then not
+nearly so ravenous as before their summer trips.
+
+The insects of Villa Nova are, to a great extent, the same as
+those of Santarem and the Tapajos. A few species of all orders,
+however, are found here, which occurred nowhere else on the
+Amazons, besides several others which are properly considered
+local varieties or races of others found at Para, on the Northern
+shore of the Amazons, or in other parts of Tropical America. The
+Hymenoptera were especially numerous, as they always are in
+districts which possess a sandy soil; but the many interesting
+facts which I gleaned relative to their habits will be more
+conveniently introduced when I treat of the same or similar
+species found in the localities above-named.
+
+In the broad alleys of the forest several species of Morpho were
+common. One of these is a sister form to the Morpho Hecuba, which
+I have mentioned as occurring at Obydos. The Villa Nova kind
+differs from Hecuba sufficiently to be considered a distinct
+species, and has been described under the name of M. Cisseis; but
+it is clearly only a local variety of it, the range of the two
+being limited by the barrier of the broad Amazons. It is a grand
+sight to see these colossal butterflies by twos and threes
+floating at a great height in the still air of a tropical
+morning. They flap their wings only at long intervals, for I have
+noticed them to sail a very considerable distance without a
+stroke. Their wing-muscles and the thorax to which they are
+attached are very feeble in comparison with the wide extent and
+weight of the wings; but the large expanse of these members
+doubtless assists the insects in maintaining their aerial course.
+Morphos are among the most conspicuous of the insect denizens of
+Tropical American forests, and the broad glades of the Villa Nova
+woods seemed especially suited to them, for I noticed here six
+species. The largest specimens of Morpho Cisseis measure seven
+inches and a half in expanse. Another smaller kind, which I could
+not capture, was of a pale silvery-blue colour, and the polished
+surface of its wings flashed like a silver speculum as the insect
+flapped its wings at a great elevation in the sunlight.
+
+To resume our voyage-- We left Villa Nova on the 4th of December.
+A light wind on the 5th carried us across to the opposite shore
+and past the mouth of the Parana-mirim do arco, or the little
+river of the bow, so-called on account of its being a short arm
+of the main river, of a curved shape, and rejoining the Amazons a
+little below Villa Nova. On the 6th, after passing a large island
+in mid-river, we arrived at a place where a line of perpendicular
+clay cliffs, called the Barreiros de Cararaucu, diverts slightly
+the course of the main stream, as at Obydos. A little below these
+cliffs were a few settlers' houses; here Penna remained ten days
+to trade, a delay which I turned to good account in augmenting
+very considerably my collections.
+
+At the first house a festival was going forward. We anchored at
+some distance from the shore, on account of the water being
+shoaly, and early in the morning three canoes put off, laden with
+salt fish, oil of manatee, fowls and bananas-- wares which the
+owners wished to exchange for different articles required for the
+festa. Soon after I went ashore. The head man was a tall, well-
+made, civilised Tapuyo, named Marcellino, who, with his wife, a
+thin, active, wiry old squaw, did the honours of their house, I
+thought, admirably. The company consisted of fifty or sixty
+Indians and Mamelucos; some of them knew Portuguese, but the Tupi
+language was the only one used amongst themselves. The festival
+was in honour of our Lady of Conception; and, when the people
+learnt that Penna had on board an image of the saint handsomer
+than their own, they put off in their canoes to borrow it;
+Marcellino taking charge of the doll, covering it carefully with
+a neatly-bordered white towel. On landing with the image, a
+procession was formed from the port to the house, and salutes
+fired from a couple of lazarino guns, the saint being afterwards
+carefully deposited in the family oratorio. After a litany and
+hymn were sung in the evening, all assembled to supper around a
+large mat spread on a smooth terrace-like space in front of the
+house. The meal consisted of a large boiled Pirarucu, which had
+been harpooned for the purpose in the morning, stewed and roasted
+turtle, piles of mandioca-meal and bananas. The old lady, with
+two young girls, showed the greatest activity in waiting on the
+guests, Marcellino standing gravely by, observing what was wanted
+and giving the necessary orders to his wife. When all was done,
+hard drinking began, and soon after there was a dance, to which
+Penna and I were invited. The liquor served was chiefly a spirit
+distilled by the people themselves from mandioca cakes. The
+dances were all of the same class, namely, different varieties of
+the "Landum," an erotic dance similar to the fandango, originally
+learned from the Portuguese. The music was supplied by a couple
+of wire-stringed guitars, played alternately by the young men.
+All passed off very quietly considering the amount of strong
+liquor drunk, and the ball was kept up until sunrise the next
+morning.
+
+We visited all the houses one after the other. One of them was
+situated in a charming spot, with a broad sandy beach before it,
+at the entrance to the Parana-mirim do Mucambo, a channel leading
+to an interior lake, peopled by savages of the Mura tribe. This
+seemed to be the abode of an industrious family, but all the men
+were absent, salting Pirarucu on the lakes. The house, like its
+neighbours, was simply a framework of poles thatched with palm-
+leaves, the walls roughly latticed and plastered with mud; but it
+was larger, and much cleaner inside than the others. It was full
+of women and children, who were busy all day with their various
+employments; some weaving hammocks in a large clumsy frame, which
+held the warp while the shuttle was passed by the hand slowly
+across the six foot breadth of web; others were spinning cotton,
+and others again scraping, pressing, and roasting mandioca. The
+family had cleared and cultivated a large piece of ground; the
+soil was of extraordinary richness, the perpendicular banks of
+the river, near the house, revealing a depth of many feet of
+crumbling vegetable mould. There was a large plantation of
+tobacco, besides the usual patches of Indian-corn, sugar-cane,
+and mandioca; and a grove of cotton, cacao, coffee, and fruit-
+trees surrounded the house. We passed two nights at anchor in
+shoaly water off the beach. The weather was most beautiful, and
+scores of Dolphins rolled and snorted about the canoe all night.
+
+We crossed the river at this point, and entered a narrow channel
+which penetrates the interior of the island of Tupinambarana, and
+leads to a chain of lakes called the Lagos de Cararaucu. A
+furious current swept along the coast, eating into the crumbling
+earthy banks, and strewing the river with debris of the forest.
+The mouth of the channel lies about twenty-five miles from Villa
+Nova; the entrance is only about forty yards broad, but it
+expands, a short distance inland, into a large sheet of water. We
+suffered terribly from insect pests during the twenty-four hours
+we remained here. At night it was quite impossible to sleep for
+mosquitoes; they fell upon us by myriads, and without much piping
+came straight at our faces as thick as raindrops in a shower. The
+men crowded into the cabins, and then tried to expel the pests by
+the smoke from burnt rags, but it was of little avail, although
+we were half suffocated during the operation. In the daytime, the
+Motuca, a much larger and more formidable fly than the mosquito,
+insisted upon levying his tax of blood. We had been tormented by
+it for many days past, but this place seemed to be its
+metropolis. The species has been described by Perty, the author
+of the Entomological portion of Spix, and Martius' travels, under
+the name of Hadrus lepidotus. It is a member of the Tabanidae
+family, and indeed is closely related to the Haematopota
+pluvialis, a brown fly which haunts the borders of woods in
+summer time in England. The Motuca is of a bronzed-black colour;
+its proboscis is formed of a bundle of horny lancets, which are
+shorter and broader than is usually the case in the family to
+which it belongs. Its puncture does not produce much pain, but it
+makes such a large gash in the flesh that the blood trickles
+forth in little streams. Many scores of them were flying about
+the canoe all day, and sometimes eight or ten would settle on
+one's ankles at the same time. It is sluggish in its motions, and
+may be easily killed with the fingers when it settles. Penna went
+forward in the montaria to the Pirarucu fishing stations, on a
+lake lying further inland; but he did not succeed in reaching
+them on account of the length and intricacy of the channels; so
+after wasting a day, during which, however, I had a profitable
+ramble in the forest, we again crossed the river, and on the 16th
+continued our voyage along the northern shore.
+
+The clay cliffs of Cararaucu are several miles in length. The
+hard pink and red coloured beds are here extremely thick, and in
+some places present a compact, stony texture. The total height of
+the cliff is from thirty to sixty feet above the mean level of
+the river, and the clay rests on strata of the same coarse iron-
+cemented conglomerate which has already been so often mentioned.
+Large blocks of this latter have been detached and rolled by the
+force of currents up parts of the cliff where they are seen
+resting on terraces of the clay. On the top of all lies a bed of
+sand and vegetable mold, which supports a lofty forest, growing
+up to the very brink of the precipice. After passing these
+barreiros we continued our way along a low uninhabited coast,
+clothed, wherever it was elevated above high-water mark, with the
+usual vividly-coloured forests of the higher Ygapo lands, to
+which the broad and regular fronds of the Murumuru palm, here
+extremely abundant, served as a great decoration. Wherever the
+land was lower than the flood height of the Amazons, Cecropia
+trees prevailed, sometimes scattered over meadows of tall broad-
+leaved grasses, which surrounded shallow pools swarming with
+water-fowl. Alligators were common on most parts of the coast; in
+some places we also saw small herds of Capybaras (a large Rodent
+animal, like a colossal Guinea-pig) among the rank herbage on
+muddy banks, and now and then flocks of the graceful squirrel
+monkey (Chrysothrix sciureus), while the vivacious Caiarara
+(Cebus albifrons) were seen taking flying leaps from tree to
+tree. On the 22nd, we passed the mouth of the most easterly of
+the numerous channels which lead to the large interior lake of
+Saraca, and on the 23rd ,threaded a series of passages between
+islands, where we again saw human habitations, ninety miles
+distant from the last house at Cararaucu. On the 24th we arrived
+at Serpa.
+
+Serpa is a small village, consisting of about eighty houses,
+built on a bank elevated twenty-five feet above the level of the
+river. The beds of Tabatinga clay, which are here intermingled
+with scoria-looking conglomerate, are in some parts of the
+declivity prettily variegated in colour; the name of the town in
+the Tupi language, Ita-coatiara, takes its origin from this
+circumstance, signifying striped or painted rock. It is an old
+settlement, and was once the seat of the district government,
+which had authority over the Barra of the Rio Negro. It was in
+1849 a wretched-looking village, but it has since revived, on
+account of having been chosen by the Steamboat Company of the
+Amazons as a station for steam saw-mills and tile manufactories.
+We arrived on Christmas Eve, when the village presented an
+animated appearance from the number of people congregated for the
+holidays. The port was full of canoes, large and small, from the
+montaria, with its arched awning of woven lianas and Maranta
+leaves, to the two-masted cuberta of the peddling trader, who had
+resorted to the place in the hope of trafficking with settlers
+coming from remote sitios to attend the festival. We anchored
+close to an igarite, whose owner was an old Juri Indian,
+disfigured by a large black tatooed patch in the middle of his
+face, and by his hair being close cropped, except a fringe in
+front of the head.
+
+In the afternoon we went ashore. The population seemed to consist
+chiefly of semi-civilised Indians, living as usual in half-
+finished mud hovels. The streets were irregularly laid out, and
+overrun with weeds and bushes swarming with "mocuim," a very
+minute scarlet acarus, which sweeps off to one's clothes in
+passing, and attaching itself in great numbers to the skin causes
+a most disagreeable itching. The few whites and better class of
+mameluco residents live in more substantial dwellings, white-
+washed and tiled. All, both men and women, seemed to me much more
+cordial, and at the same time more brusque in their manners, than
+any Brazilians I had yet met with. One of them, Captain Manoel
+Joaquim, I knew for a long time afterwards; a lively,
+intelligent, and thoroughly good-hearted man, who had quite a
+reputation throughout the interior of the country for generosity,
+and for being a firm friend of foreign residents and stray
+travellers. Some of these excellent people were men of substance,
+being owners of trading vessels, slaves, and extensive
+plantations of cacao and tobacco.
+
+We stayed at Serpa five days. Some of the ceremonies observed at
+Christmas were interesting, inasmuch as they were the same, with
+little modification, as those taught by the Jesuit missionaries
+more than a century ago to the aboriginal tribes whom they had
+induced to settle on this spot. In the morning, all the women and
+girls, dressed in white gauze chemises and showy calico print
+petticoats, went in procession to church, first going the round
+of the town to take up the different "mordomos," or stewards,
+whose office is to assist the Juiz of the festa. These stewards
+carried each a long white reed, decorated with coloured ribbons;
+several children also accompanied, grotesquely decked with
+finery. Three old squaws went in front, holding the "saire," a
+large semi-circular frame, clothed with cotton and studded with
+ornaments, bits of looking-glass, and so forth. This they danced
+up and down, singing all the time a monotonous whining hymn in
+the Tupi language, and at frequent intervals turning round to
+face the followers, who then all stopped for a few moments. I was
+told that this saire was a device adopted by the Jesuits to
+attract the savages to church, for these everywhere followed the
+mirrors, in which they saw as it were magically reflected their
+own persons.
+
+In the evening good-humoured revelry prevailed on all sides. The
+negroes, who had a saint of their own colour--St. Benedito--had
+their holiday apart from the rest, and spent the whole night
+singing and dancing to the music of a long drum (gamba) and the
+caracasha. The drum was a hollow log, having one end covered with
+skin, and was played by the performer sitting astride upon it,
+and drumming with his knuckles. The caracasha is a notched bamboo
+tube, which produces a harsh rattling noise by passing a hard
+stick over the notches. Nothing could exceed in dreary monotony
+this music and the singing and dancing, which were kept up with
+unflagging vigour all night long. The Indians did not get up a
+dance--for the whites and mamelucos had monopolised all the
+pretty coloured girls for their own ball, and the older squaws
+preferred looking on to taking a part themselves. Some of their
+husbands joined the negroes, and got drunk very quickly. It was
+amusing to notice how voluble the usually taciturn redskins
+became under the influence of liquor. The negroes and Indians
+excused their own intemperance by saying the whites were getting
+drunk at the other end of the town, which was quite true.
+
+We left Serpa on the 29th of December, in company of an old
+planter named Senor Joao (John) Trinidade, at whose sitio,
+situated opposite the mouth of the Madeira, Penna intended to
+spend a few days. Our course on the 29th and 30th lay through
+narrow channels between islands. On the 31st we passed the last
+of these, and then beheld to the south a sea-like expanse of
+water, where the Madeira, the greatest tributary of the Amazons,
+after 2000 miles of course, blends its waters with those of the
+king of rivers. I was hardly prepared for a junction of waters on
+so vast a scale as this, now nearly 900 miles from the sea. While
+travelling week after week along the somewhat monotonous stream,
+often hemmed in between islands, and becoming thoroughly familiar
+with it, my sense of the magnitude of this vast water system had
+become gradually deadened; but this noble sight renewed the first
+feelings of wonder. One is inclined, in such places as these, to
+think the Paraenses do not exaggerate much when they call the
+Amazons the Mediterranean of South America. Beyond the mouth of
+the Madeira, the Amazons sweeps down in a majestic reach, to all
+appearance not a whit less in breadth before than after this
+enormous addition to its waters. The Madeira does not ebb and
+flow simultaneously with the Amazons; it rises and sinks about
+two months earlier, so that it was now fuller than the main
+river. Its current therefore, poured forth freely from its mouth,
+carrying with it a long line of floating trees and patches of
+grass which had been torn from its crumbly banks in the lower
+part of its course. The current, however, did not reach the
+middle of the main stream, but swept along nearer to the southern
+shore.
+
+A few items of information which I gleaned relative to this river
+may find a place here. The Madeira is navigable for about 480
+miles from its mouth; a series of cataracts and rapids then
+commences, which extends, with some intervals of quiet water,
+about 16o miles, beyond which is another long stretch of
+navigable stream. Canoes sometimes descend from Villa Bella, in
+the interior province of Matto Grosso, but not so frequently as
+formerly, and I could hear of very few persons who had attempted
+of late years to ascend the river to that point. It was explored
+by the Portuguese in the early part of the eighteenth century,
+the chief and now the only town on its banks, Borba, 150 miles
+from its mouth, being founded in 1756. Up to the year 1853, the
+lower part of the river, as far as about a hundred miles beyond
+Borba, was regularly visited by traders from Villa Nova, Serpa,
+and Barra, to collect sarsaparilla, copauba balsam, turtle-oil,
+and to trade with the Indians, with whom their relations were
+generally on a friendly footing. In that year many India-rubber
+collectors resorted to this region, stimulated by the high price
+(2s. 6d. a pound) which the article was at that time fetching at
+Para; and then the Araras, a fierce and intractable tribe of
+Indians, began to be troublesome. They attacked several canoes
+and massacred everyone on board, the Indian crews as well as the
+white traders. Their plan was to lurk in ambush near the sandy
+beaches where canoes stop for the night, and then fall upon the
+people while asleep. Sometimes they came under pretence of
+wishing to trade, and then as soon as they could get the trader
+at a disadvantage, shot him and his crew from behind trees. Their
+arms were clubs, bows, and Taquara arrows, the latter a
+formidable weapon tipped with a piece of flinty bamboo shaped
+like a spear-head; they could propel it with such force as to
+pierce a man completely through the body. The whites of Borba
+made reprisals, inducing the warlike Mundurucus, who had an old
+feud with the Araras, to assist them. This state of things lasted
+two or three years, and made a journey up the Madeira a risky
+undertaking, as the savages attacked all corners. Besides the
+Araras and the Mundurucus, the latter a tribe friendly to the
+whites, attached to agriculture, and inhabiting the interior of
+the country from the Madeira to beyond the Tapajos, two other
+tribes of Indians now inhabit the lower Madeira, namely, the
+Parentintins and the Muras. Of the former I did not hear much;
+the Muras lead a lazy quiet life on the banks of the labyrinths
+of lakes and channels which intersect the low country on both
+sides of the river below Borba. The Araras are one of those
+tribes which do not plant mandioca; and indeed have no settled
+habitations. They are very similar in stature and other physical
+features to the Mundurucus, although differing from them so
+widely in habits and social condition. They paint their chins red
+with Urucu (Anatto), and have usually a black tattooed streak on
+each side of the face, running from the corner of the mouth to
+the temple. They have not yet learned the use of firearms, have
+no canoes, and spend their lives roaming over the interior of the
+country, living on game and wild fruits. When they wish to cross
+a river, they make a temporary canoe with the thick bark of
+trees, which they secure in the required shape of a boat by means
+of lianas. I heard it stated by a trader of Santarem, who
+narrowly escaped being butchered by them in 1854, that the Araras
+numbered 2000 fighting men. The number I think must be
+exaggerated, as it generally is with regard to Brazilian tribes.
+When the Indians show a hostile disposition to the whites, I
+believe it is most frequently owing to some provocation they have
+received at their hands; for the first impulse of the Brazilian
+red-man is to respect Europeans; they have a strong dislike to be
+forced into their service, but if strangers visit them with a
+friendly intention they are well treated. It is related, however,
+that the Indians of the Madeira were hostile to the Portuguese
+from the first; it was then the tribes of Muras and Torazes who
+attacked travellers. In 1855 I met with an American, an odd
+character named Kemp, who had lived for many years amongst the
+Indians on the Madeira, near the abandoned settlement of Crato.
+He told me his neighbours were a kindly-disposed and cheerful
+people, and that the onslaught of the Araras was provoked by a
+trader from Bara, who wantonly fired into a family of them,
+killing the parents, and carrying off their children to be
+employed as domestic servants.
+
+We remained nine days at the sitio of Senor John Trinidade. It is
+situated on a tract of high Ygapo land, which is raised, however,
+only a few inches above high-water mark. This skirts the northern
+shore for a long distance; the soil consisting of alluvium and
+rich vegetable mould, and exhibiting the most exuberant
+fertility. Such districts are the first to be settled on in this
+country, and the whole coast for many miles was dotted with
+pleasant-looking sitios like that of our friend. The
+establishment was a large one, the house and out-buildings
+covering a large space of ground. The industrious proprietor
+seemed to be Jack-of-all-trades; he was planter, trader,
+fisherman, and canoe-builder, and a large igarite was now on the
+stocks under a large shed. There was great pleasure in
+contemplating this prosperous farm, from its being worked almost
+entirely by free labour; in fact, by one family, and its
+dependents. John Trinidade had only one female slave; his other
+workpeople were a brother and sister-in-law, two godsons, a free
+negro, one or two Indians, and a family of Muras. Both he and his
+wife were mamelucos; the negro children called them always father
+and mother. The order, abundance, and comfort about the place
+showed what industry and good management could effect in this
+country without slave-labour. But the surplus produce of such
+small plantations is very trifling. All we saw had been done
+since the disorders of 1835-6, during which John Trinidade was a
+great sufferer; he was obliged to fly, and the Mura Indians
+destroyed his house and plantations. There was a large, well-
+weeded grove of cacao along the banks of the river, comprising
+about 8000 trees, and further inland considerable plantations of
+tobacco, mandioca, Indian corn, fields of rice, melons, and
+watermelons. Near the house was a kitchen garden, in which grew
+cabbages and onions, introduced from Europe, besides a wonderful
+variety of tropical vegetables. It must not be supposed that
+these plantations and gardens were enclosed or neatly kept, such
+is never the case in this country where labour is so scarce; but
+it was an unusual thing to see vegetables grown at all, and the
+ground tolerably well weeded. The space around the house was
+plentifully planted with fruit-trees, some, belonging to the
+Anonaceous order, yielding delicious fruits large as a child's
+head, and full of custardy pulp which it is necessary to eat with
+a spoon--besides oranges, lemons, guavas, alligator pears, Abius
+(Achras cainito), Genipapas, and bananas. In the shade of these,
+coffee trees grew in great luxuriance.
+
+The table was always well supplied with fish, which the Mura who
+was attached to the household as fisherman caught every morning a
+few hundred yards from the port. The chief kinds were the
+Surubim, Pira-peeua, and Piramutaba, three species of Siluridae,
+belonging to the genus Pimelodus. To these we used a sauce in the
+form of a yellow paste, quite new to me, called Arube, which is
+made of the poisonous juice of the mandioca root, boiled down
+before the starch or tapioca is precipitated, and seasoned with
+capsicum peppers. It is kept in stone bottles several weeks
+before using, and is a most appetising relish to fish. Tucupi,
+another sauce made also from mandioca juice, is much more common
+in the interior of the country than Arube. This is made by
+boiling or heating the pure liquid, after the tapioca has been
+separated, daily for several days in succession, and seasoning it
+with peppers and small fishes; when old, it has the taste of
+essence of anchovies. It is generally made as a liquid, but the
+Juri and Miranha tribes on the Japura make it up in the form of a
+black paste by a mode of preparation I could not learn; it is
+then called Tucupi-pixuna, or black Tucupi-- I have seen the
+Indians on the Tapajos, where fish is scarce, season Tucupi with
+Sauba ants. It is there used chiefly as a sauce to Tacaca,
+another preparation from mandioca, consisting of the starch
+beaten up in boiling water.
+
+I thoroughly enjoyed the nine days we spent at this place. Our
+host and hostess took an interest in my pursuit; one of the best
+chambers in the house was given up to me, and the young men took
+me on long rambles in the neighbouring forests. I saw very little
+hard work going forward. Everyone rose with the daw, and went
+down to the river to bathe; then came the never-failing cup of
+rich and strong coffee, after which all proceeded to their
+avocations. At this time, nothing was being done at the
+plantations; the cacao and tobacco crops were not ripe; weeding
+time was over; and the only work on foot was the preparation of a
+little farinha by the women. The men dawdled about-- went
+shooting and fishing, or did trifling jobs about the house. The
+only laborious work done during the year in these establishments
+is the felling of timber for new clearings; this happens at the
+beginning of the dry season, namely, from July to September.
+Whatever employment the people were engaged in, they did not
+intermit it during the hot hours of the day. Those who went into
+the woods took their dinners with them--a small bag of farinha,
+and a slice of salt fish. About sunset all returned to the house;
+they then had their frugal suppers, and towards eight o'clock,
+after coming to ask a blessing of the patriarchal head of the
+household, went off to their hammocks to sleep.
+
+There was another visitor besides ourselves, a negro, whom John
+Trinidade introduced to me as his oldest and dearest friend, who
+had saved his life during the revolt of 1835. I have,
+unfortunately, forgotten his name; he was a freeman, and had a
+sitio of his own situated about a day's journey from this. There
+was the same manly bearing about him that I had noticed with
+pleasure in many other free negroes; but his quiet, earnest
+manner, and the thoughtful and benevolent expression of his
+countenance, showed him to be a superior man of his class. He
+told me he had been intimate with our host for thirty years, and
+that a wry word had never passed between them. At the
+commencement of the disorders of 1835, he got into the secret of
+a plot for assassinating his friend, hatched by some villains
+whose only cause of enmity was their owing him money and envying
+his prosperity. It was such as these who aroused the stupid and
+brutal animosity of the Muras against the whites. The negro, on
+obtaining this news, set off alone in a montaria on a six hour
+journey in the dead of night to warn his "compadre" of the fate
+in store for him, and thus gave him time to fly. It was a
+pleasing sight to notice the cordiality of feeling and respect
+for each other shown by these two old men; for they used to spend
+hours together enjoying the cool breeze, seated under a shed
+which overlooked the broad river, and talking of old times.
+
+John Trinidade was famous for his tobacco and cigarettes, as he
+took great pains in preparing the Tauari, or envelope, which is
+formed of the inner bark of a tree, separated into thin papery
+layers. Many trees yield it, among them the Courataria Guianensis
+and the Sapucaya nut-tree, both belonging to the same natural
+order. The bark is cut into long strips, of a breadth suitable
+for folding the tobacco; the inner portion is then separated,
+boiled, hammered with a wooden mallet, and exposed to the air for
+a few hours. Some kinds have a reddish colour and an astringent
+taste, but the sort prepared by our host was of a beautiful
+satiny-white hue, and perfectly tasteless. He obtained sixty,
+eighty, and sometimes a hundred layers from the same strip of
+bark. The best tobacco in Brazil is grown in the neighbourhood of
+Borba, on the Madeira, where the soil is a rich black loam; but
+tobacco of very good quality was grown by John Trinidade and his
+neighbours along this coast, on similar soil. It is made up into
+slender rolls, an inch and a half in diameter and six feet in
+length, tapering at each end. When the leaves are gathered and
+partially dried, layers of them, after the mid-ribs are plucked
+out, are placed on a mat and rolled up into the required shape.
+This is done by the women and children, who also manage the
+planting, weeding, and gathering of the tobacco. The process of
+tightening the rolls is a long and heavy task, and can be done
+only by men. The cords used for this purpose are of very great
+strength. They are made of the inner bark of a peculiar light-
+wooded and slender tree, called Uaissima, which yields, when
+beaten out, a great quantity of most beautiful silky fibre, many
+feet in length. I think this might be turned to some use by
+English manufacturers, if they could obtain it in large quantity.
+The tree is abundant on light soils on the southern side of the
+Lower Amazons, and grows very rapidly. When the rolls are
+sufficiently well pressed, they are bound round with narrow
+thongs of remarkable toughness, cut from the bark of the climbing
+Jacitara palm tree (Desmoncus macracanthus), and are then ready
+for sale or use.
+
+It was very pleasant to roam in our host's cacaoal. The ground
+was clear of underwood, the trees were about thirty feet in
+height, and formed a dense shade. Two species of monkey
+frequented the trees, and I was told committed great depredations
+when the fruit was ripe. One of these, the macaco prego (Cebus
+cirrhifer?), is a most impudent thief; it destroys more than it
+eats by its random, hasty way of plucking and breaking the
+fruits, and when about to return to the forest, carries away all
+it can in its hands or under its arms. The other species, the
+pretty little Chrysothrix sciureus, contents itself with
+devouring what it can on the spot. A variety of beautiful insects
+basked on the foliage where stray gleams of sunlight glanced
+through the canopy of broad soft-green leaves, and numbers of an
+elegant, long-legged tiger beetle (Odontocheila egregia) ran and
+flew about over the herbage.
+
+We left this place on the 8th of January, and on the afternoon of
+the 9th, arrived at Matari, a miserable little settlement of Mura
+Indians. Here we again anchored and went ashore. The place
+consisted of about twenty slightly-built mud-hovels, and had a
+most forlorn appearance, notwithstanding the luxuriant forest in
+its rear. A horde of these Indians settled here many years ago,
+on the site of an abandoned missionary station; and the
+government had lately placed a resident director over them, with
+the intention of bringing the hitherto intractable savages under
+authority. This, however, seemed to promise no other result than
+that of driving them to their old solitary haunts on the banks of
+the interior waters, for many families had already withdrawn
+themselves. The absence of the usual cultivated trees and plants
+gave the place a naked and poverty-stricken aspect. I entered one
+of the hovels where several women were employed cooking a meal.
+Portions of a large fish were roasting over a fire made in the
+middle of the low chamber, and the entrails were scattered about
+the floor, on which the women with their children were squatted.
+These had a timid, distrustful expression of countenance, and
+their bodies were begrimed with black mud, which is smeared over
+the skin as a protection against mosquitoes. The children were
+naked, the women wore petticoats of coarse cloth, ragged round
+the edges, and stained in blotches with murixi, a dye made from
+the bark of a tree. One of them wore a necklace of monkey's
+teeth. There were scarcely any household utensils; the place was
+bare with the exception of two dirty grass hammocks hung in the
+corners. I missed the usual mandioca sheds behind the house, with
+their surrounding cotton, cacao, coffee, and lemon trees. Two or
+three young men of the tribe were lounging about the low open
+doorway. They were stoutly-built fellows, but less well-
+proportioned than the semi-civilised Indians of the Lower Amazons
+generally are. Their breadth of chest was remarkable, and their
+arms were wonderfully thick and muscular. The legs appeared short
+in proportion to the trunk; the expression of their countenances
+was unmistakably more sullen and brutal, and the skin of a darker
+hue than is common in the Brazilian red man. Before we left the
+hut, an old couple came in; the husband carrying his paddle, bow,
+arrows, and harpoon, the woman bent beneath the weight of a large
+basket filled with palm fruits. The man was of low stature and
+had a wild appearance from the long coarse hair which hung over
+his forehead. Both his lips were pierced with holes, as is usual
+with the older Muras seen on the river. They used formerly to
+wear tusks of the wild hog in these holes whenever they went out
+to encounter strangers or their enemies in war. The gloomy
+savagery, filth, and poverty of the people in this place made me
+feel quite melancholy, and I was glad to return to the canoe.
+They offered us no civilities; they did not even pass the
+ordinary salutes, which all the semi-civilised and many savage
+Indians proffer on a first meeting. The men persecuted Penna for
+cashaca, which they seemed to consider the only good thing the
+white man brings with him. As they had nothing whatever to give
+in exchange, Penna declined to supply them. They followed us as
+we descended to the port, becoming very troublesome when about a
+dozen had collected together. They brought their empty bottles
+with them and promised fish and turtle, if we would only trust
+them first with the coveted aguardente, or cau-im, as they called
+it. Penna was inexorable; he ordered the crew to weigh anchor,
+and the disappointed savages remained hooting after us with all
+their might from the top of the bank as we glided away.
+
+The Muras have a bad reputation all over this part of the
+Amazons, the semi-civilised Indians being quite as severe upon
+them as the white settlers. Everyone spoke of them as lazy,
+thievish, untrustworthy, and cruel. They have a greater
+repugnance than any other class of Indians to settled habits,
+regular labour, and the service of the whites; their distaste, in
+fact, to any approximation towards civilised life is invincible.
+Yet most of these faults are only an exaggeration of the
+fundamental defects of character in the Brazilian red man. There
+is nothing, I think, to show that the Muras had a different
+origin from the nobler agricultural tribes belonging to the Tupi
+nation, to some of whom they are close neighbours, although the
+very striking contrast in their characters and habits would
+suggest the conclusion that their origin had been different, in
+the same way as the Semangs of Malacca, for instance, with regard
+to the Malays. They are merely an offshoot from them, a number of
+segregated hordes becoming degraded by a residence most likely of
+very many centuries in Ygapo lands, confined to a fish diet, and
+obliged to wander constantly in search of food. Those tribes
+which are supposed to be more nearly related to the Tupis are
+distinguished by their settled agricultural habits, their living
+in well-constructed houses, their practice of many arts, such as
+the manufacture of painted earthenware, weaving, and their
+general custom of tattooing, social organisation, obedience to
+chiefs, and so forth. The Muras have become a nation of nomade
+fishermen, ignorant of agriculture and all other arts practised
+by their neighbours. They do not build substantial and fixed
+dwellings, but live in separate families or small hordes,
+wandering from place to place along the margins of those rivers
+and lakes which most abound in fish and turtle. At each resting-
+place they construct temporary huts at the edge of the stream,
+shifting them higher or lower on the banks, as the waters advance
+or recede. Their canoes originally were made simply of the thick
+bark of trees, bound up into a semi-cylindrical shape by means of
+woody lianas; these are now rarely seen, as most families possess
+montarias, which they have contrived to steal from the settlers
+from time to time. Their food is chiefly fish and turtle, which
+they are very expert in capturing. It is said by their neighbours
+that they dive after turtles, and succeed in catching them by the
+legs, which I believe is true in the shallow lakes where turtles
+are imprisoned in the dry season. They shoot fish with bow and
+arrow, and have no notion of any other method of cooking it than
+by roasting.
+
+It is not quite clear whether the whole tribe were originally
+quite ignorant of agriculture; as some families on the banks of
+the streams behind Villa Nova, who could scarcely have acquired
+the art in recent times, plant mandioca, but, as a general rule,
+the only vegetable food used by the Muras is bananas and wild
+fruits. The original home of this tribe was the banks of the
+Lower Madeira. It appears they were hostile to the European
+settlers from the beginning-- plundering their sitios, waylaying
+their canoes, and massacring all who fell into their power. About
+fifty years ago, the Portuguese succeeded in turning the warlike
+propensities of the Mundurucus against them and these, in the
+course of many years' persecution, greatly weakened the power of
+the tribe, and drove a great part of them from their seats on the
+banks of the Madeira. The Muras are now scattered in single
+hordes and families over a wide extent of country bordering the
+main river from Villa Nova to Catua, near Ega, a distance of 800
+miles. Since the disorders of 1835-6, when they committed great
+havoc amongst the peaceable settlements from Santarem to the Rio
+Negro, and were pursued and slaughtered in great numbers by the
+Mundurucus in alliance with the Brazilians, they have given no
+serious trouble.
+
+There is one curious custom of the Muras which requires noticing
+before concluding this digression; this is the practice of snuff-
+taking with peculiar ceremonies. The snuff is called Parica, and
+is a highly stimulating powder made from the seeds of a species
+of Inga, belonging to the Leguminous order of plants. The seeds
+are dried in the sun, pounded in wooden mortars, and kept in
+bamboo tubes. When they are ripe, and the snuff-making season
+sets in, they have a fuddling-bout, lasting many days, which the
+Brazilians call a Quarentena, and which forms a kind of festival
+of a semi-religious character. They begin by drinking large
+quantities of caysuma and cashiri, fermented drinks made of
+various fruits and mandioca, but they prefer cashaca, or rum,
+when they can get it. In a short time they drink themselves into
+a soddened semi-intoxicated state, and then commence taking the
+Parica. For this purpose they pair off, and each of the partners,
+taking a reed containing a quantity of the snuff, after going
+through a deal of unintelligible mummery, blows the contents with
+all his force into the nostrils of his companion. The effect on
+the usually dull and taciturn savages is wonderful; they become
+exceedingly talkative, sing, shout, and leap about in the wildest
+excitement. A reaction soon follows; more drinking is then
+necessary to rouse them from their stupor, and thus they carry on
+for many days in succession.
+
+The Mauhes also use the Parica, although it is not known among
+their neighbours the Mundurucus. Their manner of taking it is
+very different from that of the swinish Muras, it being kept in
+the form of a paste, and employed chiefly as a preventive against
+ague in the months between the dry and wet seasons, when the
+disease prevails. When a dose is required, a small quantity of
+the paste is dried and pulverised on a flat shell, and the
+powder, then drawn up into both nostrils at once through two
+vulture quills secured together by cotton thread. The use of
+Parica was found by the early travellers amongst the Omaguas, a
+section of the Tupis who formerly lived on the Upper Amazons, a
+thousand miles distant from the homes of the Mauhes and Muras.
+This community of habits is one of those facts which support the
+view of the common origin and near relationship of the Amazonian
+Indians.
+
+After leaving Matari, we continued our voyage along the northern
+shore. The banks of the river were of moderate elevation during
+several days' journey; the terra firma lying far in the interior,
+and the coast being either lowland or masked with islands of
+alluvial formation. On the 14th we passed the upper mouth of the
+Parana-mirim de Eva, an arm of the river of small breadth, formed
+by a straggling island some ten miles in length, lying parallel
+to the northern bank. On passing the western end of this, the
+main land again appeared; a rather high rocky coast, clothed with
+a magnificent forest of rounded outline, which continues hence
+for twenty miles to the mouth of the Rio Negro, and forms the
+eastern shore of that river. Many houses of settlers, built at a
+considerable elevation on the wooded heights, now enlivened the
+riverbanks. One of the first objects which greeted us here was a
+beautiful bird we had not hitherto met with, namely, the scarlet
+and black tanager (Ramphoccelus nigrogularis), flocks of which
+were seen sporting about the trees on the edge of the water,
+their flame-coloured liveries lighting up the masses of dark-
+green foliage.
+
+The weather, from the 14th to the i8th, was wretched; it rained
+sometimes for twelve hours in succession, not heavily, but in a
+steady drizzle, such as we are familiar with in our English
+climate. We landed at several places on the coast, Penna to trade
+as usual, and I to ramble in the forest in search of birds and
+insects. In one spot the wooded slope enclosed a very picturesque
+scene: a brook, flowing through a ravine in the high bank, fell
+in many little cascades to the broad river beneath, its margins
+decked out with an infinite variety of beautiful plants. Wild
+bananas arched over the watercourse, and the trunks of the trees
+in its vicinity were clothed with ferns, large-leaved species
+belonging to the genus Lygodium, which, like Osmunda, have their
+spore-cases collected together on contracted leaves. On the 18th,
+we arrived at a large fazenda (plantation and cattle farm),
+called Jatuarana. A rocky point here projects into the stream,
+and as we found it impossible to stem the strong current which
+whirled around it, we crossed over to the southern shore. Canoes,
+in approaching the Rio Negro, generally prefer the southern side
+on account of the slackness of the current near the banks. Our
+progress, however, was most tediously slow, for the regular east
+wind had now entirely ceased, and the vento de cima or wind from
+up river, having taken its place, blew daily for a few hours dead
+against us. The weather was oppressively close, and every
+afternoon a squall arose, which, however, as it came from the
+right quarter and blew for an hour or two, was very welcome. We
+made acquaintance on this coast with a new insect pest, the Pium,
+a minute fly, two thirds of a line in length, which here
+commences its reign, and continues henceforward as a terrible
+scourge along the upper river, or Solimoens, to the end of the
+navigation on the Amazons. It comes forth only by day, relieving
+the mosquito at sunrise with the greatest punctuality, and occurs
+only near the muddy shores of the stream, not one ever being
+found in the shade of the forest. In places where it is abundant,
+it accompanies canoes in such dense swarms as to resemble thin
+clouds of smoke. It made its appearance in this way the first day
+after we crossed the river. Before I was aware of the presence of
+flies, I felt a slight itching on my neck, wrist, and ankles,
+and, on looking for the cause, saw a number of tiny objects
+having a disgusting resemblance to lice, adhering to the skin.
+This was my introduction to the much-talked-of Pium. On close
+examination, they are seen to be minute two-winged insects, with
+dark coloured body and pale legs and wings, the latter closed
+lengthwise over the back. They alight imperceptibly, and
+squatting close, fall at once to work; stretching forward their
+long front legs, which are in constant motion and seem to act as
+feelers, and then applying their short, broad snouts to the skin.
+Their abdomens soon become distended and red with blood, and
+then, their thirst satisfied, they slowly move off, sometimes so
+stupefied with their potations that they can scarcely fly. No
+pain is felt while they are at work, but they each leave a small
+circular raised spot on the skin and a disagreeable irritation.
+The latter may be avoided in great measure by pressing out the
+blood which remains in the spot; but this is a troublesome task
+when one has several hundred punctures in the course of a day. I
+took the trouble to dissect specimens to ascertain the way in
+which the little pests operate. The mouth consists of a pair of
+thick fleshy lips, and two triangular horny lancets, answering to
+the upper lip and tongue of other insects. This is applied
+closely to the skin, a puncture is made with the lancets, and the
+blood then sucked through between these into the oesophagus, the
+circular spot which results coinciding with the shape of the
+lips. In the course of a few days the red spots dry up, and the
+skin in time becomes blackened with the endless number of
+discoloured punctures that are crowded together. The irritation
+they produce is more acutely felt by some persons than others. I
+once travelled with a middle-aged Portuguese, who was laid up for
+three weeks from the attacks of Pium; his legs being swelled to
+an enormous size, and the punctures aggravated into spreading
+sores.
+
+A brisk wind from the east sprang tip early in the morning of the
+22nd-- we then hoisted all sail, and made for the mouth of the
+Rio Negro. This noble stream at its junction with the Amazons,
+seems, from its position, to be a direct continuation of the main
+river, while the Solimoens which joins at an angle and is
+somewhat narrower than its tributary, appears to be a branch
+instead of the main trunk of the vast water system. One sees at
+once,therefore,how the early explorers came to give a separate
+name to this upper part of the Amazons. The Brazilians have
+lately taken to applying the convenient term Alto Amazonas (High
+or Upper Amazons) to the Solimoens, and it is probable that this
+will gradually prevail over the old name. The Rio Negro broadens
+considerably from its mouth upwards, and presents the appearance
+of a great lake; its black-dyed waters having no current, and
+seeming to be dammed up by the impetuous flow of the yellow,
+turbid Solimoens, which here belches forth a continuous line of
+uprooted trees and patches of grass, and forms a striking
+contrast with its tributary. In crossing, we passed the line, a
+little more than halfway over, where the waters of the two rivers
+meet and are sharply demarcated from each other. On reaching the
+opposite shore, we found a remarkable change. All our insect
+pests had disappeared, as if by magic, even from the hold of the
+canoe; the turmoil of an agitated, swiftly flowing river, and its
+torn, perpendicular, earthy banks, had given place to tranquil
+water and a coast indented with snug little bays fringed with
+sloping, sandy beaches. The low shore and vivid light-green,
+endlessly-varied foliage, which prevailed on the south side of
+the Amazons, were exchanged for a hilly country, clothed with a
+sombre, rounded, and monotonous forest. Our tedious voyage now
+approached its termination; a light wind carried us gently along
+the coast to the city of Barra, which lies about seven or eight
+miles within the mouth of the river. We stopped for an hour in a
+clean little bay, to bathe and dress, before showing ourselves
+again among civilised people. The bottom was visible at a depth
+of six feet, the white sand taking a brownish tinge from the
+stained but clear water. In the evening I went ashore, and was
+kindly received by Senor Henriques Antony, a warm-hearted
+Italian, established here in a high position as merchant, who was
+the never-failing friend of stray travellers. He placed a couple
+of rooms at my disposal, and in a few hours I was comfortably
+settled in my new quarters, sixty-four days after leaving Obydos.
+
+The town of Barra is built on a tract of elevated, but very
+uneven land, on the left bank of the Rio Negro, and contained, in
+1850, about 3000 inhabitants. There was originally a small fort
+here, erected by the Portuguese, to protect their slave-hunting
+expeditions amongst the numerous tribes of Indians which peopled
+the banks of the river. The most distinguished and warlike of
+these were the Manaos, who were continually at war with the
+neighbouring tribes, and had the custom of enslaving the
+prisoners made during their predatory expeditions. The Portuguese
+disguised their slave-dealing motives under the pretext of
+ransoming (resgatando) these captives; indeed, the term resgatar
+(to ransom) is still applied by the traders on the Upper Amazons
+to the very general, but illegal, practice of purchasing Indian
+children of the wild tribes. The older inhabitants of the place
+remember the time when many hundreds of these captives were
+brought down by a single expedition. In 1809, Barra became the
+chief town of the Rio Negro district; many Portuguese and
+Brazilians from other provinces then settled here; spacious
+houses were built, and it grew, in the course of thirty or forty
+years, to be, next to Santarem, the principal settlement on the
+banks of the Amazons. At the time of my visit it was on the
+decline, in consequence of the growing distrust, or increased
+cunning, of the Indians, who once formed a numerous and the sole
+labouring class, but having got to know that the laws protected
+them against forced servitude, were rapidly withdrawing
+themselves from the place. When the new province of the Amazons
+was established, in 1852, Barra was chosen as the capital, and
+was then invested with the appropriate name of the city of
+Manaos.
+
+The situation of the town has many advantages; the climate is
+healthy; there are no insect pests; the soil is fertile and
+capable of growing all kinds of tropical produce (the coffee of
+the Rio Negro, especially, being of very superior quality), and
+it is near the fork of two great navigable rivers. The
+imagination becomes excited when one reflects on the possible
+future of this place, situated near the centre of the equatorial
+part of South America, in the midst of a region almost as large
+as Europe, every inch of whose soil is of the most exuberant
+fertility, and having water communication on one side with the
+Atlantic, and on the other with the Spanish republics of
+Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Barra is now
+the principal station for the lines of steamers which were
+established in 1853, and passengers and goods are transhipped
+here for the Solimoens and Peru. A steamer runs once a fortnight
+between Para and Barra, and a bi-monthly one plies between this
+place and Nauta in the Peruvian territory. The steam-boat company
+is supported by a large annual grant, about £50,000 sterling,
+from the imperial government. Barra was formerly a pleasant place
+of residence, but it is now in a most wretched plight, suffering
+from a chronic scarcity of the most necessary articles of food.
+The attention of the settlers was formerly devoted almost
+entirely to the collection of the spontaneous produce of the
+forests and rivers; agriculture was consequently neglected, and
+now the neighbourhood does not produce even mandioca-meal
+sufficient for its own consumption. Many of the most necessary
+articles of food, besides all luxuries, come from Portugal,
+England, and North America. A few bullocks are brought now and
+then from Obydos, 500 miles off, the nearest place where cattle
+are reared in any numbers, and these furnish at long intervals a
+supply of fresh beef, but this is generally monopolised by the
+families of government officials. Fowls, eggs, fresh fish,
+turtles, vegetables, and fruit were excessively scarce and dear
+in 1859, when I again visited the place; for instance, six or
+seven shillings were asked for a poor lean fowl, and eggs were
+twopence-halfpenny a piece. In fact, the neighbourhood produces
+scarcely anything; the provincial government is supplied with the
+greater part of its funds from the treasury of Para; its revenue,
+which amounts to about fifty contos of reis (£5600), derived from
+export taxes on the produce of the entire province, not sufficing
+for more than about one-fifth of its expenditure.
+
+The population of the province of the Amazons, according to a
+census taken in 1858, is 55,000 souls; the municipal district of
+Barra, which comprises a large area around the capital,
+containing only 4500 inhabitants. For the government, however, of
+this small number of people, an immense staff of officials is
+gathered together in the capital, and, notwithstanding the
+endless number of trivial formalities which Brazilians employ in
+every small detail of administration, these have nothing to do
+the greater part of their time. None of the people who flocked to
+Barra on the establishment of the new government seemed to care
+about the cultivation of the soil and the raising of food,
+although these would have been most profitable speculations. The
+class of Portuguese who emigrate to Brazil seem to prefer petty
+trading to the honourable pursuit of agriculture. If the English
+are a nation of shopkeepers, what are we to say of the
+Portuguese? I counted in Barra one store for every five dwelling-
+houses. These stores, or tavernas, have often not more than fifty
+pounds' worth of goods for their whole stock, and the Portuguese
+owners, big lusty fellows, stand all day behind their dirty
+counters for the sake of selling a few coppers' worth of liquors,
+or small wares. These men all give the same excuse for not
+applying themselves to agriculture, namely, that no hands can be
+obtained to work on the soil. Nothing can be done with Indians;
+indeed, they are fast leaving the neighbourhood altogether, and
+the importation of negro slaves, in the present praiseworthy
+temper of the Brazilian mind, is out of the question. The
+problem, how to obtain a labouring class for a new and tropical
+country, without slavery, has to be solved before this glorious
+region can become what its delightful climate and exuberant
+fertility fit it for--the abode of a numerous, civilised, and
+happy people.
+
+I found at Barra my companion, Mr. Wallace, who, since our joint
+Tocantins expedition, had been exploring, partly with his
+brother, lately arrived from England, the northeastern coast of
+Marajo, the river Capim (a branch of the Guama, near Para), Monte
+Alegre, and Santarem. He had passed us by night below Serpa, on
+his way to Barra, and so had arrived about three weeks before me.
+Besides ourselves, there were half-a-dozen other foreigners here
+congregated--Englishmen, Germans, and Americans; one of them a
+Natural History collector, the rest traders on the rivers. In the
+pleasant society of these, and of the family of Senor Henriques,
+we passed a delightful time; the miseries of our long river
+voyages were soon forgotten, and in two or three weeks we began
+to talk of further explorations.
+
+Meantime we had almost daily rambles in the neighbouring forest.
+The whole surface of the land down to the water's edge is covered
+by the uniform dark-green rolling forest, the caa-apoam (convex
+woods) of the Indians, characteristic of the Rio Negro. This
+clothes also the extensive areas of lowland, which are flooded by
+the river in the rainy season. The olive-brown tinge of the water
+seems to be derived from the saturation in it of the dark green
+foliage during these annual inundations. The great contrast in
+form and colour between the forest of the Rio Negro and those of
+the Amazons arises from the predominance in each of different
+families of plants. On the main river, palms of twenty or thirty
+different species form a great proportion of the mass of trees,
+while on the Rio Negro, they play a very subordinate part. The
+characteristic kind in the latter region is the Jara (Leopoldinia
+pulchra), a species not found on the margins of the Amazons,
+which has a scanty head of fronds with narrow leaflets of the
+same dark green hue as the rest of the forest. The stem is
+smooth, and about two inches in diameter; its height is not more
+than twelve to fifteen feet; it does not, therefore, rise amongst
+the masses of foliage of the exogenous trees, so as to form a
+feature in the landscape, like the broad-leaved Murumuru and
+Urucuri, the slender Assai, the tall Jauari, and the fan-leaved
+Muriti of the banks of the Amazons.
+
+On the shores of the main river the mass of the forest is
+composed, besides palms, of Leguminosae, or trees of the bean
+family, in endless variety as to height, shape of foliage,
+flowers, and fruit; of silk-cotton trees, colossal nut-trees
+(Lecythideae), and Cecropiae; the underwood and water-frontage
+consisting in great part of broad-leaved Musaceae, Marantaceae,
+and succulent grasses-- all of which are of light shades of
+green. The forests of the Rio Negro are almost destitute of these
+large-leaved plants and grasses, which give so rich an appearance
+to the vegetation wherever they grow; the margins of the stream
+being clothed with bushes or low trees, having the same gloomy
+monotonous aspect as the mangroves of the shores of creeks near
+the Atlantic. The uniformly small but elegantly-leaved exogenous
+trees, which constitute the mass of the forest, consist in great
+part of members of the Laurel, Myrtle, Bignoniaceous, and
+Rubiaceous orders. The soil is generally a stiff loam, whose
+chief component part is the Tabatinga clay, which also forms low
+cliffs on the coast in some places, where it overlies strata of
+coarse sandstone. This kind of soil and the same geological
+formation prevail, as we have seen, in many places on the banks
+of the Amazons, so that the great contrast in the forest-clothing
+of the two rivers cannot arise from this cause.
+
+The forest was very pleasant for rambling. In some directions
+broad pathways led down gentle slopes, through what one might
+fancy were interminable shrubberies of evergreens, to moist
+hollows where springs of water bubbled up, or shallowbrooks ran
+over their beds of clean white sand. But the most beautiful road
+was one that ran through the heart of the forest to a waterfall,
+which the citizens of Barra consider as the chief natural
+curiosity of their neighbourhood. The waters of one of the larger
+rivulets which traverse the gloomy wilderness, here fall over a
+ledge of rock about ten feet high. It is not the cascade itself,
+but the noiseless solitude, and the marvellous diversity and
+richness of trees, foliage, and flowers encircling the water
+basin that form the attraction of the place. Families make picnic
+excursions to this spot; and the gentlemen--it is said the ladies
+also--spend the sultry hours of midday bathing in the cold and
+bracing waters. The place is classic ground to the Naturalist
+from having been a favourite spot with the celebrated travellers
+Spix and Martius, during their stay at Barra in 1820. Von Martins
+was so much impressed by its magical beauty that he commemorated
+the visit by making a sketch of the scenery serve as background
+in one of the plates of his great work on the palms.
+
+Birds and insects, however, were scarce amidst these charming
+sylvan scenes. I have often traversed the whole distance from
+Barra to the waterfall, about two miles by the forest road,
+without seeing or hearing a bird, or meeting with so many as a
+score of Lepidopterous and Coleopterous insects. In the thinner
+woods near the borders of the forest many pretty little blue and
+green creepers of the Dacnidae group, were daily seen feeding on
+berries; and a few very handsome birds occurred in the forest.
+But the latter were so rare that we could obtain them only by
+employing a native hunter, who used to spend a whole day, and go
+a great distance to obtain two or three specimens. In this way I
+obtained, amongst others, specimens of the Trogon pavoninus (the
+Suruqua grande of the natives), a most beautiful creature, having
+soft golden green plumage, red breast, and an orange-coloured
+beak; also the Ampelis Pompadoura, a rich glossy-purple chatterer
+with wings of a snowy-white hue.
+
+After we had rested some weeks in Barra, we arranged our plans
+for further explorations in the interior of the country. Mr.
+Wallace chose the Rio Negro for his next trip, and I agreed to
+take the Solimoens. My colleague has already given to the world
+an account of his journey on the Rio Negro, and his adventurous
+ascent of its great tributary the Uapes. I left Barra for Ega,
+the first town of any importance on the Solimoens, on the 26th of
+March, 1850. The distance is nearly 400 miles, which we
+accomplished in a small cuberta, manned by ten stout Cucama
+Indians, in thirty-five days. On this occasion, I spent twelve
+months in the upper region of the Amazons; circumstances then
+compelled me to return to Para. I revisited the same country in
+1855, and devoted three years and a half to a fuller exploration
+of its natural productions. The results of both journeys will be
+given together in subsequent chapters of this work; in the
+meantime, I will proceed to give an account of Santarem and the
+river Tapajos, whose neighbourhoods I investigated in the years
+1851-4.
+
+A few words on my visit to Para in 1851 may be here introduced. I
+descended the river from Ega, to the capital, a distance of 1400
+miles, in a heavily-laden schooner belonging to a trader of the
+former place. The voyage occupied no less than twenty-nine days,
+although we were favoured by the powerful currents of the rainy
+season. The hold of the vessel was filled with turtle oil
+contained in large jars, the cabin was crammed with Brazil nuts,
+and a great pile of sarsaparilla, covered with a thatch of palm
+leaves, occupied the middle of the deck. We had, therefore, (the
+master and two passengers) but rough accommodation, having to
+sleep on deck, exposed to the wet and stormy weather, under
+little toldos or arched shelters, arranged with mats of woven
+lianas and maranta leaves. I awoke many a morning with clothes
+and bedding soaked through with the rain. With the exception,
+however, of a slight cold at the commencement, I never enjoyed
+better health than during this journey. When the wind blew from
+up river or off the land, we sped away at a great rate; but it
+was often squally from those quarters, and then it was not safe
+to hoist the sails. The weather was generally calm, a motionless
+mass of leaden clouds covering the sky, and the broad expanse of
+waters flowing smoothly down with no other motion than the ripple
+of the current. When the wind came from below, we tacked down the
+stream; sometimes it blew very strong, and then the schooner,
+having the wind abeam, laboured through the waves, shipping often
+heavy seas which washed everything that was loose from one side
+of the deck to the other.
+
+On arriving at Para, I found the once cheerful and healthy city
+desolated by two terrible epidemics. The yellow fever, which
+visited the place the previous year (1850) for the first time
+since the discovery of the country, still lingered after having
+carried off nearly 5 percent of the population. The number of
+persons who were attacked, namely, three-fourths of the entire
+population, showed how general the onslaught is of an epidemic on
+its first appearance in a place. At the heels of this plague came
+the smallpox. The yellow fever had fallen most severely on the
+whites and mamelucos, the negroes wholly escaping; but the
+smallpox attacked more especially the Indians, negroes, and
+people of mixed colour, sparing the whites almost entirely, and
+taking off about a twentieth part of the population in the course
+of the four months of its stay. I heard many strange accounts of
+the yellow fever. I believe Para was the second port in Brazil
+attacked by it. The news of its ravages in Bahia, where the
+epidemic first appeared, arrived some few days before the disease
+broke out. The government took all the sanitary precautions that
+could be thought of; amongst the rest was the singular one of
+firing cannon at the street corners, to purify the air. Mr.
+Norris, the American consul, told me the first cases of fever
+occurred near the port and that it spread rapidly and regularly
+from house to house, along the streets which run from the
+waterside to the suburbs, taking about twenty-four hours to reach
+the end. Some persons related that for several successive
+evenings before the fever broke out the atmosphere was thick, and
+that a body of murky vapour, accompanied by a strong stench,
+travelled from street to street. This moving vapour was called
+the "Mai da peste" ("the mother or spirit of the plague"); and it
+was useless to attempt to reason them out of the belief that this
+was the forerunner of the pestilence. The progress of the disease
+was very rapid. It commenced in April, in the middle of the wet
+season. In a few days, thousands of persons lay sick, dying or
+dead. The state of the city during the time the fever lasted may
+be easily imagined. Towards the end of June it abated, and very
+few cases occurred during the dry season from July to December.
+
+As I said before, the yellow fever still lingered in the place
+when I arrived from the interior in April. I was in hopes I
+should escape it, but was not so fortunate; it seemed to spare no
+newcomer. At the time I fell ill, every medical man in the place
+was worked to the utmost in attending the victims of the other
+epidemic; it was quite useless to think of obtaining their aid,
+so I was obliged to be my own doctor, as I had been in many
+former smart attacks of fever. I was seized with shivering and
+vomit at nine o'clock in the morning. While the people of the
+house went down to the town for the medicines I ordered, I
+wrapped myself in a blanket and walked sharply to and fro along
+the veranda, drinking at intervals a cup of warm tea, made of a
+bitter herb in use amongst the natives, called Pajemarioba, a
+leguminous plant growing in all waste places. About an hour
+afterwards, I took a good draught of a decoction of elder
+blossoms as a sudorific, and soon after fell insensible into my
+hammock. Mr. Philipps, an English resident with whom I was then
+lodging, came home in the afternoon and found me sound asleep and
+perspiring famously. I did not wake until almost midnight, when I
+felt very weak and aching in every bone of my body. I then took
+as a purgative, a small dose of Epsom salts and manna. In forty-
+eight hours the fever left me, and in eight days from the first
+attack, I was able to get about my work. Little else happened
+during my stay, which need be recorded here. I shipped off all my
+collections to England, and received thence a fresh supply of
+funds. It took me several weeks to prepare for my second and
+longest journey into the interior. My plan now was first to make
+Santarem headquarters for some time, and ascend from that place
+the river Tapajos as far as practicable. Afterwards I intended to
+revisit the marvellous country of the Upper Amazons, and work
+well its natural history at various stations I had fixed upon,
+from Ega to the foot of the Andes.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SANTAREM
+
+Situation of Santarem--Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants--
+Climate--Grassy Campos and Woods--Excursions to Mapiri, Mahica,
+and Irura, with Sketches of their Natural History-- Palms, Wild
+Fruit Trees, Mining Wasps, Mason Wasps, Bees, and Sloths
+
+I have already given a short account of the size, situation, and
+general appearance of Santarem. Although containing not more than
+2500 inhabitants, it is the most civilised and important
+settlement on the banks of the main river from Peru to the
+Atlantic. The pretty little town, or city as it is called, with
+its rows of tolerably uniform, white-washed and red-tiled houses
+surrounded by green gardens and woods, stands on gently sloping
+ground on the eastern side of the Tapajos, close to its point of
+junction with the Amazons. A small eminence on which a fort has
+been erected, but which is now in a dilapidated condition,
+overlooks the streets, and forms the eastern limit of the mouth
+of the tributary. The Tapajos at Santarem is contracted to a
+breadth of about a mile and a half by an accretion of low
+alluvial land, which forms a kind of delta on the western side;
+fifteen miles further up the river is seen at its full width of
+from ten to a dozen miles, and the magnificent hilly country,
+through which it flows from the south, is then visible on both
+shores. This high land, which appears to be a continuation of the
+central table-lands of Brazil, stretches almost without
+interruption on the eastern side of the river down to its mouth
+at Santarem. The scenery as well as the soil, vegetation, and
+animal tenants of this region, are widely different from those of
+the flat and uniform country which borders the Amazons along most
+part of its course. After travelling week after week on the main
+river, the aspect of Santarem with its broad white sandy beach,
+limpid dark-green waters, and line of picturesque hills rising
+behind over the fringe of green forest, affords an agreeable
+surprise. On the main Amazons, the prospect is monotonous unless
+the vessel runs near the shore, when the wonderful diversity and
+beauty of the vegetation afford constant entertainment.
+Otherwise, the unvaried, broad yellow stream, and the long low
+line of forest, which dwindles away in a broken line of trees on
+the sea-like horizon and is renewed, reach after reach, as the
+voyages advances, weary by their uniformity.
+
+I arrived at Santarem on my second journey into the interior, in
+November, 1851, and made it my headquarters for a period, as it
+turned out, of three years and a half. During this time I made,
+in pursuance of the plan I had framed, many excursions up the
+Tapajos, and to other places of interest in the surrounding
+region. On landing, I found no difficulty in hiring a suitable
+house on the outskirts of the place. It was pleasantly situated
+near the beach, going towards the aldeia or Indian part of the
+town. The ground sloped from the back premises down to the
+waterside and my little raised veranda overlooked a beautiful
+flower garden, a great rarity in this country, which belonged to
+the neighbours. The house contained only three rooms, one with
+brick and two with boarded floors.  It was substantially built,
+like all the better sort of houses in Santarem, and had a
+stuccoed front. The kitchen, as is usual, formed an outhouse
+placed a few yards distant from the other rooms. The rent was
+12,000 reis, or about twenty-seven shillings a month. In this
+country, a tenant has no extra payments to make; the owners of
+house property pay a dizimo or tithe, to the "collectoria
+general," or general treasury, but with this the occupier of
+course has nothing to do. In engaging servants, I had the good
+fortune to meet with a free mulatto, an industrious and
+trustworthy young fellow, named Jose, willing to arrange with me;
+the people of his family cooked for us, while he assisted me in
+collecting; he proved of the greatest service in the different
+excursions we subsequently made. Servants of any kind were almost
+impossible to be obtained at Santarem, free people being too
+proud to hire themselves, and slaves too few and valuable to
+their masters to be let out to others. These matters arranged,
+the house put in order, and a rude table, with a few chairs,
+bought or borrowed to furnish the house with, I was ready in
+three or four days to commence my Natural History explorations in
+the neighbourhood.
+
+I found Santarem quite a different sort of place from the other
+settlements on the Amazons. At Cameta, the lively, good-humoured,
+and plain-living Mamelucos formed the bulk of the population, the
+white immigrants there, as on the RioNegro and Upper Amazons,
+seeming to have fraternised well with the aborigines. In the
+neighbourhood of Santarem the Indians, I believe, were originally
+hostile to the Portuguese; at any rate, the blending of the two
+races has not been here on a large scale. I did not find the
+inhabitants the pleasant, easygoing, and blunt-spoken country
+folk that are met with in other small towns of the interior. The
+whites, Portuguese and Brazilians, are a relatively more numerous
+class here than in other settlements, and make great pretensions
+to civilisation; they are the merchants and shopkeepers of the
+place; owners of slaves, cattle estates, and cacao plantations.
+Amongst the principal residents must also be mentioned the civil
+and military authorities, who are generally well-bred and
+intelligent people from other provinces. Few Indians live in the
+place; it is too civilised for them, and the lower class is made
+up (besides the few slaves) of half-breeds, in whose composition
+negro blood predominates. Coloured people also exercise the
+different handicrafts; the town supports two goldsmiths, who are
+mulattoes, and have each several apprentices; the blacksmiths are
+chiefly Indians, as is the case generally throughout the
+province. The manners of the upper class (copied from those of
+Para) are very stiff and formal, and the absence of the hearty
+hospitality met with in other places, produces a disagreeable
+impression at first. Much ceremony is observed in the intercourse
+of the principal people with each other, and with strangers. The
+best room in each house is set apart for receptions, and visitors
+are expected to present themselves in black dress coats,
+regardless of the furious heat which rages in the sandy streets
+of Santarem towards midday, the hour when visits are generally
+made. In the room a cane-bottomed sofa and chairs, all lacquered
+and gilded, are arranged in quadrangular form, and here the
+visitors are invited to seat themselves, while the compliments
+are passed, or the business arranged. In taking leave, the host
+backs out his guests with repeated bows, finishing at the front
+door. Smoking is not in vogue amongst this class, but snuff-
+taking is largely indulged in, and great luxury is displayed in
+gold and silver snuff-boxes. All the gentlemen, and indeed most
+of the ladies also, wear gold watches and guard chains. Social
+parties are not very frequent; the principal men being fully
+occupied with their business and families, and the rest spending
+their leisure in billiard and gambling rooms, leaving wives and
+daughters shut up at home. Occasionally, however, one of the
+principal citizens gives a ball. In the first that I attended,
+the gentlemen were seated all the evening on one side of the
+room, and the ladies on the other, and partners were allotted by
+means of numbered cards, distributed by a master of the
+ceremonies. But the customs changed rapidly in these matters
+after steamers began to run on the Amazons (in 1853), bringing a
+flood of new ideas and fashions into the country. The old,
+bigoted, Portuguese system of treating women, which stifled
+social intercourse and wrought endless evils in the private life
+of the Brazilians, is now being gradually, although slowly,
+abandoned.
+
+The religious festivals were not so numerous here as in other
+towns, and when they did take place, were very poor and ill
+attended. There is a handsome church, but the vicar showed
+remarkably little zeal for religion, except for a few days now
+and then when the Bishop came from Para on his rounds through the
+diocese. The people are as fond of holiday-making here as in
+other parts of the province; but it seemed to be a growing
+fashion to substitute rational amusements for the processions and
+mummeries of the saints' days. The young folks are very musical,
+the principal instruments in use being the flute, violin, Spanish
+guitar, and a small four-stringed viola, called cavaquinho.
+During the early part of my stay at Santarem, a little party of
+instrumentalists, led by a tall, thin, ragged mulatto, who was
+quite an enthusiast in his art, used frequently to serenade their
+friends in the cool and brilliant moonlit evenings of the dry
+season, playing French and Italian marches and dance music with
+very good effect. The guitar was the favourite instrument with
+both sexes, as at Para; the piano, however, is now fast
+superseding it. The ballads sung to the accompaniment of the
+guitar were not learned from written or printed music, but
+communicated orally from one friend to another. They were never
+spoken of as songs, but modinas, or "little fashions," each of
+which had its day, giving way to the next favourite brought by
+some young fellow from the capital.
+
+At festival times there was a great deal of masquerading, in
+which all the people, old and young, white, negro, and Indian,
+took great delight. The best things of this kind used to come off
+during the Carnival, in Easter week, and on St. John's Eve; the
+negroes having a grand semi-dramatic display in the streets at
+Christmas time. The more select affairs were got up by the young
+whites, and coloured men associating with whites. A party of
+thirty or forty of these used to dress themselves in uniform
+style, and in very good taste, as cavaliers and dames, each
+disguised with a peculiar kind of light gauze mask. The troop,
+with a party of musicians, went the round of their friends'
+houses in the evening, and treated the large and gaily-dressed
+companies which were there assembled to a variety of dances. The
+principal citizens, in the large rooms of whose houses these
+entertainments were given, seemed quite to enjoy them; great
+preparations were made at each place; and, after the dance,
+guests and masqueraders were regaled with pale ale and
+sweetmeats. Once a year the Indians, with whom masked dances and
+acting are indigenous, had their turn, and on one occasion they
+gave us a great treat. They assembled from different parts of the
+neighbourhood at night, on the outskirts of the town, and then
+marched through the streets by torchlight towards the quarter
+inhabited by the whites, to perform their hunting and devil
+dances before the doors of the principal inhabitants. There were
+about a hundred men, women, and children in the procession. Many
+of the men were dressed in the magnificent feather crowns,
+tunics, and belts, manufactured by the Mundurucus, and worn by
+them on festive occasions, but the women were naked to the waist,
+and the children quite naked, and all were painted and smeared
+red with anatto. The ringleader enacted the part of the Tushaua,
+or chief, and carried a sceptre, richly decorated with the
+orange, red, and green feathers of toucans and parrots. The paje
+or medicine-man came along, puffing at a long tauari cigar, the
+instrument by which he professes to make his wonderful cures.
+Others blew harsh, jarring blasts with the ture, a horn made of
+long and thick bamboo, with a split reed in the mouthpiece. This
+is the war trumpet of many tribes of Indians, with which the
+sentinels of predatory hordes, mounted on a lofty tree, gave the
+signal for attack to their comrades. Those Brazilians who are old
+enough to remember the times of warfare between Indians and
+settlers, retain a great horror of the ture, its loud, harsh note
+heard in the dead of the night having been often the prelude to
+an onslaught of bloodthirsty Muras on the outlying settlements.
+The rest of the men in the procession carried bows and arrows,
+bunches of javelins, clubs, and paddles. The older children
+brought with them the household pets; some had monkeys or coatis
+on their shoulders, and others bore tortoises on their heads. The
+squaws carried their babies in aturas, or large baskets, slung on
+their backs, and secured with a broad belt of bast over their
+foreheads. The whole thing was accurate in its representation of
+Indian life, and showed more ingenuity than some people give the
+Brazilian red man credit for. It was got up spontaneously by the
+Indians, and simply to amuse the people of the place.
+
+The people seem to be thoroughly alive to the advantages of
+education for their children. Besides the usual primary schools,
+one for girls, and another for boys, there is a third of a higher
+class, where Latin and French, amongst other accomplishments, are
+taught by professors, who, like the common schoolmasters, are
+paid by the provincial government. This is used as a preparatory
+school to the Lyceum and Bishop's seminary, well-endowed
+institutions at Para, whither it is the ambition of traders and
+planters to send their sons to finish their studies. The
+rudiments of education only are taught in the primary schools,
+and it is surprising how quickly and well the little lads, both
+coloured and white, learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. But
+the simplicity of the Portuguese language, which is written as it
+is pronounced, or according to unvarying rules, and the use of
+the decimal system of accounts, make these acquirements much
+easier than they are with us. Students in the superior school
+have to pass an examination before they can be admitted at the
+colleges in Para, and the managers once did me the honour to make
+me one of the examiners for the year. The performances of the
+youths, most of whom were under fourteen years of age, were very
+creditable, especially in grammar; there was a quickness of
+apprehension displayed which would have gladdened the heart of a
+northern schoolmaster. The course of study followed at the
+colleges of Para must be very deficient; for it is rare to meet
+with an educated Paraense who has the slightest knowledge of the
+physical sciences, or even of geography, if he has not travelled
+out of the province. The young men all become smart rhetoricians
+and lawyers; any of them is ready to plead in a law case at an
+hour's notice; they are also great at statistics, for the
+gratification of which taste there is ample field in Brazil,
+where every public officer has to furnish volumes of dry reports
+annually to the government; but they are woefully ignorant on
+most other subjects.
+
+I do not recollect seeing a map of any kind at Santarem. The
+quick-witted people have a suspicion of their deficiencies in
+this respect, and it is difficult to draw them out on geography;
+but one day a man holding an important office betrayed himself by
+asking me, "On what side of the river was Paris situated? " This
+question did not arise, as might be supposed, from a desire for
+accurate topographical knowledge of the Seine, but from the idea,
+that all the world was a great river, and that the different
+places he had heard of must lie on one shore or the other. The
+fact of the Amazons being a limited stream, having its origin in
+narrow rivulets, its beginning and its ending, has never entered
+the heads of most of the people who have passed their whole lives
+on its banks.
+
+Santarem is a pleasant place to live in, irrespective of its
+society. There are no insect pests, mosquito, pium, sand-fly, or
+motuca. The climate is glorious; during six months of the year,
+from August to February, very little rain falls, and the sky is
+cloudless for weeks together, the fresh breezes from the sea,
+nearly 400 miles distant, moderating the great heat of the sun.
+The wind is sometimes so strong for days together, that it is
+difficult to make way against it in walking along the streets,
+and it enters the open windows and doors of houses, scattering
+loose clothing and papers in all directions. The place is
+considered healthy; but at the changes of season, severe colds
+and ophthalmia are prevalent. I found three Englishmen living
+here, who had resided many years in the town or its
+neighbourhood, and who still retained their florid complexions;
+the plump and fresh appearance of many of the middle-aged
+Santarem ladies also bore testimony to the healthfulness of the
+climate. The streets are always clean and dry, even in the height
+of the wet season; good order is always kept, and the place
+pretty well supplied with provisions. None but those who have
+suffered from the difficulty of obtaining the necessities of life
+at any price in most of the interior settlements of South
+America, can appreciate the advantages of Santarem in this
+respect.
+
+Everything, however, except meat, was dear, and becoming every
+year more so. Sugar, coffee, and rice, which ought to be produced
+in surplus in the neighbourhood, are imported from other
+provinces, and are high in price; sugar, indeed, is a little
+dearer here than in England. There were two or three butchers'
+shops, where excellent beef could be had daily at twopence or
+twopence-halfpenny per pound. The cattle have not to be brought
+from a long distance as at Para, being bred on the campos, which
+border the Lago Grande, only one or two days' journey from the
+town. Fresh fish could be bought in the port on most evenings,
+but as the supply did not equal the demand, there was always a
+race amongst purchasers to the waterside when the canoe of a
+fisherman hove in sight. Very good bread was hawked round the
+town every morning, with milk, and a great variety of fruits and
+vegetables. Amongst the fruits, there was a kind called atta,
+which I did not see in any other part of the country. It belongs
+to the Anonaceous order, and the tree which produces it grows
+apparently wild in the neighbourhood of Santarem. It is a little
+larger than a good-sized orange, and the rind, which encloses a
+mass of rich custardy pulp, is scaled like the pineapple, but
+green when ripe, and encrusted on the inside with sugar. To
+finish this account of the advantages of Santarem, the delicious
+bathing in the clear waters of the Tapajos may be mentioned.
+There is here no fear of alligators; when the cast wind blows, a
+long swell rolls in on the clean sandy beach, and the bath is
+most exhilarating.
+
+The country around Santarem is not clothed with dense and lofty
+forest like the rest of the great humid river plain of the
+Amazons. It is a campo region; a slightly elevated and undulating
+tract of land, wooded only in patches, or with single scattered
+trees. A good deal of the country on the borders of the Tapajos,
+which flows from the great campo area of interior Brazil, is of
+this description. It is on this account that I consider the
+eastern side of the river, towards its mouth,, to be a northern
+prolongation of the continental land, and not a portion of the
+alluvial flats of the Amazons. The soil is a coarse gritty sand;
+the substratum, which is visible in some places, consisting of
+sandstone conglomerate probably of the same formation as that
+which underlies the Tabatinga clay in other parts of the river
+valley. The surface is carpeted with slender hairy grasses, unfit
+for pasture, growing to a uniform height of about a foot. The
+patches of wood look like copses in the middle of green meadows;
+they are called by the natives "ilhas de mato," or islands of
+jungle; the name being, no doubt, suggested by their compactness
+of outline, neatly demarcated in insular form from the smooth
+carpet of grass, around them. They are composed of a great
+variety of trees loaded with succulent parasites, and lashed
+together by woody climbers like the forest in other parts. A
+narrow belt of dense wood, similar in character to these ilhas,
+and like them sharply limited along its borders, runs everywhere
+parallel and close to the river. In crossing the campo, the path
+from the town ascends a little for a mile or two, passing through
+this marginal strip of wood; the grassy land then slopes
+gradually to a broad valley, watered by rivulets, whose banks are
+clothed with lofty and luxuriant forest. Beyond this, a range of
+hills extends as far as the eye can reach towards the yet
+untrodden interior. Some of these hills are long ridges, wooded
+or bare; others are isolated conical peaks, rising abruptly from
+the valley. The highest are probably not more than a thousand
+feet above the level of the river. One remarkable hill, the Serra
+de Muruaru, about fifteen miles from Santarem, which terminates
+the prospect to the south, is of the same truncated pyramidal
+form as the range of hills near Almeyrim. Complete solitude
+reigns over the whole of this stretch of beautiful country. The
+inhabitants of Santarem know nothing of the interior, and seem to
+feel little curiosity concerning it. A few tracks from the town
+across the campo lead to some small clearings four or five miles
+off, belonging to the poorer inhabitants of the place; but,
+excepting these, there are no roads, or signs of the proximity of
+a civilised settlement.
+
+The appearance of the campos changes very much according to the
+season. There is not that grand uniformity of aspect throughout
+the year which is observed in the virgin forest, and which makes
+a deeper impression on the naturalist the longer he remains in
+this country. The seasons in this part of the Amazons region are
+sharply contrasted, but the difference is not so great as in some
+tropical countries, where, during the dry monsoon, insects and
+reptiles go into a summer sleep, and the trees simultaneously
+shed their leaves. As the dry season advances (August,
+September), the grass on the campos withers, and the shrubby
+vegetation near the town becomes a mass of parched yellow
+stubble. The period, however, is not one of general torpidity or
+repose for animal or vegetable life. Birds certainly are not so
+numerous as in the wet season, but some kinds remain and lay
+their eggs at this time--for instance, the ground doves
+(Chamaepelia). The trees retain their verdure throughout, and
+many of them flower in the dry months. Lizards do not become
+torpid, and insects are seen both in the larva and the perfect
+states, showing that the aridity of the climate has not a general
+influence on the development of the species. Some kinds of
+butterflies, especially the little hairstreaks (Theclae), whose
+caterpillars feed on the trees, make their appearance only when
+the dry season is at its height. The land molluscs of the
+district are the only animals which aestivate; they are found in
+clusters, Bulimi and Helices, concealed in hollow trees, the
+mouths of their shells closed by a film of mucus. The fine
+weather breaks up often with great suddenness about the beginning
+of February. Violent squalls from the west or the opposite
+direction to the trade-wind then occur. They give very little
+warning, and the first generally catches the people unprepared.
+They fall in the night, and blowing directly into the harbour,
+with the first gust sweep all vessels from their anchorage; in a
+few minutes a mass of canoes, large and small, including
+schooners of fifty tons burthen, are clashing together, pell-
+mell, on the beach. I have reason to remember these storms, for I
+was once caught in onemyself, while crossing the river in an
+undecked boat about a day's journey from Santarem. They are
+accompanied with terrific electric explosions, the sharp claps of
+thunder falling almost simultaneously with the blinding flashes
+of lightning. Torrents of rain follow the first outbreak; the
+wind then gradually abates, and the rain subsides into a steady
+drizzle, which continues often for the greater part of the
+succeeding day.
+
+After a week or two of showery weather, the aspect of the country
+is completely changed. The parched ground in the neighbourhood of
+Santarem breaks out, so to speak, in a rash of greenery; the
+dusty, languishing trees gain, without having shed their old
+leaves, a new clothing of tender green foliage; a wonderful
+variety of quick-growing leguminous plants springs up; and leafy
+creepers overrun the ground, the bushes, and the trunks of trees.
+One is reminded of the sudden advent of spring after a few warm
+showers in northern climates; I was the more struck by it as
+nothing similar is witnessed in the virgin forests amongst which
+I had passed the four years previous to my stay in this part. The
+grass on the campos is renewed, and many of the campo trees,
+especially the myrtles, which grow abundantly in one portion of
+the district, begin to flower, attracting by the fragrance of
+their blossoms a great number and variety of insects, more
+particularly Coleoptera. Many kinds of birds; parrots, toucans,
+and barbets, which live habitually in the forest, then visit the
+open places.
+
+A few weeks of comparatively dry weather generally intervene in
+March, after a month or two of rain. The heaviest rains fall in
+April, May, and June; they come in a succession of showers, with
+sunny, gleamy weather in the intervals. June and July are the
+months when the leafy luxuriance of the campos, and the activity
+of life, are at their highest. Most birds have then completed
+their moulting, which extends over the period from February to
+May. The flowering shrubs are then mostly in bloom, and
+numberless kinds of Dipterous and Hymenopterous insects appear
+simultaneously with the flowers. This season might be considered
+the equivalent of summer in temperate climates, as the bursting
+forth of the foliage in February represents the spring; but under
+the equator there is not that simultaneous march in the annual
+life of animals and plants, which we see in high latitudes; some
+species, it is true, are dependent upon others in their
+periodical acts of life, and go hand-in-hand with them, but they
+are not all simultaneously and similarly affected by the physical
+changes of the seasons.
+
+I will now give an account of some of my favourite collecting
+places in the neighbourhood of Santarem, incorporating with the
+description a few of the more interesting observations made on
+the Natural History of the localities. To the west of the town
+there was a pleasant path along the beach to a little bay, called
+Mapiri, about five miles within the mouth of the Tapajos. The
+road was practicable only in the dry season. The river at
+Santarem rises on the average about thirty feet, varying in
+different years about ten feet, so that in the four months from
+April to July, the water comes up to the edge of the marginal
+belt of wood already spoken of. This Mapiri excursion was most
+pleasant and profitable in the months from January to March,
+before the rains became too continuous. The sandy beach beyond
+the town is very irregular, in some places forming long spits on
+which, when the east wind is blowing, the waves break in a line
+of foam-- at others, receding to shape out quiet little bays and
+pools.
+
+On the outskirts of the town a few scattered huts of Indians and
+coloured people are passed, prettily situated on the margin of
+the white beach, with a background of glorious foliage; the cabin
+of the pureblood Indian being distinguished from the mud hovels
+of the free negroes and mulattoes by its light construction, half
+of it being an open shed where the dusky tenants are seen at all
+hours of the day lounging in their open-meshed grass hammocks.
+About two miles on the road we come to a series of shallow pools,
+called the Laguinhos, which are connected with the river in the
+wet season, but separated from it by a high bank of sand topped
+with bushes at other times. There is a break here in the fringe
+of wood, and a glimpse is obtained of the grassy campo. When the
+waters have risen to the level of the pools, this place is
+frequented by many kinds of wading birds. Snow-white egrets of
+two species stand about the margins of the water, and dusky-
+striped herons may be seen half hidden under the shade of the
+bushes. The pools are covered with a small kind of waterlily, and
+surrounded by a dense thicket. Amongst the birds which inhabit
+this spot is the rosy-breasted Troupial (Trupialis Gulanensis), a
+bird resembling our starling in size and habits, and not unlike
+it in colour, with the exception of the rich rosy vest. The water
+at this time of the year overflows a large level tract of campo
+bordering the pools, and the Troupials come to feed on the larvae
+of insects which then abound in the moist soil.
+
+Beyond the Laguinhos there succeeds a tract of level beach
+covered with trees which form a beautiful grove. About the month
+of April, when the water rises to this level, the trees are
+covered with blossom, and a handsome orchid, an Epidendron with
+large white flowers, which clothes thickly the trunks, is
+profusely in bloom. Several kinds of kingfisher resort to the
+place. Four species may be seen within a small space-- the
+largest as big as a crow, of a mottled-grey hue, and with an
+enormous beak; the smallest not larger than a sparrow. The large
+one makes its nest in clay cliffs, three or four miles distant
+from this place. None of the kingfishers are so brilliant in
+colour as our English species. The blossoms on the trees attract
+two or three species of hummingbirds, the most conspicuous of
+which is a large swallow-tailed kind (Eupetomena macroura), with
+a brilliant livery of emerald green and steel blue. I noticed
+that it did not remain so long poised in the air before the
+flowers as the other smaller species; it perched more frequently,
+and sometimes darted after small insects on the wing.
+
+Emerging from the grove there is a long stretch of sandy beach;
+the land is high and rocky, and the belt of wood which skirts the
+river banks is much broader than it is elsewhere. At length,
+after rounding a projecting bluff, the bay at Mapiri is reached.
+The river view is characteristic of the Tapajos; the shores are
+wooded, and on the opposite side is a line of clay cliffs with
+hills in the background clothed with a rolling forest. A long
+spit of sand extends into mid-river, beyond which is an immense
+expanse of dark water, the further shore of the Tapajos being
+barely visible as a thin grey line of trees on the horizon. The
+transparency of air and water in the dry season when the brisk
+east wind is blowing, and the sharpness of outline of hills,
+woods, and sandy beaches, give a great charm to this spot.
+
+While resting in the shade during the great heat of the early
+hours of afternoon, I used to find amusement in watching the
+proceedings of the sand wasps. A small pale green kind of Bembex
+(Bembex ciliata), was plentiful near the bay of Mapiri. When they
+are at work, a number of little jets of sand are seen shooting
+over the surface of the sloping bank. The little miners excavate
+with their forefeet, which are strongly built and furnished with
+a fringe of stiff bristles; they work with wonderful rapidity,
+and the sand thrown out beneath their bodies issues in continuous
+streams. They are solitary wasps, each female working on her own
+account. After making a gallery two or three inches in length in
+a slanting direction from the surface, the owner backs out and
+takes a few turns round the orifice apparently to see whether it
+is well made, but in reality, I believe, to take note of the
+locality, that she may find it again. This done, the busy
+workwoman flies away-- but returns, after an absence varying in
+different cases from a few minutes to an hour or more, with a fly
+in her grasp, with which she re-enters her mine. On again
+emerging, the entrance is carefully closed with sand. During this
+interval she has laid an egg on the body of the fly which she had
+previously benumbed with her sting, and which is to serve as food
+for the soft, footless grub soon to be hatched from the egg. From
+what I could make out, the Bembex makes a fresh excavation for
+every egg to be deposited; at least in two or three of the
+galleries which I opened there was only one fly enclosed.
+
+I have said that the Bembex on leaving her mine took note of the
+locality; this seemed to be the explanation of the short delay
+previous to her taking flight; on rising in the air also the
+insects generally flew round over the place before making
+straight off. Another nearly allied but much larger species, the
+Monedula signata, whose habits I observed on the banks of the
+Upper Amazons, sometimes excavates its mine solitarily on sand-
+banks recently laid bare in the middle of the river, and closes
+the orifice before going in search of prey. In these cases the
+insect has to make a journey of at least half a mile to procure
+the kind of fly, the Motuca (Hadrus lepidotus), with which it
+provisions its cell. I often noticed it to take a few turns in
+the air round the place before starting; on its return it made
+without hesitation straight for the closed mouth of the mine. I
+was convinced that the insects noted the bearings of their nests
+and the direction they took in flying from them. The proceeding
+in this and similar cases (I have read of something analogous
+having been noticed in hive bees) seems to be a mental act of the
+same nature as that which takes place in ourselves when
+recognising a locality. The senses, however, must be immeasurably
+more keen and the mental operation much more certain in them than
+it is in man, for to my eye there was absolutely no landmark on
+the even surface of sand which could serve as guide, and the
+borders of the forest were not nearer than half a mile. The
+action of the wasp would be said to be instinctive; but it seems
+plain that the instinct is no mysterious and unintelligible
+agent, but a mental process in each individual, differing from
+the same in man only by its unerring certainty. The mind of the
+insect appears to be so constituted that the impression of
+external objects or the want felt, causes it to act with a
+precision which seems to us like that of a machine constructed to
+move in a certain given way. I have noticed in Indian boys a
+sense of locality almost as keen as that possessed by the sand-
+wasp. An old Portuguese and myself, accompanied by a young lad
+about ten years of age, were once lost in the forest in a most
+solitary place on the banks of the main river. Our case seemed
+hopeless, and it did not for some time occur to us to consult our
+little companion, who had been playing with his bow and arrow all
+the way while we were hunting, apparently taking no note of the
+route. When asked, however, he pointed out, in a moment, the
+right direction of our canoe. He could not explain how he knew; I
+believe he had noted the course we had taken almost
+unconsciously; the sense of locality in his case seemed
+instinctive.
+
+The Monedula signata is a good friend to travellers in those
+parts of the Amazons which are infested by the blood-thirsty
+Motuca. I first noticed its habit of preying on this fly one day
+when we landed to make our fire and dine on the borders of the
+forest adjoining a sand-bank. The insect is as large as a hornet,
+and has a most waspish appearance. I was rather startled when one
+out of the flock which was hovering about us flew straight at my
+face-- it had espied a Motuca on my neck and was thus pouncing
+upon it. It seizes the fly not with its jaws, but with its fore
+and middle feet, and carries it off tightly held to its breast.
+Wherever the traveller lands on the Upper Amazons in the
+neighbourhood of a sand-bank he is sure to be attended by one or
+more of these useful vermin-killers.
+
+The bay of Mapiri was the limit of my day excursions by the
+river-side to the west of Santarem. A person may travel, however,
+on foot, as Indians frequently do, in the dry season for fifty or
+sixty miles along the broad clean sandy beaches of the Tapajos.
+The only obstacles are the rivulets, most of which are fordable
+when the waters are low. To the east my rambles extended to the
+banks of the Mahica inlet. This enters the Amazons about three
+miles below Santarem, where the clear stream of the Tapajos
+begins to be discoloured by the turbid waters of the main river.
+The Mahica has a broad margin of rich level pasture, limited on
+each side by the straight, tall hedge of forest. On the Santarem
+side it is skirted by high wooded ridges. A landscape of this
+description always produced in me an impression of sadness and
+loneliness which the luxuriant virgin forests that closely hedge
+in most of the by-waters of the Amazons never created. The
+pastures are destitute of flowers, and also of animal life, with
+the exception of a few small plain-coloured birds and solitary
+Caracara eagles whining from the topmost branches of dead trees
+on the forest borders. A few settlers have built their palm-
+thatched and mud-walled huts on the banks of the Mahica, and
+occupy themselves chiefly in tending small herds of cattle. They
+seemed to be all wretchedly poor. The oxen however, though small,
+were sleek and fat, and the district most promising for
+agricultural and pastoral employments. In the wet season the
+waters gradually rise and cover the meadows, but there is plenty
+of room for the removal of the cattle to higher ground. The lazy
+and ignorant people seem totally unable to profit by these
+advantages. The houses have no gardens or plantations near them.
+I was told it was useless to plant anything, because the cattle
+devoured the young shoots. In this country, grazing and planting
+are very rarely carried on together, for the people seem to have
+no notion of enclosing patches of ground for cultivation. They
+say it is too much trouble to make enclosures. The construction
+of a durable fence is certainly a difficult matter, for it is
+only two or three kinds of tree which will serve the purpose in
+being free from the attacks of insects, and these are scattered
+far and wide through the woods.
+
+Although the meadows were unproductive ground to a naturalist,
+the woods on their borders teemed with life; the number and
+variety of curious insects of all orders which occurred here was
+quite wonderful. The belt of forest was intersected by numerous
+pathways leading from one settler's house to another. The ground
+was moist, but the trees were not so lofty or their crowns so
+densely packed together as in other parts; the sun's light and
+heat, therefore, had freer access to the soil, and the underwood
+was much more diversified than in the virgin forest. I never saw
+so many kinds of dwarf palms together as here; pretty miniature
+species; some not more than five feet high, and bearing little
+clusters of round fruit not larger than a good bunch of currants.
+A few of the forest trees had the size and strongly-branched
+figures of our oaks, and a similar bark. One noble palm grew here
+in great abundance, and gave a distinctive character to the
+district. This was the Oenocarpus distichus, one of the kinds
+called Bacaba by the natives. It grows to a height of forty to
+fifty feet. The crown is of a lustrous dark-green colour, and of
+a singularly flattened or compressed shape, the leaves being
+arranged on each side in nearly the same plane. When I first saw
+this tree on the campos, where the east wind blows with great
+force night and day for several months, I thought the shape of
+the crown was due to the leaves being prevented from radiating
+equally by the constant action of the breezes. But the plane of
+growth is not always in the direction of the wind, and the crown
+has the same shape when the tree grows in the sheltered woods.
+The fruit of this fine palm ripens towards the end of the year,
+and is much esteemed by the natives, who manufacture a pleasant
+drink from it similar to the assai described in a former chapter,
+by rubbing off the coat of pulp from the nuts, and mixing it with
+water. A bunch of fruit weighs thirty or forty pounds. The
+beverage has a milky appearance, and an agreeable nutty flavour.
+The tree is very difficult to climb, on account of the smoothness
+of its stein; consequently the natives, whenever they want a
+bunch of fruit for a bowl of Bacaba, cut down and thus destroy a
+tree which has taken a score or two of years to grow, in order to
+get at it.
+
+In the lower part of the Mahica woods, towards the river, there
+is a bed of stiff white clay, which supplies the people of
+Santarem with material for the manufacture of coarse pottery and
+cooking utensils: all the kettles, saucepans, mandioca ovens,
+coffee-pots, washing-vessels, and so forth, of the poorer
+classes, throughout the country, are made of this same plastic
+clay, which occurs at short intervals over the whole surface of
+the, Amazons valley, from the neighbourhood of Para to within the
+Peruvian borders, and forms part of the great Tabatinga marl
+deposit. To enable the vessels to stand the fire, the bark of a
+certain tree, called Caraipe, is burned and mixed with the clay,
+which gives tenacity to the ware. Caraipe is an article of
+commerce-- being sold and packed in baskets at the shops in most
+of the towns. The shallow pits, excavated in the marly soil at
+Mahica, were very attractive to many kinds of mason bees and
+wasps, who made use of the clay to build their nests with--so we
+have here another example of the curious analogy that exists
+between the arts of insects and those of man. I spent many an
+hour watching their proceedings; a short account of the habits of
+some of these busy creatures may be interesting.
+
+The most conspicuous was a large yellow and black wasp, with a
+remarkably long and narrow waist, the Pelopaeus fistularis. This
+species collected the clay in little round pellets, which it
+carried off, after rolling them into a convenient shape, in its
+mouth. It came straight to the pit with a loud hum, and, on
+alighting, lost not a moment in beginning to work-- finishing the
+kneading of its little load in two or three minutes. The nest of
+this wasp is shaped like a pouch, two inches in length, and is
+attached to a branch or other projecting object. One of these
+restless artificers once began to build on the handle of a chest
+in the cabin of my canoe, when we were stationary at a place for
+several days. It was so intent on its work that it allowed me to
+inspect the movements of its mouth with a lens while it was
+laying on the mortar. Every fresh pellet was brought in with a
+triumphant song, which changed to a cheerful busy hum when it
+alighted and began to work. The little ball of moist clay was
+laid on the edge of the cell, and then spread out around the
+circular rim by means of the lower lip guided by the mandibles.
+The insect placed itself astride over the rim to work, and, on
+finishing each addition to the structure, took a turn round,
+patting the sides with its feet inside and out before flying off
+to gather a fresh pellet. It worked only in sunny weather, and
+the previous layer was sometimes not quite dry when the new
+coating was added. The whole structure takes about a week to
+complete. I left the place before the gay little builder had
+quite finished her task; she did not accompany the canoe,
+although we moved along the bank of the river very slowly. On
+opening closed nests of this species, which are common in the
+neighbourhood of Mahica, I always found them to be stocked with
+small spiders of the genus Gastracantha, in the usual half-dead
+state to which the mother wasps reduce the insects which are to
+serve as food for their progeny.
+
+Besides the Pelopaeus, there were three or four kinds of
+Trypoxylon, a genus also found in Europe, and which some
+naturalists have supposed to be parasitic, because the legs are
+not furnished with the usual row of strong bristles for digging,
+characteristic of the family to which it belongs. The species of
+Trypoxylon, however, are all building wasps; two of them which I
+observed (T. albitarse and an undescribed species) provision
+their nests with spiders, a third (T. aurifrons) with small
+caterpillars. Their habits are similar to those of the Pelopaeus-
+- namely, they carry off the clay in their mandibles, and have a
+different song when they hasten away with the burden to that
+which they sing whilst at work. Trypoxylon albitarse, which is a
+large black kind, three-quarters of an inch in length, makes a
+tremendous fuss while building its cell. It often chooses the
+walls or doors of chambers for this purpose, and when two or
+three are at work in the same place, their loud humming keeps the
+house in an uproar. The cell is a tubular structure about three
+inches in length. T. aurifrons, a much smaller species, makes a
+neat little nest shaped like a carafe, building rows of them
+together in the corners of verandahs.
+
+But the most numerous and interesting of the clay artificers are
+the workers of a species of social bee, the Melipona fasciculata.
+The Meliponae in tropical America take the place of the true
+Apides, to which the European hive-bee belongs, and which are
+here unknown; they are generally much smaller insects than the
+hive-bees and have no sting. The M. fasciculata is about a third
+shorter than the Apis mellifica: its colonies are composed of an
+immense number of individuals; the workers are generally seen
+collecting pollen in the same way as other bees, but great
+numbers are employed gathering clay. The rapidity and precision
+of their movements while thus engaged are wonderful. They first
+scrape the clay with their jaws; the small portions gathered are
+then cleared by the anterior paws and passed to the second pair
+of feet, which, in their turn, convey them to the large foliated
+expansions of the hind shanks which are adapted normally in bees,
+as every one knows, for the collection of pollen. The middle feet
+pat the growing pellets of mortar on the hind legs to keep them
+in a compact shape as the particles are successively added. The
+little hodsmen soon have as much as they can carry, and they then
+fly off. I was for some time puzzled to know what the bees did
+with the clay; but I had afterwards plenty of opportunity for
+ascertaining. They construct their combs in any suitable crevice
+in trunks of trees or perpendicular banks, and the clay is
+required to build up a wall so as to close the gap, with the
+exception of a small orifice for their own entrance and exit.
+Most kinds of Meliponae are in this way masons as well as workers
+in wax, and pollen-gatherers. One little species (undescribed)
+not more than two lines long, builds a neat tubular gallery of
+clay, kneaded with some viscid substance, outside the entrance to
+its hive, besides blocking up the crevice in the tree within
+which it is situated. The mouth of the tube is trumpet-shaped,
+and at the entrance a number of pigmy bees are always stationed,
+apparently acting as the sentinels.
+
+A hive of the Melipona fasciculata, which I saw opened, contained
+about two quarts of pleasant-tasting liquid honey. The bees, as
+already remarked, have no sting, but they bite furiously when
+their colonies are disturbed. The Indian who plundered the hive
+was completely covered by them; they took a particular fancy to
+the hair of his head, and fastened on it by hundreds. I found
+forty-five species of these bees in different parts of the
+country; the largest was half an inch in length; the smallest
+were extremely minute, some kinds being not more than one-twelfth
+of an inch in size. These tiny fellows are often very troublesome
+in the woods, on account of their familiarity, for they settle on
+one's face and hands, and, in crawling about, get into the eyes
+and mouth, or up the nostrils.
+
+The broad expansion of the hind shanks of bees is applied in some
+species to other uses besides the conveyance of clay and pollen.
+The female of the handsome golden and black Euglossa Surinamensis
+has this palette of very large size. This species builds its
+solitary nest also in crevices of walls or trees-- but it closes
+up the chink with fragments of dried leaves and sticks cemented
+together, instead of clay. It visits the caju trees, and gathers
+with its hind legs a small quantity of the gum which exudes from
+their trunks. To this it adds the other materials required from
+the neighbouring bushes, and when laden flies off to its nest.
+
+To the south my rambles never extended further than the banks of
+the Irura, a stream which rises amongst the hills already spoken
+of, and running through a broad valley, wooded along the margins
+of the watercourses, falls into the Tapajos, at the head of the
+bay of Mapiri. All beyond, as before remarked, is terra incognita
+to the inhabitants of Santarem. The Brazilian settlers on the
+banks of the Amazons seem to have no taste for explorations by
+land, and I could find no person willing to accompany me on an
+excursion further towards the interior. Such a journey would be
+exceedingly difficult in this country, even if men could be
+obtained willing to undertake it. Besides, there were reports of
+a settlement of fierce runaway negroes on the Serra de Mururaru,
+and it was considered unsafe to go far in that direction, except
+with a large armed party.
+
+I visited the banks of the Irura and the rich woods accompanying
+it, and two other streams in the same neighbourhood, one called
+the Panema, and the other the Urumari, once or twice a week
+during the whole time of my residence in Santarem, and made large
+collections of their natural productions. These forest brooks,
+with their clear, cold waters brawling over their sandy or pebbly
+beds through wild tropical glens, always had a great charm for
+me. The beauty of the moist, cool, and luxuriant glades was
+heightened by the contrast they afforded to the sterile country
+around them. The bare or scantily wooded hills which surround the
+valley are parched by the rays of the vertical sun. One of them,
+the Pico do Irura, forms a nearly perfect cone, rising from a
+small grassy plain to a height of 500 or 600 feet, and its ascent
+is excessively fatiguing after the long walk from Santarem over
+the campos. I tried it one day, but did not reach the summit. A
+dense growth of coarse grasses clothed the steep sides of the
+hill, with here and there a stunted tree of kinds found in the
+plain beneath. In bared places, a red crumbly soil is exposed;
+and in one part a mass of rock, which appeared to me, from its
+compact texture and the absence of stratification, to be
+porphyritic; but I am not geologically sufficient to pronounce on
+such questions. Mr. Wallace states that he found fragments of
+scoriae, and believes the hill to be a volcanic cone. To the
+south and east of this isolated peak, the elongated ridges or
+table-topped hills attain a somewhat greater elevation.
+
+The forest in the valley is limited to a tract a few hundred
+yards in width on each side the different streams; in places
+where these run along the bases of the hills, the hillsides
+facing the water are also richly wooded, although their opposite
+declivities are bare or nearly so. The trees are lofty and of
+great variety; amongst them are colossal examples of the Brazil
+nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), and the Pikia. This latter bears
+a large eatable fruit, curious in having a hollow chamber between
+the pulp and the kernel, beset with hard spines which produce
+serious wounds if they enter the skin. The eatable part appeared
+to me not much more palatable than a raw potato; but the
+inhabitants of Santarem are very fond of it, and undertake the
+most toilsome journeys on foot to gather a basketful. The tree
+which yields the tonka bean (Dipteryx odorata), used in Europe
+for scenting snuff, is also of frequent occurrence here. It grows
+to an immense height, and the fruit, which, although a legume, is
+of a rounded shape, and has but one seed, can be gathered only
+when it falls to the ground. A considerable quantity (from 1000
+to 3000 pounds) is exported annually from Santarem, the produce
+of the whole region of the Tapajos. An endless diversity of trees
+and shrubs, some beautiful in flower and foliage, others bearing
+curious fruits, grow in this matted wilderness. It would be
+tedious to enumerate many of them. I was much struck with the
+variety of trees with large and diversely-shaped fruits growing
+out of the trunk and branches, some within a few inches of the
+ground, like the cacao. Most of them are called by the natives
+Cupu, and the trees are of inconsiderable height. One of them
+called Cupu-ai bears a fruit of elliptical shape and of a dingy
+earthen colour six or seven inches long, the shell of which is
+woody and thin, and contains a small number of seeds loosely
+enveloped in a juicy pulp of very pleasant flavour. The fruits
+hang like clayey ants'-nests from the branches. Another kind more
+nearly resembles the cacao; this is shaped something like the
+cucumber, and has a green ribbed husk. It bears the name of Cacao
+de macaco, or monkey's chocolate, but the seeds are smaller than
+those of the common cacao. I tried once or twice to make
+chocolate from them. They contain plenty of oil of similar
+fragrance to that of the ordinary cacao-nut, and make up very
+well into paste; but the beverage has a repulsive clayey colour
+and an inferior flavour.
+
+My excursions to the Irura had always a picnic character. A few
+rude huts are scattered through the valley, but they are tenanted
+only for a few days in the year, when their owners come to gather
+and roast the mandioca of their small clearings. We used
+generally to take with us two boys--one negro, the other Indian--
+to carry our provisions for the day; a few pounds of beef or
+dried fish, farinha and bananas, with plates, and a kettle for
+cooking. Jose carried the guns, ammunition and game-bags, and I
+the apparatus for entomologising--the insect net, a large
+leathern bag with compartments for corked boxes, phials, glass
+tubes, and so forth. It was our custom to start soon after
+sunrise, when the walk over the campos was cool and pleasant, the
+sky without a cloud, and the grass wet with dew. The paths are
+mere faint tracks; in our early excursions it was difficult to
+avoid missing our way. We were once completely lost, and wandered
+about for several hours over the scorching soil without
+recovering the road. A fine view is obtained of the country from
+the rising ground about half way across the waste. Thence to the
+bottom of the valley is a long, gentle, grassy slope, bare of
+trees. The strangely-shaped hills; the forest at their feet,
+richly varied with palms; the bay of Mapiri on the right, with
+the dark waters of the Tapajos and its white glistening shores,
+are all spread out before one, as if depicted on canvas. The
+extreme transparency of the atmosphere gives to all parts of the
+landscape such clearness of outline that the idea of distance is
+destroyed, and one fancies the whole to be almost within reach of
+the hand. Descending into the valley, a small brook has to be
+crossed, and then half a mile of sandy plain, whose vegetation
+wears a peculiar aspect, owing to the predominance of a stemless
+palm, the Curua (Attalea spectabilis), whose large, beautifully
+pinnated, rigid leaves rise directly from the soil. The fruit of
+this species is similar to the coconut, containing milk in the
+interior of the kernel, but it is much inferior to it in size.
+Here, and indeed all along the road, we saw, on most days in the
+wet season, tracks of the jaguar. We never, however, met with the
+animal, although we sometimes heard his loud "hough" in the night
+while lying in our hammocks at home, in Santarem, and knew he
+must be lurking somewhere near us.
+
+My best hunting ground was a part of the valley sheltered on one
+side by a steep hill whose declivity, like the swampy valley
+beneath, was clothed with magnificent forest. We used to make our
+halt in a small cleared place, tolerably free from ants and close
+to the water. Here we assembled after our toilsome morning's hunt
+in different directions through the woods, took our well-earned
+meal on the ground--two broad leaves of the wild banana serving
+us for a tablecloth--and rested for a couple of hours during the
+great heat of the afternoon. The diversity of animal productions
+was as wonderful as that of the vegetable forms in this rich
+locality. It was pleasant to lie down during the hottest part of
+the day, when my people lay asleep, and watch the movements of
+animals. Sometimes a troop of Anus (Crotophaga), a glossy black-
+plumaged bird, which lives in small societies in grassy places,
+would come in from the campos, one by one, calling to each other
+as they moved from tree to tree. Or a Toucan (Rhamphastos ariel)
+silently hopped or ran along and up the branches, peeping into
+chinks and crevices. Notes of solitary birds resounded from a
+distance through the wilderness. Occasionally a sulky Trogon
+would be seen, with its brilliant green back and rose-coloured
+breast, perched for an hour without moving on a low branch. A
+number of large, fat lizards two feet long, of a kind called by
+the natives Jacuaru (Teius teguexim) were always observed in the
+still hours of midday scampering with great clatter over the dead
+leaves, apparently in chase of each other. The fat of this bulky
+lizard is much prized by the natives, who apply it as a poultice
+to draw palm spines or even grains of shot from the flesh. Other
+lizards of repulsive aspect, about three feet in length when full
+grown, splashed about and swam in the water, sometimes emerging
+to crawl into hollow trees on the banks of the stream, where I
+once found a female and a nest of eggs. The lazy flapping flight
+of large blue and black morpho butterflies high in the air, the
+hum of insects, and many inanimate sounds, contributed their
+share to the total impression this strange solitude produced.
+Heavy fruits from the crowns of trees which were mingled together
+at a giddy height overhead, fell now and then with a startling
+"plop" into the water. The breeze, not felt below, stirred in the
+topmost branches, setting the twisted and looped sipos in motion,
+which creaked and groaned in a great variety of notes. To these
+noises were added the monotonous ripple of the brook, which had
+its little cascade at every score or two yards of its course.
+
+We frequently fell in with an old Indian woman, named Cecilia,
+who had a small clearing in the woods. She had the reputation of
+being a witch (feiticeira), and I found, on talking with her,
+that she prided herself on her knowledge of the black art. Her
+slightly curled hair showed that she was not a pureblood Indian--
+I was told her father was a dark mulatto. She was always very
+civil to our party, showing us the best paths, explaining the
+virtues and uses of different plants, and so forth. I was much
+amused at the accounts she gave of the place. Her solitary life
+and the gloom of the woods seemed to have filled her with
+superstitious fancies. She said gold was contained in the bed of
+the brook, and that the murmur of the water over the little
+cascades was the voice of the "water-mother" revealing the hidden
+treasure. A narrow pass between two hillsides was the portao or
+gate, and all within, along the wooded banks of the stream, was
+enchanted ground. The hill underneath which we were encamped was
+the enchanter's abode, and she gravely told us she often had long
+conversations with him. These myths were of her own invention,
+and in the same way an endless number of other similar ones have
+originated in the childish imaginations of the poor Indian and
+half-breed inhabitants of different parts of the country. It is
+to be remarked, however, that the Indian men all become sceptics
+after a little intercourse with the whites. The witchcraft of
+poor Cecilia was of a very weak quality. It consisted of throwing
+pinches of powdered bark of a certain tree, and other substances,
+into the fire while muttering a spell--a prayer repeated
+backwards--and adding the name of the person on whom she wished
+the incantation to operate. Some of the feiticeiras, however,
+play more dangerous tricks than this harmless mummery. They are
+acquainted with many poisonous plants, and although they seldom
+have the courage to administer a fatal dose, sometimes contrive
+to convey to their victim sufficient to cause serious illness.
+The motive by which they are actuated is usually jealousy of
+other women in love matters. While I resided in Santarem, a case
+of what was called witchcraft was tried by the sub-delegado, in
+which a highly respectable white lady was the complainant. It
+appeared that some feiticeira had sprinkled a quantity of the
+acrid juice of a large arum on her linen as it was hanging out to
+dry, and it was thought this had caused a serious eruption under
+which the lady suffered.
+
+I seldom met with any of the larger animals in these excursions.
+We never saw a mammal of any kind on the campos; but tracks of
+three species were seen occasionally besides those of the jaguar;
+these belonged to a small tiger cat, a deer, and an opossum, all
+of which animals must have been very rare, and probably nocturnal
+in their habits, with the exception of the deer. I saw in the
+woods, on one occasion, a small flock of monkeys, and once had an
+opportunity of watching the movements of a sloth. The latter was
+of the kind called by Cuvier Bradypus tridactylus, which is
+clothed with shaggy grey hair. The natives call it, in the Tupi
+language, Al ybyrete (in Portuguese, Preguica da terra firme), or
+sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the Bradypus
+infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny stripe between the
+shoulders, and is called Al Ygapo (Preguica das vargens), or
+sloth of the flooded lands. Some travellers in South America have
+described the sloth as very nimble in its native woods, and have
+disputed the justness of the name which has been bestowed upon
+it. The inhabitants of the Amazons region, however, both Indians
+and descendants of the Portuguese, hold to the common opinion,
+and consider the sloth as the type of laziness. It is very common
+for one native to call another, in reproaching him for idleness,
+"bicho do Embauba" (beast of the Cecropia tree); the leaves of
+the Cecropia being the food of the sloth. It is a strange sight
+to watch the uncouth creature, fit production of these silent
+shades, lazily moving from branch to branch. Every movement
+betrays, not indolence exactly, but extreme caution. He never
+looses his hold from one branch without first securing himself to
+the next, and when he does not immediately find a bough to grasp
+with the rigid hooks into which his paws are so curiously
+transformed, he raises his body, supported on his hind legs, and
+claws around in search of a fresh foothold. After watching the
+animal for about half an hour I gave him a charge of shot. He
+fell with a terrific crash, but caught a bough, in his descent,
+with his powerful claws, and remained suspended. Our Indian lad
+tried to climb the tree, but was driven back by swarms of
+stinging ants; the poor little fellow slid down in a sad
+predicament, and plunged into the brook to free himself. Two days
+afterwards I found the body of the sloth on the ground, the
+animal having dropped on the relaxation of the muscles a few
+hours after death. In one of our voyages, Mr. Wallace and I saw a
+sloth (B. infuscatus) swimming across a river, at a place where
+it was probably 300 yards broad. I believe it is not generally
+known that this animal takes to the water. Our men caught the
+beast, cooked, and ate him.
+
+In returning from these trips we were sometimes benighted on the
+campos. We did not care for this on moonlit nights, when there
+was no danger of losing the path. The great heat felt in the
+middle hours of the day is much mitigated by four o'clock in the
+afternoon; a few birds then make their appearance; small flocks
+of ground doves run about the stony hillocks parrots pass over
+and sometimes settle in the ilhas; pretty little finches of
+several species, especially one kind, streaked with olive-brown
+and yellow, and somewhat resembling our yellowhammer, but I
+believe not belonging to the same genus, hop about the grass,
+enlivening the place with a few musical notes. The Carashue
+(Mimus) also then resumes its mellow, blackbird-like song; and
+two or three species of hummingbird, none of which, however, are
+peculiar to the district, flit about from tree to tree. On the
+other hand, the little blue and yellow-striped lizards, which
+abound amongst the herbage during the scorching heats of midday,
+retreat towards this hour to their hiding-places, together with
+the day-flying insects and the numerous campo butterflies. Some
+of these latter resemble greatly our English species found in
+heathy places, namely, a fritillary, Argynnis (Euptoieta)
+Hegesia, and two smaller kinds, which are deceptively like the
+little Nemeobius Lucina. After sunset, the air becomes
+delightfully cool and fragrant with the aroma of fruits and
+flowers. The nocturnal animals then come forth. A monstrous hairy
+spider, five inches in expanse, of a brown colour with yellowish
+lines along its stout legs--which is very common here, inhabiting
+broad tubular galleries smoothly lined with silken web--may be
+then caught on the watch at the mouth of its burrow. It is only
+seen at night, and I think does not wander far from its den; the
+gallery is about two inches in diameter and runs in a slanting
+direction, about two feet from the surface of the soil.
+
+As soon as it is night, swarms of goatsuckers suddenly make their
+appearance, wheeling about in a noiseless, ghostly manner, in
+chase of night-flying insects. They sometimes descend and settle
+on a low branch, or even on the pathway close to where one is
+walking, and then squatting down on their heels, are difficult to
+distinguish from the surrounding soil. One kind has a long forked
+tail. In the daytime they are concealed in the wooded ilhas,
+where I very often saw them crouched and sleeping on the ground
+in the dense shade. They make no nest, but lay their eggs on the
+bare ground. Their breeding time is in the rainy season, and
+fresh eggs are found from December to June. Later in the evening,
+the singular notes of the goatsuckers are heard, one species
+crying Quao, Quao, another Chuck-cococao; and these are repeated
+at intervals far into the night in the most monotonous manner. A
+great number of toads are seen on the bare sandy pathways soon
+after sunset. One of them was quite a colossus, about seven
+inches in length and three in height. This big fellow would never
+move out of the way until we were close to him. If we jerked him
+out of the path with a stick, he would slowly recover himself,
+and then turn round to have a good impudent stare. I have counted
+as many as thirty of these monsters within a distance of half a
+mile.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS
+
+Preparations for Voyage-First Day's Sail--Loss of Boat--Altar de
+Chao--Modes of Obtaining Fish--Difficulties with Crew--Arrival at
+Aveyros--Excursions in the Neighbourhood--White Cebus, and Habits
+and Dispositions of Cebi Monkeys--Tame Parrot--Missionary
+Settlement--Entering the River Cupari--Adventure with Anaconda--
+Smoke-dried Monkey--Boa-constrictor--Village of Mundurucu
+Indians, and Incursion of a Wild Tribe--Falls of the Cupari--
+Hyacinthine Macaw--Re-emerge into the broad Tapajos--Descent of
+River to Santarem
+
+June, 1852--I will now proceed to relate the incidents of my
+principal excursion up the Tapajos, which I began to prepare for,
+after residing about six months at Santarem.
+
+I was obliged, this time, to travel in a vessel of my own; partly
+because trading canoes large enough to accommodate a Naturalist
+very seldom pass between Santarem and the thinly-peopled
+settlements on the river, and partly because I wished to explore
+districts at my ease, far out of the ordinary track of traders. I
+soon found a suitable canoe; a two-masted cuberta, of about six
+tons' burthen, strongly built of Itauba or stonewood, a timber of
+which all the best vessels in the Amazons country are
+constructed, and said to be more durable than teak. This I hired
+of a merchant at the cheap rate of 500 reis, or about one
+shilling and twopence per day. I fitted up the cabin, which, as
+usual in canoes of this class, was a square structure with its
+floor above the waterline, as my sleeping and working apartment.
+My chests, filled with store-boxes and trays for specimens, were
+arranged on each side, and above them were shelves and pegs to
+hold my little stock of useful books, guns, and game bags, boards
+and materials for skinning and preserving animals, botanical
+press and papers, drying cages for insects. and birds and so
+forth. A rush mat was spread on the floor, and my rolled-up
+hammock, to be used only when sleeping ashore, served for a
+pillow. The arched covering over the hold in the fore part of the
+vessel contained, besides a sleeping place for the crew, my heavy
+chests, stock of salt provisions and groceries, and an assortment
+of goods wherewith to pay my way amongst the half-civilised or
+savage inhabitants of the interior. The goods consisted of
+cashaca, powder and shot, a few pieces of coarse, checked cotton
+cloth and prints, fish-hooks, axes, large knives, harpoons,
+arrowheads, looking-glasses, beads, and other small wares. Jose
+and myself were busy for many days arranging these matters. We
+had to salt the meat and grind a supply of coffee ourselves.
+Cooking utensils, crockery, water-jars, a set of useful
+carpenter's tools, and many other things had to be provided. We
+put all the groceries and other perishable articles in tin
+canisters and boxes, having found that this was the only way of
+preserving them from dampness and insects in this climate. When
+all was done, our canoe looked like a little floating workshop.
+
+I could get little information about the river, except vague
+accounts of the difficulty of the navigation, and the famito or
+hunger which reigned on its banks. As I have before mentioned, it
+is about 1000 miles in length, and flows from south to north; in
+magnitude it stands the sixth amongst the tributaries of the
+Amazons. It is navigable, however, by sailing vessels only for
+about 160 miles above Santarem. The hiring of men to navigate the
+vessel was our greatest trouble. Jose was to be my helmsman, and
+we thought three other hands would be the fewest with which we
+could venture. But all our endeavours to procure these were
+fruitless. Santarem is worse provided with Indian canoemen than
+any other town on the river. I found on applying to the tradesmen
+to whom I had brought letters of introduction and to the
+Brazilian authorities, that almost any favour would be sooner
+granted than the loan of hands. A stranger, however, is obliged
+to depend on them; for it is impossible to find an Indian or
+half-caste whom someone or other of the head-men do not claim as
+owing him money or labour. I was afraid at one time I should have
+been forced to abandon my project on this account. At length,
+after many rebuffs and disappointments, Jose contrived to engage
+one man, a mulatto, named Pinto, a native of the mining country
+of Interior Brazil, who knew the river well; and with these two I
+resolved to start, hoping to meet with others at the first
+village on the road.
+
+We left Santarem on the 8th of June. The waters were then at
+their highest point, and my canoe had been anchored close to the
+back door of our house. The morning was cool and a brisk wind
+blew, with which we sped rapidly past the white-washed houses and
+thatched Indian huts of the suburbs. The charming little bay of
+Mapiri was soon left behind; we then doubled Point Maria Josepha,
+a headland formed of high cliffs of Tabatinga clay, capped with
+forest. This forms the limit of the river view from Santarem, and
+here we had our last glimpse, at a distance of seven or eight
+miles, of the city, a bright line of tiny white buildings resting
+on the dark water. A stretch of wild, rocky, uninhabited coast
+was before us, and we were fairly within the Tapajos.
+
+Our course lay due west for about twenty miles. The wind
+increased as we neared Point Cururu, where the river bends from
+its northern course. A vast expanse of water here stretches to
+the west and south, and the waves, with a strong breeze, run very
+high. As we were doubling the Point, the cable which held our
+montaria in tow astern, parted, and in endeavouring to recover
+the boat, without which we knew it would be difficult to get
+ashore on many parts of the coast, we were very near capsizing.
+We tried to tack down the river; a vain attempt with a strong
+breeze and no current. Our ropes snapped, the sails flew to rags,
+and the vessel, which we now found was deficient in ballast,
+heeled over frightfully. Contrary to Jose's advice, I ran the
+cuberta into a little bay, thinking to cast anchor there and wait
+for the boat coming up with the wind; but the anchor dragged on
+the smooth sandy bottom, and the vessel went broadside on to the
+rocky beach. With a little dexterous management, but not until
+after we had sustained some severe bumps, we managed to get out
+of this difficulty, clearing the rocky point at a close shave
+with our jib-sail. Soon after, we drifted into the smooth water
+of a sheltered bay which leads to the charmingly situated village
+of Altar do Chao; and we were obliged to give up our attempt to
+recover the montaria.
+
+The little settlement, Altar de Chao (altar of the ground, or
+Earth altar), owes its singular name to the existence at the
+entrance to the harbour of one of those strange flat-topped hills
+which are so common in this part of the Amazons country, shaped
+like the high altar in Roman Catholic churches. It is an isolated
+one, and much lower in height than the similarly truncated hills
+and ridges near Almeyrim, being elevated probably not more than
+300 feet above the level of the river. It is bare of trees, but
+covered in places with a species of fern. At the head of the bay
+is an inner harbour, which communicates by a channel with a
+series of lakes lying in the valleys between hills, and
+stretching far into the interior of the land. The village is
+peopled almost entirely by semi-civilised Indians, to the number
+of sixty or seventy families; and the scattered houses are
+arranged in broad streets on a strip of greensward, at the foot
+of a high, gloriously-wooded ridge.
+
+I was so much pleased with the situation of this settlement, and
+the number of rare birds and insects which tenanted the forest,
+that I revisited it in the following year, and spent four months
+making collections. The village itself is a neglected, poverty-
+stricken place-- the governor (Captain of Trabalhadores, or
+Indian workmen) being an old, apathetic, half-breed, who had
+spent all his life here. The priest was a most profligate
+character; I seldom saw him sober; he was a white, however, and a
+man of good ability. I may as well mention here, that a moral and
+zealous priest is a great rarity in this province-- the only
+ministers of religion in the whole country who appeared sincere
+in their calling being the Bishop of Para and the Vicars of Ega
+on the Upper Amazons and Obydos. The houses in the village
+swarmed with vermin; bats in the thatch, fire-ants (formiga de
+fogo) under the floors; cockroaches and spiders on the walls.
+Very few of them had wooden doors and locks.
+
+Altar de Chao was originally a settlement of the aborigines, and
+was called Burari. The Indians were always hostile to the
+Portuguese, and during the disorders of 1835-6 joined the rebels
+in their attack on Santarem. Few of them escaped the subsequent
+slaughter, and for this reason there is now scarcely an old or
+middle-aged man in the place. As in all the semi-civilised
+villages, where the original orderly and industrious habits of
+the Indian have been lost without anything being learned from the
+whites to make amends, the inhabitants live in the greatest
+poverty. The scarcity of fish in the clear waters and rocky bays
+of the neighbourhood is no doubt partly the cause of the poverty
+and perennial hunger which reign here. When we arrived in the
+port, our canoe was crowded with the half-naked villagers--men,
+women, and children-- who came to beg each a piece of salt
+pirarucu "for the love of God." They are not quite so badly off
+in the dry season. The shallow lakes and bays then contain plenty
+of fish, and the boys and women go out at night to spear them by
+torchlight-- the torches being made of thin strips of green bark
+from the leaf-stalks of palms, tied in bundles. Many excellent
+kinds of fish are thus obtained; amongst them the Pescada, whose
+white and flaky flesh, when boiled, has the appearance and
+flavour of cod-fish; and the Tucunare (Cichla temensis), a
+handsome species, with a large prettily-coloured, eye-like spot
+on its tail. Many small Salmonidae are also met with, and a kind
+of sole, called Aramassa, which moves along the clear sandy
+bottom of the bay. At these times a species of sting-ray is
+common on the sloping beach, and bathers are frequently stung
+most severely by it. The weapon of this fish is a strong blade
+with jagged edges, about three inches long, growing from the side
+of the long fleshy tail. I once saw a woman wounded by it whilse
+bathing; she shrieked frightfully, and was obliged to be carried
+to her hammock, where she lay for a week in great pain; I have
+known strong men to be lamed for many months by the sting.
+
+There was a mode of taking fish here which I had not before seen
+employed, but found afterwards to be very common on the Tapajos.
+This is by using a poisonous liana called Timbo (Paullinia
+pinnata). It will act only in the still waters of creeks and
+pools. A few rods, a yard in length, are mashed and soaked in the
+water, which quickly becomes discoloured with the milky
+deleterious juice of the plant. In about half an hour all the
+smaller fishes over a rather wide space around the spot, rise to
+the surface floating on their sides, and with the gills wide
+open. Evidently,the poison acts  by suffocating the fishes--it
+spreads slowly in the water, and a very slight mixture seems
+sufficient to stupefy them. I was surprised, upon beating the
+water in places where no fishes were visible in the clear depths
+for many yards round, to find, sooner or later, sometimes twenty-
+four hours afterwards, a considerable number floating dead on the
+surface.
+
+The people occupy themselves the greater part of the year with
+their small plantations of mandioca. All the heavy work, such as
+felling and burning the timber, planting and weeding, is done in
+the plantation of each family by a congregation of neighbours,
+which they call a "pucherum"--a similar custom to the "bee" in
+the backwood settlements of North America. They make quite a
+holiday of each pucherum. When the invitation is issued, the
+family prepares a great quantity of fermented drink, called in
+this part Taroba, made from soaked mandioca cakes, and porridge
+of Manicueira. This latter is a kind of sweet mandioca, very
+different from the Yuca of the Peruvians and Macasheira of the
+Brazilians (Manihot Aypi), having oblong juicy roots, which
+become very sweet a few days after they are gathered. With these
+simple provisions they regale their helpers. The work is
+certainly done, but after a very rude fashion; all become
+soddened with Taroba, and the day finishes often in a drunken
+brawl.
+
+The climate is rather more humid than that of Santarem. I suppose
+this is to be attributed to the neighbouring country being
+densely wooded instead of an open campo. In no part of the
+country did I enjoy more the moonlit nights than here, in the dry
+season. After the day's work was done, I used to go down to the
+shores of the bay, and lie at full length on the cool sand for
+two or three hours before bedtime. The soft pale light, resting
+on broad sandy beaches and palm-thatched huts, reproduced the
+effect of a mid-winter scene in the cold north when a coating of
+snow lies on the landscape. A heavy shower falls about once a
+week, and the shrubby vegetation never becomes parched as at
+Santarem. Between the rains, the heat and dryness increase from
+day to day-- the weather on the first day after the rain is
+gleamy, with intervals of melting sunshine and passing clouds;
+the next day is rather drier, and the east wind begins to blow;
+then follow days of cloudless sky, with gradually increasing
+strength of breeze. When this has continued about a week, a light
+mistiness begins to gather about the horizon; clouds are formed;
+grumbling thunder is heard; and then, generally in the night-
+time, down falls the refreshing rain. The sudden chill caused by
+the rains produces colds, which are accompanied by the same
+symptoms as in our own climate; with this exception, the place is
+very healthy.
+
+June 17th--The two young men returned without meeting with my
+montaria, and I found it impossible here to buy a new one.
+Captain Thomas could find me only one hand. This was a blunt-
+spoken but willing young Indian, named Manoel. He came on board
+this morning at eight o'clock, and we then got up our anchor and
+resumed our voyage.
+
+The wind was light and variable all day, and we made only about
+fifteen miles by seven o'clock in the evening. The coast formed a
+succession of long, shallow bays with sandy beaches, upon which
+the waves broke in a long line of surf. Ten miles above Altar de
+Chao is a conspicuous headland, called Point Cajetuba. During a
+lull of the wind, towards midday, we ran the cuberta aground in
+shallow water and waded ashore; but the woods were scarcely
+penetrable, and not a bird was to be seen. The only thing
+observed worthy of note was the quantity of drowned winged ants
+along the beach; they were all of one species, the terrible
+formiga de fogo (Myrmica saevis sima); the dead, or half-dead
+bodies of which were heaped up in a line an inch or two in height
+and breadth, the line continuing without interruption for miles
+at the edge of the water. The countless thousands had been
+doubtless cast into the river while flying during a sudden squall
+the night before, and afterwards, cast ashore by the waves. We
+found ourselves at seven o'clock near the mouth of a creek
+leading to a small lake, called Aramana-i, and the wind having
+died away, we anchored, guided by the lights ashore, near the
+house of a settler named Jeronymo, whom I knew, and who, soon
+after, showed us a snug little harbour where we could remain in
+safety for the night. The river here cannot be less than ten
+miles broad; it is quite clear of islands and free from shoals at
+this season of the year. The opposite coast appeared in the
+daytime as a long thin line of forest, with dim grey hills in the
+background.
+
+Today (19th) we had a good wind, which carried us to the mouth of
+a creek, culled Paquiatuba, where the "inspector" of the district
+lived, Senor Cypriano, for whom I had brought an order from
+Captain Thomas to supply me with another hand. We had great
+difficulty in finding a place to land. The coast in this part was
+a tract of level, densely-wooded country, through which flowed
+the winding rivulet, or creek, which gives its name to a small
+scattered settlement hidden in the wilderness; the hills here
+receding two or three miles towards the interior. A large portion
+of the forest was flooded, the trunks of the very high trees near
+the mouth of the creek standing eighteen feet deep in water. We
+lost two hours working our way with poles through the inundated
+woods in search of the port. Every inlet we tried ended in a
+labyrinth choked up with bushes, but we were at length guided to
+the right place by the crowing of cocks. On shouting for a
+montaria, an Indian boy made his appearance, guiding one through
+the gloomy thickets; but he was so alarmed, I suppose at the
+apparition of a strange-looking white man in spectacles bawling
+from the brow of the vessel, that he shot back quickly into the
+bushes. He returned when Manoel spoke, and we went ashore, the
+montaria winding along a gloomy overshadowed water-path made by
+cutting away the lower branches and underwood. The foot-road to
+the houses was a narrow, sandy alley, bordered by trees of
+stupendous height, overrun with creepers, and having an unusual
+number of long air-roots dangling from the epiphytes on their
+branches.
+
+After passing one low smoky little hut half-buried in foliage,
+the path branched off in various directions, and the boy having
+left us, we took the wrong turn. We were brought to a stand soon
+after by the barking of dogs; and on shouting, as is customary on
+approaching a dwelling, "O da casa!" (Oh of the house!) a dark-
+skinned native, a Cafuzo, with a most unpleasant expression of
+countenance, came forth through the tangled maze of bushes, armed
+with a long knife, with which he pretended to be whittling a
+stick. He directed us to the house of Cypriano, which was about a
+mile distant along another forest road. The circumstance of the
+Cafuzo coming out armed to receive visitors very much astonished
+my companions, who talked it over at every place we visited for
+several days afterwards, the freest and most unsuspecting welcome
+in these retired places being always counted upon by strangers.
+But, as Manoel remarked, the fellow may have been one of the
+unpardoned rebel leaders who had settled here after the recapture
+of Santarem in 1836, and lived in fear of being inquired for by
+the authorities of Santarem. After all our troubles we found
+Cypriano absent from home. His house was a large one, and full of
+people, old and young, women and children, all of whom were
+Indians or mamelucos. Several smaller huts surrounded the large
+dwelling, besides extensive open sheds containing mandioca ovens
+and rude wooden mills for grinding sugar-cane to make molasses.
+All the buildings were embosomed in trees: it would be scarcely
+possible to find a more retired nook, and an air of contentment
+was spread over the whole establishment. Cypriano's wife, a good-
+looking mameluco girl, was superintending the packing of farina.
+Two or three old women, seated on mats, were making baskets with
+narrow strips of bark from the leafstalks of palms, while others
+were occupied lining them with the broad leaves of a species of
+maranta, and filling them afterwards with farina, which was
+previously measured in a rude square vessel. It appeared that
+Senor Cypriano was a large producer of the article, selling 300
+baskets (sixty pounds' weight each) annually to Santarem traders.
+I was sorry we were unable to see him, but it was useless
+waiting, as we were told all the men were at present occupied in
+"pucherums," and he would be unable to give me the assistance I
+required. We returned to the canoe in the evening, and, after
+moving out into the river, anchored and slept.
+
+June 20th.--We had a light, baffling wind off shore all day on
+the 20th, and made but fourteen or fifteen miles by six p.m.
+when, the wind failing us, we anchored at the mouth of a narrow
+channel, called Tapaiuna, which runs between a large island and
+the mainland. About three o'clock we passed in front of Boim, a
+village on the opposite (western) coast. The breadth of the river
+here is six or seven miles-- a confused patch of white on the
+high land opposite was all we saw of the village, the separate
+houses being undistinguishable on account of the distance. The
+coast along which we sailed today is a continuation of the low
+and flooded land of Paquiatuba.
+
+June 21st-The next morning we sailed along the Tapaiuna channel,
+which is from 400 to 600 yards in breadth. We advanced but
+slowly, as the wind was generally dead against us, and stopped
+frequently to ramble ashore. Wherever the landing-place was
+sandy, it was impossible to walk about on account of the swarms
+of the terrible fire-ant, whose sting is likened by the
+Brazilians to the puncture of a red-hot needle. There was
+scarcely a square inch of ground free from them. About three p.m.
+we glided into a quiet, shady creek, on whose banks an
+industrious white settler had located himself. I resolved to pass
+the rest of the day and night here, and endeavour to obtain a
+fresh supply of provisions, our stock of salt beef being now
+nearly exhausted. The situation of the house was beautiful; the
+little harbour being gay with water plants, Pontederiae, now full
+of purple blossom, from which flocks of stilt-legged water-fowl
+started up screaming as we entered. The owner sent a boy with my
+men to show them the best place for fish up the creek, and in the
+course of the evening sold me a number of fowls, besides baskets
+of beans and farina. The result of the fishing was a good supply
+of Jandia, a handsome spotted Siluride fish, and Piranha, a kind
+of Salmon. Piranhas are of several kinds, many of which abound in
+the waters of the Tapajos. They are caught with almost any kind
+of bait, for their taste is indiscriminate and their appetite
+most ravenous. They often attack the legs of bathers near the
+shore, inflicting severe wounds with their strong triangular
+teeth. At Paquiatuba and this place, I added about twenty species
+of small fishes to my collection-- caught by hook and line, or
+with the hand in shallow pools under the shade of the forest.
+
+My men slept ashore, and upon the coming aboard in the morning,
+Pinto was drunk and insolent. According to Jose, who had kept
+himself sober, and was alarmed at the other's violent conduct,
+the owner of the house and Pinto had spent the greater part of
+the night together, drinking aguardente de beiju,--a spirit
+distilled from the mandioca root. We knew nothing of the
+antecedents of this man, who was a tall, strong, self-willed
+fellow, and it began to dawn on us that this was not a very safe
+travelling companion in a wild country like this. I thought it
+better now to make the best of our way to the next settlement,
+Aveyros, and get rid of him.
+
+Our course today lay along a high rocky coast, which extended
+without a break for about eight miles. The height of the
+perpendicular rocks was from 100 to 150 feet; ferns and flowering
+shrubs grew in the crevices, and the summit supported a luxuriant
+growth of forest, like the rest of the river banks. The waves
+beat with a loud roar at the foot of these inhospitable barriers.
+At two p.m. we passed the mouth of a small picturesque harbour,
+formed by a gap in the precipitous coast. Several families have
+here settled; the place is called Ita-puama, or "standing rock,"
+from a remarkable isolated cliff, which stands erect at the
+entrance to the little haven. A short distance beyond Itapuama we
+found ourselves opposite to the village of Pinhel, which is
+perched, like Boim, on high ground, on the western side of the
+river. The stream is here from six to seven miles wide. A line of
+low islets extends in front of Pinhel, and a little further to
+the south is a larger island, called Capitari, which lies nearly
+in the middle of the river.
+
+June 23rd.--The wind freshened at ten o'clock in the morning of
+the 23rd. A thick black cloud then began to spread itself over
+the sky a long way down the river; the storm which it portended,
+however, did not reach us, as the dark threatening mass crossed
+from east to west, and the only effect it had was to impel a
+column of cold air up river, creating a breeze with which we
+bounded rapidly forward. The wind in the afternoon strengthened
+to a gale. We carried on with one foresail only, two of the men
+holding on to the boom to prevent the whole thing from flying to
+pieces. The rocky coast continued for about twelve miles above
+Ita-puama, then succeeded a tract of low marshy land, which had
+evidently been once an island whose channel of separation from
+the mainland had become silted up. The island of Capitari and
+another group of islets succeeding it, called Jacare, on the
+opposite side, helped also to contract at this point the breadth
+of the river, which was now not more than about three miles. The
+little cuberta almost flew along this coast, there being no
+perceptible current, past extensive swamps, margined with thick
+floating grasses. At length, on rounding a low point, higher land
+again appeared on the right bank of the river, and the village of
+Aveyros hove in sight, in the port of which we cast anchor late
+in the afternoon.
+
+Aveyros is a small settlement, containing only fourteen or
+fifteen houses besides the church; but it is the place of
+residence of the authorities of a large district-- the priest,
+Juiz de Paz, the subdelegado of police, and the Captain of the
+Trabalhadores. The district includes Pinhel, which we passed
+about twenty miles lower down on the left bank of the river. Five
+miles beyond Aveyros, and also on the left bank, is the
+missionary village of Santa Cruz, comprising thirty or forty
+families of baptised Mundurucu Indians, who are at present under
+the management of a Capuchin Friar, and are independent of the
+Captain of Trabalhadores of Aveyros. The river view from this
+point towards the south was very grand; the stream is from two to
+three miles broad, with green islets resting on its surface, and
+on each side a chain of hills stretches away in long perspective.
+I resolved to stay here for a few weeks to make collections. On
+landing, my first care was to obtain a house or room, that I
+might live ashore. This was soon arranged; the head man of the
+place, Captain Antonio, having received notice of my coming, so
+that before night all the chests and apparatus I required were
+housed and put in order for working.
+
+I here dismissed Pinto, who again got drunk and quarrelsome a few
+hours after he came ashore. He left the next day, to my great
+relief, in a small trading canoe that touched at the place on its
+way to Santarem. The Indian Manoel took his leave at the same
+time, having engaged to accompany me only as far as Aveyros; I
+was then dependent on Captain Antonio for fresh hands. The
+captains of Trabalhadores are appointed by the Brazilian
+Government to embody the scattered Indian labourers and canoe-men
+of their respective districts, to the end that they may supply
+passing travellers with men when required. A semi-military
+organisation is given to the bodies--some of the steadiest
+amongst the Indians themselves being nominated as sergeants, and
+all the members mustered at the principal village of their
+district twice each year. The captains, however, universally
+abuse their authority, monopolising the service of the men for
+their own purposes, so that it is only by favour that the loan of
+a canoe-hand can be wrung from them. I was treated by Captain
+Antonio with great consideration, and promised two good Indians
+when I should be ready to continue my voyage.
+
+Little happened worth narrating during my forty days' stay at
+Aveyros. The time was spent in the quiet, regular pursuit of
+Natural History: every morning I had my long ramble in the
+forest, which extended to the back-doors of the houses, and the
+afternoons were occupied in preserving and studying the objects
+collected. The priest was a lively old man, but rather a bore
+from being able to talk of scarcely anything except homoeopathy,
+having been smitten with the mania during a recent visit to
+Santarem. He had a Portuguese Homoeopathic Dictionary, and a
+little leather case containing glass tubes filled with globules,
+with which he was doctoring the whole village.
+
+A bitter enmity seemed to exist between the female members of the
+priest's family, and those of the captain's-- the only white
+women in the settlement. It was amusing to notice how they
+flaunted past each other, when going to church on Sundays, in
+their starched muslin dresses. I found an intelligent young man
+living here, a native of the province of Goyaz, who was exploring
+the neighbourhood for gold and diamonds. He had made one journey
+up a branch river, and declared to me that he had found one
+diamond, but was unable to continue his researches, because the
+Indians who accompanied him refused to remain any longer; he was
+now waiting for Captain Antonio to assist him with fresh men,
+having offered him in return a share in the results of the
+enterprise. There appeared to be no doubt that gold is
+occasionally found within two or three days' journey of Aveyros;
+but all lengthened search is made impossible by the scarcity of
+food and the impatience of the Indians, who see no value in the
+precious metal, and abhor the tediousness of the gold-searcher's
+occupation. It is impossible to do without them, as they are
+required to paddle the canoes.
+
+The weather, during the month of July, was uninterruptedly fine;
+not a drop of rain fell, and the river sank rapidly. The
+mornings, for two hours after sunrise, were very cold; we were
+glad to wrap ourselves in blankets on turning out of our
+hammocks, and walk about at a quick pace in the early sunshine.
+But in the afternoons, the heat was sickening, for the glowing
+sun then shone full on the front of the row of whitewashed
+houses, and there was seldom any wind to moderate its effects. I
+began now to understand why the branch rivers of the Amazons were
+so unhealthy, while the main stream was pretty nearly free from
+diseases arising from malaria. The cause lies, without doubt, in
+the slack currents of the tributaries in the dry season, and the
+absence of the cooling Amazonian trade wind, which purifies the
+air along the banks of the main river. The trade wind does not
+deviate from its nearly straight westerly course, so that the
+branch streams, which run generally at right angles to the
+Amazons, and, have a slack current for a long distance from their
+mouths, are left to the horrors of nearly stagnant air and water.
+
+Aveyros may be called the headquarters of the fire-ant, which
+might be fittingly termed the scourge of this fine river. The
+Tapajos is nearly free from the insect pests of other parts,
+mosquitoes, sand-flies, Motucas and piums; but the formiga de
+fogo is perhaps a greater plague than all the others put
+together. It is found only on sandy soils in open places, and
+seems to thrive most in the neighbourhood of houses and weedy
+villages, such as Aveyros; it does not occur at all in the shades
+of the forest. I noticed it in most places on the banks of the
+Amazons but the species is not very common on the main river, and
+its presence is there scarcely noticed, because it does not
+attack man, and the sting is not so virulent as it is in the same
+species on the banks of the Tapajos. Aveyros was deserted a few
+years before my visit on account of this little tormentor, and
+the inhabitants had only recently returned to their houses,
+thinking its numbers had decreased. It is a small species, of a
+shining reddish colour not greatly differing from the common red
+stinging ant of our own country (Myrmica rubra), except that the
+pain and irritation caused by its sting are much greater. The
+soil of the whole village is undermined by it; the ground is
+perforated with the entrances to their subterranean galleries,
+and a little sandy dome occurs here and there, where the insects
+bring their young to receive warmth near the surface. The houses
+are overrun with them; they dispute every fragment of food with
+the inhabitants, and destroy clothing for the sake of the starch.
+All eatables are obliged to be suspended in baskets from the
+rafters, and the cords well soaked with copauba balsam, which is
+the only means known of preventing them from climbing. They seem
+to attack persons out of sheer malice; if we stood for a few
+moments in the street, even at a distance from their nests, we
+were sure to be overrun and severely punished, for the moment an
+ant touched the flesh, he secured himself with his jaws, doubled
+in his tail, and stung with all his might. When we were seated on
+chairs in the evenings in front of the house to enjoy a chat with
+our neighbours, we had stools to support our feet, the legs of
+which, as well as those of the chairs, were well anointed with
+the balsam. The cords of hammocks are obliged to be smeared in
+the same way to prevent the ants from paying sleepers a visit.
+
+The inhabitants declare that the fire-ant was unknown on the
+Tapajos before the disorders of 1835-6, and believe that the
+hosts sprang up from the blood of the slaughtered Cabanas or
+rebels. They have doubtless increased since that time, but the
+cause lies in the depopulation of the villages and the rank
+growth of weeds in the previously cleared, well-kept spaces. I
+have already described the line of sediment formed on the sandy
+shores lower down the river by the dead bodies of the winged
+individuals of this species. The exodus from their nests of the
+males and females takes place at the end of the rainy season
+(June), when the swarms are blown into the river by squalls of
+wind, and subsequently cast ashore by the waves; I was told that
+this wholesale destruction of ant-life takes place annually, and
+that the same compact heap of dead bodies which I saw only in
+part, extends along the banks of the river for twelve or fifteen
+miles.
+
+The forest behind Aveyros yielded me little except insects, but
+in these it was very rich. It is not too dense, and broad sunny
+paths skirted by luxuriant beds of Lycopodiums, which form
+attractive sporting places for insects, extend from the village
+to a swampy hollow or ygapo, which lies about a mile inland. Of
+butterflies alone I enumerated fully 300 species, captured or
+seen in the course of forty days within a half-hour's walk of the
+village. This is a greater number than is found in the whole of
+Europe. The only monkey I observed was the Callithrix moloch--one
+of the kinds called by the Indians "Whaiapu-sai". It is a
+moderate-sized species, clothed with long brown hair, and having
+hands of a whitish hue. Although nearly allied to the Cebi, it
+has none of their restless vivacity, but is a dull listless
+animal. It goes in small flocks of five or six individuals,
+running along the main boughs of the trees. One of the specimens
+which I obtained here was caught on a low fruit-tree at the back
+of our house at sunrise one morning. This was the only instance
+of a monkey being captured in such a position that I ever heard
+of. As the tree was isolated, it must have descended to the
+ground from the neighbouring forest and walked some distance to
+get at it. The species is sometimes kept in a tame state by the
+natives-- it does not make a very amusing pet, and survives
+captivity only a short time.
+
+I heard that the white Cebus, the Caiarara branca, a kind of
+monkey I had not yet seen, and wished very much to obtain,
+inhabited the forests on the opposite side of the river; so one
+day, on an opportunity being afforded by our host going over in a
+large boat, I crossed to go in search of it. We were about twenty
+persons in all, and the boat was an old rickety affair with the
+gaping seams rudely stuffed with tow and pitch. In addition to
+the human freight we took three sheep with us, which Captain
+Antonio had just received from Santarem and was going to add to
+his new cattle farm on the other side. Ten Indian paddlers
+carried us quickly across. The breadth of the river could not be
+less than three miles, and the current was scarcely perceptible.
+When a boat has to cross the main Amazons, it is obliged to
+ascend along the banks for half a mile or more to allow for
+drifting by the current; in this lower part of the Tapajos this
+is not necessary. When about halfway, the sheep, in moving about,
+kicked a hole in the bottom of the boat. The passengers took the
+matter very coolly, although the water spouted up alarmingly, and
+I thought we should inevitably be swamped. Captain Antonio took
+off his socks to stop the leak, inviting me and the Juiz de Paz,
+who was one of the party, to do the same, while two Indians baled
+out the water with large cuyas. We thus managed to keep afloat
+until we reached our destination, when the men patched up the
+leak for our return journey.
+
+The landing-place lay a short distance within the mouth of a
+shady inlet,up on whose banks, hidden amongst the dense woods,
+were the houses of a few Indian and mameluco settlers. The path
+to the cattle farm led first through a tract of swampy forest; it
+then ascended a slope and emerged on a fine sweep of prairie,
+varied with patches of timber. The wooded portion occupied the
+hollows where the soil was of a rich chocolate-brown colour, and
+of a peaty nature. The higher grassy, undulating parts of the
+campo had a lighter and more sandy soil. Leaving our friends,
+Jose and I took our guns and dived into the woods in search of
+the monkeys. As we walked rapidly along I was very near treading
+on a rattlesnake, which lay stretched out nearly in a straight
+line on the bare sandy pathway. It made no movement to get out of
+the way, and I escaped the danger by a timely and sudden leap,
+being unable to check my steps in the hurried walk. We tried to
+excite the sluggish reptile by throwing handfulls of sand and
+sticks at it, but the only notice it took was to raise its ugly
+horny tail and shake its rattle. At length it began to move
+rather nimbly,when we despatched it by a blow on the head with a
+pole, not wishing to fire on account of alarming our game.
+
+We saw nothing of the white Caiarara; we met, however, with a
+flock of the common light-brown allied species (Cebus
+albifrons?), and killed one as a specimen. A resident on this
+side of the river told us that the white kind was found further
+to the south, beyond Santa Cruz. The light-brown Caiarara is
+pretty generally distributed over the forests of the level
+country. I saw it very frequently on the banks of the Upper
+Amazons, where it was always a treat to watch a flock leaping
+amongst the trees, for it is the most wonderful performer in this
+line of the whole tribe. The troops consist of thirty or more
+individuals, which travel in single file. When the foremost of
+the flock reaches the outermost branch of an unusually lofty
+tree, he springs forth into the air without a moment's hesitation
+and alights on the dome of yielding foliage belonging to the
+neighbouring tree, maybe fifty feet beneath-- all the rest
+following the example. They grasp, upon falling, with hands and
+tail, right themselves in a moment, and then away they go along
+branch and bough to the next tree.
+
+The Caiarara owes its name in the Tupi language, macaw or large-
+headed (Acain, head and Arara macaw), to the disproportionate
+size of the head compared with the rest of the body. It is very
+frequently kept as a pet in houses of natives. I kept one myself
+for about a year, which accompanied me in my voyages and became
+very familiar, coming to me always on wet nights to share my
+blanket. It is a most restless creature, but is not playful like
+most of the American monkeys; the restlessness of its disposition
+seeming to arise from great nervous irritability and discontent.
+The anxious, painful, and changeable expression of its
+countenance, and the want of purpose in its movements, betray
+this. Its actions are like those of a wayward child; it does not
+seem happy even when it has plenty of its favourite food,
+bananas; but will leave its own meal to snatch the morsels out of
+the hands of its companions. It differs in these mental traits
+from its nearest kindred, for another common Cebus, found in the
+same parts of the forest, the Prego monkey (Cebus cirrhifer?), is
+a much quieter and better-tempered animal; it is full of tricks,
+but these are generally of a playful character.
+
+The Caiarara keeps the house in a perpetual uproar where it is
+kept-- when alarmed, or hungry, or excited by envy, it screams
+piteously; it is always, however, making some noise or other,
+often screwing up its mouth and uttering a succession of loud
+notes resembling a whistle. My little pet, when loose, used to
+run after me, supporting itself for some distance on its hind
+legs, without, however, having been taught to do it. He offended
+me greatly one day, by killing, in one of his jealous fits,
+another and much choicer pet--the nocturnal owl-faced monkey
+(Nyctipithecus trivirgatus). Someone had given this a fruit,
+which the other coveted, so the two got to quarrelling. The
+Nyctipithecus fought only with its paws, clawing out and hissing
+like a cat; the other soon obtained the mastery, and before I
+could interfere, finished his rival by cracking its skull with
+his teeth. Upon this, I got rid of him.
+
+On recrossing the river to Aveyros in the evening, a pretty
+little parrot fell from a great height headlong into the water
+near the boat, having dropped from a flock which seemed to be
+fighting in the air. One of the Indians secured it for me, and I
+was surprised to find the bird uninjured. There had probably been
+a quarrel about mates, resulting in our little stranger being
+temporarily stunned by a blow on the head from the beak of a
+jealous comrade. The species was the Conurus guianensis, called
+by the natives Maracana-- the plumage green, with a patch of
+scarlet under the wings. I wished to keep the bird alive and tame
+it, but all our efforts to reconcile it to captivity were vain;
+it refused food, bit everyone who went near it, and damaged its
+plumage in its exertions to free itself. My friends in Aveyros
+said that this kind of parrot never became domesticated. After
+trying nearly a week I was recommended to lend the intractable
+creature to an old Indian woman, living in the village, who was
+said to be a skillful bird-tamer. In two days she brought it back
+almost as tame as the familiar love-birds of our aviaries. I kept
+my little pet for upwards of two years; it learned to talk pretty
+well, and was considered quite a wonder as being a bird usually
+so difficult of domestication. I do not know what arts the old
+woman used-- Captain Antonio said she fed it with her saliva. The
+chief reason why almost all animals become so wonderfully tame in
+the houses of the natives is, I believe, their being treated with
+uniform gentleness, and allowed to run at large about the rooms.
+Our Maracana used to accompany us sometimes in our rambles, one
+of the lads carrying it on his head. One day, in the middle of a
+long forest road, it was missed, having clung probably to an
+overhanging bough and escaped into the thicket without the boy
+perceiving it. Three hours afterwards, on our return by the same
+path, a voice greeted using a colloquial tone as we passed--
+"Maracana!" We looked about for some time, but could not see
+anything, until the word was repeated with emphasis-- "Maracana-
+a!" When we espied the little truant half concealed in the
+foliage of a tree, he came down and delivered himself up,
+evidently as much rejoiced at the meeting as we were.
+
+After I had obtained the two men promised, stout young Indians,
+seventeen or eighteen years of age, one named Ricardo and the
+other Alberto, I paid a second visit to the western side of the
+river in my own canoe; being determined, if possible, to obtain
+specimens of the White Cebus. We crossed over first to the
+mission village, Santa Cruz, which consists of thirty or forty
+wretched-looking mud huts, closely built together in three
+straight ugly rows on a high gravelly bank. The place was
+deserted, with the exception of two or three old men and women
+and a few children. A narrow belt of wood runs behind the
+village; beyond this is an elevated, barren campo with a clayey
+and gravelly soil. To the south, the coast country is of a
+similar description; a succession of scantily-wooded hills, bare
+grassy spaces, and richly-timbered hollows. We traversed forest
+and campo in various directions during three days without meeting
+with monkeys, or indeed with anything that repaid us the time and
+trouble. The soil of the district appeared too dry; at this
+season of the year I had noticed, in other parts of the country,
+that mammals and birds resorted to the more humid areas of
+forest; we therefore proceeded to explore carefully the low and
+partly swampy tract along the coast to the north of Santa Cruz.
+
+We spent two days in this way landing at many places, and
+penetrating a good distance in the interior. Although
+unsuccessful with regard to the White Cebus, the time was not
+wholly lost, as I added several small birds of species new to my
+collection. On the second evening we surprised a large flock,
+composed of about fifty individuals, of a curious eagle with a
+very long and slender hooked beak, the Rostrhamus hamatus. They
+were perched on the bushes which surrounded a shallow lagoon,
+separated from the river by a belt of floating grass; my men said
+they fed on toads and lizards found at the margins of pools. They
+formed a beautiful sight as they flew up and wheeled about at a
+great height in the air. We obtained only one specimen.
+
+Before returning to Aveyros, we paid another visit to the Jacare
+inlet-- leading to Captain Antonio's cattle farm, for the sake of
+securing further specimens of the many rare and handsome insects
+found there-- landing at the port of one of the settlers. The
+owner of the house was not at home, and the wife, a buxom young
+woman, a dark mameluca, with clear though dark complexion and
+fine rosy cheeks, was preparing, in company with another stout-
+built Amazon, her rod and lines to go out fishing for the day's
+dinner. It was now the season for Tucunares, and Senora Joaquina
+showed us the fly baits used to take this kind of fish, which she
+had made with her own hands of parrots' feathers. The rods used
+are slender bamboos, and the lines made from the fibres of pine-
+apple leaves. It is not very common for the Indian and half-caste
+women to provide for themselves in the way these spirited dames
+were doing, although they are all expert paddlers, and very
+frequently cross wide rivers in their frail boats without the aid
+of men. It is possible that parties of Indian women, seen
+travelling alone in this manner, may have given rise to the fable
+of a nation of Amazons, invented by the first Spanish explorers
+of the country.
+
+Senora Joaquina invited me and Jose to a Tucunare dinner for the
+afternoon, and then shouldering their paddles and tucking up
+their skirts, the two dusky fisherwomen marched down to their
+canoe. We sent the two Indians into the woods to cut palm-leaves
+to mend the thatch of our cuberta, while Jose and I rambled
+through the woods which skirted the campo. On our return, we
+found a most bountiful spread in the house of our hostess. A
+spotless white cloth was laid on the mat, with a plate for each
+guest and a pile of fragrant, newly-made farinha by the side of
+it. The boiled Tucunares were soon taken from the kettles and set
+before us. I thought the men must be happy husbands who owned
+such wives as these. The Indian and mameluco women certainly do
+make excellent managers; they are more industrious than the men,
+and most of them manufacture farinha for sale on their own
+account, their credit always standing higher with the traders on
+the river than that of their male connections. I was quite
+surprised at the quantity of fish they had taken there being
+sufficient for the whole party-- which included several children,
+two old men from a neighbouring hut, and my Indians. I made our
+good-natured entertainers a small present of needles and sewing-
+cotton, articles very much prized, and soon after we reembarked,
+and again crossed the river to Aveyros.
+
+August 2nd--Left Aveyros, having resolved to ascend a branch
+river, the Cupari, which enters the Tapajos about eight miles
+above this village, instead of going forward along the main
+stream. I should have liked to visit the settlements of the
+Mundurucu tribe which lie beyond the first cataract of the
+Tapajos, if it had been compatible with the other objects I had
+in view. But to perform this journey a lighter canoe than mine
+would have been necessary, and six or eight Indian paddlers,
+which in my case it was utterly impossible to obtain. There would
+be, however, an opportunity of seeing this fine race of people on
+the Cupari, as a horde was located towards the head waters of
+this stream. The distance from Aveyros to the last civilised
+settlement on the Tapajos, Itaituba, is about forty miles. The
+falls commence a short distance beyond this place. Ten formidable
+cataracts or rapids then succeed each other at intervals of a few
+miles, the chief of which are the Coaita, the Bubure, the Salto
+Grande (about thirty feet high), and the Montanha. The canoes of
+Cuyaba tradesmen which descend annually to Santarem are obliged
+to be unloaded at each of these, and the cargoes carried by land
+on the backs of Indians, while the empty vessels are dragged by
+ropes over the obstruction. The Cupari was described to me as
+flowing through a rich, moist clayey valley covered with forests
+and abounding in game; while the banks of the Tapajos beyond
+Aveyros were barren sandy campos, with ranges of naked or
+scantily-wooded hills, forming a kind of country which I had
+always found very unproductive in Natural History objects in the
+dry season, which had now set in.
+
+We entered the mouth of the Cupari on the evening of the
+following day (August 3rd). It was not more than a hundred yards
+wide, but very deep: we found no bottom in the middle with a line
+of eight fathoms. The banks were gloriously wooded, the familiar
+foliage of the cacao growing abundantly amongst the mass of other
+trees, reminding me of the forests of the main Amazons. We rowed
+for five or six miles, generally in a south-easterly direction,
+although the river had many abrupt bends, and stopped for the
+night at a settler's house, situated on a high bank, accessible
+only by a flight of rude wooden steps fixed in the clayey slope.
+The owners were two brothers, half-breeds, who, with their
+families, shared the large roomy dwelling; one of them was a
+blacksmith, and we found him working with two Indian lads at his
+forge in an open shed under the shade of mango trees. They were
+the sons of a Portuguese immigrant who had settled here forty
+years previously, and married a Mundurucu woman. He must have
+been a far more industrious man than the majority of his
+countrymen who emigrate to Brazil nowadays, for there were signs
+of former extensive cultivation at the back of the house in
+groves of orange, lemon, and coffee trees, and a large plantation
+of cacao occupied the lower grounds.
+
+The next morning one of the brothers brought me a beautiful
+opossum, which had been caught in the fowl-house a little before
+sunrise. It was not so large as a rat, and had soft brown fur,
+paler beneath and on the face, with a black stripe on each cheek.
+This made the third species of marsupial rat I had so far
+obtained-- but the number of these animals is very considerable
+in Brazil, where they take the place of the shrews of Europe;
+shrew mice and, indeed, the whole of the insectivorous order of
+mammals, being entirely absent from Tropical America. One kind of
+these rat-like opossums is aquatic, and has webbed feet. The
+terrestrial species are nocturnal in their habits, sleeping
+during the day in hollow trees, and coming forth at night to prey
+on birds in their roosting places. It is very difficult to rear
+poultry in this country on account of these small opossums,
+scarcely a night passing, in some parts, in which the fowls are
+not attacked by them.
+
+August 5th.--The river reminds me of some parts of the Jaburu
+channel, being hemmed in by two walls of forest rising to the
+height of at least a hundred feet, and the outlines of the trees
+being concealed throughout by a dense curtain of leafy creepers.
+The impression of vegetable profusion and overwhelming luxuriance
+increases at every step. The deep and narrow valley of the Cupari
+has a moister climate than the banks of the Tapajos. We have now
+frequent showers, whereas we left everything parched up by the
+sun at Aveyros.
+
+After leaving the last sitio we advanced about eight miles, and
+then stopped at the house of Senor Antonio Malagueita, a mameluco
+settler, whom we had been recommended to visit. His house and
+outbuildings were extensive, the grounds well weeded, and the
+whole wore an air of comfort and well-being which is very
+uncommon in this country. A bank of indurated white clay sloped
+gently up from the tree-shaded port to the house, and beds of
+kitchen herbs extended on each side, with (rare sight!) rose and
+jasmine trees in full bloom. Senor Antonio, a rather tall middle-
+aged man, with a countenance beaming with good nature, came down
+to the port as soon as we anchored. I was quite a stranger to
+him, but he had heard of my coming, and seemed to have made
+preparations. I never met with a heartier welcome. On entering
+the house, the wife, who had more of the Indian tint and features
+than her husband, was equally warm and frank in her greeting.
+Senor Antonio had spent his younger days at Para, and had
+acquired a profound respect for Englishmen. I stayed here two
+days. My host accompanied me in my excursions; in fact, his
+attentions, with those of his wife, and the host of relatives of
+all degrees who constituted his household, were quite
+troublesome, as they left me not a moment's privacy from morning
+till night.
+
+We had, together, several long and successful rambles along a
+narrow pathway which extended several miles into the forest. I
+here met with a new insect pest, one which the natives may be
+thankful is not spread more widely over the country: it was a
+large brown fly of the Tabanidae family (genus Pangonia), with a
+proboscis half an inch long and sharper than the finest needle.
+It settled on our backs by twos and threes at a time, and pricked
+us through our thick cotton shirts, making us start and cry out
+with the sudden pain. I secured a dozen or two as specimens. As
+an instance of the extremely confined ranges of certain species,
+it may be mentioned that I did not find this insect in any other
+part of the country except along half a mile or so of this gloomy
+forest road.
+
+We were amused at the excessive and almost absurd tameness of a
+fine Mutum or Curassow turkey, that ran about the house. It was a
+large glossy-black species (the Mitu tuberosa), having an orange-
+coloured beak, surmounted by a bean-shaped excrescence of the
+same hue. It seemed to consider itself as one of the family:
+attending all the meals, passing from one person to another round
+the mat to be fed, and rubbing the sides of its head in a coaxing
+way against their cheeks or shoulders. At night it went to roost
+on a chest in a sleeping-room beside the hammock of one of the
+little girls to whom it seemed particularly attached
+(regularlyfollowing her wherever she went about the grounds). I
+found this kind of Curassow bird was very common in the forest of
+the Cupari; but it is rare on the Upper Amazons, where an allied
+species, which has a round instead of a bean-shaped waxen
+excrescence on the beak (Crax globicera), is the prevailing kind.
+These birds in their natural state never descend from the tops of
+the loftiest trees, where they live in small flocks and build
+their nests. The Mitu tuberosa lays two rough-shelled, white
+eggs; it is fully as large a bird as the common turkey, but the
+flesh when cooked is drier and not so well flavoured. It is
+difficult to find the reason why these superb birds have not been
+reduced to domestication by the Indians, seeing that they so
+readily become tame. The obstacle offered by their not breeding
+in confinement, which is probably owing to their arboreal habits,
+might perhaps be overcome by repeated experiment; but for this
+the Indians probably had not sufficient patience or intelligence.
+The reason cannot lie in their insensibility to the value of such
+birds, for the common turkey, which has been introduced into the
+country, is much prized by them.
+
+We had an unwelcome visitor while at anchor in the port of
+Antonio Malagueita. I was awakened a little after midnight, as I
+lay in my little cabin, by a heavy blow struck at the sides of
+the canoe close to my head, which was succeeded by the sound of a
+weighty body plunging into the water. I got up; but all was again
+quiet, except the cackle of fowls in our hen-coop, which hung
+over the side of the vessel about three feet from the cabin door.
+I could find no explanation of the circumstance, and, my men
+being all ashore, I turned in again and slept until morning. I
+then found my poultry loose about the canoe, and a large rent in
+the bottom of the hen-coop, which was about two feet from the
+surface of the water-- a couple of fowls were missing. Senor
+Antonio said the depredator was a Sucuruju (the Indian name for
+the Anaconda, or great water serpent--Eunectes murinus), which
+had for months past been haunting this part of the river, and had
+carried off many ducks and fowls from the ports of various
+houses. I was inclined to doubt the fact of a serpent striking at
+its prey from the water, and thought an alligator more likely to
+be the culprit, although we had not yet met with alligators in
+the river.
+
+Some days afterwards, the young men belonging to the different
+sitios agreed together to go in search of the serpent. They began
+in a systematicmanner, forming two parties, each embarked in
+three or four canoes, and starting from points several miles
+apart, whence they gradually approximated, searching all the
+little inlets on both sides the river. The reptile was found at
+last, sunning itself on a log at the mouth of a muddy rivulet,
+and despatched with harpoons. I saw it the day after it was
+killed; it was not a very large specimen, measuring only eighteen
+feet nine inches in length, and sixteen inches in circumference
+at the widest part of the body. I measured skins of the Anaconda
+afterwards, twenty-one feet in length and two feet in girth. The
+reptile has a most hideous appearance, owing to its being very
+broad in the middle and tapering abruptly at both ends. It is
+very abundant in some parts of the country; nowhere more so than
+in the Lago Grande, near Santarem, where it is often seen coiled
+up in the corners of farmyards, and is detested for its habit of
+carrying off poultry, young calves, or whatever animal it can get
+within reach of.
+
+At Ega, a large Anaconda was once near making a meal of a young
+lad about ten years of age, belonging to one of my neighbours.
+The father and his son went, as was their custom, a few miles up
+the Teffe to gather wild fruit, landing on a sloping sandy shore,
+where the boy was left to mind the canoe while the man entered
+the forest. The beaches of the Teffe form groves of wild guava
+and myrtle trees, and during most months of the year are partly
+overflown by the river. While the boy was playing in the water
+under the shade of these trees, a huge reptile of this species
+stealthily wound its coils around him, unperceived until it was
+too late to escape. His cries brought the father quickly to the
+rescue, who rushed forward, and seizing the Anaconda boldly by
+the head, tore his jaws asunder. There appears to be no doubt
+that this formidable serpent grows to an enormous bulk, and lives
+to a great age, for I heard of specimens having been killed which
+measured forty-two feet in length, or double the size of the
+largest I had an opportunity to examine. The natives of the
+Amazons country universally believe in the existence of a monster
+water-serpent, said to be many score fathoms in length and which
+appears successively in different parts of the river. They call
+it the Mai d'agoa--the mother, or spirit, of the water. This
+fable, which was doubtless suggested by the occasional appearance
+of Sucurujus of unusually large size, takes a great variety of
+forms, and the wild legends form the subject of conversation
+amongst old and young, over the wood fires in lonely settlements.
+
+August 6th and 7th--On leaving the sitio of Antonio Malagueita we
+continued our way along the windings of the river, generally in a
+southeast and south-southeast direction, but sometimes due north,
+for about fifteen miles, when we stopped at the house of one
+Paulo Christo, a mameluco whose acquaintance I had made at
+Aveyros. Here we spent the night and part of the next day, doing
+in the morning a good five hours' work in the forest, accompanied
+by the owner of the place. In the afternoon of the 7th, we were
+again under way; the river makes a bend to the east-northeast for
+a short distance above Paulo Christo's establishment, and then
+turns abruptly to the southwest, running from that direction
+about four miles. The hilly country of the interior then
+commences, the first token of it being a magnificently-wooded
+bluff, rising nearly straight from the water to a height of about
+250 feet. The breadth of the stream hereabout was not more than
+sixty yards, and the forest assumed a new appearance from the
+abundance of the Urucuri palm, a species which has a noble crown
+of broad fronds with symmetrical rigid leaflets.
+
+We reached, in the evening, the house of the last civilised
+settler on the river, Senor Joao (John) Aracu, a wiry, active
+fellow and capital hunter, whom I wished to make a friend of and
+persuade to accompany me to the Mundurucu village and the falls
+of the Cupari, some forty miles further up the river.I stayed at
+the sitio of John Aracu until the 19th, and again, in descending,
+spent fourteen days at the same place. The situation was most
+favourable for collecting the natural products of the district.
+The forest was not crowded with underwood, and pathways led
+through it for many miles and in various directions. I could make
+no use here of our two men as hunters, so, to keep them employed
+while Jose and I worked daily in the woods, I set them to make a
+montaria under John Aracu's directions. The first day a suitable
+tree was found for the shell of the boat, of the kind called
+Itauba amarello, the yellow variety of the stonewood. They felled
+it, and shaped out of the trunk a log nineteen feet in length;
+this they dragged from the forest, with the help of my host's
+men, over a road they had previously made with cylindrical pieces
+of wood acting as rollers. The distance was about half a mile,
+and the ropes used for drawing the heavy load were tough lianas
+cut from the surrounding trees. This part of the work occupied
+about a week: the log had then to be hollowed out, which was done
+with strong chisels through a slit made down the whole length.
+The heavy portion of the task being then completed, nothing
+remained but to widen the opening, fit two planks for the sides
+and the same number of semicircular boards for the ends, make the
+benches, and caulk the seams.
+
+The expanding of the log thus hollowed out is a critical
+operation, and not always successful, many a good shell being
+spoiled from splitting or expanding irregularly. It is first
+reared on tressels, with the slit downwards, over a large fire,
+which is kept up for seven or eight hours, the process
+requiringunremitting attention to avoid cracks and make the plank
+bend with the proper dip at the two ends. Wooden straddlers, made
+by cleaving pieces of tough elastic wood and fixing them with
+wedges, are inserted into the opening, their compass being
+altered gradually as the work goes on, but in different degrees
+according to the part of the boat operated upon. Our casca turned
+out a good one-- it took a long time to cool, and was kept in
+shape whilst it did so by means of wooden cross-pieces. When the
+boat was finished, it was launched with great merriment by the
+men, who hoisted coloured handkerchiefs for flags, and paddled it
+up and down the stream to try its capabilities. My people had
+suffered as much inconvenience from the want of a montaria as
+myself, so this was a day of rejoicing to all of us.
+
+I was very successful at this place with regard to the objects of
+my journey. About twenty new species of fishes and a considerable
+number of small reptiles were added to my collection; but very
+few birds were met with worth preserving. A great number of the
+most conspicuous insects of the locality were new to me, and
+turned out to be species peculiar to this part of the Amazons
+valley. The most interesting acquisition was a large and handsome
+monkey, of a species I had not before met with--the, white-
+whiskered Coaita, or spider-monkey (Ateles marginatus). I saw a
+pair one day in the forest moving slowly along the branches of a
+lofty tree, and shot one of them; the next day John Aracu brought
+down another, possibly the companion. The species is of about the
+same size as the common black kind, of which I have given an
+account in a former chapter, and has a similar lean body, with
+limbs clothed with coarse black hair; but it differs in having
+the whiskers and a triangular patch on the crown of the head of a
+white colour. I thought the meat the best flavoured I had ever
+tasted. It resembled beef, but had a richer and sweeter taste.
+During the time of our stay in this part of the Cupari, we could
+get scarcely anything but fish to eat, and as this diet disagreed
+with me, three successive days of it reducing me to a state of
+great weakness. I was obliged to make the most of our Coaita
+meat. We smoke-dried the joints instead of salting them, placing
+them for several hours upon a framework of sticks arranged over a
+fire, a plan adopted by the natives to preserve fish when they
+have no salt, and which they call "muquiar." Meat putrefies in
+this climate in less than twenty-four hours, and salting is of no
+use, unless the pieces are cut in thin slices anddried
+immediately in the sun.
+
+My monkeys lasted me about: a fortnight, the last joint being an
+arm with the clenched fist, which I used with great economy,
+hanging it in the intervals, between my frugal meals, on a nail
+in the cabin. Nothing but the hardest necessity could have driven
+me so near to cannibalism as this, but we had the greatest
+difficulty in obtaining here a sufficient supply of animal food.
+About every three days the work on the montaria had to be
+suspended, and all hands turned out for the day to hunt and fish,
+in which they were often unsuccessful, for although there was
+plenty of game in the forest, it was too widely scattered to be
+available. Ricardo, and Alberto occasionally brought in a
+tortoise or anteater, which served us for one day's consumption.
+We made acquaintance here with many strange dishes, amongst them
+Iguana eggs; these are of oblong form, about an inch in length,
+and covered with a flexible shell. The lizard lays about two
+score of them in the hollows of trees. They have an oily taste;
+the men ate them raw, beaten up with farinha, mixing a pinch of
+salt in the mess; I could only do with them when mixed with
+Tucupi sauce, of which we had a large jar full always ready to
+temper unsavoury morsels.
+
+One day as I was entomologising alone and unarmed, in a dry
+Ygapo, where the trees were rather wide apart and the ground
+coated to the depth of eight or ten inches with dead leaves, I
+was near coming into collision with a boa constrictor. I had just
+entered a little thicket to capture an insect, and while pinning
+it was rather startled by a rushing noise in the vicinity. I
+looked up to the sky, thinking a squall was coming on, but not a
+breath of wind stirred in the tree-tops. On stepping out of the
+bushes I met face to face a huge serpent coming down a slope,
+making the dry twigs crack and fly with his weight as he moved
+over them. I had very frequently met with a smaller boa, the
+Cutim-boia, in a similar way, and knew from the habits of the
+family that there was no danger, so I stood my ground. On seeing
+me the reptile suddenly turned and glided at an accelerated pace
+down the path. Wishing to take a note of his probable size and
+the colours and markings of his skin, I set off after him; but he
+increased his speed, and I was unable to get near enough for the
+purpose. There was very little of the serpentine movement in his
+course. The rapidly moving and shining body looked like a stream
+of brown liquid flowing over the thick bed of fallen leaves,
+rather than a serpent with skin of varied colours. He descended
+towards the lower and moister parts of the Ygapo. The huge trunk
+of an uprooted tree here lay across the road; this he glided over
+in his undeviating course and soon after penetrated a dense
+swampy thicket, where of course I did not choose to follow him.
+
+I suffered terribly from heat and mosquitoes as the river sank
+with the increasing dryness of the season, although I made an
+awning of the sails to work under, and slept at night in the open
+air with my hammock slung between the masts. But there was no
+rest in any part; the canoe descended deeper and deeper into the
+gulley through which the river flows between high clayey banks;
+as the water subsided, and with the glowing sun overhead we felt
+at midday as if in a furnace. I could bear scarcely any clothes
+in the daytime between eleven in the morning and five in the
+afternoon, wearing nothing but loose and thin cotton trousers and
+a light straw hat, and could not be accommodated in John Aracu's
+house, as it was a small one and full of noisy children. One
+night we had a terrific storm. The heat in the afternoon had been
+greater than ever, and at sunset the sky had a brassy glare, the
+black patches of cloud which floated in it being lighted up now
+and then by flashes of sheet lightning. The mosquitoes at night
+were more than usually troublesome, and I had just sunk exhausted
+into a doze towards the early hours of morning when the storm
+began-- a complete deluge of rain, with incessant lightning and
+rattling explosions of thunder. It lasted for eight hours, the
+grey dawn opening amidst the crash of the tempest. The rain
+trickled through the seams of the cabin roof on to my
+collections, the late hot weather having warped the boards, and
+it gave me immense trouble to secure them in the midst of the
+confusion. Altogether I had a bad night of it; but what with
+storms, heat, mosquitoes, hunger, and, towards the last, ill
+health, I seldom had a good night's rest on the Cupari.
+
+A small creek traversed the forest behind John Aracu's house, and
+entered the river a few yards from our anchoring place; I used to
+cross it twice a day, on going and returning from my hunting
+ground. One day early in September, I noticed that the water was
+two or three inches higher in the afternoon than it had been in
+the morning. This phenomenon was repeated the next day, and in
+fact daily, until the creek became dry with the continued
+subsidence of the Cupari, the time of rising shifting a little
+from day to day. I pointed out the circumstance to John Aracu,
+who had not noticed it before (it was only his second year of
+residence in the locality), but agreed with me that it must be
+the "mare"; yes, the tide!-- the throb of the great oceanic pulse
+felt in this remote corner, 530 miles distant from the place
+where it first strikes the body of fresh water at the mouth of
+the Amazons. I hesitated at first at this conclusion, but in
+reflecting that the tide was known to be perceptible at Obydos,
+more than 400 miles from the sea, that at high water in the dry
+season a large flood from the Amazons enters the mouth of the
+Tapajos, and that there is but a very small difference of level
+between that point and the Cupari, a fact shown by the absence of
+current in the dry season. I could have no doubt that this
+conclusion was a correct one.
+
+The fact of the tide being felt 530 miles up the Amazons, passing
+from the main stream to one of its affluents 380 miles from its
+mouth, and thence to a branch in the third degree, is a proof of
+the extreme flatness of the land which forms the lower part of
+the Amazonian valley. This uniformity of level is shown also in
+the broad lake-like expanses of water formed near their mouths by
+the principal affluents which cross the valley to join the main
+river.
+
+August 21st.--John Aracu consented to accompany me to the falls
+with one of his men to hunt and fish for me. One of my objects
+was to obtain specimens of the hyacinthine macaw, whose range
+commences on all the branch rivers of the Amazons which flow from
+the south through the interior of Brazil, with the first
+cataracts. We started on the 19th; our direction on that day
+being generally southwest. On the 20th, our course was southerly
+and southeasterly. This morning (August 21st) we arrived at the
+Indian settlement, the first house of which lies about thirty-one
+miles above the sitio of John Aracu. The river at this place is
+from sixty to seventy yards wide, and runs in a zigzag course
+between steep clayey banks, twenty to fifty feet in height. The
+houses of the Mundurucus, to the number of about thirty, are
+scattered along the banks for a distance of six or seven miles.
+The owners appear to have chosen all the most picturesque sites--
+tracts of level ground at the foot of wooded heights, or little
+havens with bits of white sandy beach--as if they had an
+appreciation of natural beauty. Most of the dwellings are conical
+huts, with walls of framework filled in with mud and thatched
+with palm leaves, the broad eaves reaching halfway to the ground.
+Some are quadrangular, and do not differ in structure from those
+of the semi-civilised settlers in other parts; others are open
+sheds or ranchos. They seem generally to contain not more than
+one or two families each.
+
+At the first house, we learned that all the fighting men had this
+morning returned from a two days' pursuit of a wandering horde of
+savages of the Pararauate tribe, who had strayed this way from
+the interior lands and robbed the plantations. A little further
+on we came to the house of the Tushaua, or chief, situated on the
+top of a high bank, which we had to ascend by wooden steps. There
+were four other houses in the neighbourhood, all filled with
+people. A fine old fellow, with face, shoulders, and breast
+tattooed all over in a cross-bar pattern, was the first strange
+object that caught my eye. Most of the men lay lounging or
+sleeping in their hammocks. The women were employed in an
+adjoining shed making farinha, many of them being quite naked,
+and rushing off to the huts to slip on their petticoats when they
+caught sight of us. Our entrance aroused the Tushaua from a nap;
+after rubbing his eyes he came forward and bade us welcome with
+the most formal politeness, and in very good Portuguese. He was a
+tall, broad-shouldered, well-made man, apparently about thirty
+years of age, with handsome regular features, not tattooed, and a
+quiet good-humoured expression of countenance. He had been
+several times to Santarem and once to Para, learning the
+Portuguese language during these journeys. He was dressed in
+shirt and trousers made of blue-checked cotton cloth, and there
+was not the slightest trace of the savage in his appearance or
+demeanour. I was told that he had come into the chieftainship by
+inheritance, and that the Cupari horde of Mundurucus, over which
+his fathers had ruled before him, was formerly much more
+numerous, furnishing 300 bows in time of war. They could now
+scarcely muster forty; but the horde has no longer a close
+political connection with the main body of the tribe, which
+inhabits the banks of the Tapajos, six days' journey from the
+Cupari settlement.
+
+I spent the remainder of the day here, sending Aracu and the men
+to fish, while I amused myself with the Tushaua and his people. A
+few words served to explain my errand on the river; he
+comprehended at once why white men should admire and travel to
+collect the beautiful birds and animals of his country, and
+neither he nor his people spoke a single word about trading, or
+gave us any trouble by coveting the things we had brought. He
+related to me the events of the preceding three days. The
+Pararauates were a tribe of intractable savages, with whom the
+Mundurucus have been always at war. They had no fixed abode, and
+of course made no plantations, but passed their lives like the
+wild beasts, roaming through the forest, guided by the sun;
+wherever they found themselves at night-time there they slept,
+slinging their bast hammocks, which are carried by the women, to
+the trees. They cross the streams which lie in their course in
+bark canoes, which they make on reaching the water, and cast away
+after landing on the opposite side. The tribe is very numerous,
+but the different hordes obey only their own chieftains. The
+Mundurucus of the upper Tapajos have an expedition on foot
+against them at the present time, and the Tushaua supposed that
+the horde which had just been chased from his maloca were
+fugitives from that direction. There were about a hundred of
+them--including men, women, and children. Before they were
+discovered, the hungry savages had uprooted all the macasheira,
+sweet potatoes, and sugarcane, which the industrious Mundurucus
+had planted for the season, on the east side of the river. As
+soon as they were seen they made off, but the Tushaua quickly got
+together all the young men of the settlement, about thirty in
+number, who armed themselves with guns, bows and arrows, and
+javelins, and started in pursuit. They tracked them, as before
+related, for two days through the forest, but lost their traces
+on the further bank of the Cuparitinga, a branch stream flowing
+from the northeast. The pursuers thought, at one time, they were
+close upon them, having found the inextinguished fire of their
+last encampment. The footmarks of the chief could be
+distinguished from the rest by their great size and the length of
+the stride. A small necklace made of scarlet beans was the only
+trophy of the expedition, and this the Tushaua gave to me.
+
+I saw very little of the other male Indians, as they were asleep
+in their huts all the afternoon. There were two other tattooed
+men lying under an open shed, besides the old man already
+mentioned. One of them presented a strange appearance, having a
+semicircular black patch in the middle of his face, covering the
+bottom of the nose and mouth, crossed lines on his back and
+breast, and stripes down his arms and legs. It is singular that
+the graceful curved patterns used by the South Sea Islanders are
+quite unknown among the Brazilian red men; they being all
+tattooed either in simple lines or patches.  The nearest approach
+to elegance of design which I saw was amongst the Tucunas of the
+Upper Amazons, some of whom have a scroll-like mark on each
+cheek, proceeding from the corner of the mouth. The taste, as far
+as form is concerned, of the American Indian, would seem to be
+far less refined than that of the Tahitian and New Zealander.
+
+To amuse the Tushaua, I fetched from the canoe the two volumes of
+Knight's Pictorial Museum of Animated Nature. The engravings
+quite took his fancy, and he called his wives, of whom, as I
+afterwards learned from Aracu, he had three or four, to look at
+them; one of them was a handsome girl, decorated with necklace
+and bracelets of blue beads. In a short time, others left their
+work, and I then had a crowd of women and children around me, who
+all displayed unusual curiosity for Indians. It was no light task
+to go through the whole of the illustrations, but they would not
+allow me to miss a page, making me turn back when I tried to
+skip. The pictures of the elephant, camels, orangutangs, and
+tigers, seemed most to astonish them; but they were interested in
+almost everything, down even to the shells and insects. They
+recognised the portraits of the most striking birds and mammals
+which are found in their own country-- the jaguar, howling
+monkeys, parrots, trogons, and toucans. The elephant was settled
+to be a large kind of Tapir; but they made but few remarks, and
+those in the Mundurucu language, of which I understood only two
+or three words. Their way of expressing surprise was a clicking
+sound made with the teeth, similar to the one we ourselves use,
+or a subdued exclamation, Hm! hm! Before I finished, from fifty
+to sixty had assembled; there was no pushing or rudeness, the
+grown-up women letting the young girls and children stand before
+them, and all behaved in the most quiet and orderly manner
+possible.
+
+The Mundurucus are perhaps the most numerous and formidable tribe
+of Indians now surviving in the Amazons region. They inhabit the
+shores of the Tapajos (chiefly the right bank), from 3 to 7 south
+latitude, and the interior of the country between that part of
+the river and the Madeira. On the Tapajos alone they can muster,
+I was told, 2000 fighting men; the total population of the tribe
+may be about 20,000. They were not heard of until about ninety
+years ago, when they made war on the Portuguese settlements,
+their hosts crossing the interior of the country eastward of the
+Tapajos, and attacking the establishments of the whites in the
+province of Maranham. The Portuguese made peace with them in the
+beginning of the present century, the event being brought about
+by the common cause of quarrel entertained by the two peoples
+against the hated Muras. They have ever since been firm friends
+of the whites. It is remarkable how faithfully this friendly
+feeling has been handed down amongst the Mundurucus, and spread
+to the remotest of the scattered hordes. Wherever a white man
+meets a family, or even an individual of the tribe, he is almost
+sure to be reminded of this alliance. They are the most warlike
+of the Brazilian tribes, and are considered also the most settled
+and industrious; they are not, however, superior in this latter
+respect to the Juris and Passes on the Upper Amazons, or the
+Uapes Indians near the headwaters of the Rio Negro. They make
+very large plantations of mandioca, and sell the surplus produce,
+which amounts to, on the Tapajos, from 3000 to 5000 baskets (60
+lbs. each) annually, to traders who ascend the river from
+Santarem between the months of August and January. They also
+gather large quantities of sarsaparilla, India-rubber, and Tonka
+beans, in the forests. The traders, on their arrival at the
+Campinas (the scantily wooded region inhabited by the main body
+of Mundurucus beyond the cataracts) have first to distribute
+their wares--cheap cotton cloths, iron hatchets, cutlery, small
+wares, and cashaca--amongst the minor chiefs, and then wait three
+or four months for repayment in produce.
+
+A rapid change is taking place in the habits of these Indians
+through frequent intercourse with the whites, and those who dwell
+on the banks of the Tapajos now seldom tattoo their children. The
+principal Tushaua of the whole tribe or nation, named Joaquim,
+was rewarded with a commission in the Brazilian army, in
+acknowledgment of the assistance he gave to the legal authorities
+during the rebellion of 1835-6. It would be a misnomer to call
+the Mundurucus of the Cupari and many parts of the Tapajos
+savages; their regular mode of life, agricultural habits, loyalty
+to their chiefs, fidelity to treaties, and gentleness of
+demeanour, give them a right to a better title. Yet they show no
+aptitude for the civilised life of towns, and, like the rest of
+the Brazilian tribes, seem incapable of any further advance in
+culture.
+
+In their former wars they exterminated two of the neighbouring
+peoples, the Jumas and the Jacares, and make now an annual
+expedition against the Pararauates, and one or two other similar
+wild tribes who inhabit the interior of the land. Additionally
+they are sometimes driven by hunger towards the banks of the
+great rivers to rob the plantations of the agricultural Indians.
+These campaigns begin in July, and last throughout the dry
+months; the women generally accompanying the warriors to carry
+their arrows and javelins. They had the diabolical custom, in
+former days, of cutting off the heads of their slain enemies, and
+preserving them as trophies around their houses. I believe this,
+together with other savage practices, has been relinquished in
+those parts where they have had long intercourse with the
+Brazilians, for I could neither see nor hear anything of these
+preserved heads. They used to sever the head with knives made of
+broad bamboo, and then, after taking out the brain and fleshy
+parts, soak it in bitter vegetable oil (andiroba), and expose it
+for several days over the smoke of a fire or in the sun. In the
+tract of country between the Tapajos and the Madeira, a deadly
+war has been for many years carried on between the Mundurucus and
+the Araras. I was told by a Frenchman at Santarem, who had
+visited that part, that all the settlements there have a military
+organisation. A separate shed is built outside each village,
+where the fighting men sleep at night, sentinels being stationed
+to give the alarm with blasts of the Ture on the approach of the
+Araras, who choose the night for their onslaughts.
+
+Each horde of Mundurucus has its paje or medicine man, who is the
+priest and doctor; he fixes upon the time most propitious for
+attacking the enemy; exorcises evil spirits, and professes to
+cure the sick. All illness whose origin is not very apparent is
+supposed to be caused by a worm in the part affected. This the
+paje pretends to extract; he blows on the seat of pain the smoke
+from a large cigar, made with an air of great mystery by rolling
+tobacco in folds of Tauari, and then sucks the place, drawing
+from his mouth, when he has finished, what he pretends to be the
+worm. It is a piece of very clumsy conjuring. One of these pajes
+was sent for by a woman in John Aracu's family, to operate on a
+child who suffered much from pains in the head. Senor John
+contrived to get possession of the supposed worm after the trick
+was performed in our presence, and it turned out to be a long
+white airroot of some plant. The paje was with difficulty
+persuaded to operate while Senor John and I were present. I
+cannot help thinking that he, as well as all others of the same
+profession, are conscious impostors, handing down the shallow
+secret of their divinations and tricks from generation to
+generation. The institution seems to be common to all tribes of
+Indians, and to be held to more tenaciously than any other.
+
+I bought of the Tushaua two beautiful feather sceptres, with
+their bamboo cases. These are of cylindrical shape, about three
+feet in length and three inches in diameter, and are made by
+gluing with wax the fine white and yellow feathers from the
+breast of the toucan on stout rods, the tops being ornamented
+with long plumes from the tails of parrots, trogons, and other
+birds. The Mundurucus are considered to be the most expert
+workers in feathers of all the South American tribes. It is very
+difficult, however, to get them to part with the articles, as
+they seem to have a sort of superstitious regard for them. They
+manufacture headdresses, sashes, and tunics, besides sceptres;
+the feathers being assorted with a good eye to the proper
+contrast of colours, and the quills worked into strong cotton
+webs, woven with knitting sticks in the required shape. The
+dresses are worn only during their festivals, which are
+celebrated, not at stated times, but whenever the Tushaua thinks
+fit. Dancing, singing, sports, and drinking, appear to be the
+sole objects of these occasional holidays. When a day is fixed
+upon, the women prepare a great quantity of taroba, and the
+monotonous jingle is kept up, with little intermission, night and
+day, until the stimulating beverage is finished.
+
+We left the Tushaua's house early the next morning. The
+impression made upon me by the glimpse of Indian life in its
+natural state obtained here, and at another cluster of houses
+visited higher up, was a pleasant one, notwithstanding the
+disagreeable incident of the Pararauate visit. The Indians are
+here seen to the best advantage; having relinquished many of
+their most barbarous practices, without being corrupted by too
+close contact with the inferior whites and half-breeds of the
+civilised settlements. The manners are simpler, the demeanour
+more gentle, cheerful, and frank, than amongst the Indians who
+live near the towns. I could not help contrasting their well-fed
+condition, and the signs of orderly, industrious habits, with the
+poverty and laziness of the semi-civilised people of Altar do
+Chao. I do not think that the introduction of liquors has been
+the cause of much harm to the Brazilian Indian. He has his
+drinking bout now and then, like the common working people of
+other countries. It was his habit in his original state, before
+Europeans visited his country, but he is always ashamed of it
+afterwards, and remains sober during the pretty long intervals.
+The harsh, slave-driving practices of the Portuguese and their
+descendants have been the greatest curses to the Indians; the
+Mundurucus of the Cupari, however, have been now for many years
+protected against ill-treatment. This is one of the good services
+rendered by the missionaries, who take care that the Brazilian
+laws in favour of the aborigines shall be respected by the brutal
+and unprincipled traders who go amongst them. I think no Indians
+could be in a happier position than these simple, peaceful, and
+friendly people on the banks of the Cupari. The members of each
+family live together, and seem to be much attached to each other;
+and the authority of the chief is exercised in the mildest
+manner. Perpetual summer reigns around them; the land is of the
+highest fertility, and a moderate amount of light work produces
+them all the necessessities of their simple life.
+
+It is difficult to get at their notions on subjects that require
+a little abstract thought; but, the mind of the Indian is in a
+very primitive condition. I believe he thinks of nothing except
+the matters that immediately concern his daily material wants.
+There is an almost total absence of curiosity in his mental
+disposition, consequently, he troubles himself very little
+concerning the causes of the natural phenomena around him. He has
+no idea of a Supreme Being; but, at the same time, he is free
+from revolting superstitions--his religious notions going no
+farther than the belief in an evil spirit, regarded merely as a
+kind of hobgoblin, who is at the bottom of all his little
+failures, troubles in fishing, hunting, and so forth. With so
+little mental activity, and with feelings and passions slow of
+excitement, the life of these people is naturally monotonous and
+dull, and their virtues are, properly speaking, only negative;
+but the picture of harmless, homely contentment they exhibit is
+very pleasing, compared with the state of savage races in many
+other parts of the world.
+
+The men awoke me at four o'clock with the sound of their oars on
+leaving the port of the Tushaua. I was surprised to find a dense
+fog veiling all surrounding objects, and the air quite cold. The
+lofty wall of forest, with the beautiful crowns of Assai palms
+standing out from it on their slender, arching stems, looked dim
+and strange through the misty curtain. The sudden change a little
+after sunrise had quite a magical effect, for the mist rose up
+like the gauze veil before the transformation scene at a
+pantomime, and showed the glorious foliage in the bright glow of
+morning, glittering with dew drops. We arrived at the falls about
+ten o'clock. The river here is not more than forty yards broad,
+and falls over a low ledge of rock stretching in a nearly
+straight line across.
+
+We had now arrived at the end of the navigation for large
+vessels--a distance from the mouth of the river, according to our
+rough calculation, of a little over seventy miles. I found it the
+better course now to send Jose and one of the men forward in the
+montaria with John Aracu, and remain myself with the cuberta and
+our other man to collect in the neighbouring forest. We stayed
+here four days, one of the boats returning each evening from the
+upper river with the produce of the day's chase of my huntsmen. I
+obtained six good specimens of the hyacinthine macaw, besides a
+number of smaller birds, a species new to me of Guariba, or
+howling monkey, and two large lizards. The Guariba was an old
+male, with the hair much worn from his rump and breast, and his
+body disfigured with large tumours made by the grubs of a gad-fly
+(Oestrus). The back and tail were of a ruddy-brown colour, the
+limbs, and underside of the body, black. The men ascended to the
+second falls, which form a cataract several feet in height, about
+fifteen miles beyond our anchorage. The macaws were found feeding
+in small flocks on the fruit of the Tucuma palm (Astryocaryum
+Tucuma), the excessively hard nut of which is crushed into pulp
+by the powerful beak of the bird. I found the craws of all the
+specimens filled with the sour paste to which the stone-like
+fruit had been reduced. Each bird took me three hours to skin,
+and I was occupied with these and my other specimens every
+evening until midnight, after my own laborious day's hunt--
+working on the roof of my cabin by the light of a lamp.
+
+The place where the cuberta was anchored formed a little rocky
+haven, with a sandy beach sloping to the forest, within which
+were the ruins of an Indian Maloca, and a large weed-grown
+plantation. The port swarmed with fishes, whose movements it was
+amusing to watch in the deep, clear water. The most abundant were
+the Piranhas. One species, which varied in length, according to
+age, from two to six inches, but was recognisable by a black spot
+at the root of the tail, was always the quickest to seize any
+fragment of meat thrown into the water. When nothing was being
+given to them, a few only were seen scattered about, their heads
+all turned one way in an attitude of expectation; but as soon as
+any offal fell from the canoe, the water was blackened with the
+shoals that rushed instantaneously to the spot. Those who did not
+succeed in securing a fragment, fought with those who had been
+more successful, and many contrived to steal the coveted morsels
+from their mouths. When a bee or fly passed through the air near
+the water, they all simultaneously darted towards it as if roused
+by an electric shock. Sometimes a larger fish approached, and
+then the host of Piranhas took the alarm and flashed out of
+sight.
+
+The population of the water varied from day to day. Once a small
+shoal of a handsome black-banded fish, called by the natives
+Acara bandeira (Mesonauta insignis, of Gunther), came gliding
+through at a slow pace, forming a very pretty sight. At another
+time, little troops of needle-fish, eel-like animals with
+excessively long and slender toothed jaws, sailed through the
+field, scattering before them the hosts of smaller fry; and at
+the rear of the needle-fishes, a strangely-shaped kind called
+Sarapo came wriggling along, one by one, with a slow movement. We
+caught with hook and line, baited with pieces of banana, several
+Curimata (Anodus Amazonum), a most delicious fish, which, next to
+the Tucunare and the Pescada, is most esteemed by the natives.
+The Curimata seemed to prefer the middle of the stream, where the
+waters were agitated beneath the little cascade.
+
+The weather was now settled and dry, and the river sank rapidly--
+six inches in twenty-four hours. In this remote and solitary spot
+I can say that I heard for the first and almost the only time the
+uproar of life at sunset, which Humboldt describes as having
+witnessed towards the sources of the Orinoco, but which is
+unknown on the banks of the larger rivers. The noises of animals
+began just as the sun sank behind the trees after a sweltering
+afternoon, leaving the sky above of the intensest shade of blue.
+Two flocks of howling monkeys, one close to our canoe, the other
+about a furlong distant, filled the echoing forests with their
+dismal roaring. Troops of parrots, including the hyacinthine
+macaw we were in search of, began then to pass over; the
+different styles of cawing and screaming of the various species
+making a terrible discord. Added to these noises were the songs
+of strange Cicadas, one large kind perched high on the trees
+around our little haven setting up a most piercing chirp. it
+began with the usual harsh jarring tone of its tribe, but this
+gradually and rapidly became shriller, until it ended in a long
+and loud note resembling the steam-whistle of a locomotive
+engine. Half-a-dozen of these wonderful performers made a
+considerable item in the evening concert. I had heard the same
+species before at Para, but it was there very uncommon; we
+obtained one of them here for my collection by a lucky blow with
+a stone. The uproar of beasts, birds, and insects lasted but a
+short time: the sky quickly lost its intense hue, and the night
+set in. Then began the tree-frogs--quack-quack, drum-drum, hoo-
+hoo; these, accompanied by a melancholy night-jar, kept up their
+monotonous cries until very late.
+
+My men encountered on the banks of the stream a Jaguar and a
+black Tiger, and were very much afraid of falling in with the
+Pararauates, so that I could not, after their return on the
+fourth day, induce them to undertake another journey. We began
+our descent of the river in the evening of the 26th of August. At
+night forest and river were again enveloped in mist, and the air
+before sunrise was quite cold. There is a considerable current
+from the falls to the house of John Aracu, and we accomplished
+the distance, with its aid and by rowing, in seventeen hours.
+
+September 21st.-At five o'clock in the afternoon we emerged from
+the confined and stifling gully through which the Cupari flows,
+into the broad Tapajos, and breathed freely again. How I enjoyed
+the extensive view after being so long pent up: the mountainous
+coasts, the grey distance, the dark waters tossed by a refreshing
+breeze! Heat, mosquitoes, insufficient and bad food, hard work
+and anxiety, had brought me to a very low state of health; and I
+was now anxious to make all speed back to Santarem.
+
+We touched at Aveyros, to embark some chests I had left there and
+to settle accounts with Captain Antonio, and found nearly all the
+people sick with fever and vomit, against which the Padre's
+homoeopathic globules were of no avail. The Tapajos had been
+pretty free from epidemics for some years past, although it was
+formerly a very unhealthy river. A sickly time appeared to be now
+returning; in fact, the year following my visit (1853) was the
+most fatal one ever experienced in this part of the country. A
+kind of putrid fever broke out, which attacked people of all
+races alike. The accounts we received at Santarem were most
+distressing-- my Cupari friends especially suffered very
+severely. John Aracu and his family all fell victims, with the
+exception of his wife; my kind friend Antonio Malagueita also
+died, and a great number of people in the Mundurucu village.
+
+The descent of the Tapajos in the height of the dry season, which
+was now close at hand, is very hazardous on account of the strong
+winds, absence of current, and shoaly water far away from the
+coasts. The river towards the end of September is about thirty
+feet shallower than in June; and in many places, ledges of rock
+are laid bare, or covered with only a small depth of water. I had
+been warned of these circumstances by my Cupari friends, but did
+not form an adequate idea of what we should have to undergo.
+Canoes, in descending, only travel at night, when the terral, or
+light land-breeze, blows off the eastern shore. In the daytime a
+strong wind rages from down river, against which it is impossible
+to contend as there is no current, and the swell raised by its
+sweeping over scores of miles of shallow water is dangerous to
+small vessels. The coast for the greater part of the distance
+affords no shelter; there are, however, a number of little
+harbours, called esperas, which the canoemen calculate upon,
+carefully arranging each night-voyage so as to reach one of them
+before the wind begins the next morning.
+
+We left Aveyros in the evening of the 21st, and sailed gently
+down with the soft land-breeze, keeping about a mile from the
+eastern shore. It was a brilliant moonlit night, and the men
+worked cheerfully at the oars when the wind was slack, the terral
+wafting from the forest a pleasant perfume like that of
+mignonette. At midnight we made a fire and got a cup of coffee,
+and at three o'clock in the morning reached the sitio of
+Ricardo's father, an Indian named Andre, where we anchored and
+slept.
+
+September 22nd--Old Andre with his squaw came aboard this
+morning. They brought three Tracajas, a turtle, and a basketful
+of Tracaja eggs, to exchange with me for cotton cloth and
+cashaca. Ricardo, who had been for some time very discontented,
+having now satisfied his longing to see his parents, cheerfully
+agreed to accompany me to Santarem. The loss of a man at this
+juncture would have been very annoying, with Captain Antonio ill
+at Aveyros, and not a hand to be had anywhere in the
+neighbourhood; but, if we had not called at Andre's sitio, we
+should not have been able to have kept Ricardo from running away
+at the first landing-place. He was a lively, restless lad, and
+although impudent and troublesome at first, had made a very good
+servant. His companion, Alberto, was of quite a different
+disposition, being extremely taciturn, and going through all his
+duties with the quietest regularity.
+
+We left at 11 a.m., and progressed a little before the wind began
+to blow from down river, when we were obliged again to cast
+anchor. The terral began at six o'clock in the evening, and we
+sailed with it past the long line of rock-bound coast near
+Itapuama. At ten o'clock a furious blast of wind came from a
+cleft between the hills, catching us with the sails close-hauled,
+and throwing the canoe nearly on its beam-ends, when we were
+about a mile from the shore. Jose had the presence of mind to
+slacken the sheet of the mainsail, while I leapt forward and
+lowered the sprit of the foresail, the two Indians standing
+stupefied in the prow. It was what the canoe-men call a trovoada
+secca or white squall. The river in a few minutes became a sheet
+of foam; the wind ceased in about half an hour, but the terral
+was over for the night, so we pulled towards the shore to find an
+anchoring place.
+
+We reached Tapaiuna by midnight on the 23rd, and on the morning
+of the 24th arrived at the Retiro, where we met a shrewd Santarem
+trader, whom I knew, Senor Chico Honorio, who had a larger and
+much better provided canoe than our own. The wind was strong from
+below all day, so we remained at this place in his company. He
+had his wife with him, and a number of Indians, male and female.
+We slung our hammocks under the trees, and breakfasted and dined
+together, our cloth being spread on the sandy beach in the shade
+after killing a large quantity of fish with timbo, of which we
+had obtained a supply at Itapuama. At night we were again under
+way with the land breeze. The water was shoaly to a great
+distance off the coast, and our canoe having the lighter draught
+went ahead, our leadsman crying out the soundings to our
+companion-- the depth was only one fathom, half a mile from the
+coast. We spent the next day (25th) at the mouth of a creek
+called Pini, which is exactly opposite the village of Boim, and
+on the following night advanced about twelve miles. Every point
+of land had a long spit of sand stretching one or two miles
+towards the middle of the river, which it was necessary to double
+by a wide circuit. The terral failed us at midnight when we were
+near an espera, called Marai, the mouth of a shallow creek.
+
+September 26th.--I did not like the prospect of spending the
+whole dreary day at Marai, where it was impossible to ramble
+ashore, the forest being utterly impervious, and the land still
+partly under water. Besides, we had used up our last stick of
+firewood to boil our coffee at sunrise, and could not get a fresh
+supply at this place. So there being a dead calm on the river in
+the morning, I gave orders at ten o'clock to move out of the
+harbour, and try with the oars to reach Paquiatuba, which was
+only five miles distant. We had doubled the shoaly point which
+stretches from the mouth of the creek, and were making way
+merrily across the bay, at the head of which was the port of the
+little settlement, when we beheld to our dismay, a few miles down
+the river, the signs of the violent day breeze coming down upon
+us--a long, rapidly advancing line of foam with the darkened
+water behind it. Our men strove in vain to gain the harbour; the
+wind overtook us, and we cast anchor in three fathoms, with two
+miles of shoaly water between us and the land on our lee. It came
+with the force of a squall: the heavy billows washing over the
+vessel and drenching us with the spray. I did not expect that our
+anchor would hold; I gave out, however, plenty of cable and
+watched the result at the prow, Jose placing himself at the helm,
+and the men standing by the jib and foresail, so as to be ready
+if we dragged to attempt the passage of the Marai spit, which was
+now almost dead to leeward. Our little bit of iron, however, held
+its place; the bottom being fortunately not so sandy as in most
+other parts of the coast; but our weak cable then began to cause
+us anxiety.
+
+We remained in this position all day without food, for everything
+was tossing about in the hold; provision-chests, baskets,
+kettles, and crockery. The breeze increased in strength towards
+the evening, when the sun set fiery red behind the misty hills on
+the western shore, and the gloom of the scene was heightened by
+the strange contrasts of colour; the inky water and the lurid
+gleam of the sky. Heavy seas beat now and then against the prow
+of our vessel with a force that made her shiver. If we had gone
+ashore in this place, all my precious collections would have been
+inevitably lost; but we ourselves could have scrambled easily to
+land, and re-embarked with Senor Honorio, who had remained behind
+in the Pini, and would pass in the course of two or three days.
+When night came I lay down exhausted with watching and fatigue,
+and fell asleep, as my men had done sometime before. About nine
+o'clock, I was awakened by the montaria bumping against the sides
+of the vessel, which had veered suddenly round, and the full
+moon, previously astern, then shone full in the cabin. The wind
+had abruptly ceased, giving place to light puffs from the eastern
+shore, and leaving a long swell rolling into the shoaly bay.
+
+After this, I resolved not to move a step beyond Paquiatuba
+without an additional man, and one who understood the navigation
+of the river at this season. We reached the landing-place at ten
+o'clock, and anchored within the mouth of the creek. In the
+morning I walked through the beautiful shady alleys of the
+forest, which were waterpaths in June when we touched here in
+ascending the river to the house of Inspector Cypriano. After an
+infinite deal of trouble, I succeeded in persuading him to
+furnish me with another Indian. There are about thirty families
+established in this place, but the able-bodied men had been
+nearly all drafted off within the last few weeks by the
+Government, to accompany a military expedition against runaway
+negroes, settled in villages in the interior. Senor Cypriano was
+a pleasant-looking and extremely civil young Mameluco. He
+accompanied us, on the night of the 28th, five miles down the
+river to Point Jaguarari, where the man lived whom he intended to
+send with me. I was glad to find my new hand a steady, middle-
+aged and married Indian; his name was of very good promise,
+Angelo Custodio (Guardian Angel).
+
+Point Jaguarari forms at this season of the year a high sandbank,
+which is prolonged as a narrow spit, stretching about three miles
+towards the middle of the river. We rounded this with great
+difficulty on the night of the 29th, reaching before daylight a
+good shelter behind a similar sandbank at Point Acaratingari, a
+headland situated not more than five miles in a straight line
+from our last anchoring place. We remained here all day; the men
+beating timbo in a quiet pool between the sandbank and the
+mainland, and obtaining a great quantity of fish, from which I
+selected six species new to my collection. We made rather better
+progress the two following nights, but the terral now always blew
+strongly from the north-northeast after midnight, and thus
+limited the hours during which we could navigate, forcing us to
+seek the nearest shelter to avoid being driven back faster than
+we came.
+
+On the 2nd of October, we reached Point Cajetuba and had a
+pleasant day ashore. The river scenery in this neighbourhood is
+of the greatest beauty. A few houses of settlers are seen at the
+bottom of the broad bay of Aramhna-i at the foot of a range of
+richly-timbered hills, the high beach of snow-white sand
+stretching in a bold curve from point to point. The opposite
+shores of the river are ten or eleven miles distant, but towards
+the north is a clear horizon of water and sky. The country near
+Point Cajetuba is similar to the neighbourhood of Santarem--
+namely, campos with scattered trees. We gathered a large quantity
+of wild fruit: Caju, Umiri, and Aapiranga. The Umiri berry
+(Humirium floribundum) is a black drupe similar in appearance to
+the Damascene plum, and not greatly unlike it in taste. The
+Aapiranga is a bright vermilion-coloured berry, with a hard skin
+and a sweet viscid pulp enclosing the seeds.
+
+Between the point and Altar do Chao was a long stretch of sandy
+beach with moderately deep water; our men, therefore, took a rope
+ashore and towed the cuberta at merry speed until we reached the
+village. A long, deeply laden canoe with miners from the interior
+provinces passed us here. It was manned by ten Indians, who
+propelled the boat by poles; the men, five on each side, trotting
+one after the other along a plank arranged for the purpose from
+stem to stern. It took us two nights to double Point Cururu,
+where, as already mentioned, the river bends from its northerly
+course beyond Altar do Chao. A confused pile of rocks, on which
+many a vessel heavily laden with farinha has been wrecked,
+extends at the season of low water from the foot of a high bluff
+far into the stream. We were driven back on the first night
+(October 3rd) by a squall. The light terral was carrying us
+pleasantly round the spit, when a small black cloud which lay
+near the rising moon suddenly spread over the sky to the
+northward; the land breeze then ceased, and furious blasts began
+to blow across the river. We regained, with great difficulty, the
+shelter of the point. It blew almost a hurricane for two hours,
+during the whole of which time the sky over our heads was
+beautifully clear and starlit. Our shelter at first was not very
+secure, for the wind blew away the lashings of our sails, and
+caused our anchor to drag. Angelo Custodio, however, seized a
+rope which was attached to the foremast, and leapt ashore; had he
+not done so, we should probably have been driven many miles
+backwards up the storm-tossed river. After the cloud had passed,
+the regular east wind began to blow, and our further progress was
+effectually stopped for the night. The next day we all went
+ashore, after securing well the canoe, and slept from eleven
+o'clock till five under the shade of trees.
+
+The distance between Point Cururu and Santarem was accomplished
+in three days, against the same difficulties of contrary and
+furious winds, shoaly water, and rocky coasts. I was thankful at
+length to be safely housed, with the whole of my collections,
+made under so many privations and perils, landed without the loss
+or damage of a specimen. The men, after unloading the canoe and
+delivering it to its owner, came to receive their payment. They
+took part in goods and part in money, and after a good supper, on
+the night of the 7th October, shouldered their bundles and set
+off to walk by land some eighty miles to their homes. I was
+rather surprised at the good feeling exhibited by these poor
+Indians at parting. Angelo Custodio said that whenever I should
+wish to make another voyage up the Tapajos, he would be always
+ready to serve me as pilot. Alberto was undemonstrative as usual;
+but Ricardo, with whom I had had many sharp quarrels, actually
+shed tears when he shook hands and bid me the final "adios."
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE UPPER AMAZONS--VOYAGE TO EGA
+
+Departure from Barra--First Day and Night on the Upper Amazons--
+Desolate Appearance of River in the Flood Season--Cucama Indians-
+-Mental Condition of Indians--Squalls--Manatee--Forest--Floating
+Pumice Stones from the Andes--Falling Banks--Ega and its
+Inhabitants--Daily Life of a Naturalist at Ega--The Four Seasons
+of the Upper Amazons
+
+I must now take the reader from the picturesque, hilly country of
+the Tapajos, and its dark, streamless waters, to the boundless
+wooded plains, and yellow turbid current of the Upper Amazons or
+Solimoens. I will resume the narrative of my first voyage up the
+river, which was interrupted at the Barra of the Rio Negro in the
+seventh chapter, to make way for the description of Santarem and
+its neighbourhood.
+
+I embarked at Barra on the 26th of March, 1850, three years
+before steamers were introduced on the upper river, in a cuberta
+which was returning to Ega, the first and only town of any
+importance in the vast solitudes of the Solimoens, from Santarem,
+whither it had been sent, with a cargo of turtle oil in
+earthenware jars. The owner, an old white-haired Portuguese
+trader of Ega named Daniel Cardozo, was then at Barra attending
+the assizes as juryman, a public duty performed without
+remuneration, which took him six weeks away from his business. He
+was about to leave Barra himself, in a small boat, and
+recommended me to send forward my heavy baggage in the cuberta
+and make the journey with him. He would reach Ega, 370 miles
+distant from Barra, in twelve or fourteen days; while the large
+vessel would be thirty or forty days on the road. I preferred,
+however, to go in company with my luggage, looking forward to the
+many opportunities I should have of landing and making
+collections on the banks of the river.
+
+I shipped the collections made between Para and the Rio Negro in
+a large cutter which was about descending to the capital, and
+after a heavy day's work got all my chests aboard the Ega canoe
+by eight o'clock at night. The Indians were then all embarked,
+one of them being brought dead drunk by his companions, and laid
+to sober himself all night on the wet boards of the tombadilha.
+The cabo, a spirited young white, named Estulano Alves Carneiro,
+who has since risen to be a distinguished citizen of the new
+province of the Upper Amazons, soon after gave orders to get up
+the anchor. The men took to the oars, and in a few hours we
+crossed the broad mouth of the Rio Negro; the night being clear,
+calm, and starlit, and the surface of the inky waters smooth as a
+lake.
+
+When I awoke the next morning, we were progressing by espia along
+the left bank of the Solimoens. The rainy season had now set in
+over the region through which the great river flows; the sand-
+banks and all the lower lands were already under water, and the
+tearing current, two or three miles in breadth, bore along a
+continuous line of uprooted trees and islets of floating plants.
+The prospect was most melancholy; no sound was heard but the dull
+murmur of the waters -- the coast along which we travelled all
+day was encumbered every step of the way with fallen trees, some
+of which quivered in the currents which set around projecting
+points of land. Our old pest, the Motuca, began to torment us as
+soon as the sun gained power in the morning. White egrets were
+plentiful at the edge of the water, and hummingbirds, in some
+places, were whirring about the flowers overhead. The desolate
+appearance of the landscape increased after sunset, when the moon
+rose in mist.
+
+This upper river, the Alto-Amazonas, or Solimoens, is always
+spoken of by the Brazilians as a distinct stream. This is partly
+owing, as before remarked, to the direction it seems to take at
+the fork of the Rio Negro; the inhabitants of the country, from
+their partial knowledge, not being able to comprehend the whole
+river system in one view. It has, however, many peculiarities to
+distinguish it from the lower course of the river. The trade-
+wind, or sea-breeze, which reaches, in the height of the dry
+season, as far as the mouth of the Rio Negro, 900 or 1000 miles
+from the Atlantic, never blows on the upper river. The atmosphere
+is therefore more stagnant and sultry, and the winds that do
+prevail are of irregular direction and short duration. A great
+part of the land on the borders of the Lower Amazons is hilly;
+there are extensive campos, or open plains, and long stretches of
+sandy soil clothed with thinner forests. The climate, in
+consequence, is comparatively dry many months in succession
+during the fine season passing without rain. All this is changed
+on the Solimoens. A fortnight of clear sunny weather is a rarity:
+the whole region through which the river and its affluents flow,
+after leaving the easternmost ridges of the Andes, which Poppig
+describes as rising like a wall from the level country, 240 miles
+from the Pacific, is a vast plain, about 1000 miles in length,
+and 500 or 600 in breadth, covered with one uniform, lofty,
+impervious, and humid forest. The soil is nowhere sandy, but
+always either a stiff clay, alluvium, or vegetable mold, which
+thelatter, in many places, is seen in water-worn sections of the
+river banks to be twenty or thirty feet in depth. With such a
+soil and climate, the luxuriance of vegetation, and the abundance
+and beauty of animal forms which are already so great in the
+region nearer the Atlantic, increase on the upper river. The
+fruits, both wild and cultivated, common to the two sections of
+the country, reach a progressively larger size in advancing
+westward, and some trees, which blossom only once a year at Para
+and Santarem, yield flower and fruit all the year round at Ega.
+The climate is healthy, although one lives here as in a permanent
+vapour bath. I must not, however, give here a lengthy description
+of the region while we are yet on its threshold. I resided and
+travelled on the Solimoens altogether for four years and a half.
+The country on its borders is a magnificent wilderness where
+civilised man, as yet, has scarcely obtained a footing; the
+cultivated ground from the Rio Negro to the Andes amounting only
+to a few score acres. Man, indeed, in any condition, from his
+small numbers, makes but an insignificant figure in these vast
+solitudes. It may be mentioned that the Solimoens is 2130 miles
+in length, if we reckon from the source of what is usually
+considered the main stream (Lake Lauricocha, near Lima); but 2500
+miles by the route of the Ucayali, the most considerable and
+practicable fork of the upper part of the river. It is navigable
+at all seasons by large steamers for upwards of 1400 miles from
+the mouth of the Rio Negro.
+
+On the 28th we passed the mouth of Arlauu, a narrow inlet which
+communicates with the Rio Negro, emerging in front of Barra. Our
+vessel was nearly drawn into this by the violent current which
+set from the Solimoens. The towing-cable was lashed to a strong
+tree about thirty yards ahead, and it took the whole strength of
+crew and passengers to pull across. We passed the Guariba, a
+second channel connecting the two rivers, on the 30th, and on the
+31st sailed past a straggling settlement called Manacapuru,
+situated on a high, rocky bank. Many citizens of Barra have
+sitios, or country-houses, in this place, although it is eighty
+miles distant from the town by the nearest road. Beyond
+Manacapuru all traces of high land cease; both shores of the
+river, henceforward for many hundred miles, are flat, except in
+places where the Tabatinga formation appears in clayey elevations
+of from twenty to forty feet above the line of highest water. The
+country is so completely destitute of rocky or gravelly beds that
+not a pebble is seen during many weeks' journey. Our voyage was
+now very monotonous. After leaving the last house at Manacapuru,
+we travelled nineteen days without seeing a human habitation, the
+few settlers being located on the banks of inlets or lakes some
+distance from the shores of the main river. We met only one
+vessel during the whole of the time, and this did not come within
+hail, as it was drifting down in the middle of the current in a
+broad part of the river, two miles from the bank along which we
+were laboriously warping our course upwards.
+
+After the first two or three days we fell into a regular way of
+life on board. Our crew was composed of ten Indians of the Cucama
+nation, whose native country is a portion of the borders of the
+upper river in the neighbourhood of Nauta, in Peru. The Cucamas
+speak the Tupi language, using, however, a harsher accent than is
+common amongst the semi-civilised Indians from Ega downwards.
+They are a shrewd, hard-working people, and are the only Indians
+who willingly, and in a body, engage themselves to navigate the
+canoes of traders. The pilot, a steady and faithful fellow named
+Vicente, told me that he and his companions had now been fifteen
+months absent from their wives and families, and that on arriving
+at Ega they intended to take the first chance of a passage to
+Nauta. There was nothing in the appearance of these men to
+distinguish them from canoemen in general. Some were tall and
+well built, others had squat figures with broad shoulders and
+excessively thick arms and legs. No two of them were at all
+similar in the shape of the head: Vicente had an oval visage,
+with fine regular features, while a little dumpy fellow, the wag
+of the party, was quite a Mongolian in breadth and prominence of
+cheek, spread of nostrils, and obliquity of eyes; but these two
+formed the extremes as to face and figure. None of them were
+tattooed or disfigured in any way and they were all quite
+destitute of beard.
+
+The Cucamas are notorious on the river for their provident
+habits. The desire of acquiring property is so rare a trait in
+Indians, that the habits of these people are remarked on with
+surprise by the Brazilians. The first possession which they
+strive to acquire on descending the river into Brazil, which all
+the Peruvian Indians look upon as a richer country than their
+own, is a wooden trunk with lock and key; in this they stow away
+carefully all their earnings converted into clothing, hatchets,
+knives, harpoon heads, needles and thread, and so forth. Their
+wages are only fourpence or sixpence a day, which is often paid
+in goods charged one hundred per cent above Para prices, so that
+it takes them a long time to fill their chest.
+
+It would be difficult to find a better-behaved set of men in a
+voyage than these poor Indians. During our thirty-five days'
+journey they lived and worked together in the most perfect good
+fellowship. I never heard an angry word pass amongst them. Senor
+Estulano let them navigate the vessel in their own way, exerting
+his authority only now and then when they were inclined to be
+lazy. Vicente regulated the working hours. These depended on the
+darkness of the nights. In the first and second quarters of the
+moon they kept it up with espia, or oars, until almost midnight;
+in the third and fourth quarters they were allowed to go to sleep
+soon after sunset, and were aroused at three or four o'clock in
+the morning to resume their work. On cool, rainy days we all bore
+a hand at the espia, trotting with bare feet on the sloppy deck
+in Indian file to the tune of some wild boatman's chorus. We had
+a favorable wind for only two days out of the thirty-five, by
+which we made about forty miles, the rest of our long journey was
+accomplished literally by pulling our way from tree to tree. When
+we encountered a remanso near the shore, we got along very
+pleasantly for a few miles by rowing-- but this was a rare
+occurrence. During leisure hours the Indians employed themselves
+in sewing. Vicente was a good hand at cutting out shirts and
+trousers, and acted as master tailor to the whole party, each of
+whom had a thick steel thimble and a stock of needles and thread
+of his own. Vicente made for me a set of blue-check cotton shirts
+during the passage.
+
+The goodness of these Indians, like that of most others amongst
+whom I lived, consisted perhaps more in the absence of active bad
+qualities, than in the possession of good ones; in other words,
+it was negative rather than positive. Their phlegmatic, apathetic
+temperament, coldness of desire and deadness of feeling, want of
+curiosity and slowness of intellect, make the Amazonian Indians
+very uninteresting companions anywhere. Their imagination is of a
+dull, gloomy, quality and they seemed never to be stirred by the
+emotions--love, pity, admiration, fear, wonder, joy,
+orenthusiasm. These are characteristics of the whole race. The
+good fellowship of our Cucamas seemed to arise not from warm
+sympathy, but simply from the absence of eager selfishness in
+small matters. On the morning when the favourable wind sprung up,
+one of the crew, a lad of about seventeen years of age, was
+absent ashore at the time of starting, having gone alone in one
+of the montarias to gather wild fruit. The sails were spread and
+we travelled for several hours at great speed, leaving the poor
+fellow to paddle after us against the strong current. Vicente,
+who might have waited a few minutes at starting, and the others,
+only laughed when the hardship of their companion was alluded to.
+He overtook us at night, having worked his way with frightful
+labor the whole day without a morsel of food. He grinned when he
+came on board, and not a dozen words were said on either side.
+
+Their want of curiosity is extreme. One day we had an unusually
+sharp thunder shower. The crew were lying about the deck, and
+after each explosion all set up a loud laugh; the wag of the
+party exclaiming: "There's my old uncle hunting again!"-- an
+expression showing the utter emptiness of mind of the spokesman.
+I asked Vicente what he thought was the cause of lightning and
+thunder... He said, "Timaa ichoqua,"--I don't know. He had never
+given the subject a moment's thought! It was the same with other
+things. I asked him who made the sun, the stars, the trees... He
+didn't know, and had never heard the subject mentioned amongst
+his tribe. The Tupi language, at least as taught by the old
+Jesuits, has a word--Tupana--signifying God. Vicente sometimes
+used this word, but he showed by his expressions that he did not
+attach the idea of a Creator to it. He seemed to think it meant
+some deity or visible image which the whites worshipped in the
+churches he had seen in the villages. None of the Indian tribes
+on the Upper Amazons have an idea of a Supreme Being, and
+consequently have no word to express it in their own language.
+Vicente thought the river on which we were travelling encircled
+the whole earth, and that the land was an island like those seen
+in the stream, but larger. Here a gleam of curiosity and
+imagination in the Indian mind is revealed: the necessity of a
+theory of the earth and water has been felt, and a theory has
+been suggested. In all other matters not concerning the common
+wants of life, the mind of Vicente was a blank and such I always
+found to be the case with the Indian in his natural state. Would
+a community of any race of men be otherwise, were they isolated
+for centuries in a wilderness like the Amazonian Indians,
+associated in small numbers wholly occupied in procuring a mere
+subsistence, and without a written language, or a leisured class
+to hand down acquired knowledge from generation to generation?One
+day a smart squall gave us a good lift onward; it came with a
+cold, fine, driving rain, which enveloped the desolate landscape
+as with a mist; the forest swayed and roared with the force of
+the gale, and flocks of birds were driven about in alarm over the
+tree tops. On another occasion a similar squall came from an
+unfavourable quarter; it fell upon us quite unawares, when we had
+all our sails out to dry, and blew us broadside foremost on the
+shore. The vessel was fairly lifted on to the tall bushes which
+lined the banks, but we sustained no injury beyond the
+entanglement of our rigging in the branches. The days and nights
+usually passed in a dead calm, or with light intermittent winds
+from up river, and consequently full against us. We landed twice
+a day to give ourselves and the Indians a little rest and change,
+and to cook our two meals--breakfast and dinner. There was
+another passenger besides myself--a cautious, middle-aged
+Portuguese, who was going to settle at Ega, where he had a
+brother long since established. He was accommodated in the fore-
+cabin, or arched covering over the hold. I shared the cabin-
+proper with Senores Estulano and Manoel, the latter a young half-
+caste, son-in-law to the owner of the vessel, under whose tuition
+I made good progress in learning the Tupi language during the
+voyage.
+
+Our men took it in turns, two at a time, to go out fishing-- for
+which purpose we carried a spare montaria. The master had brought
+from Barra as provision, nothing but stale, salt pirarucu--half
+rotten fish, in large, thin, rusty slabs--farinha, coffee, and
+treacle. In these voyages, passengers are expected to provide for
+themselves, as no charge is made except for freight of the heavy
+luggage or cargo they take with them. The Portuguese and myself
+had brought a few luxuries, such as beans, sugar, biscuits, tea,
+and so forth; but we found ourselves almost obliged to share them
+with our two companions and the pilot, so that before the voyage
+was one-third finished, the small stock of most of these articles
+was exhausted. In return, we shared in whatever the men brought.
+Sometimes they were quite unsuccessful, for fish is extremely
+difficult to procure in the season of high water, on account of
+the lower lands lying between the inlets and infinite chain of
+pools and lakes being flooded from the main river, thus
+increasing tenfold the area over which the finny population has
+to range. On most days, however, they brought two or three fine
+fish, and once they harpooned a manatee, or Vacca marina. On this
+last-mentioned occasion we made quite a holiday; the canoe was
+stopped for six or seven hours, and all turned out into the
+forest to help skin and cook the animal. The meat was cut into
+cubical slabs, and each person skewered a dozen or so of these on
+a long stick. Fires were made, and the spits stuck in the ground
+and slanted over the flames to roast. A drizzling rain fell all
+the time, and the ground around the fires swarmed with stinging
+ants, attracted by the entrails and slime which were scattered
+about. The meat has somewhat the taste of very coarse pork; but
+the fat, which lies in thick layers between the lean parts, is of
+a greenish colour, and of a disagreeable, fishy flavour. The
+animal was a large one, measuring nearly ten feet in length, and
+nine in girth at the broadest part. The manatee is one of the few
+objects which excite the dull wonder and curiosity of the
+Indians, notwithstanding its commonness. The fact of its suckling
+its young at the breast, although an aquatic animal resembling a
+fish, seems to strike them as something very strange. The animal,
+as it lay on its back, with its broad rounded head and muzzle,
+tapering body, and smooth, thick, lead-coloured skin reminded me
+of those Egyptian tombs which are made of dark, smooth stone, and
+shaped to the human figure.
+
+Notwithstanding the hard fare, the confinement of the canoe, the
+trying weather--frequent and drenching rains, with gleams of
+fiery sunshine--and the woeful desolation of the river scenery, I
+enjoyed the voyage on the whole. We were not much troubled by
+mosquitoes, and therefore passed the nights very pleasantly,
+sleeping on deck wrapped in blankets or old sails. When the rains
+drove us below we were less comfortable, as there was only just
+room in the small cabin for three of us to lie close together,
+and the confined air was stifling. I became inured to the Piums
+in the course of the first week; all the exposed parts of my
+body, by that time, being so closely covered with black punctures
+that the little bloodsuckers could not very easily find an
+unoccupied place to operate upon. Poor Miguel, the Portuguese,
+suffered horribly from these pests, his ankles and wrists being
+so much inflamed that he was confined to his hammock, slung in
+the hold, for weeks. At every landing place I had a ramble in the
+forest, while the redskins made the fire and cooked the meal. The
+result was a large daily addition to my collection of insects,
+reptiles, and shells.
+
+Sometimes the neighbourhood of our gipsy-like encampment was a
+tract of dry and spacious forest, pleasant to ramble in; but more
+frequently it was a rank wilderness, into which it was impossible
+to penetrate many yards, on account of uprooted trees, entangled
+webs of monstrous woody climbers, thickets of spiny bamboos,
+swamps, or obstacles of one kind or other. The drier lands were
+sometimes beautified to the highest degree by groves of the
+Urucuri palm (Attalea excelsa), which grew by the thousands under
+the crowns of the lofty, ordinary forest trees; their smooth
+columnar stems being all of nearly equal height (forty or fifty
+feet), and their broad, finely-pinnated leaves interlocking above
+to form arches and woven canopies of elegant and diversified
+shapes. The fruit of this palm ripens on the upper river in
+April, and during our voyage I saw immense quantities of it
+strewn about under the trees in places where we encamped. It is
+similar in size and shape to the date, and has a pleasantly-
+flavoured juicy pulp. The Indians would not eat it; I was
+surprised at this, as they greedily devoured many other kinds of
+palm fruit whose sour and fibrous pulp was much less palatable.
+Vicente shook his head when he saw me one day eating a quantity
+of the Urucuri plums. I am not sure they were not the cause of a
+severe indigestion under which I suffered for many days
+afterwards.
+
+In passing slowly along the interminable wooded banks week after
+week, I observed that there were three tolerably distinct kinds
+of coast and corresponding forest constantly recurring on this
+upper river. First, there were the low and most recent alluvial
+deposits--a mixture of sand and mud, covered with tall, broad-
+leaved grasses, or with the arrow-grass before described, whose
+feathery-topped flower-stem rises to a height of fourteen or
+fifteen feet. The only large trees which grow in these places are
+the Cecropiae. Many of the smaller and newer islands were of this
+description. Secondly, there were the moderately high banks,
+which are only partially overflowed when the flood season is at
+its height; these are wooded with a magnificent, varied forest,
+in which a great variety of palms and broad-leaved Marantaceae
+form a very large proportion of the vegetation. The general
+foliage is of a vivid light-green hue; the water frontage is
+sometimes covered with a diversified mass of greenery; but where
+the current sets strongly against the friable, earthy banks,
+which at low water are twenty-five to thirty feet high, these are
+cut away, and expose a section of forest where the trunks of
+trees loaded with epiphytes appear in massy colonnades. One might
+safely say that three-fourths of the land bordering the Upper
+Amazons, for a thousand miles, belong to this second class. The
+third description of coast is the higher, undulating, clayey
+land, which appears only at long intervals, but extends sometimes
+for many miles along the borders of the river. The coast at these
+places is sloping, and composed of red or variegated clay. The
+forest is of a different character from that of the lower tracts:
+it is rounder in outline, more uniform in its general aspect--
+palms are much less numerous and of peculiar species--the strange
+bulging-stemmed species, Iriartea ventricosa, and the slender,
+glossy-leaved Bacaba-i (Oenocarpus minor), being especially
+characteristic; and, in short, animal life, which imparts some
+cheerfulness to the other parts of the river, is seldom apparent.
+This "terra firme," as it is called, and a large portion of the
+fertile lower land, seemed well adapted for settlement; some
+parts were originally peopled by the aborigines, but these have
+long since become extinct or amalgamated with the white
+immigrants. I afterwards learned that there were not more than
+eighteen or twenty families settled throughout the whole country
+from Manacapuru to Quary, a distance of 240 miles; and these, as
+before observed, do not live on the banks of the main stream, but
+on the shores of inlets and lakes.
+
+The fishermen twice brought me small rounded pieces of very
+porous pumice-stone, which they had picked up floating on the
+surface of the main current of the river. They were to me objects
+of great curiosity as being messengers from the distant volcanoes
+of the Andes-- Cotopaxi, Llanganete, or Sangay-- which rear their
+peaks amongst the rivulets that feed some of the early
+tributaries of the Amazons, such as the Macas, the Pastaza, and
+the Napo. The stones must have already travelled a distance of
+1200 miles. I afterwards found them rather common; the Brazilians
+use them for cleaning rust from their guns, and firmly believe
+them to be solidified river foam. A friend once brought me, when
+I lived at Santarem, a large piece which had been found in the
+middle of the stream below Monte Alegre, about 900 miles further
+down the river; having reached this distance, pumice-stones would
+be pretty sure of being carried out to sea, and floated thence
+with the northwesterly Atlantic current to shores many thousand
+miles distant from the volcanoes which ejected them. They are
+sometimes stranded on the banks in different parts of the river.
+Reflecting on this circumstance since I arrived in England, the
+probability of these porous fragments serving as vehicles for the
+transportation of seeds of plants, eggs of insects, spawn of
+fresh-water fish, and so forth, has suggested itself to me. Their
+rounded, water-worn appearance showed that they must have been
+rolled about for a long time in the shallow streams near the
+sources of the rivers at the feet of the volcanoes, before they
+leapt the waterfalls and embarked on the currents which lead
+direct for the Amazons. They may have been originally cast on the
+land and afterwards carried to the rivers by freshets; in which
+case the eggs and seeds of land insects and plants might be
+accidentally introduced and safely enclosed with particles of
+earth in their cavities. As the speed of the current in the rainy
+season has been observed to be from three to five miles an hour,
+they might travel an immense distance before the eggs or seeds
+were destroyed. I am ashamed to say that I neglected the
+opportunity, while on the spot, of ascertaining whether this was
+actually the case. The attention of Naturalists has only lately
+been turned to the important subject of occasional means of wide
+dissemination of species of animals and plants. Unless such be
+shown to exist, it is impossible to solve some of the most
+difficult problems connected with the distribution of plants and
+animals. Some species, with most limited powers of locomotion,
+are found in opposite parts of the earth, without existing in the
+intermediate regions; unless it can be shown that these may have
+migrated or been accidentally transported from one point to the
+other, we shall have to come to the strange conclusion that the
+same species had been created in two separate districts.
+
+Canoemen on the Upper Amazons live in constant dread of the
+"terras cahidas," or landslips, which occasionally take place
+along the steep earthy banks, especially when the waters are
+rising. Large vessels are sometimes overwhelmed by these
+avalanches of earth and trees. I should have thought the accounts
+of them exaggerated if I had not had an opportunity during this
+voyage of seeing one on a large scale. One morning I was awakened
+before sunrise by an unusual sound resembling the roar of
+artillery. I was lying alone on the top of the cabin; it was very
+dark, and all my companions were asleep, so I lay listening. The
+sounds came from a considerable distance, and the crash which had
+aroused me was succeeded by others much less formidable. The
+first explanation which occurred to me was that it was an
+earthquake; for, although the night was breathlessly calm, the
+broad river was much agitated and the vessel rolled heavily. Soon
+after, another loud explosion took place, apparently much nearer
+than the former one; then followed others. The thundering peal
+rolled backwards and forwards, now seeming close at hand, now far
+off--the sudden crashes being often succeeded by a pause or a
+long,continued dull rumbling. At the second explosion, Vicente,
+who lay snoring by the helm, awoke and told me it was a "terra
+cahida"; but I could scarcely believe him. The day dawned after
+the uproar had lasted about an hour, and we then saw the work of
+destruction going forward on the other side of the river, about
+three miles off. Large masses of forest, including trees of
+colossal size, probably 200 feet in height, were rocking to and
+fro, and falling headlong one after the other into the water.
+After each avalanche the wave which it caused returned on the
+crumbly bank with tremendous force, and caused the fall of other
+masses by undermining them. The line of coast over which the
+landslip extended, was a mile or two in length; the end of it,
+however, was hidden from our view by an intervening island. It
+was a grand sight; each downfall created a cloud of spray; the
+concussion in one place causing other masses to give way a long
+distance from it, and thus the crashes continued, swaying to and
+fro, with little prospect of a termination. When we glided out of
+sight, two hours after sunrise, the destruction was still going
+on.
+
+On the 22nd we threaded the Parana-mirim of Arauana-i, one of the
+numerous narrow bywaters which lie conveniently for canoes away
+from the main river, and often save a considerable circuit around
+a promontory or island. We rowed for half a mile through a
+magnificent bed of Victoria waterlilies, the flower-buds of which
+were just beginning to expand. Beyond the mouth of the Catua, a
+channel leading to one of the great lakes so numerous in the
+plains of the Amazons, which we passed on the 25th, the river
+appeared greatly increased in breadth. We travelled for three
+days along a broad reach which both up and down river presented a
+blank horizon of water and sky-- this clear view was owing to the
+absence of islands, but it renewed one's impressions of the
+magnitude of the stream, which here, 1200 miles from its mouth,
+showed so little diminution of width. Further westward, a series
+of large islands commences, which divides the river into two and
+sometimes three channels, each about a mile in breadth. We kept
+to the southernmost of these, travelling all day on the 30th of
+April along a high and rather sloping bank.
+
+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. After
+having struggled for thirty-five days with the muddy currents and
+insect pests of the Solimoens, it was unspeakably refreshing to
+find oneself again in a dark-water river, smooth as a lake, and
+free from Pium and Motuca. The rounded outline, small foliage,
+and sombre-green of the woods, which seemed to rest on the glassy
+waters, made a pleasant contrast to the tumultuous piles of rank,
+glaring, light-green vegetation, and torn, timber-strewn banks to
+which we had been so long accustomed on the main river. The men
+rowed lazily until nightfall, when, having done a laborious day's
+work, they discontinued and went to sleep, intending to make for
+Ega in the morning. It was not thought worthwhile to secure the
+vessel to the trees or cast anchor, as there was no current. I
+sat up for two or three hours after my companions had gone to
+rest, enjoying the solemn calm of the night. Not a breath of air
+stirred; the sky was of a deep blue, and the stars seemed to
+stand forth in sharp relief; there was no sound of life in the
+woods, except the occasional melancholy note of some nocturnal
+bird. I reflected on my own wandering life; I had now reached the
+end of the third stage of my journey, and was now more than half
+way across the continent. It was necessary for me, on many
+accounts, to find a rich locality for Natural History
+explorations, and settle myself in it for some months or years.
+Would the neighbourhood of Ega turn out to be suitable, and
+should I, a solitary stranger on a strange errand, find a welcome
+amongst its people?
+
+Our Indians resumed their oars at sunrise the next morning (May
+1st), and after an hour's rowing along the narrow channel, which
+varies in breadth from 100 to 500 yards, we doubled a low wooded
+point, and emerged suddenly on the so-called Lake of Ega-- a
+magnificent sheet of water, five miles broad, the expanded
+portion of the Teffe. It is quite clear of islands, and curves
+away to the west and south, so that its full extent is not
+visible from this side. To the left, on a gentle grassy slope at
+the point of junction of a broad tributary with the Teffe, lay
+the little settlement-- a cluster of a hundred or so of palm-
+thatched cottages and white-washed red-tiled houses, each with
+its neatly-enclosed orchard of orange, lemon, banana, and guava
+trees. Groups of palms, with their tall slender shafts and
+feathery crowns, overtopped the buildings and lower trees. A
+broad grass-carpeted street led from the narrow strip of white
+sandy beach to the rudely-built barn-like church, with its wooden
+crucifix on the green before it, in the centre of the town.
+Cattle were grazing before the houses, and a number of dark-
+skinned natives were taking their morning bath amongst the canoes
+of various sizes, which were anchored or moored to stakes in the
+port. We let off rockets and fired salutes, according to custom,
+in token of our safe arrival, and shortly afterwards went ashore.
+
+A few days' experience of the people and the forests of the
+vicinity showed me that I might lay myself out for a long,
+pleasant, and busy residence at this place. An idea of the kind
+of people I had fallen amongst may be conveyed by an account of
+my earliest acquaintances in the place. On landing, the owner of
+the canoe killed an ox in honour of our arrival, and the next day
+took me round the town to introduce me to the principal
+residents. We first went to the Delegado of police, Senor Antonio
+Cardozo, of whom I shall have to make frequent mention by-and-by.
+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. I
+afterwards 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 I
+wished to settle for the goods I had had of him, he refused to
+take any payment.
+
+I made Ega my headquarters during the whole of the time I
+remained on the Upper Amazons (four years and a half). My
+excursions into the neighbouring region extended sometimes as far
+as 300 and 400 miles from the place. An account of these
+excursions will be given in subsequent chapters; in the intervals
+between them I led a quiet, uneventful life in the settlement,
+following my pursuit in the same peaceful, regular way as a
+Naturalist might do in a European village. For many weeks in
+succession my journal records little more than the notes made on
+my daily captures. I had a dry and specious cottage, the
+principal room of which was made a workshop and study; here a
+large table was placed, and my little library of reference
+arranged on shelves in rough wooden boxes. Cages for drying
+specimens were suspended from the rafters by cords well anointed,
+to prevent ants from descending, with a bitter vegetable oil;
+rats and mice were kept from them by inverted cuyas, placed half
+way down the cords. I always kept on hand a large portion of my
+private collection, which contained a pair of each species and
+variety, for the sake of comparing the old with the new
+acquisitions. My cottage was whitewashed inside and out about
+once a year by the proprietor, a native trader; the floor was of
+earth; the ventilation was perfect, for the outside air, and
+sometimes the rain as well, entered freely through gaps at the
+top of the walls under the eaves and through wide crevices in the
+doorways. Rude as the dwelling was, I look back with pleasure on
+the many happy months I spent in it. I rose generally with the
+sun, when the grassy streets were wet with dew, and walked down
+to the river to bathe; five or six hours of every morning were
+spent in collecting in the forest, whose borders lay only five
+minutes' walk from my house; the hot hours of the afternoon,
+between three and six o'clock, and the rainy days, were occupied
+in preparing and ticketing the specimens, making notes,
+dissecting, and drawing. I frequently had short rambles by water
+in a small montaria, with an Indian lad to paddle. The
+neighbourhood yielded me, up to the last day of my residence, an
+uninterrupted succession of new and curious forms in the
+different classes of the animal kingdom, and especially insects.
+
+I lived, as may already have been seen, on the best of terms with
+the inhabitants of Ega. Refined society, of course, there was
+none; but the score or so of decent quiet families which
+constituted the upper class of the place were very sociable;
+their manners offered a curious mixture of naive rusticity and
+formal politeness; the great desire to be thought civilised leads
+the most ignorant of these people (and they are all very
+ignorant, although of quick intelligence) to be civil and kind to
+strangers from Europe. I was never troubled with that impertinent
+curiosity on the part of the people in these interior places
+which some travellers complain of in other countries. The Indians
+and lower half-castes--at least such of them who gave any thought
+to the subject--seemed to think it natural that strangers should
+collect and send abroad the beautiful birds and insects of their
+country. The butterflies they universally concluded to be wanted
+as patterns for bright-coloured calico-prints. As to the better
+sort of people, I had no difficulty in making them understand
+that each European capital had a public museum, in which were
+sought to be stored specimens of all natural productions in the
+mineral, animal, and vegetable kingdoms. They could not
+comprehend how a man could study science for its own sake; but I
+told them I was collecting for the "Museo de Londres," and was
+paid for it; that was very intelligible. One day, soon after my
+arrival, when I was explaining these things to a listening circle
+seated on benches in the grassy street, one of the audience, a
+considerable tradesman, a Mameluco native of Ega, got suddenly
+quite enthusiastic, and exclaimed, "How rich are these great
+nations of Europe!  We half-civilised creatures know nothing. Let
+us treat this stranger well, that he may stay amongst us and
+teach our children." We very frequently had social parties, with
+dancing and so forth; of these relaxations I shall have more to
+say presently. The manners of the Indian population also gave me
+some amusement for a long time. During the latter part of my
+residence, three wandering Frenchmen, and two Italians, some of
+them men of good education, on their road one after the other
+from the Andes down the Amazons, became enamoured of this
+delightfully situated and tranquil spot, and made up their minds
+to settle here for the remainder of their lives. Three of them
+ended by marrying native women. I found the society of these
+friends a very agreeable change.
+
+There were, of course, many drawbacks to the amenities of the
+place as a residence for a European; but these were not of a
+nature that my readers would perhaps imagine. There was scarcely
+any danger from wild animals-- it seems almost ridiculous to
+refute the idea of danger from the natives in a country where
+even incivility to an unoffending stranger is a rarity. A jaguar,
+however, paid us a visit one night. It was considered an
+extraordinary event, and so much uproar was made by the men who
+turned out with guns and bows and arrows, that the animal
+scampered off and was heard of no more. Alligators were rather
+troublesome in the dry season. During these months there was
+almost always one or two lying in wait near the bathing place for
+anything that might turn up at the edge of the water-- dog,
+sheep, pig, child, or drunken Indian. When this visitor was about
+every one took extra care whilst bathing. I used to imitate the
+natives in not advancing far from the bank, and in keeping my eye
+fixed on that of the monster, which stares with a disgusting leer
+along the surface of the water; the body being submerged to the
+level of the eyes, and the top of the head, with part of the
+dorsal crest the only portions visible. When a little motion was
+perceived in the water behind the reptile's tail, bathers were
+obliged to beat a quick retreat. I was never threatened myself,
+but I often saw the crowds of women and children scared while
+bathing by the beast making a movement towards them -- a general
+scamper to the shore and peals of laughter were always the result
+in these cases. The men can always destroy these alligators when
+they like to take the trouble to set out with montarias and
+harpoons for the purpose; but they never do it unless one of the
+monsters, bolder than usual, puts some one's life in danger. This
+arouses them, and they then track the enemy with the greatest
+pertinacity; when half-killed, they drag it ashore and dispatch
+it amid loud execrations. Another, however, is sure to appear
+some days or weeks afterwards and take the vacant place on the
+station. Besides alligators, the only animals to be feared are
+the poisonous serpents. These are certainly common enough in the
+forest, but no fatal accident happened during the whole time of
+my residence.
+
+I suffered most inconvenience from the difficulty of getting news
+from the civilised world down river, from the irregularity of
+receipt of letters, parcels of books and periodicals, and towards
+the latter part of my residence from ill health arising from bad
+and insufficient food. The want of intellectual society, and of
+the varied excitement of European life, was also felt most
+acutely, and this, instead of becoming deadened by time,
+increased until it became almost insupportable. I was obliged, at
+last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of Nature
+alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind. I got
+on pretty well when I received a parcel from England by the
+steamer, once in two or four months. I used to be very economical
+with my stock of reading lest it should be finished before the
+next arrival, and leave me utterly destitute. I went over the
+periodicals, the Athenaeum, for instance, with great
+deliberation, going through every number three times; the first
+time devouring the more interesting articles; the second, the
+whole of the remainder; and the third, reading all the
+advertisements from beginning to end. If four months (two
+steamers) passed without a fresh parcel, I felt discouraged in
+the extreme. I was worst off in the first year, 1850, when twelve
+months elapsed without letters or remittances. Towards the end of
+this time my clothes had worn to rags; I was barefoot, a great
+inconvenience in tropical forests, notwithstanding statements to
+the contrary that have been published by travellers; my servant
+ran away, and I was robbed of nearly all my copper money. I was
+obliged then to descend to Para, but returned, after finishing
+the examination of the middle part of the Lower Amazons and the
+Tapajos, in 1855, with my Santarem assistant and better provided
+for making collections on the upper river. This second visit was
+in pursuit of the plan before mentioned, of exploring in detail
+the whole valley of the Amazons, which I formed in Para in the
+year 1851.
+
+During so long a residence I witnessed, of course, many changes
+in the place. Some of the good friends who made me welcome on my
+first arrival, died, and I followed their remains to their last
+resting-place in the little rustic cemetery on the borders of the
+surrounding forest. I lived there long enough, from first to
+last, to see the young people grow up, attended their weddings,
+and the christenings of their children, and, before I left, saw
+them old married folks with numerous families. In 1850 Ega was
+only a village, dependent on Para 1400 miles distant, as the
+capital of the then undivided province. In 1852, with the
+creation of the new province of the Amazons, it became a city;
+returned its members to the provincial parliament at Barra; had
+it assizes, its resident judges, and rose to be the chief town of
+the comarca or county. A year after this, namely, in 1853,
+steamers were introduced on the Solimoens; and from 1855, one ran
+regularly every two months between the Rio Negro and Nauta in
+Peru, touching at all the villages, and accomplishing the
+distance in ascending, about 1200 miles, in eighteen days. The
+trade and population, however, did not increase with these
+changes. The people became more "civilised," that is, they began
+to dress according to the latest Parisian fashions, instead of
+going about in stockingless feet, wooden clogs, and shirt
+sleeves, acquired a taste for money-getting and office-holding;
+became divided into parties, and lost part of their former
+simplicity of manners. But the place remained, when I left it in
+1859, pretty nearly what it was when I first arrived in 1850--a
+semi-Indian village, with much in the ways and notions of its
+people more like those of a small country town in Northern Europe
+than a South American settlement. The place is healthy, and
+almost free from insect pests-- perpetual verdure surrounds it;
+the soil is of marvellous fertility, even for Brazil; the endless
+rivers and labyrinths of channels teem with fish and turtle, a
+fleet of steamers might anchor at any season of the year in the
+lake, which has uninterrupted water communication straight to the
+Atlantic. What a future is in store for the sleepy little
+tropical village!
+
+After speaking of Ega as a city, it will have a ludicrous effect
+to mention that the total number of its inhabitants is only about
+1200. It contains just 107 houses, about half of which are
+miserably built mud-walled cottages, thatched with palm leaves. A
+fourth of the population are almost always absent, trading or
+collecting produce on the rivers. The neighbourhood within a
+radius of thirty miles, and including two other small villages,
+contains probably 2000 more people. The settlement is one of the
+oldest in the country, having beenfounded in 1688 by Father
+Samuel Fritz, a Bohemian Jesuit, who induced several of the
+docile tribes of Indians, then scattered over the neighbouring
+region, to settle on the site. From 100 to 200 acres of sloping
+ground around the place were afterwards cleared of timber; but
+such is the encroaching vigour of vegetation in this country that
+the site would quickly relapse into jungle if the inhabitants
+neglected to pull up the young shoots as they arose. There is a
+stringent municipal law which compels each resident to weed a
+given space around his dwelling. Every month, whilst I resided
+here, an inspector came round with his wand of authority, and
+fined every one who had not complied with the regulation. The
+Indians of the surrounding country have never been hostile to the
+European settlers. The rebels of Para and the Lower Amazons, in
+1835-6, did not succeed in rousing the natives of the Solimoens
+against the whites. A party of forty of them ascended the river
+for that purpose, but on arriving at Ega, instead of meeting with
+sympathisers as in other places, they were surrounded by a small
+body of armed residents, and shot down without mercy. The
+military commandant at the time, who was the prime mover in this
+orderly resistance to anarchy, was a courageous and loyal negro,
+named Jose Patricio, an officer known throughout the Upper
+Amazons for his unflinching honesty and love of order, whose
+acquaintance I had the pleasure of making at St. Paulo in 1858.
+Ega was the headquarters of the great scientific commission,
+which met in the years from 1781 to 1791 to settle the boundaries
+between the Spanish and Portuguese territories in South America.
+The chief commissioner for Spain, Don Francisco Requena, lived
+some time in the village with his family. I found only one person
+at Ega, my old friend Romao de Oliveira, who recollected, or had
+any knowledge of this important time, when a numerous staff of
+astronomers, surveyors, and draughtsmen, explored much of the
+surrounding country with large bodies of soldiers and natives.
+
+More than half the inhabitants of Ega are Mamelucos; there are
+not more than forty or fifty pure whites; the number of negroes
+and mulattos is probably a little less, and the rest of the
+population consists of pure blood Indians. Every householder,
+including Indians and free negroes, is entitled to a vote in the
+elections, municipal, provincial, and imperial, and is liable to
+be called on juries, and to serve in the national guard. These
+privileges and duties of citizenship do not seem at present to be
+appreciated by the more ignorant coloured people. There is,
+however, a gradual improvement taking place in this respect.
+Before I left there was a rather sharp contest for the Presidency
+of the Municipal Chamber, and most of the voters took a lively
+interest in it. There was also an election of members to
+represent the province in the Imperial Parliament at Rio Janeiro,
+in which each party strove hard to return its candidate. On this
+occasion, an unscrupulous lawyer was sent by the government party
+from the capital to overawe the opposition to its nominee; many
+of the half-castes, headed by my old friend John da Cunha, who
+was then settled at Ega, fought hard, but with perfect legality
+and good humour, against this powerful interest. They did not
+succeed -- and although the government agent committed many
+tyrannical and illegal acts, the losing party submitted quietly
+to their defeat. In a larger town, I believe, the government
+would not have dared to attempt thus to control the elections. I
+think I saw enough to warrant the conclusion that the machinery
+of constitutional government would, with a little longer trial,
+work well amongst the mixed Indian, white, and negro population,
+even in this remote part of the Brazilian empire. I attended
+also, before I left, several assize meetings at Ega, and
+witnessed the novel sight of negro, white, half-caste, and
+Indian, sitting gravely side by side on the jury bench.
+
+The way in which the coloured races act under the conditions of
+free citizenship is a very interesting subject. Brazilian
+statesmen seem to have abandoned the idea, if they ever
+entertained it, of making this tropical empire a nation of whites
+with a slave labouring class. The greatest difficulty on the
+Amazons is with the Indians. The general inflexibility of
+character of the race, and their abhorrence of the restraints of
+civilised life, make them very intractable subjects. Some of
+them, however, who have learned to read and write, and whose
+dislike to live in towns has been overcome by some cause acting
+early in life, make very good citizens. I have already mentioned
+the priest, who is a good example of what early training can do.
+There can be no doubt that if the docile Amazonian Indians were
+kindly treated by their white fellow-citizens, and educated, they
+would not be so 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, Senor 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; but 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.Many of the Ega Indians, including all the
+domestic servants, are savages who have been brought from the
+neighbouring rivers-- the Japura, the Issa, and the Solimoens. I
+saw here individuals of at least sixteen different tribes, most
+of whom had been bought, when children, of the native chiefs.
+This species of slave-dealing, although forbidden by the laws of
+Brazil, is winked at by the authorities, because without it,
+there would be no means of obtaining servants. They all become
+their own masters when they grow up, and never show the slightest
+inclination to return to utter savage life. But the boys
+generally run away and embark on the canoes of traders; and the
+girls are often badly treated by their mistresses-- the jealous,
+passionate, and ill-educated Brazilian women. Nearly all the
+enmities which arise amongst residents at Ega and other place,
+are caused by disputes about Indian servants. No one who has
+lived only in old settled countries, where service can be readily
+bought, can imagine the difficulties and annoyances of a land
+where the servant class are ignorant of the value of money, and
+hands cannot be obtained except by coaxing them from the employ
+of other masters.
+
+Great mortality takes place amongst the poor captive children on
+their arrival at Ega. It is a singular circumstance that the
+Indians residing on the Japura and other tributaries always fall
+ill on descending to the Solimoens, while the reverse takes place
+with the inhabitants of the banks of the main river, who never
+fail of taking intermittent fever when they first ascend these
+branch rivers, and of getting well when they return. The finest
+tribes of savages who inhabit the country near Ega are the Juris
+and Passes-- these are now, however, nearly extinct, a few
+families only remaining on the banks of the retired creeks
+connected with the Teffe, and on other branch rivers between the
+Teffe and the Jutahi. They are a peaceable, gentle, and
+industrious people, devoted to agriculture and fishing, and have
+always been friendly to the whites. I shall have occasion to
+speak again of the Passes, who are a slenderly-built and superior
+race of Indians, distinguished by a large, square tattooed patch
+in the middle of their faces. The principal cause of their decay
+in numbers seems to be a disease which always appears amongst
+them when a village is visited by people from the civilised
+settlements--a slow fever, accompanied by the symptoms of a
+common cold, "defluxo," as the Brazilians term it, ending
+probably in consumption. The disorder has been known to break out
+when the visitors were entirely free from it-- the simple contact
+of civilised men, in some mysterious way, being sufficient to
+create it. It is generally fatal to the Juris and Passes; the
+first question the poor, patient Indians now put to an advancing
+canoe is, "Do you bring defluxo?"
+
+My assistant, Jose, in the last year of our residence at Ega,
+"resgatou" (ransomed, the euphemism in use for purchased) two
+Indian children, a boy and a girl, through a Japura trader. The
+boy was about twelve years of age, and of an unusually dark
+colour of skin-- he had, in fact, the tint of a Cafuzo, the
+offspring of Indian and negro. It was thought he had belonged to
+some perfectly wild and houseless tribe, similar to the
+Pararauates of the Tapajos, of which there are several in
+different parts of the interior of South America. His face was of
+regular, oval shape, but his glistening black eyes had a wary,
+distrustful expression, like that of a wild animal; his hands and
+feet were small and delicately formed. Soon after his arrival,
+finding that none of the Indian boys and girls in the houses of
+our neighbours understood his language, he became sulky and
+reserved; not a word could be got from him until many weeks
+afterwards, when he suddenly broke out with complete phrases of
+Portuguese. He was ill of swollen liver and spleen, the result of
+intermittent fever, for a long time after coming into our hands.
+We found it difficult to cure him, owing to his almost invincible
+habit of eating earth, baked clay, pitch, wax, and other similar
+substances. Very many children on the upper parts of the Amazons
+have this strange habit; not only Indians, but negroes and
+whites. It is not, therefore, peculiar to the famous Otomacs of
+the Orinoco, described by Humboldt,or to Indians at all, and
+seems to originate in a morbid craving, the result of a meagre
+diet of fish, wild-fruits, and mandioca-meal. We gave our little
+savage the name of Sebastian.
+
+The use of these Indian children is to fill water-jars from the
+river, gather firewood in the forest, cook, assist in paddling
+the montaria in excursions, and so forth. Sebastian was often my
+companion in the woods, where he was very useful in finding the
+small birds I shot, which sometimes fell in the thickets amongst
+confused masses of fallen branches and dead leaves. He was
+wonderfully expert at catching lizards with his hands, and at
+climbing. The smoothest stems of palm trees offered little
+difficulty to him; he would gather a few lengths of tough,
+flexible lianas, tie them in a short, endless band to support his
+feet with, in embracing the slippery shaft, and then mount
+upwards by a succession of slight jerks. It was very amusing,
+during the first few weeks, to witness the glee and pride with
+which he would bring to me the bunches of fruit he had gathered
+from almost inaccessible trees. He avoided the company of boys of
+his own race, and was evidently proud of being the servant of a
+real white man. We brought him down with us to Para, but he
+showed no emotion at any of the strange sights of the capital--
+the steam-vessels, large ships and houses, horses and carriages,
+the pomp of church ceremonies, and so forth. In this he exhibited
+the usual dullness of feeling and poverty of thought of the
+Indian; he had, nevertheless, very keen perceptions, and was
+quick at learning any mechanical art. Jose, who had resumed, some
+time before I left the country, his old trade of goldsmith, made
+him his apprentice, and he made very rapid progress; for after
+about three months' teaching he came to me one day with radiant
+countenance and showed me a gold ring of his own making.
+
+The fate of the little girl, who came with a second batch of
+children all ill of intermittent fever, a month or two after
+Sebastian, was very different. She was brought to our house,
+after landing, one night in the wet season, when the rain was
+pouring in torrents, thin and haggard, drenched with wet and
+shivering with ague. An old Indian who brought her to the door
+said briefly, "ecui encommenda" (here's your little parcel, or
+order), and went away. There was very little of the savage in her
+appearance, and she was of a much lighter colour than the boy. We
+found she was of the Miranha tribe, all of whom are distinguished
+by a slit, cut in the middle of each wing of the nose, in which
+they wear on holiday occasions a large button made of pearly
+river-shell. We took the greatest care of our little patient; had
+the best nurses in the town, fomented her daily, gave her quinine
+and the most nourishing food; but it was all of no avail, she
+sank rapidly; her liver was enormously swollen, and almost as
+hard to the touch as stone. There was something uncommonly
+pleasing in her ways, and quite unlike anything I had yet seen in
+Indians. Instead of being dull and taciturn, she was always
+smiling and full of talk. We had an old woman of the same tribe
+to attend her, who explained what she said to us. She often
+begged to be taken to the river to bathe; asked for fruit, or
+coveted articles she saw in the room for playthings. Her native
+name was Oria. The last week or two she could not rise from the
+bed we had made for her in a dry corner of the room; when she
+wanted lifting, which, was very often, she would allow no one to
+help her but me, calling me by the name of "Cariwa " (white man),
+the only word of Tupi she seemed to know. It was inexpressibly
+touching to hear her, as she lay, repeating by the hour the
+verses which she had been taught to recite with her companions in
+her native village: a few sentences repeated over and over again
+with a rhythmic accent, and relating to objects and incidents
+connected with the wild life of her tribe. We had her baptised
+before she died, and when this latter event happened, in
+opposition to the wishes of the big people of Ega, I insisted on
+burying her with the same honours as a child of the whites; that
+is, as an "anjinho" (little angel), according to the pretty Roman
+Catholic custom of the country. We had the corpse clothed in a
+robe of fine calico, crossed her hands on her breast over a
+"palma" of flowers, and made also a crown of flowers for her
+head. Scores of helpless children like our poor Oria die at Ega,
+or on the road; but generally not the slightest care is taken of
+them during their illness. They are the captives made during the
+merciless raids of one section of the Miranha tribe on the
+territories of another, and sold to the Ega traders. The villages
+of the attacked hordes are surprised, and the men and women
+killed or driven into the thickets without having time to save
+their children. There appears to be no doubt that the Miranhas
+are cannibals, and, therefore, the purchase of these captives
+probably saves them from a worse fate. The demand for them at Ega
+operates, however, as a direct cause of the supply, stimulating
+the unscrupulous chiefs, who receive all the profits, to
+undertake these murderous expeditions.
+
+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. As far as I could learn, the
+feature is common to all, of placing the preposition after the
+noun, making it, in fact, a post-position, thus: "He is come the
+village from;" "Go him with, the plantation to," and so forth.
+The ideas to be expressed in their limited sphere of life and
+thought are few; consequently the stock of words is extremely
+small; besides, all Indians have the same way of thinking, and
+the same objects to talk about; these circumstances also
+contribute to the case with which they learn each other's
+language. Hordes of the same tribe living on the same branch
+rivers, speak mutually unintelligible languages; this happens
+with the Miranhas on the Japura, and with the Collinas on the
+Jurua; whilst Tupi is spoken with little corruption along the
+banks of the main Amazons for a distance Of 2500 miles. The
+purity of Tupi is kept up by frequent communication amongst the
+natives, from one end to the other of the main river; how
+complete and long-continued must be the isolation in which the
+small groups of savages have lived in other parts, to have caused
+so complete a segregation of dialects! It is probable that the
+strange inflexibility of the Indian organisation, both bodily and
+mental, is owing to the isolation in which each small tribe has
+lived, and to the narrow round of life and thought, and close
+intermarriages for countless generations which are the necessary
+results. Their fecundity is of a low degree, for it is very rare
+to find an Indian family having so many as four children, and we
+have seen how great is their liability to sickness and death on
+removal from place to place.
+
+I have already remarked on the different way in which the climate
+of this equatorial region affects Indians and negroes. No one
+could live long amongst the Indians of the Upper Amazons without
+being struck with their constitutional dislike to the heat.
+Europeans certainly withstand the high temperature better than
+the original inhabitants of the country; I always found I could
+myself bear exposure to the sun or unusually hot weather quite as
+well as the Indians, although not well-fitted by nature for a hot
+climate. Their skin is always hot to the touch, and they perspire
+little. No Indian resident of Ega can be induced to stay in the
+village (where the heat is felt more than in the forest or on the
+river), for many days together. They bathe many times a day, but
+do not plunge in the water, taking merely a sitz-bath, as dogs
+may be seen doing in hot climates, to cool the lower parts of the
+body. The women and children, who often remain at home, while the
+men are out for many days together fishing, generally find some
+excuse for trooping off to the shades of the forest in the hot
+hours of the afternoons. They are restless and discontented in
+fine dry weather, but cheerful in cool days, when the rain is
+pouring down on their naked backs. When suffering under fever,
+nothing but strict watching can prevent them from going down to
+bathe in the river, or eating immoderate quantities of juicy
+fruits, although these indulgences are frequently the cause of
+death. They are very subject to disorders of the liver,
+dysentery, and other diseases of hot climates, and when any
+epidemic is about, they fall ill quicker, and suffer more than
+negroes or even whites. How different all this is with the negro,
+the true child of tropical climes! 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. All the Roman Catholic holidays are kept up with great
+spirit; rude Indian sports being mingled with the ceremonies
+introduced by the Portuguese. Besides these, the aborigines
+celebrate their own ruder festivals; the people of different
+tribes combining-- for, in most of their features, the merry-
+makings were originally alike in all the tribes. The Indian idea
+of a holiday is bonfires, processions, masquerading, especially
+the mimicry of different kinds of animals, plenty of confused
+drumming and fifing, monotonous dancing, kept up hour after hour
+without intermission, and, the most important point of all,
+getting gradually and completely drunk. But he attaches a kind of
+superstitious significance to these acts, and thinks that the
+amusements appended to the Roman Catholic holidays as celebrated
+by the descendants of the Portuguese, are also an essential part
+of the religious ceremonies. But in this respect, the uneducated
+whites and half-breeds are not a bit more enlightened than the
+poor, dull-souled Indian. All look upon a religious holiday as an
+amusement, in which the priest takes the part of director or
+chief actor.
+
+Almost every unusual event, independent of saints' days, is made
+the occasion of a holiday by the sociable, easy-going people of
+the white and Mameluco classes-- funerals, christenings,
+weddings, the arrival of strangers, and so forth. The custom of
+"waking" the dead is also kept up. A few days after I arrived, I
+was awoke in the middle of a dark, moist night by Cardozo, to sit
+up with a neighbour whose wife had just died. I found the body
+laid out on a table, with crucifix and lighted wax-candles at the
+head, and the room full of women and girls squatted on stools or
+on their haunches. The men were seated round the open door,
+smoking, drinking coffee, and telling stories, the bereaved
+husband exerting himself much to keep the people merry during the
+remainder of the night. The Ega people seem to like an excuse for
+turning night into day; it is so cool and pleasant, and they can
+sit about during these hours in the open air, clad as usual in
+simple shirt and trousers, without streaming with perspiration.
+
+The patron saint is Santa Theresa, the festival at whose
+anniversary lasts, like most of the others, ten days. It begins
+very quietly with evening litanies sung in the church, which are
+attended by the greater part of the population, all clean and
+gaily dressed in calicos and muslins; the girls wearing jasmines
+and other natural flowers in their hair, no other headdress being
+worn by females of any class. The evenings pass pleasantly; the
+church is lighted up with wax candles, and illuminated on the
+outside by a great number of little oil lamps, rude clay cups, or
+halves of the thick rind of the bitter orange, which are fixed
+all over the front. The congregation seem very attentive, and the
+responses to the litany of Our Lady, sung by a couple of hundred
+fresh female voices, ring agreeably through the still village.
+Towards the end of the festival the fun commences. The managers
+of the feast keep open houses, and dancing, drumming, tinkling of
+wire guitars, and unbridled drinking by both sexes, old and
+young, are kept up for a couple of days and a night with little
+intermission. The ways of the people at these merry-makings, of
+which there are many in the course of the year, always struck me
+as being not greatly different from those seen at an old-
+fashioned village wake in retired parts of England. The old folks
+look on and get very talkative over their cups; the children are
+allowed a little extra indulgence in sitting up; the dull,
+reserved fellows become loquacious, shake one another by the hand
+or slap each other on the back, discovering, all at once, what
+capital friends they are. The cantankerous individual gets
+quarrelsome, and the amorous unusually loving. The Indian,
+ordinarily so taciturn, finds the use of his tongue, and gives
+the minutest details of some little dispute which he had with his
+master years ago, and which everyone else had forgotten-- just as
+I have known lumpish labouring men in England do, when half-
+fuddled. One cannot help reflecting, when witnessing these traits
+of manners, on the similarity of human nature everywhere, when
+classes are compared whose state of culture and conditions of
+life are pretty nearly the same.
+
+The Indians play a conspicuous part in the amusements at St.
+John's eve, and at one or two other holidays which happen about
+that time of the year--the end of June. In some of the sports the
+Portuguese element is visible, in others the Indian, but it must
+be recollected that masquerading, recitative singing, and so
+forth, are common originally to both peoples. A large number of
+men and boys disguise themselves to represent different grotesque
+figures, animals, or persons. Two or three dress themselves up as
+giants, with the help of a tall framework. One enacts the part of
+the Caypor, a kind of sylvan deity similar to the Curupira which
+I have before mentioned. The belief in this being seems to be
+common to all the tribes of the Tupi stock. According to the
+figure they dressed up at Ega, he is a bulky, misshapen monster,
+with red skin and long shaggy red hair hanging half way down his
+back. They believe that he has subterranean campos and hunting
+grounds in the forest, well stocked with pacas and deer. He is
+not at all an object of worship nor of fear, except to children,
+being considered merely as a kind of hobgoblin. Most of the
+masquers make themselves up as animals--bulls, deer, magoary
+storks, jaguars, and so forth, with the aid of light frameworks,
+covered with old cloth dyed or painted and shaped according to
+the object represented. Some of the imitations which I saw were
+capital. One ingenious fellow arranged an old piece of canvas in
+the form of a tapir, placed himself under it, and crawled about
+on all fours. He constructed an elastic nose to resemble that of
+the tapir, and made, before the doors of the principal residents,
+such a good imitation of the beast grazing, that peals of
+laughter greeted him wherever he went. Another man walked about
+solitarily, masked as a jabiru crane (a large animal standing
+about four feet high), and mimicked the gait and habits of the
+bird uncommonly well. One year an Indian lad imitated me, to the
+infinite amusement of the townsfolk. He came the previous day to
+borrow of me an old blouse and straw hat. I felt rather taken in
+when I saw him, on the night of the performance, rigged out as an
+entomologist, with an insect net, hunting bag, and pincushion. To
+make the imitation complete, he had borrowed the frame of an old
+pair of spectacles, and went about with it straddled over his
+nose. The jaguar now and then made a raid amongst the crowd of
+boys who were dressed as deer, goats, and so forth. The masquers
+kept generally together, moving from house to house, and the
+performances were directed by an old musician, who sang the
+orders and explained to the spectators what was going forward in
+a kind of recitative, accompanying himself on a wire guitar. The
+mixture of Portuguese and Indian customs is partly owing to the
+European immigrants in these parts having been uneducated men,
+who, instead of introducing European civilisation, have descended
+almost to the level of the Indians, and adopted some of their
+practices. The performances take place in the evening, and occupy
+five or six hours; bonfires are lighted along the grassy streets,
+and the families of the better class are seated at their doors,
+enjoying the wild but good-humoured fun.
+
+We lived at Ega, during most part of the year, on turtle. The
+great freshwater turtle of the Amazons grows on the upper river
+to an immense size, a full-grown one measuring nearly three feet
+in length by two in breadth, and is a load for the strongest
+Indian. Every house has a little pond, called a curral (pen), in
+the backyard to hold a stock of the animals through the season of
+dearth--the wet months; those who have a number of Indians in
+their employ send them out for a month when the waters are low,
+to collect a stock, and those who have not, purchasing their
+supply-- with some difficulty, however, as they are rarely
+offered for sale. The price of turtles, like that of all other
+articles of food, has risen greatly with the introduction of
+steam-vessels. When I arrived in 1850, a middle-sized one could
+be bought pretty readily for ninepence, but when I left in 1859,
+they were with difficulty obtained at eight and nine shillings
+each. The abundance of turtles, or rather the facility with which
+they can be found and caught, varies with the amount of annual
+subsidence of the waters. When the river sinks less than the
+average, they are scarce; but when more, they can be caught in
+plenty, the bays and shallow lagoons in the forest having then
+only a small depth of water. The flesh is very tender, palatable,
+and wholesome; but it is very cloying-- every one ends, sooner or
+later, by becoming thoroughly surfeited. I became so sick of
+turtle in the course of two years that I could not bear the smell
+of it, although at the same time nothing else was to be had, and
+I was suffering actual hunger. The native women cook it in
+various ways. The entrails are chopped up and made into a
+delicious soup called sarapatel, which is generally boiled in the
+concave upper shell of the animal used as a kettle. The tender
+flesh of the breast is partially minced with farinha, and the
+breast shell then roasted over the fire, making a very pleasant
+dish. Steaks cut from the breast and cooked with the fat form
+another palatable dish. Large sausages are made of the thick-
+coated stomach, which is filled with minced meat and boiled. The
+quarters cooked in a kettle of Tucupi sauce form another variety
+of food. When surfeited with turtle in all other shapes, pieces
+of the lean part roasted on a spit and moistened only with
+vinegar make an agreeable change. The smaller kind of turtle, the
+tracaja, which makes its appearance in the main river, and lays
+its eggs a month earlier than the large species, is of less
+utility to the inhabitants although its flesh is superior, on
+account of the difficulty of keeping it alive; it survives
+captivity but a very few days, although placed in the same ponds
+in which the large turtle keeps well for two or three years.
+
+Those who cannot hunt and fish for themselves, and whose stomachs
+refuse turtle, are in a poor way at Ega. Fish, including many
+kinds of large and delicious salmonidae, is abundant in the fine
+season; but each family fishes only for itself, and has no
+surplus for sale. An Indian fisherman remains out just long
+enough to draw what he thinks sufficient for a couple of days'
+consumption. Vacca marina is a great resource in the wet season.
+It is caught by harpooning, which requires much skill, or by
+strong nets made of very thick hammock twine, and placed across
+narrow inlets. Very few Europeans are able to eat the meat of
+this animal. Although there is a large quantity of cattle in the
+neighbourhood of the town, and pasture is abundant all the year
+round, beef can be had only when a beast is killed by accident.
+
+The most frequent cause of death is poisoning by drinking raw
+Tucupi, the juice of the mandioca root. Bowls of this are placed
+on the ground in the sheds where the women prepare farinha; it is
+generally done carelessly, but sometimes intentionally through
+spite when stray oxen devastate the plantations of the poorer
+people. The juice, is almost certain to be drunk if cattle stray
+near the place, and death is the certain result. The owners kill
+a beast which shows symptoms of having been poisoned, and retail
+the beef in the town. Although every one knows it cannot be
+wholesome, such is the scarcity of meat and the uncontrollable
+desire to eat beef, that it is eagerly bought, at least by those
+residents who come from other provinces where beef is the staple
+article of food. Game of all kinds is scarce in the forest near
+the town, except in the months of June and July, when immense
+numbers of a large and handsome bird, Cuvier's toucan (Ramphastos
+Cuvieri) make their appearance. They come in well-fed condition,
+and are shot in such quantities that every family has the strange
+treat of stewed and roasted toucans daily for many weeks.
+Curassow birds are plentiful on the banks of the Solimoens, but
+to get a brace or two requires the sacrifice of several days for
+the trip. A tapir, of which the meat is most delicious and
+nourishing, is sometimes killed by a fortunate hunter. I have
+still a lively recollection of the pleasant effects which I once
+experienced from a diet of fresh tapir meat for a few days, after
+having been brought to a painful state of bodily and mental
+depression by a month's scanty rations of fish and farinha.
+
+We sometimes had fresh bread at Ega made from American flour
+brought from Para, but it was sold at ninepence a pound. I was
+once two years without tasting wheaten bread, and attribute
+partly to this the gradual deterioration of health which I
+suffered on the Upper Amazons. Mandioca meal is a poor, weak
+substitute for bread; it is deficient in gluten, and consequently
+cannot be formed into a leavened mass or loaf, but is obliged to
+be roasted in hard grains in order to keep any length of time.
+Cakes are made of the half-roasted meal, but they become sour in
+a very few hours. A superior kind of meal is manufactured at Ega
+of the sweet mandioca (Manihot Aypi); it is generally made with a
+mixture of the starch of the root and is therefore a much more
+wholesome article of food than the ordinary sort which, on the
+Amazons, is made of the pulp after the starch has been extracted
+by soaking in water. When we could get neither bread nor biscuit,
+I found tapioca soaked in coffee the best native substitute. We
+were seldom without butter, as every canoe brought one or two
+casks on each return voyage from Para, where it is imported in
+considerable quantity from Liverpool. We obtained tea in the same
+way; it being served as a fashionable luxury at wedding and
+christening parties; the people were at first strangers to this
+article, for they used to stew it in a saucepan, mixing it up
+with coarse raw sugar, and stirring it with a spoon. Sometimes we
+had milk, but this was only when a cow calved; the yield from
+each cow was very small, and lasted only for a few weeks in each
+case, although the pasture is good, and the animals are sleek and
+fat. Fruit of the ordinary tropical sorts could generally be had.
+I was quite surprised at the variety of the wild kinds, and of
+the delicious flavour of some of them. Many of these are utterly
+unknown in the regions nearer the Atlantic, being the peculiar
+productions of this highly favoured, and little known, interior
+country. Some have been planted by the natives in their
+clearings. The best was the Jabuti-puhe, or tortoise-foot; a
+scaled fruit probably of the Anonaceous order. It is about the
+size of an ordinary apple; when ripe the rind is moderately thin,
+and encloses, with the seeds, a quantity of custardy pulp of a
+very rich flavour. Next to this stands the Cuma (Collophora sp.)
+of which there are two species, not unlike in appearance, small
+round Dears-- but the rind is rather hard, and contains a gummy
+milk, and the pulpy part is almost as delicious as that of the
+Jabuti-puhe. The Cuma tree is of moderate height, and grows
+rather plentifully in the more elevated and drier situations. A
+third kind is the Pama, which is a stone fruit, similar in colour
+and appearance to the cherry but of oblong shape. The tree is one
+of the loftiest in the forest, and has never, I believe, been
+selected for cultivation. To get at the fruit the natives are
+obliged to climb to the height of about a hundred feet, and cut
+off the heavily laden branches. I have already mentioned the
+Umari and the Wishi: both these are now cultivated. The fatty,
+bitter pulp which surrounds the large stony seeds of these fruits
+is eaten mixed with farinha, and is very nourishing. Another
+cultivated fruit is the Puruma (Puruma cecropiaefolia, Martius),
+a round juicy berry, growing in large bunches and resembling
+grapes in taste. Another smaller kind, called Puruma-i, grows
+wild in the forest close to Ega, and has not yet been planted.
+The most singular of all these fruits is the Uiki, which is of
+oblong shape, and grows apparently crosswise on the end of its
+stalk. When ripe, the thick green rind opens by a natural cleft
+across the middle, and discloses an oval seed the size of a
+damascene plum, but of a vivid crimson colour. This bright hue
+belongs to a thin coating of pulp which, when the seeds are mixed
+in a plate of stewed bananas, gives to the mess a pleasant rosy
+tint, and a rich creamy taste and consistence. Mingua (porridge)
+of bananas flavoured and coloured with Uiki is a favourite dish
+at Ega. The fruit, like most of the others here mentioned, ripens
+in January. Many smaller fruits such as Wajuru (probably a
+species of Achras), the size of a gooseberry, which grows singly
+and contains a sweet gelatinous pulp, enclosing two large,
+shining black seeds; Cashipari-arapaa, an oblong scarlet berry;
+two kinds of Bacuri, the Bacuri-siuma and the B. curua, sour
+fruits of a bright lemon colour when ripe, and a great number of
+others, are of less importance as articles of food.
+
+The celebrated "Peach palm," Pupunha of the Tupi nations
+(Guilielma speciosa), is a common tree at Ega. The name, I
+suppose, is in allusion to the colour of the fruit, and not to
+its flavour, for it is dry and mealy, and in taste may be
+compared to a mixture of chestnuts and cheese. Vultures devour it
+eagerly, and come in quarrelsome flocks to the trees when it is
+ripe. Dogs will also eat it: I do not recollect seeing cats do
+the same, although they go voluntarily to the woods to eat
+Tucuma, another kind of palm fruit. The tree, as it grows in
+clusters beside the palm-thatched huts, is a noble ornament,
+being, when full grown, from fifty to sixty feet in height and
+often as straight as a scaffold-pole. A bunch of fruit when ripe
+is a load for a strong man, and each tree bears several of them.
+The Pupunha grows wild nowhere on the Amazons. It is one of those
+few vegetable productions (including three kinds of mandioca and
+the American species of banana) which the Indians have cultivated
+from time immemorial, and brought with them in their original
+migration to Brazil. It is only, however, the more advanced
+tribes who have kept up the cultivation. The superiority of the
+fruit on the Solimoens to that grown on the Lower Amazons and in
+the neighbourhood of Para is very striking. At Ega it is
+generally as large as a full-sized peach, and when boiled, almost
+as mealy as a potato; while at Para it is no bigger than a
+walnut, and the pulp is fibrous. Bunches of sterile or seedless
+fruits sometimes occur in both districts. It is one of the
+principal articles of food at Ega when in season, and is boiled
+and eaten with treacle or salt. A dozen of the seedless fruits
+makes a good nourishing meal for a grown-up person. It is the
+general belief that there is more nutriment in Pupunha than in
+fish or Vacca marina.
+
+The seasons in the Upper Amazons region offer some points of
+difference from those of the lower river and the district of
+Para, which two sections of the country we have already seen also
+differ considerably. The year at Ega is divided according to the
+rises and falls of the river, with which coincide the wet and dry
+periods. All the principal transactions of life of the
+inhabitants are regulated by these yearly recurring phenomena.
+The peculiarity of this upper region consists in there being two
+rises and two falls within the year. The great annual rise
+commences about the end of February and continues to the middle
+of June, during which the rivers and lakes, confined during the
+dry periods to their ordinary beds, gradually swell and overflow
+all the lower lands. The inundation progresses gently inch by
+inch, and is felt everywhere, even in the interior of the forests
+of the higher lands, miles away from the river; as these are
+traversed by numerous gullies, forming in the fine season dry,
+spacious dells, which become gradually transformed by the
+pressure of the flood into broad creeks navigable, by small boats
+under the shade of trees. All the countless swarms of turtle of
+various species then leave the main river for the inland pools;
+the sand-banks go under water, and the flocks of wading birds
+migrate north to the upper waters of the tributaries which flow
+from that direction, or to the Orinoco, which streams during the
+wet period of the Amazons are enjoying the cloudless skies of
+their dry season. The families of fishermen who have been
+employed during the previous four or five months in harpooning
+and salting pirarucu and shooting turtle in the great lakes, now
+return to the towns and villages-- their temporarily constructed
+fishing establishments becoming gradually submerged with the sand
+islets or beaches on which they were situated. This is the
+season, however, in which the Brazil nut and wild cacao ripen,
+and many persons go out to gather these harvests, remaining
+absent generally throughout the months of March and April. The
+rains during this time are not continuous; they fall very heavily
+at times, but rarely last so long at a stretch as twenty-four
+hours, and many days intervene of pleasant, sunny weather. The
+sky, however, is generally overcast and gloomy, and sometimes a
+drizzling rain falls.
+
+About the first week in June the flood is at its highest; the
+water being then about forty-five feet above its lowest point;
+but it varies in different years to the extent of about fifteen
+feet. The "enchente," or flow, as it is called by the natives,
+who believe this great annual movement of the waters to be of the
+same nature as the tide towards the mouth of the Amazons, is then
+completed, and all begin to look forward to the "vasante," or
+ebb. The provision made for the dearth of the wet season is by
+this time pretty nearly exhausted; fish is difficult to procure
+and many of the less provident inhabitants have become reduced to
+a diet of fruits and farinha porridge.
+
+The fine season begins with a few days of brilliant weather--
+furious, hot sun, with passing clouds. Idle men and women, tired
+of the dullness and confinement of the flood season, begin to
+report, on returning from their morning bath, the cessation of
+the flow-- as agoas estao paradas, "the waters have stopped." The
+muddy streets, in a few days, dry up; groups of young fellows are
+now seen seated on the shady sides of the cottages making arrows
+and knitting fishing-nets with tucum twine; others are busy
+patching up and caulking their canoes, large and small; in fact,
+preparations are made on all sides for the much longed-for
+"verao," or summer, and the "migration," as it is called, of fish
+and turtle-- that is, their descent from the inaccessible pools
+in the forest to the main river. Towards the middle of July, the
+sand-banks begin to reappear above the surface of the waters, and
+with this change come flocks of sandpipers and gulls, which
+latter make known the advent of the fine season, as the cuckoo
+does of the European spring-- uttering almost incessantly their
+plaintive cries as they fly about over the shallow waters of
+sandy shores. Most of the gaily-plumaged birds have now finished
+moulting, and begin to be more active in the forest.
+
+The fall continues to the middle of October, with the
+interruption of a partial rise called "repiquet" of a few inches
+in the midst of very dry weather in September, caused by the
+swollen contribution of some large affluent higher up the river.
+The amount of subsidence also varies considerably, but it is
+never so great as to interrupt navigation by large vessels. The
+greater it is the more abundant is the season. Everyone is
+prosperous when the waters are low; the shallow bays and pools
+being then crowded with the concentrated population of fish and
+turtle. All the people-- men, women, and children-- leave the
+villages and spend the few weeks of glorious weather rambling
+over the vast undulating expanses of sand in the middle of the
+Solimoens, fishing, hunting, collecting eggs of turtle and
+plovers and thoroughly enjoying themselves. The inhabitants pray
+always for a "vasante grande," or great ebb.
+
+From the middle of October to the beginning of January, the
+second wet season prevails. The rise is sometimes not more than
+about fifteen feet, but it is, in some years, much more
+extensive, laying the large sand islands under water before the
+turtle eggs are hatched. In one year, while I resided at Ega,
+this second annual inundation reached to within ten feet of the
+highest water point as marked by the stains on the trunks of
+trees by the river side.
+
+The second dry season comes on in January, and lasts throughout
+February. The river sinks sometimes to the extent of a few feet
+only, but one year (1856) I saw it ebb to within about five feet
+of its lowest point in September. This is called the summer of
+the Umari, "Verao do Umari," after the fruit of this name already
+described, which ripens at this season. When the fall is great,
+this is the best time to catch turtles. In the year above
+mentioned, nearly all the residents who had a canoe, and could
+work a paddle, went out after them in the month of February, and
+about 2000 were caught in the course of a few days. It appears
+that they had been arrested in their migration towards the
+interior pools of the forest by the sudden drying up of the
+water-courses, and so had become easy prey.
+
+Thus the Ega year is divided into four seasons; two of dry
+weather and falling waters, and two of the reverse. Besides this
+variety, there is, in the month of May, a short season of very
+cold weather, a most surprising circumstance in this otherwise
+uniformly sweltering climate. This is caused by the continuance
+of a cold wind, which blows from the south over the humid forests
+that extend without interruption from north of the equator to the
+eighteenth parallel of latitude in Bolivia. I had, unfortunately,
+no thermometer with me at Ega-- the only one I brought with me
+from England having been lost at Para. The temperature is so much
+lowered that fishes die in the river Teffe, and are cast in
+considerable quantities on its shores. The wind is not strong,
+but it brings cloudy weather, and lasts from three to five or six
+days in each year. The inhabitants all suffer much from the cold,
+many of them wrapping themselves up with the warmest clothing
+they can get (blankets are here unknown), and shutting themselves
+indoors with a charcoal fire lighted. I found, myself, the change
+of temperature most delightful, and did not require extra
+clothing. It was a bad time, however, for my pursuit, as birds
+and insects all betook themselves to places of concealment, and
+remained inactive. The period during which this wind prevails is
+called the "tempo da friagem," or the season of coldness. The
+phenomenon, I presume, is to be accounted for by the fact that in
+May it is winter in the southern temperate zone, and that the
+cool currents of air travelling thence northwards towards the
+equator become only moderately heated in their course, owing to
+the intermediate country being a vast, partially-flooded plain
+covered with humid forests.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
+
+The River Teffe--Rambles through Groves on the Beach--Excursion
+to the House of a Passe Chieftain--Character and Customs of the
+Passe Tribe--First Excursion: Sand Islands of the Solimoens--
+Habits of Great River Turtle--Second Excursion:Turtle-fishing in
+the Inland Pools--Third Excursion: Hunting-rambles with Natives
+in
+the Forest--Return to Ega
+
+I WILL now proceed to give some account of the more interesting
+of my shorter excursions in the neighbourhood of Ega. The
+incidents of the longer voyages, which occupied each several
+months, will be narrated in a separate chapter.
+
+The settlement, as before described, is built on a small tract of
+cleared land at the lower or eastern end of the lake, six or
+seven miles from the main Amazons, with which the lake
+communicates by a narrow channel. On the opposite shore of the
+broad expanse stands a small village, called Nogueira, the houses
+of which are not visible from Ega, except on very clear days; the
+coast on the Nogueira side is high, and stretches away into the
+grey distance towards the southwest. The upper part of the river
+Teffe is not visited by the Ega people, on account of its extreme
+unhealthiness, and its barrenness in sarsaparilla and other
+wares. To Europeans it would seem a most surprising thing that
+the people of a civilised settlement, a hundred and seventy years
+old, should still be ignorant of the course of the river on whose
+banks their native place, for which they proudly claim the title
+of city, is situated. It would be very difficult for a private
+individual to explore it, as the necessary number of Indian
+paddlers could not be obtained. I knew only one person who had
+ascended the Teffe to any considerable distance, and he was not
+able to give me a distinct account of the river. The only tribe
+known to live on its banks are the Catauishis, a people who
+perforate their lips all round, and wear rows of slender sticks
+in the holes: their territory lies between the Purus and the
+Jurua, embracing both shores of the Teffe. A large, navigable
+stream, the Bararua, enters the lake from the west, about thirty
+miles above Ega; the breadth of the lake is much contracted a
+little below the mouth of this tributary, but it again expands
+further south, and terminates abruptly where the Teffe proper, a
+narrow river with a strong current, forms its head water.
+
+The whole of the country for hundreds of miles is covered with
+picturesque but pathless forests, and there are only two roads
+along which excursions can be made by land from Ega. One is a
+narrow hunter's track, about two miles in length, which traverses
+the forest in the rear of the settlement. The other is an
+extremely pleasant path along the beach to the west of the town.
+This is practicable only in the dry season, when a flat strip of
+white sandy beach is exposed at the foot of the high wooded banks
+of the lake, covered with trees, which, as there is no underwood,
+form a spacious shady grove. I rambled daily, during many weeks
+of each successive dry season, along this delightful road. The
+trees, many of which are myrtles and wild Guavas, with smooth
+yellow stems, were in flower at this time; and the rippling
+waters of the lake, under the cool shade, everywhere bordered the
+path. The place was the resort of kingfishers, green and blue
+tree-creepers, purple-headed tanagers, and hummingbirds. Birds
+generally, however, were not numerous. Every tree was tenanted by
+Cicadas, the reedy notes of which produced that loud, jarring,
+insect music which is the general accompaniment of a woodland
+ramble in a hot climate. One species was very handsome, having
+wings adorned with patches of bright green and scarlet. It was
+very common-- sometimes three or four tenanting a single tree,
+clinging as usual to the branches. On approaching a tree thus
+peopled, a number of little jets of a clear liquid would be seen
+squirted from aloft. I have often received the well-directed
+discharge full on my face; but the liquid is harmless, having a
+sweetish taste, and is ejected by the insect from the anus,
+probably in self-defence, or from fear. The number and variety of
+gaily-tinted butterflies, sporting about in this grove on sunny
+days, were so great that the bright moving flakes of colour gave
+quite a character to the physiognomy of the place. It was
+impossible to walk far without disturbing flocks of them from the
+damp sand at the edge of the water, where they congregated to
+imbibe the moisture. They were of almost all colours, sizes, and
+shapes: I noticed here altogether eighty species, belonging to
+twenty-two different genera. It is a singular fact that, with
+very few exceptions, all the individuals of these various species
+thus sporting in sunny places were of the male sex; their
+partners, which are much more soberly dressed and immensely less
+numerous than the males, being confined to the shades of the
+woods. Every afternoon, as the sun was getting low, I used to
+notice these gaudy sunshine-loving swains trooping off to the
+forest, where I suppose they would find their sweethearts and
+wives. The most abundant, next to the very common sulphur-yellow
+and orange-coloured kinds, were about a dozen species of Eunica,
+which are of large size, and are conspicuous from their liveries
+of glossy dark-blue and purple. A superbly-adorned creature, the
+Callithea Markii, having wings of a thick texture, coloured
+sapphire-blue and orange, was only an occasional visitor. On
+certain days, when the weather was very calm, two small gilded-
+green species (Symmachia Trochilus and Colubris) literally
+swarmed on the sands, their glittering wings lying wide open on
+the flat surface. The beach terminates, eight miles beyond Ega,
+at the mouth of a rivulet; the character of the coast then
+changes, the river banks being masked by a line of low islets
+amid a labyrinth of channels.
+
+In all other directions my very numerous excursions were by
+water; the most interesting of those made in the immediate
+neighbourhood were to the houses of Indians on the banks of
+retired creeks-- an account of one of these trips will suffice.
+
+On the 23rd of May, 1850, I visited, in company with Antonio
+Cardozo, the Delegado, a family of the Passe tribe, who live near
+the head waters of the Igarape, which flows from the south into
+the Teffe, entering it at Ega. The creek is more than a quarter
+of a mile broad near the town, but a few miles inland it
+gradually contracts, until it becomes a mere rivulet flowing
+through a broad dell in the forest. When the river rises it fills
+this dell; the trunks of the lofty trees then stand many feet
+deep in the water, and small canoes are able to travel the
+distance of a day's journey under the shade, regular paths or
+alleys being cut through the branches and lower trees. This is
+the general character of the country of the Upper Amazons; a land
+of small elevation and abruptly undulated, the hollows forming
+narrow valleys in the dry months, and deep navigable creeks in
+the wet months. In retired nooks on the margins of these shady
+rivulets, a few families or small hordes of aborigines still
+linger in nearly their primitive state, the relicts of their once
+numerous tribes. The family we intended to visit on this trip was
+that of Pedro-uassu (Peter the Great, or Tall Peter), an old
+chieftain or Tushaua of the Passes.
+
+We set out at sunrise, in a small igarite, manned by six young
+Indian paddlers. After travelling about three miles along the
+broad portion of the creek-- which, being surrounded by woods,
+had the appearance of a large pool-- we came to a part where our
+course seemed to be stopped by an impenetrable hedge of trees and
+bushes. We were some time before finding the entrance, but when
+fairly within the shades, a remarkable scene presented itself. It
+was my first introduction to these singular waterpaths. A narrow
+and tolerably straight alley stretched away for a long distance
+before us; on each side were the tops of bushes and young trees,
+forming a kind of border to the path, and the trunks of the tall
+forest trees rose at irregular intervals from the water, their
+crowns interlocking far over our heads, and forming a thick
+shade. Slender air roots hung down in clusters, and looping sipos
+dangled from the lower branches; bunches of grass, tillandsiae,
+and ferns sat in the forks of the larger boughs, and the trunks
+of trees near the water had adhering to them round dried masses
+of freshwater sponges. There was no current perceptible, and the
+water was stained of a dark olive-brown hue, but the submerged
+stems could be seen through it to a great depth. We travelled at
+good speed for three hours along this shady road-- the distance
+of Pedro's house from Ega being about twenty miles. When the
+paddlers rested for a time, the stillness and gloom of the place
+became almost painful: our voices waked dull echoes as we
+conversed, and the noise made by fishes occasionally whipping the
+surface of the water was quite startling. A cool, moist, clammy
+air pervaded the sunless shade.
+
+The breadth of the wooded valley, at the commencement, is
+probably more than half a mile, and there is a tolerably clear
+view for a considerable distance on each side of the water-path
+through the irregular colonnade of trees; other paths also, in
+this part, branch off right and left from the principal road,
+leading to the scattered houses of Indians on the mainland. The
+dell contracts gradually towards the head of the rivulet, and the
+forest then becomes denser; the waterpath also diminishes in
+width, and becomes more winding, on account of the closer growth
+of the trees. The boughs of some are stretched forth at no great
+height over one's head, and are seen to be loaded with epiphytes;
+one orchid I noticed particularly, on account of its bright
+yellow flowers growing at the end of flower-stems several feet
+long. Some of the trunks, especially those of palms, close
+beneath their crowns, were clothed with a thick mass of glossy
+shield-shaped Pothos plants, mingled with ferns. Arrived at this
+part we were, in fact, in the heart of the virgin forest. We
+heard no noises of animals in the trees, and saw only one bird,
+the sky-blue chatterer, sitting alone on a high branch. For some
+distance the lower vegetation was so dense that the road runs
+under an arcade of foliage, the branches having been cut away
+only sufficiently to admit of the passage of a small canoe. These
+thickets are formed chiefly of bamboos, whose slender foliage and
+curving stems arrange themselves in elegant, feathery bowers; but
+other social plants --slender green climbers with tendrils so
+eager in aspiring to grasp the higher boughs that they seem to be
+endowed almost with animal energy, and certain low trees having
+large elegantly-veined leaves-- contribute also to the jungly
+masses. Occasionally we came upon an uprooted tree lying across
+the path, its voluminous crown still held up by thick cables of
+sipo, connecting it with standing trees; a wide circuit had to be
+made in these cases, and it was sometimes difficult to find the
+right path again.
+
+At length we arrived at our journey's end. We were then in a very
+dense and gloomy part of the forest-- we could see, however, the
+dry land on both sides of the creek, and to our right a small
+sunny opening appeared, the landing place to the native
+dwellings. The water was deep close to the bank, and a clean
+pathway ascended from the shady port to the buildings, which were
+about a furlong distant. My friend Cardozo was godfather to a
+grandchild of Pedro-uassu, whose daughter had married an Indian
+settled in Ega. He had sent word to the old man that he intended
+to visit him: we were therefore expected.
+
+As we landed, Pedro-uassu himself came down to the port to
+receive us, our arrival having been announced by the barking of
+dogs. He was a tall and thin old man, with a serious, but
+benignant expression of countenance, and a manner much freer from
+shyness and distrust than is usual with Indians. He was clad in a
+shirt of coarse cotton cloth, dyed with murishi, and trousers of
+the same material turned up to the knee. His features were
+sharply delineated-- more so than in any Indian face I had yet
+seen; the lips thin and the nose rather high and compressed. A
+large, square, blue-black tattooed patch occupied the middle of
+his face, which, as well as the other exposed parts of his body,
+was of a light reddish-tan colour, instead of the usual coppery-
+brown hue. He walked with an upright, slow gait, and on reaching
+us saluted Cardozo with the air of a man who wished it to be
+understood that he was dealing with an equal. My friend
+introduced me, and I was welcomed in the same grave, ceremonious
+manner. He seemed to have many questions to ask, but they were
+chiefly about Senora Felippa, Cardozo's Indian housekeeper at
+Ega, and were purely complimentary. This studied politeness is
+quite natural to Indians of the advanced agricultural tribes. The
+language used was Tupi-- I heard no other spoken all the day. It
+must be borne in mind that Pedro-uassu had never had much
+intercourse with whites; he was, although baptised, a primitive
+Indian who had always lived in retirement, the ceremony of
+baptism having been gone through, as it generally is by the
+aborigines, simply from a wish to stand well with the whites.
+
+Arrived at the house, we were welcomed by Pedro's wife: a thin,
+wrinkled, active old squaw, tattooed in precisely the same way as
+her husband. She also had sharp features, but her manner was more
+cordial and quicker than that of her husband: she talked much,
+and with great inflection of voice; while the tones of the old
+man were rather drawling and querulous. Her clothing was a long
+petticoat of thick cotton cloth, and a very short chemise, not
+reaching to her waist. I was rather surprised to find the grounds
+around the establishment in neater order than in any sitio, even
+of civilised people, I had yet seen on the Upper Amazons; the
+stock of utensils and household goods of all sorts was larger,
+and the evidences of regular industry and plenty more numerous
+than one usually perceives in the farms of civilised Indians and
+whites. The buildings were of the same construction as those of
+the humbler settlers in all other parts of the country. The
+family lived in a large, oblong, open shed built under the shade
+of trees. Two smaller buildings, detached from the shed and
+having mud-walls with low doorways, contained apparently the
+sleeping apartments of different members of the large household.
+A small mill for grinding sugar-cane, having two cylinders of
+hard notched wood, wooden troughs, and kettles for boiling the
+guarapa (cane juice) to make treacle, stood under a separate
+shed, and near it was a large enclosed mud-house for poultry.
+There was another hut and shed a short distance off, inhabited by
+a family dependent on Pedro, and a narrow pathway through the
+luxuriant woods led to more dwellings of the same kind. There was
+an abundance of fruit trees around the place, including the
+never-failing banana, with its long, broad, soft green leaf-
+blades, and groups of full-grown Pupunhas, or peach palms. There
+was also a large number of cotton and coffee trees. Among the
+utensils I noticed baskets of different shapes, made of flattened
+maranta stalks, and dyed various colours. The making of these is
+an original art of the Passes, but I believe it is also practised
+by other tribes, for I saw several in the houses of semi-
+civilised Indians on the Tapajos.
+
+There were only three persons in the house besides the old
+couple, the rest of the people being absent; several came in,
+however, in the course of the day. One was a daughter of Pedro's,
+who had an oval tattooed spot over her mouth; the second was a
+young grandson; and the third the son-in-law from Ega, Cardozo's
+compadre. The old woman was occupied, when we entered, in
+distilling spirits from cara, an edible root similar to the
+potato, by means of a clay still, which had been manufactured by
+herself. The liquor had a reddish tint, but not a very agreeable
+flavour. A cup of it, warm from the still, however, was welcome
+after our long journey. Cardozo liked it, emptied his cup, and
+replenished it in a very short time. The old lady was very
+talkative, and almost fussy in her desire to please her visitors.
+We sat in tucum hammocks, suspended between the upright posts of
+the shed. The young woman with the blue mouth-- who, although
+married, was as shy as any young maiden of her race--soon became
+employed in scalding and plucking fowls for the dinner near the
+fire on the ground at the other end of the dwelling. The son-in-
+law, Pedro-uassu, and Cardozo now began a long conversation on
+the subject of their deceased wife, daughter, and comadre. [Co-
+mother; the term expressing the relationship of a mother to the
+godfather of her child.] It appeared she had died of consumption-
+-"tisica," as they called it, a word adopted by the Indians from
+the Portuguese. The widower repeated over and over again, in
+nearly the same words, his account of her illness, Pedro chiming
+in like a chorus, and Cardozo moralising and condoling. I thought
+the cauim (grog) had a good deal to do with the flow of talk and
+warmth of feeling of all three; the widower drank and wailed
+until he became maundering, and finally fell asleep.I left them
+talking, and took a long ramble into the forest, Pedro sending
+his grandson, a smiling well-behaved lad of about fourteen years
+of age, to show me the paths, my companion taking with him his
+Zarabatana, or blow-gun. This instrument is used by all the
+Indian tribes on the Upper Amazons. It is generally nine or ten
+feet long, and is made of two separate lengths of wood, each
+scooped out so as to form one-half of the tube. To do this with
+the necessary accuracy requires an enormous amount of patient
+labour, and considerable mechanical ability, the tools used being
+simply the incisor teeth of the Paca and Cutia. The two half
+tubes, when finished, are secured together by a very close and
+tight spirally-wound strapping, consisting of long flat strips of
+Jacitara, or the wood of the climbing palm-tree; and the whole is
+smeared afterwards with black wax, the production of a Melipona
+bee. The pipe tapers towards the muzzle, and a cup-shaped
+mouthpiece, made of wood, is fitted in the broad end. A full-
+sized Zarabatana is heavy, and can only be used by an adult
+Indian who has had great practice. The young lads learn to shoot
+with smaller and lighter tubes. When Mr. Wallace and I had
+lessons at Barra in the use of the blow-gun, of Julio, a Juri
+Indian, then in the employ of Mr. Hauxwell, an English bird-
+collector, we found it very difficult to hold steadily the long
+tubes. The arrows are made from the hard rind of the leaf-stalks
+of certain palms, thin strips being cut, and rendered as sharp as
+needles by scraping the ends with a knife or the tooth of an
+animal. They are winged with a little oval mass of samauma silk
+(from the seed-vessels of the silk-cotton tree, Eriodendron
+samauma), cotton being too heavy. The ball of samauma should fit
+to a nicety the bore of the blowgun; when it does so, the arrow
+can be propelled with such force by the breath that it makes a
+noise almost as loud as a pop-gun on flying from the muzzle. My
+little companion was armed with a quiver full of these little
+missiles, a small number of which, sufficient for the day's
+sport, were tipped with the fatal Urari poison. The quiver was an
+ornamental affair, the broad rim being made of highly-polished
+wood of a rich cherry-red colour (the Moira-piranga, or redwood
+of the Japura). The body was formed of neatly-plaited strips of
+Maranta stalks, and the belt by which it was suspended from the
+shoulder was decorated with cotton fringes and tassels.
+
+We walked about two miles along a well-trodden pathway, through
+high caapoeira (second-growth forest). A large proportion of the
+trees were Melastomas, which bore a hairy yellow fruit, nearly as
+large and as well flavoured as our gooseberry. The season,
+however, was nearly over for them. The road was bordered every
+inch of the way by a thick bed of elegant Lycopodiums. An
+artificial arrangement of trees and bushes could scarcely have
+been made to wear so finished an appearance as this naturally
+decorated avenue. The path at length terminated at a plantation
+of mandioca, the largest I had yet seen since I left the
+neighbourhood of Para. There were probably ten acres of cleared
+land, and part of the ground was planted with Indian corn, water-
+melons, and sugar cane. Beyond this field there was only a faint
+hunter's track, leading towards the untrodden interior. My
+companion told me he had never heard of there being any
+inhabitants in that direction (the south). We crossed the forest
+from this place to another smaller clearing, and then walked, on
+our road home, through about two miles of caapoeira of various
+ages, the sites of old plantations. The only fruits of our ramble
+were a few rare insects and a Japu (Cassicus cristatus), a
+handsome bird with chestnut and saffron-coloured plumage, which
+wanders through the tree-tops in large flocks. My little
+companion brought this down from a height which I calculated at
+thirty yards. The blow-gun, however, in the hands of an expert
+adult Indian, can be made to propel arrows so as to kill at a
+distance of fifty and sixty yards. The aim is most certain when
+the tube is held vertically, or nearly so. It is a far more
+useful weapon in the forest than a gun, for the report of a
+firearm alarms the whole flock of birds or monkeys feeding on a
+tree, while the silent poisoned dart brings the animals down one
+by one until the sportsman has a heap of slain by his side. None
+but the stealthy Indian can use it effectively. The poison, which
+must be fresh to kill speedily, is obtained only of the Indians
+who live beyond the cataracts of the rivers flowing from the
+north, especially the Rio Negro and the Japura. Its principal
+ingredient is the wood of the Strychnos toxifera, a tree which
+does not grow in the humid forests of the river plains. A most
+graphic account of the Urari, and of an expedition undertaken in
+search of the tree in Guiana, has been given by Sir Robert
+Schomburgk. [Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii. P.
+411.]
+
+When we returned to the house after mid-day, Cardozo was still
+sipping cauim, and now looked exceedingly merry. It was fearfully
+hot; the good fellow sat in his hammock with a cuya full of grog
+in his hands; his broad honest face all of a glow, and the
+perspiration streaming down his uncovered breast, the unbuttoned
+shirt having slipped half-way over his broad shoulders. Pedro-
+uassu had not drunk much; he was noted, as I afterwards learned,
+for his temperance. But he was standing up as I had left him two
+hours previous, talking to Cardozo in the same monotonous tones,
+the conversation apparently not having flagged all the time. I
+had never heard so much talking amongst Indians. The widower was
+asleep; the stirring, managing old lady with her daughter were
+preparing dinner. This, which was ready soon after I entered,
+consisted of boiled fowls and rice, seasoned with large green
+peppers and lemon juice, and piles of new, fragrant farinha and
+raw bananas. It was served on plates of English manufacture on a
+tupe, or large plaited rush mat, such as is made by the natives
+pretty generally on the Amazons. Three or four other Indians, men
+and women of middle age, now made their appearance, and joined in
+the meal. We all sat round on the floor: the women, according to
+custom, not eating until after the men had done. Before sitting
+down, our host apologised in his usual quiet, courteous manner
+for not having knives and forks; Cardozo and I ate by the aid of
+wooden spoons, the Indians using their fingers. The old man
+waited until we were all served before he himself commenced. At
+the end of the meal, one of the women brought us water in a
+painted clay basin of Indian manufacture, and a clean coarse
+cotton napkin, that we might wash our hands.
+
+The horde of Passes of which Pedro-uassu was Tushaua or
+chieftain, was at this time reduced to a very small number of
+individuals. The disease mentioned in the last chapter had for
+several generations made great havoc among them; many had also
+entered the service of whites at Ega, and, of late years,
+intermarriages with whites, half-castes, and civilised Indians
+had been frequent. The old man bewailed the fate of his race to
+Cardozo with tears in his eyes. "The people of my nation," he
+said," have always been good friends to the Cariwas (whites), but
+before my grandchildren are old like me the name of Passe will be
+forgotten." In so far as the Passes have amalgamated with
+European immigrants or their descendants, and become civilised
+Brazilian citizens, there can scarcely be ground for lamenting
+their extinction as a nation; but it fills one with regret to
+learn how many die prematurely of a disease which seems to arise
+on their simply breathing the same air as the whites. The
+original territory of the tribe must have been of large extent,
+for Passes are said to have been found by the early Portuguese
+colonists on the Rio Negro; an ancient settlement on that river,
+Barcellos, having been peopled by them when it was first
+established; and they formed also part of the original population
+of Fonte-boa on the Solimoens. Their hordes were therefore,
+spread over a region 400 miles in length from cast to west. It is
+probable, however, that they have been confounded by the
+colonists with other neighbouring tribes who tattoo their faces
+in a similar manner. The extinct tribe of Yurimauas, or Sorimoas,
+from which the river Solimoens derives its name, according to
+traditions extant at Ega, resembled the Passes in their slender
+figures and friendly disposition. These tribes (with others lying
+between them) peopled the banks of the main river and its by-
+streams from the mouth of the Rio Negro to Peru. True Passes
+existed in their primitive state on the banks of the Issa, 240
+miles to the west of Ega, within the memory of living persons.
+The only large body of them now extant are located on the Japura,
+at a place distant about 150 miles from Ega: the population of
+this horde, however, does not exceed, from what I could learn,
+300 or 400 persons. I think it probable that the lower part of
+the Japura and its extensive delta lands formed the original home
+of this gentle tribe of Indians.
+
+The Passes are always spoken of in this country as the most
+advanced of all the Indian nations in the Amazons region. Under
+what influences this tribe has become so strongly modified in
+mental, social, and bodily features it is hard to divine. The
+industrious habits, fidelity, and mildness of disposition of the
+Passes, their docility and, it may be added, their personal
+beauty, especially of the children and women, made them from the
+first very attractive to the Portuguese colonists. They were,
+consequently, enticed in great number from their villages and
+brought to Barra and other settlements of the whites. The wives
+of governors and military officers from Europe were always eager
+to obtain children for domestic servants; the girls being taught
+to sew, cook, weave hammocks, manufacture pillow-lace, and so
+forth. They have been generally treated with kindness, especially
+by the educated families in the settlements. It is pleasant to
+have to record that I never heard of a deed of violence
+perpetrated, on the one side or the other, in the dealings
+between European settlers and this noble tribe of savages.
+
+Very little is known of the original customs of the Passes. The
+mode of life of our host Pedro-uassu did not differ much from
+that of the civilised Mamelucos; but he and his people showed a
+greater industry, and were more open, cheerful, and generous in
+their dealings than many half-castes. The authority of Pedro,
+like that of the Tushauas, generally was exercised in a mild
+manner. These chieftains appear able to command the services of
+their subjects, since they furnish men to the Brazilian
+authorities when requested; but none of them, even those of the
+most advanced tribes, appear to make use of this authority for
+the accumulation of property-- the service being exacted chiefly
+in time of war. Had the ambition of the chiefs of some of these
+industrious tribes been turned to the acquisition of wealth,
+probably we should have seen indigenous civilised nations in the
+heart of South America similar to those found on the Andes of
+Peru and Mexico. It is very probable that the Passes adopted from
+the first to some extent the manners of the whites. Ribeiro, a
+Portuguese official who travelled in these regions in 1774-5, and
+wrote an account of his journey, relates that they buried their
+dead in large earthenware vessels (a custom still observed among
+other tribes on the Upper Amazons), and that, as to their
+marriages, the young men earned their brides by valiant deeds in
+war. He also states that they possessed a cosmogony in which the
+belief that the sun was a fixed body, with the earth revolving
+around it, was a prominent feature. He says, moreover, that they
+believed in a Creator of all things; a future state of rewards
+and punishments, and so forth. These notions are so far in
+advance of the ideas of all other tribes of Indians, and so
+little likely to have been conceived and perfected by a people
+having no written language or leisured class, that we must
+suppose them to have been derived by the docile Passes from some
+early missionary or traveller. I never found that the Passes had
+more curiosity or activity of intellect than other Indians. No
+trace of a belief in a future state exists amongst Indians who
+have not had much intercourse with the civilised settlers, and
+even amongst those who have it is only a few of the more gifted
+individuals who show any curiosity on the subject. Their sluggish
+minds seem unable to conceive or feel the want of a theory of the
+soul, and of the relations of man to the rest of Nature or to the
+Creator. But is it not so with totally uneducated and isolated
+people even in the most highly civilised parts of the world? The
+good qualities of the Passes belong to the moral part of the
+character: they lead a contented, unambitious, and friendly life,
+a quiet, domestic, orderly existence, varied by occasional
+drinking bouts and summer excursions. They are not so shrewd,
+energetic, and masterful as the Mundurucus, but they are more
+easily taught, because their disposition is more yielding than
+that of the Mundurucus or any other tribe.
+
+We started on our return to Ega at half-past four o'clock in the
+afternoon. Our generous entertainers loaded us with presents.
+There was scarcely room for us to sit in the canoe, as they had
+sent down ten large bundles of sugar-cane, four baskets of
+farinha, three cedar planks, a small hamper of coffee, and two
+heavy bunches of bananas. After we were embarked, the old lady
+came with a parting gift for me--a huge bowl of smoking hot
+banana porridge. I was to eat it on the road "to keep my stomach
+warm." Both stood on the bank as we pushed off, and gave us their
+adios: "Ikudna Tupana eirum" (Go with God)-- a form of salutation
+taught by the old Jesuit missionaries. We had a most
+uncomfortable passage, for Cardozo was quite tipsy, and had not
+attended to the loading of the boat. The cargo had been placed
+too far forward, and to make matters worse, my heavy friend
+obstinately insisted on sitting astride on the top of the pile,
+instead of taking his place near the stern, singing from his
+perch a most indecent love-song, and disregarding the
+inconvenience of having to bend down almost every minute to pass
+under the boughs of hanging sipos as we sped rapidly along. The
+canoe leaked but not, at first, alarmingly. Long before sunset,
+darkness began to close in under those gloomy shades, and our
+steersman could not avoid now and then running the boat into the
+thicket. The first time this happened a piece was broken off the
+square prow (rodella); the second time we got squeezed between
+two trees. A short time after this latter accident, being seated
+near the stern with my feet on the bottom of the boat, I felt
+rather suddenly the cold water above my ankles. A few minutes
+more and we should have sunk, for a seam had been opened forward
+under the pile of sugar-cane. Two of us began to bale, and by the
+most strenuous efforts managed to keep afloat without throwing
+overboard our cargo. The Indians were obliged to paddle with
+extreme slowness to avoid shipping water, as the edge of our prow
+was nearly level with the surface; but Cardozo was now persuaded
+to change his seat. The sun set, the quick twilight passed, and
+the moon soon after began to glimmer through the thick canopy of
+foliage. The prospect of being swamped in this hideous solitude
+was by no means pleasant, although I calculated on the chance of
+swimming to a tree and finding a nice snug place in the fork of
+some large bough wherein to pass the night.
+
+At length, after four hours' tedious progress, we suddenly
+emerged on the open stream where the moonlight glittered in broad
+sheets on the gently rippling waters. A little extra care was now
+required in paddling. The Indians plied their strokes with the
+greatest nicety; the lights of Ega (the oil lamps in the houses)
+soon appeared beyond the black wall of forest, and in a short
+time we leapt safely ashore.
+
+ A few months after the excursion just narrated, I accompanied
+Cardozo in many wanderings on the Solimoens, during which he
+visited the praias (sand-islands), the turtle pools in the
+forests, and the by-streams and lakes of the great desert river.
+His object was mainly to superintend the business of digging up
+turtle eggs on the sandbanks, having been elected commandante for
+the year by the municipal council of Ega, of the "praia real"
+(royal sand-island) of Shimuni, the one lying nearest to Ega.
+There are four of these royal praias within the Ega district (a
+distance of 150 miles from the town), all of which are visited
+annually by the Ega people for the purpose of collecting eggs and
+extracting oil from their yolks Each has its commander, whose
+business is to make arrangements for securing to every inhabitant
+an equal chance in the egg harvest by placing sentinels to
+protect the turtles whilst laying, and so forth. The pregnant
+turtles descend from the interior pools to the main river in July
+and August, before the outlets dry up, and then seek in countless
+swarms their favourite sand islands; for it is only a few praias
+that are selected by them out of the great number existing. The
+young animals remain in the pools throughout the dry season.
+These breeding places of turtles then lie twenty to thirty or
+more feet above the level of the river, and are accessible only
+by cutting roads through the dense forest.
+
+We left Ega on our first trip to visit the sentinels while the
+turtles were yet laying, on the 26th of September. Our canoe was
+a stoutly built igarite, arranged for ten paddlers, and having a
+large arched toldo at the stern under which three persons could
+sleep pretty comfortably. Emerging from the Teffe we descended
+rapidly on the swift current of the Solimoens to the south-
+eastern or lower end of the large wooded island of Baria, which
+here divides the river into two great channels. We then paddled
+across to Shimuni, which lies in the middle of the northeasterly
+channel, reaching the commencement of the praia an hour before
+sunset. The island proper is about three miles long and half a
+mile broad: the forest with which it is covered rises to an
+immense and uniform height, and presents all round a compact,
+impervious front. Here and there a singular tree, called Pao
+mulatto (mulatto wood), with polished dark-green trunk, rose
+conspicuously among the mass of vegetation. The sandbank, which
+lies at the upper end of the island, extends several miles and
+presents an irregular, and in some parts, strongly-waved surface,
+with deep hollows and ridges. When upon it, one feels as though
+treading an almost boundless field of sand, for towards the
+southeast, where no forest line terminates the view, the white,
+rolling plain stretches away to the horizon. The north-easterly
+channel of the river lying between the sands and the further
+shore of the river is at least two miles in breadth; the middle
+one, between the two islands, Shimuni and Baria, is not much less
+than a mile.
+
+We found the two sentinels lodged in a corner of the praia, where
+it commences at the foot of the towering forest wall of the
+island, having built for themselves a little rancho with poles
+and palm-leaves. Great precautions are obliged to be taken to
+avoid disturbing the sensitive turtles, who, previous to crawling
+ashore to lay, assemble in great shoals off the sandbank. The
+men, during this time, take care not to show themselves and warn
+off any fishermen who wishes to pass near the place. Their fires
+are made in a deep hollow near the borders of the forest, so that
+the smoke may not be visible. The passage of a boat through the
+shallow waters where the animals are congregated, or the sight of
+a man or a fire on the sandbank, would prevent the turtles from
+leaving the water that night to lay their eggs, and if the causes
+of alarm were repeated once or twice, they would forsake the
+praia for some other quieter place. Soon after we arrived, our
+men were sent with the net to catch a supply of fish for supper.
+In half an hour, four or five large basketsful of Acari were
+brought in. The sun set soon after our meal was cooked; we were
+then obliged to extinguish the fire and remove our supper
+materials to the sleeping ground, a spit of sand about a mile
+off-- this course being necessary on account of the mosquitoes
+which swarm at night on the borders of the forest.
+
+One of the sentinels was a taciturn, morose-looking, but sober
+and honest Indian, named Daniel; the other was a noted character
+of Ega, a little wiry Mameluco, named Carepira (Fish-hawk)--
+known for his waggery, propensity for strong drink, and
+indebtedness to Ega traders. Both were intrepid canoemen and
+huntsmen, and both perfectly at home anywhere in these fearful
+wastes of forest and water. Carepira had his son with him-- a
+quiet little lad of about nine years of age. These men in a few
+minutes constructed a small shed with four upright poles and
+leaves of the arrow-grass, under which Cardozo and I slung our
+hammocks. We did not go to sleep, however, until after midnight--
+for when supper was over, we lay about on the sand with a flask
+of rum in our midst and whiled away the still hours in listening
+to Carepira's stories.
+
+I rose from my hammock by daylight, shivering with cold; a praia,
+on account of the great radiation of heat in the night from the
+sand, being towards the dawn the coldest place that can be found
+in this climate. Cardozo and the men were already up watching the
+turtles. The sentinels had erected for this purpose a stage about
+fifty feet high, on a tall tree near their station, the ascent to
+which was by a roughly-made ladder of woody lianas. They are
+enabled, by observing the turtles from this watchtower, to
+ascertain the date of successive deposits of eggs, and thus guide
+the commandante in fixing the time for the general invitation to
+the Ega people. The turtles lay their eggs by night, leaving the
+water when nothing disturbs them, in vast crowds, and crawling to
+the central and highest part of the praia. These places are, of
+course, the last to go under water when, in unusually wet
+seasons, the river rises before the eggs are hatched by the heat
+of the sand. One could almost believe from this that the animals
+used forethought in choosing a place; but it is simply one of
+those many instances in animals where unconscious habit has the
+same result as conscious prevision. The hours between midnight
+and dawn are the busiest. The turtles excavate with their broad,
+webbed paws, deep holes in the fine sand-- the first corner, in
+each case, making a pit about three feet deep, laying its eggs
+(about 120 in number) and covering them with sand; the next
+making its deposit at the top of that of its predecessor, and so
+on until every pit is full. The whole body of turtles frequenting
+a praia does not finish laying in less than fourteen or fifteen
+days, even when there is no interruption. When all have done, the
+area (called by the Brazilians taboleiro) over which they have
+excavated is distinguishable from the rest of the praia only by
+signs of the sand having been a little disturbed.
+
+On rising, I went to join my friends. Few recollections of my
+Amazonian rambles are more vivid and agreeable than that of my
+walk over the white sea of sand on this cool morning. The sky was
+cloudless; the just-risen sun was hidden behind the dark mass of
+woods on Shimuni, but the long line of forest to the west, on
+Baria, with its plumy decorations of palms, was lighted up with
+his yellow, horizontal rays. A faint chorus of singing birds
+reached the ears from across the water, and flocks of gulls and
+plovers were drying plaintively over the swelling banks of the
+praia, where their eggs lay in nests made in little hollows of
+the sand. Tracks of stray turtles were visible on the smooth
+white surface of the praia. The animals which thus wander from
+the main body are lawful prizes of the sentinels; they had caught
+in this way two before sunrise, one of which we had for dinner.
+In my walk I disturbed several pairs of the chocolate and drab-
+coloured wild-goose (Anser jubatus) which set off to run along
+the edge of the water. The enjoyment one feels in rambling over
+these free, open spaces, is no doubt enhanced by the novelty of
+the scene, the change being very great from the monotonous
+landscape of forest which everywhere else presents itself.
+
+On arriving at the edge of the forest I mounted the sentinel's
+stage, just in time to see the turtles retreating to the water on
+the opposite side of the sand-bank, after having laid their eggs.
+The sight was well worth the trouble of ascending the shaky
+ladder. They were about a mile off, but the surface of the sands
+was blackened with the multitudes which were waddling towards the
+river; the margin of the praia was rather steep, and they all
+seemed to tumble head first down the declivity into the water.
+
+I spent the morning of the 27th collecting insects in the woods
+of Shimuni; and assisted my friend in the afternoon to beat a
+large pool for Tracajas-- Cardozo wishing to obtain a supply for
+his table at home. The pool was nearly a mile long, and lay on
+one side of the island between the forest and the sand-bank. The
+sands are heaped up very curiously around the margins of these
+isolated sheets of water; in the present case they formed a
+steeply-inclined bank, from five to eight feet in height. What
+may be the cause of this formation I cannot imagine. The pools
+always contain a quantity of imprisoned fish, turtles, Tracajas,
+and Aiyussas. [Specimens of this species of turtle are named in
+the British Museum collection, Podocnemis expansa.] The turtles
+and Aiyussas crawl out voluntarily in the course of a few days,
+and escape to the main river, but the Tracajas remain and become
+an easy prey to the natives. The ordinary mode of obtaining them
+is to whip the water in every part with rods for several hours
+during the day; this treatment having the effect of driving the
+animals out. They wait, however, until the night following the
+beating before making their exit. Our Indians were occupied for
+many hours in this work, and when night came they and the
+sentinels were placed at intervals along the edge of the water to
+be ready to capture the runaways. Cardozo and I, after supper,
+went and took our station at one end of the pool.
+
+We did not succeed, after all our trouble, in getting many
+Tracajas. This was partly owing to the intense darkness of the
+night, and partly, doubtless, to the sentinels having already
+nearly exhausted the pool, notwithstanding their declarations to
+the contrary. In waiting for the animals, it was necessary to
+keep silence-- not a pleasant way of passing the night...
+speaking only in whispers, and being without fire in a place
+liable to be visited by a prowling jaguar. Cardozo and I sat on a
+sandy slope with our loaded guns by our side, but it was so dark
+we could scarcely see each other. Towards midnight a storm began
+to gather around us. The faint wind which had breathed from over
+the water since the sun went down, ceased. thick clouds piled
+themselves up, until every star was obscured, and gleams of
+watery lightning began to play in the midst of the black masses.
+I hinted to Cardozo that I thought we had now had enough of
+watching, and suggested a cigarette. Just then a quick pattering
+movement was heard on the sands, and grasping our guns, we both
+started to our feet. Whatever it might have been it seemed to
+pass by, and a few moments afterwards a dark body appeared to be
+moving in another direction on the opposite slope of the sandy
+ravine where we lay. We prepared to fire, but luckily took the
+precaution of first shouting "Quem vai la?" (Who goes there?) It
+turned out to be the taciturn sentinel, Daniel, who asked us
+mildly whether we had heard a "raposa" pass our way. The raposa
+is a kind of wild dog, with very long tapering muzzle, and black
+and white speckled hair. Daniel could distinguish all kinds of
+animals in the dark by their footsteps. It now began to thunder,
+and our position was getting very uncomfortable. Daniel had not
+seen anything of the other Indians, and thought it was useless
+waiting any longer for Tracajas; we therefore sent him to call in
+the whole party, and made off ourselves, as quickly as we could,
+for the canoe. The rest of the night was passed most miserably;
+as indeed were very many of my nights on the Solimoens. A furious
+squall burst upon us; the wind blew away the cloths and mats we
+had fixed up at the ends of the arched awning of the canoe to
+shelter ourselves, and the rain beat right through our sleeping-
+place. There we lay, Cardozo and I, huddled together, and wet
+through, waiting for the morning.
+
+A cup of strong and hot coffee put us to rights at sunrise, but
+the rain was still coming down, having changed to a steady
+drizzle. Our men were all returned from the pool, having taken
+only four Tracajas. The business which had brought Cardozo hither
+being now finished, we set out to return to Ega, leaving the
+sentinels once more to their solitude on the sands. Our return
+route was by the rarely frequented north-easterly channel of the
+Solimoens, through which flows part of the waters of its great
+tributary stream, the Japura. We travelled for five hours along
+the desolate, broken, timber-strewn shore of Baria. The channel
+is of immense breadth, the opposite coast being visible only as a
+long, low line of forest. At three o'clock in the afternoon we
+doubled the upper end of the island, and then crossed towards the
+mouth of the Teffe by a broad transverse channel running between
+Baria and another island called Quanaru. There is a small sand-
+bank at the north-westerly point of Baria, called Jacare; we
+stayed here to dine and afterwards fished with the net. A fine
+rain was still falling, and we had capital sport-- in three hauls
+taking more fish than our canoe would conveniently hold. They
+were of two kinds only, the Surubim and the Piraepieua (species
+of Pimelodus), very handsome fishes, four feet in length, with
+flat spoon-shaped heads, and prettily-spotted and striped skins.
+
+On our way from Jacare to the mouth of the Teffe we had a little
+adventure with a black tiger or jaguar. We were paddling rapidly
+past a long beach of dried mud, when the Indians became suddenly
+excited, shouting "Ecui Jauarete; Jauaripixuna!" (Behold the
+jaguar, the black jaguar!) Looking ahead we saw the animal
+quietly drinking at the water's edge. Cardozo ordered the
+steersman at once to put us ashore. By the time we were landed
+the tiger had seen us, and was retracing his steps towards the
+forest. On the spur of the moment, and without thinking of what
+we were doing, we took our guns (mine was a double-barrel, with
+one charge of B B and one of dust-shot) and gave chase. The
+animal increased his speed, and reaching the forest border, dived
+into the dense mass of broad-leaved grass which formed its
+frontage. We peeped through the gap he had made, but, our courage
+being by this time cooled, we did not think it wise to go into
+the thicket after him. The black tiger appears to be more
+abundant than the spotted form of jaguar in the neighbourhood of
+Ega. The most certain method of finding it is to hunt assisted by
+a string of Indians shouting and driving the game before them in
+the narrow restingas or strips of dry land in the forest, which
+are isolated by the flooding of their neighbourhood in the wet
+season. We reached Ega by eight o'clock that night.
+
+On the 6th of October we left Ega on a second excursion; the
+principal object of Cardozo being, this time, to search certain
+pools in the forest for young turtles. The exact situation of
+these hidden sheets of water is known only to a few practised
+huntsmen; we took one of these men with us from Ega, a Mameluco
+named Pedro, and on our way called at Shimuni for Daniel to serve
+as an additional guide. We started from the praia at sunrise on
+the 7th in two canoes containing twenty-three persons, nineteen
+of whom were Indians. The morning was cloudy and cool, and a
+fresh wind blew from down river, against which we had to struggle
+with all the force of our paddles, aided by the current; the
+boats were tossed about most disagreeably, and shipped a great
+deal of water. On passing the lower end of Shimuni, a long reach
+of the river was before us, undivided by islands-- a magnificent
+expanse of water stretching away to the southeast. The country on
+the left bank is not, however, terra firma, but a portion of the
+alluvial land which forms the extensive and complex delta region
+of the Japura. It is flooded every year at the time of high
+water, and is traversed by many narrow and deep channels which
+serve as outlets to the Japura, or at least, are connected with
+that river by means of the interior water-system of the Cupiyo.
+This inhospitable tract of country extends for several hundred
+miles, and contains in its midst an endless number of pools and
+lakes tenanted by multitudes of turtles, fishes, alligators, and
+water serpents. Our destination was a point on this coast
+situated about twenty miles below Shimuni, and a short distance
+from the mouth of the Anana, one of the channels just alluded to
+as connected with the Japura. After travelling for three hours in
+midstream we steered for the land, and brought to under a
+steeply-inclined bank of crumbly earth, shaped into a succession
+of steps or terraces, marking the various halts which the waters
+of the river make in the course of subsidence. The coast line was
+nearly straight for many miles, and the bank averaged about
+thirty feet in height above the present level of the river: at
+the top rose the unbroken hedge of forest. No one could have
+divined that pools of water existed on that elevated land. A
+narrow level space extended at the foot of the bank. On landing
+the first business was to get breakfast. While a couple of Indian
+lads were employed in making the fire, roasting the fish, and
+boiling the coffee, the rest of the party mounted the bank, and
+with their long hunting knives commenced cutting a path through
+the forest; the pool, called the Aningal, being about half a mile
+distant. After breakfast, a great number of short poles were cut
+and were laid crosswise on the path, and then three light
+montarias which we had brought with us were dragged up the bank
+by lianas, and rolled away to be embarked on the pool. A large
+net, seventy yards in length, was then disembarked and carried to
+the place. The work was done very speedily, and when Cardozo and
+I went to the spot at eleven o'clock, we found some of the older
+Indians, including Pedro and Daniel, had begun their sport. They
+were mounted on little stages called moutas, made of poles and
+cross-pieces of wood secured with lianas, and were shooting the
+turtles as they came near the surface, with bows and arrows. The
+Indians seemed to think that netting the animals, as Cardozo
+proposed doing, was not lawful sport, and wished first to have an
+hour or two's old-fashioned practice with their weapons.
+
+The pool covered an area of about four or five acres, and was
+closely hemmed in by the forest, which in picturesque variety and
+grouping of trees and foliage exceeded almost everything I had
+yet witnessed. The margins for some distance were swampy, and
+covered with large tufts of a fine grass called Matupa. These
+tufts in many places were overrun with ferns, and exterior to
+them a crowded row of arborescent arums, growing to a height of
+fifteen or twenty feet, formed a green palisade. Around the whole
+stood the taller forest trees; palmate-leaved Cecropiae slender
+Assai palms, thirty feet high, with their thin feathery heads
+crowning the gently-curving, smooth stems; small fan-leaved
+palms; and as a background to all these airy shapes, lay the
+voluminous masses of ordinary forest trees, with garlands,
+festoons, and streamers of leafy climbers hanging from their
+branches. The pool was nowhere more than five feet deep, one foot
+of which was not water, but extremely fine and soft mud.
+
+Cardozo and I spent an hour paddling about. I was astonished at
+the skill which the Indians display in shooting turtles. They did
+not wait for their coming to the surface to breathe, but watched
+for the slight movements in the water, which revealed their
+presence underneath. These little tracks on the water are called
+the Siriri; the instant one was perceived an arrow flew from the
+bow of the nearest man, and never failed to pierce the shell of
+the submerged animal. When the turtle was very distant, of course
+the aim had to be taken at a considerable elevation, but the
+marksmen preferred a longish range, because the arrow then fell
+more perpendicularly on the shell and entered it more deeply.
+
+The arrow used in turtle shooting has a strong lancet-shaped
+steel point, fitted into a peg which enters the tip of the shaft.
+The peg is secured to the shaft by twine made of the fibres of
+pineapple leaves, the twine being some thirty or forty yards in
+length, and neatly wound round the body of the arrow. When the
+missile enters the shell, the peg drops out, and the pierced
+animal descends with it towards the bottom, leaving the shaft
+floating on the surface. This being done, the sportsman paddles
+in his montaria to the place, and gently draws the animal by the
+twine, humouring it by giving it the rein when it plunges, until
+it is brought again near the surface, when he strikes it with a
+second arrow. With the increased hold given by the two cords he
+has then no difficulty in landing his game.
+
+By mid-day the men had shot about a score of nearly full-grown
+turtles. Cardozo then gave orders to spread the net. The spongy,
+swampy nature of the banks made it impossible to work the net so
+as to draw the booty ashore; another method was therefore
+adopted. The net was taken by two Indians and extended in a curve
+at one extremity of the oval-shaped pool, holding it when they
+had done so by the perpendicular rods fixed at each end; its
+breadth was about equal to the depth of the water, its shotted
+side therefore rested on the bottom, while the floats buoyed it
+up on the surface, so that the whole, when the ends were brought
+together, would form a complete trap. The rest of the party then
+spread themselves around the swamp at the opposite end of the
+pool and began to beat, with stout poles, the thick tufts of
+Matupa, in order to drive the turtles towards the middle. This
+was continued for an hour or more, the beaters gradually drawing
+nearer to each other, and driving the host of animals before
+them; the number of little snouts constantly popping above the
+surface of the water showing that all was going on well. When
+they neared the net the men moved more quickly, shouting and
+beating with great vigour. The ends of the net were then seized
+by several strong hands and dragged suddenly forwards, bringing
+them at the same time together, so as to enclose all the booty in
+a circle. Every man now leapt into the enclosure, the boats were
+brought up, and the turtles easily captured by the hand and
+tossed into them. I jumped in along with the rest, although I had
+just before made the discovery that the pool abounded in ugly,
+red, four-angled leeches, having seen several of these delectable
+animals, which sometimes fasten on the legs of fishermen,
+although they, did not, on this day, trouble us, working their
+way through cracks in the bottom of our montaria. Cardozo, who
+remained with the boats, could not turn the animals on their
+backs fast enough, so that a great many clambered out and got
+free again. However, three boat-loads, or about eighty, were
+secured in about twenty minutes. They were then taken ashore, and
+each one secured by the men tying the legs with thongs of bast.
+
+When the canoes had been twice filled, we desisted, after a very
+hard day's work. Nearly all the animals were young ones, chiefly,
+according to the statement of Pedro, from three to ten years of
+age; they varied from six to eighteen inches in length, and were
+very fat. Cardozo and I lived almost exclusively on them for
+several months afterwards. Roasted in the shell they form a most
+appetising dish. These younger turtles never migrate with their
+elders on the sinking of the waters, but remain in the tepid
+pools, fattening on fallen fruits, and, according to the natives,
+on the fine nutritious mud. We captured a few full-grown
+motherturtles, which were known at once by the horny skin of
+their breast-plates being worn, telling of their having crawled
+on the sands to lay eggs the previous year. They had evidently
+made a mistake in not leaving the pool at the proper time, for
+they were full of eggs, which, we were told, they would, before
+the season was over, scatter in despair over the swamp. We also
+found several male turtles, or Capitaris, as they are called by
+the natives. These are immensely less numerous than the females,
+and are distinguishable by their much smaller size, more circular
+shape, and the greater length and thickness of their tails. Their
+flesh is considered unwholesome, especially to sick people having
+external signs of inflammation. All diseases in these parts, as
+well as their remedies and all articles of food, are classed by
+the inhabitants as "hot" and "cold," and the meat of the Capitari
+is settled by unanimous consent as belonging to the "hot" list.
+
+We dined on the banks of the river a little before sunset. The
+mosquitoes then began to be troublesome, and finding it would be
+impossible to sleep here, we all embarked and crossed the river
+to a sand-bank, about three miles distant, where we passed the
+night. Cardozo and I slept in our hammocks slung between upright
+poles, the rest stretching themselves on the sand round a large
+fire. We lay awake conversing until past midnight. It was a real
+pleasure to listen to the stories told by one of the older men,
+they were given with so much spirit. The tales always related to
+struggles with some intractable animal-jaguar, manatee, or
+alligator. Many interjections and expressive gestures were used,
+and at the end came a sudden "Pa! terra!" when the animal was
+vanquished by a shot or a blow. Many mysterious tales were
+recounted about the Bouto, as the large Dolphin of the Amazons is
+called. One of them was to the effect that a Bouto once had the
+habit of assuming the shape of a beautiful woman, with hair
+hanging loose to her heels, and walking ashore at night in the
+streets of Ega, to entice the young men down to the water. If any
+one was so much smitten as to follow her to the waterside, she
+grasped her victim round the waist and plunged beneath the waves
+with a triumphant cry. No animal in the Amazons region is the
+subject of so many fables as the Bouto; but it is probable these
+did not originate with the Indians, but with the Portuguese
+colonists. It was several years before I could induce a fisherman
+to harpoon Dolphins for me as specimens, for no one ever kills
+these animals voluntarily, although their fat is known to yield
+an excellent oil for lamps. The superstitious people believe that
+blindness would result from the use of this oil in lamps. I
+succeeded at length with Carepira, by offering him a high reward
+when his finances were at a very low point, but he repented of
+his deed ever afterwards, declaring that his luck had forsaken
+him from that day.
+
+The next morning we again beat the pool. Although we had proof of
+there being a great number of turtles yet remaining, we had very
+poor success. The old Indians told us it would be so, for the
+turtles were "ladino" (cunning), and would take no notice of the
+beating a second day. When the net was formed into a circle, and
+the men had jumped in, an alligator was found to be inclosed. No
+one was alarmed, the only fear expressed being that the
+imprisoned beast would tear the net. First one shouted, "I have
+touched his head;" then another, "he has scratched my leg;" one
+of the men, a lanky Miranha, was thrown off his balance, and then
+there was no end to the laughter and shouting. At last a youth of
+about fourteen years of age, on my calling to him from the bank
+to do so, seized the reptile by the tail, and held him tightly
+until, a little resistance being overcome, he was able to bring
+it ashore. The net was opened, and the boy slowly dragged the
+dangerous but cowardly beast to land through the muddy water, a
+distance of about a hundred yards. Meantime, I had cut a strong
+pole from a tree, and as soon as the alligator was drawn to solid
+ground, gave him a smart rap with it on the crown of his head,
+which killed him instantly. It was a good-sized individual, the
+jaws being considerably more than a foot long, and fully capable
+of snapping a man's leg in twain. The species was the large
+cayman, the Jacareuassu of the Amazonian Indians (Jacare nigra).
+
+On the third day, we sent our men in the boats to net turtles in
+a larger pool about five miles further down the river, and on the
+fourth, returned to Ega.
+
+It will be well to mention here a few circumstances relative to
+the large Cayman, which, with the incident just narrated, afford
+illustrations of the cunning, cowardice, and ferocity of this
+reptile.
+
+I have hitherto had but few occasions of mentioning alligators,
+although they exist by myriads in the waters of the Upper
+Amazons. Many different species are spoken of by the natives. I
+saw only three, and of these two only are common: one, the
+Jacare-tinga, a small kind (five feet long when full grown),
+having a long slender muzzle and a black-banded tail; the other,
+the Jacare-uassu, to which these remarks more especially relate
+and the third the Jacare-curua, mentioned in a former chapter.
+The Jacare-uassu, or large Cayman, grows to a length of eighteen
+or twenty feet, and attains an enormous bulk. Like the turtles,
+the alligator has its annual migrations, for it retreats to the
+interior pools and flooded forests in the wet season, and
+descends to the main river in the dry season. During the months
+of high water, therefore, scarcely a single individual is to be
+seen in the main river. In the middle part of the Lower Amazons,
+about Obydos and Villa Nova, where many of the lakes with their
+channels of communication with the trunk stream dry up in the
+fine months, the alligator buries itself in the mud and becomes
+dormant, sleeping till the rainy season returns. On the Upper
+Amazons, where the dry season is never excessive, it has not this
+habit, but is lively all the year round. It is scarcely
+exaggerating to say that the waters of the Solimoens are as well
+stocked with large alligators in the dry season, as a ditch in
+England is in summer with tadpoles. During a journey of five days
+which I once made in the Upper Amazons steamer, in November,
+alligators were seen along the coast almost every step of the
+way, and the passengers amused themselves, from morning till
+night, by firing at them with rifle and ball. They were very
+numerous in the still bays, where the huddled crowds jostled
+together, to the great rattling of their coats of mail, as the
+steamer passed.
+
+The natives at once despise and fear the great cayman. I once
+spent a month at Caicara, a small village of semi-civilised
+Indians, about twenty miles to the west of Ega. My entertainer,
+the only white in the place, and one of my best and most constant
+friends, Senor Innocencio Alves Faria, one day proposed a half-
+day's fishing with net in the lake--the expanded bed of the small
+river on which the village is situated. We set out in an open
+boat with six Indians and two of Innocencio's children. The water
+had sunk so low that the net had to be taken out into the middle
+by the Indians, whence at the first draught, two medium-sized
+alligators were brought to land. They were disengaged from the
+net and allowed, with the coolest unconcern, to return to the
+water, although the two children were playing in it not many
+yards off. We continued fishing, Innocencio and I lending a
+helping hand, and each time drew a number of the reptiles of
+different ages and sizes, some of them Jacare-tingas; the lake,
+in fact, swarmed with alligators. After taking a very large
+quantity of fish, we prepared to return, and the Indians, at my
+suggestion, secured one of the alligators with the view of
+letting it loose amongst the swarms of dogs in the village. An
+individual was selected about eight feet long-- one man holding
+his head and another his tail, whilst a third took a few lengths
+of a flexible liana, and deliberately bound the jaws and the
+legs. Thus secured, the beast was laid across the benches of the
+boat on which we sat during the hour and a half's journey to the
+settlement. We were rather crowded, but our amiable passenger
+gave us no trouble during the transit. On reaching the village,
+we took the animal into the middle of the green, in front of the
+church, where the dogs were congregated, and there gave him his
+liberty, two of us arming ourselves with long poles to intercept
+him if he should make for the water, and the others exciting the
+dogs. The alligator showed great terror, although the dogs could
+not be made to advance, and made off at the top of its speed for
+the water, waddling like a duck. We tried to keep him back with
+the poles, but he became enraged, and seizing the end of the one
+I held in his jaws, nearly wrenched it from my grasp. We were
+obliged, at length, to kill him to prevent his escape.
+
+These little incidents show the timidity or cowardice of the
+alligator. He never attacks man when his intended victim is on
+his guard; but he is cunning enough to know when this may be done
+with impunity-- of this we had proof at Caicara, a few days
+afterwards. The river had sunk to a very low point, so that the
+port and bathing-place of the village now lay at the foot of a
+long sloping bank, and a large cayman made his appearance in the
+shallow and muddy water. We were all obliged to be very careful
+in taking our bath; most of the people simply using a calabash,
+pouring the water over themselves while standing on the brink. A
+large trading canoe, belonging to a Barra merchant named Soares,
+arrived at this time, and the Indian crew, as usual, spent the
+first day or two after their coming into port in drunkenness and
+debauchery ashore. One of the men, during the greatest heat of
+the day, when almost everyone was enjoying his afternoon's nap,
+took it into his head while in a tipsy state to go down alone to
+bathe. He was seen only by the Juiz de Paz, a feeble old man who
+was lying in his hammock in the open verandah at the rear of his
+house on the top of the bank, and who shouted to the besotted
+Indian to beware of the alligator. Before he could repeat his
+warning, the man stumbled, and a pair of gaping jaws, appearing
+suddenly above the surface, seized him round the waist and drew
+him under the water. A cry of agony "Ai Jesus!" was the last sign
+made by the wretched victim. The village was aroused: the young
+men with praiseworthy readiness seized their harpoons and hurried
+down to the bank; but, of course it was too late, a winding track
+of blood on the surface of the water was all that could be seen.
+They embarked, however, in montarias, determined upon vengeance;
+the monster was traced, and when, after a short lapse of time, he
+came up to breathe--one leg of the man sticking out from his
+jaws--was despatched with bitter curses.
+
+The last of these minor excursions which I shall narrate, was
+made (again in company of Senor Cardozo, with the addition of his
+housekeeper Senora Felippa) in the season when all the population
+of the villages turns out to dig up turtle eggs, and revel on the
+praias. Placards were posted on the church doors at Ega,
+announcing that the excavation on Shimuni would commence on the
+17th of October, and on Catua, sixty miles below Shimuni, on the
+25th. We set out on the 16th, and passed on the road, in our
+well-manned igarite, a large number of people-- men, women, and
+children in canoes of all sizes-- wending their way as if to a
+great holiday gathering. By the morning of the 17th, some 400
+persons were assembled on the borders of the sand-bank; each
+family having erected a rude temporary shed of poles and palm
+leaves to protect themselves from the sun and rain. Large copper
+kettles to prepare the oil, and hundreds of red earthenware jars,
+were scattered about on the sand.
+
+The excavation of the taboleiro, collecting the eggs and
+purifying the oil, occupied four days. All was done on a system
+established by the old Portuguese governors, probably more than a
+century ago. The commandante first took down the names of all the
+masters of households, with the number of persons each intended
+to employ in digging; he then exacted a payment of 140 reis
+(about fourpence) a head, towards defraying the expense of
+sentinels. The whole were then allowed to go to the taboleiro.
+They arranged themselves around the circle, each person armed
+with a paddle to be used as a spade, and then all began
+simultaneously to dig on a signal being given--the roll of drums-
+-by order of the commandante. It was an animating sight to behold
+the wide circle of rival diggers throwing up clouds of sand in
+their energetic labours, and working gradually towards the centre
+of the ring. A little rest was taken during the great heat of
+midday, and in the evening the eggs were carried to the huts in
+baskets. By the end of the second day, the taboleiro was
+exhausted; large mounds of eggs, some of them four to five feet
+in height, were then seen by the side of each hut, the produce of
+the labours of the family.
+
+In the hurry of digging, some of the deeper nests are passed
+over; to find these out, the people go about provided with a long
+steel or wooden probe, the presence of the eggs being
+discoverable by the ease with which the spit enters the sand.
+When no more eggs are to be found, the mashing process begins.
+The egg, it may be mentioned, has a flexible or leathery shell;
+it is quite round, and somewhat larger than a hen's egg. The
+whole heap is thrown into an empty canoe and mashed with wooden
+prongs; but sometimes naked Indians and children jump into the
+mass and tread it down, besmearing themselves with yolk and
+making about as filthy a scene as can well be imagined. This
+being finished, water is poured into the canoe, and the fatty
+mess then left for a few hours to be heated by the sun, on which
+the oil separates and rises to the surface. The floating oil is
+afterwards skimmed off with long spoons, made by tying large
+mussel-shells to the end of rods, and purified over the fire in
+copper kettles.
+
+The destruction of turtle eggs every year by these proceedings is
+enormous. At least 6000 jars, holding each three gallons of the
+oil, are exported annually from the Upper Amazons and the Madeira
+to Para, where it is used for lighting, frying fish, and other
+purposes. It may be fairly estimated that 2000 more jars-full are
+consumed by the inhabitants of the villages on the river. Now, it
+takes at least twelve basketsful of eggs, or about 6000 by the
+wasteful process followed, to make one jar of oil. The total
+number of eggs annually destroyed amounts, therefore, to
+48,000,000. As each turtle lays about 120, it follows that the
+yearly offspring Of 400,000 turtles is thus annihilated. A vast
+number, nevertheless, remain undetected; and these would probably
+be sufficient to keep the turtle population of these rivers up to
+the mark, if the people did not follow the wasteful practice of
+lying in wait for the newly-hatched young, and collecting them by
+thousands for eating-- their tender flesh and the remains of yolk
+in their entrails being considered a great delicacy. The chief
+natural enemies of the turtle are vultures and alligators, which
+devour the newly-hatched young as they descend in shoals to the
+water. These must have destroyed an immensely greater number
+before the European settlers began to appropriate the eggs than
+they do now. It is almost doubtful if this natural persecution
+did not act as effectively in checking the increase of the turtle
+as the artificial destruction now does. If we are to believe the
+tradition of the Indians, however, it had not this result; for
+they say that formerly the waters teemed as thickly with turtles
+as the air now does with mosquitoes. The universal opinion of the
+settlers on the Upper Amazons is, that the turtle has very
+greatly decreased in numbers, and is still annually decreasing.
+
+We left Shimuni on the 20th with quite a flotilla of canoes, and
+descended the river to Catua, an eleven hours' journey by paddle
+and current. Catua is about six miles long, and almost entirely
+encircled by its praia. The turtles had selected for their egg-
+laying a part of the sand-bank which was elevated at least twenty
+feet above the present level of the river; the animals, to reach
+the place, must have crawled up a slope. As we approached the
+island, numbers of the animals were seen coming to the surface to
+breathe, in a small shoaly bay. Those who had light montarias
+sped forward with bows and arrows to shoot them. Carepira was
+foremost, having borrowed a small and very unsteady boat, of
+Cardozo, and embarked in it with his little son. After bagging a
+couple of turtles, and while hauling in a third, he overbalanced
+himself; the canoe went over, and he with his child had to swim
+for their lives in the midst of numerous alligators, about a mile
+from the land. The old man had to sustain a heavy fire of jokes
+from his companions for several days after this mishap. Such
+accidents are only laughed at by this almost amphibious people.
+
+The number of persons congregated on Catua was much greater than
+on Shimuni, as the population of the banks of several
+neighbouring lakes were here added. The line of huts and sheds
+extended half a mile, and several large sailing vessels were
+anchored at the place. 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. All of them were tattooed around the mouth, the bluish
+tint forming a border to the lips, and extending in a line on the
+cheeks towards the ear on each side. They were not quite so
+slender in figure as the Passes of Perdo-uassu's family; but
+their features deviated quite as much as those of the Passes from
+the ordinary Indian type. This was seen chiefly in the
+comparatively small mouth, pointed chin, thin lips, and narrow,
+high nose. One of the daughters, a young girl of about seventeen
+years of age, was a real beauty. The colour of her skin
+approached the light tanned shade of the Mameluco women; her
+figure was almost faultless, and the blue mouth, instead of being
+a disfigurement, gave quite a captivating finish to her
+appearance. Her neck, wrists, and ankles were adorned with
+strings of blue beads. She was, however, extremely bashful, never
+venturing to look strangers in the face, and never quitting, for
+many minutes together, the side of her father and mother. The
+family had been shamefully swindled by some rascally trader on
+another praia; and, on our arrival, came to lay their case before
+Senor Cardozo, as the delegado of police of the district. The
+mild way in which the old man, without a trace of anger, stated
+his complaint in imperfect Tupi quite enlisted our sympathies in
+his favour. But Cardozo could give him no redress; he invited the
+family, however, to make their rancho near to ours, and in the
+end gave them the highest price for the surplus oil which they
+manufactured.
+
+It was not all work at Catua; indeed there was rather more play
+than work going on. The people make a kind of holiday of these
+occasions. Every fine night parties of the younger people
+assembled on the sands, and dancing and games were carried on for
+hours together. But the requisite liveliness for these sports was
+never got up without a good deal of preliminary rum-drinking. The
+girls were so coy that the young men could not get sufficient
+partners for the dances without first subscribing for a few
+flagons of the needful cashaca. The coldness of the shy Indian
+and Mameluco maidens never failed to give way after a little of
+this strong drink, but it was astonishing what an immense deal
+they could take of it in the course of an evening. Coyness is not
+always a sign of innocence in these people, for most of the half-
+caste women on the Upper Amazons lead a little career of
+looseness before they marry and settle down for life; and it is
+rather remarkable that the men do not seem to object much to
+their brides having had a child or two by various fathers before
+marriage. The women do not lose reputation unless they become
+utterly depraved, but in that case they are condemned pretty
+strongly by public opinion. Depravity is, however, rare, for all
+require more or less to be wooed before they are won. I did not
+see (although I mixed pretty freely with the young people) any
+breach of propriety on the praias. The merry-makings were carried
+on near the ranchos, where the more staid citizens of Ega,
+husbands with their wives and young daughters, all smoking
+gravely out of long pipes, sat in their hammocks and enjoyed the
+fun. Towards midnight we often heard, in the intervals between
+jokes and laughter, the hoarse roar of jaguars prowling about the
+jungle in the middle of the praia. There were several guitar-
+players among the young men, and one most persevering fiddler--
+so there was no lack of music.
+
+The favourite sport was the Pira-purasseya, or fish-dance, one of
+the original games of the Indians, though now probably a little
+modified. The young men and women, mingling together, formed a
+ring, leaving one of their number in the middle, who represented
+the fish. They then all marched round, Indian file, the musicians
+mixed up with the rest, singing a monotonous but rather pretty
+chorus, the words of which were invented (under a certain form)
+by one of the party who acted as leader. This finished, all
+joined hands, and questions were put to the one in the middle,
+asking what kind of fish he or she might be. To these the
+individual has to reply. The end of it all is that he makes a
+rush at the ring, and if he succeeds in escaping, the person who
+allowed him to do so has to take his place; the march and chorus
+then recommences, and so the game goes on hour after hour. Tupi
+was the language mostly used, but sometimes Portuguese was sung
+and spoken. The details of the dance were often varied. Instead
+of the names of fishes being called over by the person in the
+middle, the name of some animal, flower, or other object was
+given to every fresh occupier of the place. There was then good
+scope for wit in the invention of nicknames, and peals of
+laughter would often salute some particularly good hit. Thus a
+very lanky young man was called the Magoary, or the grey stork; a
+moist grey-eyed man with a profile comically suggestive of a fish
+was christened Jaraki (a kind of fish), which was considered
+quite a witty sally; a little Mameluco girl, with light-coloured
+eyes and brown hair, got the gallant name of Rosa Blanca, or the
+white rose; a young fellow who had recently singed his eye brows
+by the explosion of fireworks, was dubbed Pedro queimado (burnt
+Peter); in short every one got a nickname, and each time the
+cognomen was introduced into the chorus as the circle marched
+round.
+
+Our rancho was a large one, and was erected in a line with the
+others near the edge of the sand-bank which sloped rather
+abruptly to the water. During the first week the people were all,
+more or less, troubled by alligators. Some half-dozen full-grown
+ones were in attendance off the praia, floating about on the
+lazily-flowing, muddy water. The dryness of the weather had
+increased since we had left Shimuni, the currents had slackened,
+and the heat in the middle part of the day was almost
+insupportable. But no one could descend to bathe without being
+advanced upon by one or other of these hungry monsters. There was
+much offal cast into the river, and this, of course, attracted
+them to the place. One day I amused myself by taking a basketful
+of fragments of meat beyond the line of ranchos, and drawing the
+alligators towards me by feeding them. They behaved pretty much
+as dogs do when fed-- catching the bones I threw them in their
+huge jaws, and coming nearer and showing increased eagerness
+after every morsel. The enormous gape of their mouths, with their
+blood-red lining and long fringes of teeth, and the uncouth
+shapes of their bodies, made a picture of unsurpassable ugliness.
+I once or twice fired a heavy charge of shot at them, aiming at
+the vulnerable part of their bodies, which is a small space
+situated behind the eyes, but this had no other effect than to
+make them give a hoarse grunt and shake themselves; they
+immediately afterwards turned to receive another bone which I
+threw to them.
+
+Everyday these visitors became bolder; at length they reached a
+pitch of impudence that was quite intolerable. Cardozo had a
+poodle dog named Carlito, which some grateful traveller whom he
+had befriended had sent him from Rio Janeiro. He took great pride
+in this dog, keeping it well sheared, and preserving his coat as
+white as soap and water could make it. We slept in our rancho in
+hammocks slung between the outer posts; a large wood fire (fed
+with a kind of wood abundant on the banks of the river, which
+keeps alight all night) being made in the middle, by the side of
+which slept Carlito on a little mat. Well, one night I was awoke
+by a great uproar. It was caused by Cardozo hurling burning
+firewood with loud curses at a huge cayman which had crawled up
+the bank and passed beneath my hammock (being nearest the water)
+towards the place where Carlito lay. The dog had raised the alarm
+in time; the reptile backed out and tumbled down the bank to the
+water, the sparks from the brands hurled at him flying from his
+bony hide. To our great surprise the animal (we supposed it to be
+the same individual) repeated his visit the very next night, this
+time passing round to the other side of our shed. Cardozo was
+awake, and threw a harpoon at him, but without doing him any
+harm. After this it was thought necessary to make an effort to
+check the alligators; a number of men were therefore persuaded to
+sally forth in their montarias and devote a day to killing them.
+
+The young men made several hunting excursions during the fourteen
+days of our stay on Catua, and I, being associated with them in
+all their pleasures, made generally one of the party. These were,
+besides, the sole occasions on which I could add to my
+collections, while on these barren sands. Only two of these trips
+afforded incidents worth relating.
+
+The first, which was made to the interior of the wooded island of
+Catua, was not a very successful one. We were twelve in number,
+all armed with guns and long hunting-knives. Long before sunrise,
+my friends woke me up from my hammock, where I lay, as usual, in
+the clothes worn during the day; and after taking each a cup-full
+of cashaca and ginger (a very general practice in early morning
+on the sand-banks), we commenced our walk. The waning moon still
+lingered in the clear sky, and a profound stillness pervaded
+sleeping camp, forest, and stream. Along the line of ranchos
+glimmered the fires made by each party to dry turtle-eggs for
+food, the eggs being spread on little wooden stages over the
+smoke. The distance to the forest from our place of starting was
+about two miles, being nearly the whole length of the sand-bank,
+which was also a very broad one-- the highest part, where it was
+covered with a thicket of dwarf willows, mimosas, and arrow
+grass, lying near the ranchos. We loitered much on the way, and
+the day dawned whilst we were yet on the road, the sand at this
+early hour feeling quite cold to the naked feet. As soon as we
+were able to distinguish things, the surface of the praia was
+seen to be dotted with small black objects. These were newly-
+hatched Aiyussa turtles, which were making their way in an
+undeviating line to the water, at least a mile distant. The young
+animal of this species is distinguishable from that of the large
+turtle and the Tracaja, by the edges of the breast-plate being
+raised on each side, so that in crawling it scores two parallel
+lines on the sand. The mouths of these little creatures were full
+of sand, a circumstance arising from their having to bite their
+way through many inches of superincumbent sand to reach the
+surface on emerging from the buried eggs. It was amusing to
+observe how constantly they turned again in the direction of the
+distant river, after being handled and set down on the sand with
+their heads facing the opposite quarter. We saw also several
+skeletons of the large cayman (some with the horny and bony hide
+of the animal nearly perfect) embedded in the sand; they reminded
+me of the remains of Ichthyosauri fossilised in beds of lias,
+with the difference of being buried in fine sand instead of in
+blue mud. I marked the place of one which had a well-preserved
+skull, and the next day returned to secure it. The specimen is
+now in the British Museum collection. There were also many
+footmarks of jaguars on the sand.
+
+We entered the forest, as the sun peeped over the tree-tops far
+away down river. The party soon after divided, I keeping with a
+section which was led by Bento, the Ega carpenter, a capital
+woodsman. After a short walk we struck the banks of a beautiful
+little lake, having grassy margins and clear dark water, on the
+surface of which floated thick beds of water-lilies. We then
+crossed a muddy creek or watercourse that entered the lake, and
+then found ourselves on a restinga, or tongue of land between two
+waters. By keeping in sight of one or the other of these, there
+was no danger of our losing our way-- all other precautions were
+therefore unnecessary. The forest was tolerably clear of
+underwood, and consequently, easy to walk through. We had not
+gone far before a soft, long-drawn whistle was heard aloft in the
+trees, betraying the presence of Mutums (Curassow birds). The
+crowns of the trees, a hundred feet or more over our heads, were
+so closely interwoven that it was difficult to distinguish the
+birds-- the practised eye of Bento, however, made them out, and a
+fine male was shot from the flock, the rest flying away and
+alighting at no great distance. The species was the one of which
+the male has a round red ball on its beak (Crax globicera). The
+pursuit of the others led us a great distance, straight towards
+the interior of the island, in which direction we marched for
+three hours, having the lake always on our right.
+
+Arriving at length at the head of the lake, Bento struck off to
+the left across the restinga, and we then soon came upon a
+treeless space choked up with tall grass, which appeared to be
+the dried-up bed of another lake. Our leader was obliged to climb
+a tree to ascertain our position, and found that the clear space
+was part of the creek, whose mouth we had crossed lower down. The
+banks were clothed with low trees, nearly all of one species, a
+kind of araca (Psidium), and the ground was carpeted with a
+slender delicate grass, now in flower. A great number of crimson
+and vermilion-coloured butterflies (Catagramma Peristera, male
+and female) were settled on the smooth, white trunks of these
+trees. I had also here the great pleasure of seeing for the first
+time, the rare and curious Umbrella Bird (Cephalopterus ornatus),
+a species which resembles in size, colour, and appearance our
+common crow, but is decorated with a crest of long, curved, hairy
+feathers having long bare quills, which, when raised, spread
+themselves out in the form of a fringed sunshade over the head. A
+strange ornament, like a pelerine, is also suspended from the
+neck, formed by a thick pad of glossy steel-blue feathers, which
+grow on a long fleshy lobe or excrescence. This lobe is connected
+(as I found on skinning specimens) with an unusual development of
+the trachea and vocal organs, to which the bird doubtless owes
+its singularly deep, loud, and long-sustained fluty note. The
+Indian name of this strange creature is Uira-mimbeu, or fife-
+bird, [Mimbeu is the Indian name for a rude kind of pan-pipes
+used by the Caishanas and other tribes.] in allusion to the tone
+of its voice. We had the good luck, after remaining quiet a short
+time, to hear its performance. It drew itself up on its perch,
+spread widely the umbrella-formed crest, dilated and waved its
+glossy breast-lappet, and then, in giving vent to its loud piping
+note, bowed its head slowly forwards. We obtained a pair, male
+and female; the female has only the rudiments of the crest and
+lappet, and is duller-coloured altogether than the male. The
+range of this bird appears to be quite confined to the plains of
+the Upper Amazons (especially the Ygapo forests), not having been
+found to the east of the Rio Negro.
+
+Bento and our other friends being disappointed in finding no more
+Curassows, or indeed any other species of game, now resolved to
+turn back. On reaching the edge of the forest, we sat down and
+ate our dinners under the shade-- each man having brought a
+little bag containing a few handsfull of farinha, and a piece of
+fried fish or roast turtle. We expected our companions of the
+other division to join us at midday, but after waiting till past
+one o'clock without seeing anything of them (in fact, they had
+returned to the huts an hour or two previously), we struck off
+across the praia towards the encampment. An obstacle here
+presented itself on which we had not counted. The sun had shone
+all day through a cloudless sky untempered by a breath of wind,
+and the sands had become heated by it to a degree that rendered
+walking over them with our bare feet impossible. The most
+hardened footsoles of the party could not endure the burning
+soil. We made several attempts; we tried running, having wrapped
+the cool leaves of Heliconiae round our feet, but in no way could
+we step forward many yards. There was no means of getting back to
+our friends before night, except going round the praia, a circuit
+of about four miles, and walking through the water or on the
+moist sand. To get to the waterside from the place where we then
+stood was not difficult, as a thick bed of a flowering shrub,
+called tintarana, an infusion of the leaves of which is used to
+dye black, lay on that side of the sand-bank. Footsore and
+wearied, burthened with our guns, and walking for miles through
+the tepid shallow water under the brain-scorching vertical sun,
+we had, as may be imagined, anything but a pleasant time of it. I
+did not, however, feel any inconvenience afterwards. Everyone
+enjoys the most lusty health while living this free and wild life
+on the rivers.
+
+The other hunting trip which I have alluded to was undertaken in
+company with three friendly young half-castes. Two of them were
+brothers, namely, Joao (John) and Zephyrino Jabuti: Jabuti, or
+tortoise, being a nickname which their father had earned for his
+slow gait, and which, as is usual in this country, had descended
+as the surname of the family. 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. We were accompanied
+by an Indian named Lino, and a Mulatto boy, whose office was to
+carry our game.
+
+Our proposed hunting-ground on this occasion lay across the
+water, about fifteen miles distant. We set out in a small
+montaria, at four o'clock in the morning, again leaving the
+encampment asleep, and travelled at a good pace up the northern
+channel of the Solimoens, or that lying between the island Catua
+and the left bank of the river. The northern shore of the island
+had a broad sandy beach reaching to its western extremity. We
+gained our destination a little after daybreak; this was the
+banks of the Carapanatuba, [Meaning, in Tupi, the river of many
+mosquitoes: from carapana, mosquito, and ituba, many.] a channel
+some 150 yards in width, which, like the Anana already mentioned,
+communicates with the Cupiyo. To reach this we had to cross the
+river, here nearly two miles wide. Just as day dawned we saw a
+Cayman seize a large fish, a Tambaki, near the surface; the
+reptile seemed to have a difficulty in securing its prey, for it
+reared itself above the water, tossing the fish in its jaws and
+making a tremendous commotion. I was much struck also by the
+singular appearance presented by certain diving birds having very
+long and snaky necks (the Plotus Anhinga). Occasionally a long
+serpentine form would suddenly wriggle itself to a height of a
+foot and a half above the glassy surface of the water, producing
+such a deceptive imitation of a snake that at first I had some
+difficulty in believing it to be the neck of a bird; it did not
+remain long in view, but soon plunged again beneath the stream.
+
+We ran ashore in a most lonely and gloomy place, on a low sand-
+bank covered with bushes, secured the montaria to a tree, and
+then, after making a very sparing breakfast on fried fish and
+mandioca meal, rolled up our trousers and plunged into the thick
+forest, which here, as everywhere else, rose like a lofty wall of
+foliage from the narrow strip of beach. We made straight for the
+heart of the land, John Jabuti leading, and breaking off at every
+few steps a branch of the lower trees, so that we might recognise
+the path on our return. The district was quite new to all my
+companions, and being on a coast almost totally uninhabited by
+human beings for some 300 miles, to lose our way would have been
+to perish helplessly. I did not think at the time of the risk we
+ran of having our canoe stolen by passing Indians, unguarded
+montarias being never safe even in the ports of the villages,
+Indians apparently considering them common property, and stealing
+them without any compunction. No misgivings clouded the lightness
+of heart with which we trod forward in warm anticipation of a
+good day's sport.
+
+The tract of forest through which we passed was Ygapo, but the
+higher parts of the land formed areas which went only a very few
+inches under water in the flood season. It consisted of a most
+bewildering diversity of grand and beautiful trees, draped,
+festooned, corded, matted, and ribboned with climbing plants,
+woody and succulent, in endless variety. The most prevalent palm
+was the tall Astryocaryum Jauari, whose fallen spines made it
+necessary to pick our way carefully over the ground, as we were
+all barefooted. There was not much green underwood, except in
+places where Bamboos grew; these formed impenetrable thickets of
+plumy foliage and thorny, jointed stems, which always compelled
+us to make a circuit to avoid them. The earth elsewhere was
+encumbered with rotting fruits, gigantic bean-pods, leaves,
+limbs, and trunks of trees; fixing the impression of its being
+the cemetery as well as the birthplace of the great world of
+vegetation overhead. Some of the trees were of prodigious height.
+We passed many specimens of the Moratinga, whose cylindrical
+trunks, I dare not say how many feet in circumference, towered up
+and were lost amidst the crowns of the lower trees, their lower
+branches, in some cases, being hidden from our view. Another very
+large and remarkable tree was the Assacu (Sapium aucuparium). A
+traveller on the Amazons, mingling with the people, is sure to
+hear much of the poisonous qualities of the juices of this tree.
+Its bark exudes, when hacked with a knife, a milky sap, which is
+not only a fatal poison when taken internally, but is said to
+cause incurable sores if simply sprinkled on the skin. My
+companions always gave the Assacu a wide berth when we passed
+one. The tree looks ugly enough to merit a bad name, for the bark
+is of a dingy olive colour, and is studded with short and sharp,
+venomous-looking spines.
+
+After walking about half a mile we came upon a dry watercourse,
+where we observed, first, the old footmarks of a tapir, and, soon
+after, on the margin of a curious circular hole full of muddy
+water, the fresh tracks of a Jaguar. This latter discovery was
+hardly made when a rush was heard amidst the bushes on the top of
+a sloping bank on the opposite side of the dried creek. We
+bounded forward; it was, however, too late, for the animal had
+sped in a few minutes far out of our reach. It was clear we had
+disturbed, on our approach, the Jaguar, while quenching his
+thirst at the water-hole. A few steps further on we saw the
+mangled remains of an alligator (the Jacaretinga). The head,
+forequarters, and bony shell were the only parts which remained;
+but the meat was quite fresh, and there were many footmarks of
+the Jaguar around the carcase-- so that there was no doubt this
+had formed the solid part of the animal's breakfast. My
+companions now began to search for the alligator's nest, the
+presence of the reptile so far from the river being accountable
+for on no other ground than its maternal solicitude for its eggs.
+We found, in fact, the nest at the distance of a few yards from
+the place. It was a conical pile of dead leaves, in the middle of
+which twenty eggs were buried. These were of elliptical shape,
+considerably larger than those of a duck, and having a hard shell
+of the texture of porcelain, but very rough on the outside. They
+make a loud sound when rubbed together, and it is said that it is
+easy to find a mother alligator in the Ygapo forests by rubbing
+together two eggs in this way, she being never far off, and
+attracted by the sounds.
+
+I put half-a-dozen of the alligator's eggs in my game-bag for
+specimens, and we then continued on our way. Lino, who was now
+first, presently made a start backwards, calling out "Jararaca!"
+This is the name of a poisonous snake (genus Craspedocephalus),
+which is far more dreaded by the natives than Jaguar or
+Alligator. The individual seen by Lino lay coiled up at the foot
+of a tree, and was scarcely distinguishable, on account of the
+colours of its body being assimilated to those of the fallen
+leaves. Its hideous, flat triangular head, connected with the
+body by a thin neck, was reared and turned towards us: Frazao
+killed it with a charge of shot, shattering it completely, and
+destroying, to my regret, its value as a specimen. In conversing
+on the subject of Jararacas as we walked onwards, every one of
+the party was ready to swear that this snake attacks man without
+provocation, leaping towards him from a considerable distance
+when he approaches. I met, in the course of my daily rambles in
+the woods, many Jararacas, and once or twice narrowly very
+escaped treading on them, but never saw them attempt to spring.
+On some subjects the testimony of the natives of a wild country
+is utterly worthless. The bite of the Jararacas is generally
+fatal. I knew of four or five instances of death from it, and
+only of one clear case of recovery after being bitten; but in
+that case the person was lamed for life.
+
+We walked over moderately elevated and dry ground for about a
+mile, and then descended (three or four feet only) to the dry bed
+of another creek. This was pierced in the same way as the former
+water-course, with round holes full of muddy water. They occurred
+at intervals of a few yards, and had the appearance of having
+been made by the hand of man. The smallest were about two feet,
+the largest seven or eight feet in diameter. As we approached the
+most extensive of the larger ones, I was startled at seeing a
+number of large serpent-like heads bobbing about the surface.
+They proved to be those of electric eels, and it now occurred to
+me that the round holes were made by these animals working
+constantly round and round in the moist, muddy soil. Their depth
+(some of them were at least eight feet deep) was doubtless due
+also to the movements of the eels in the soft soil, and accounted
+for their not drying up, in the fine season, with the rest of the
+creek. Thus, while alligators and turtles in this great inundated
+forest region retire to the larger pools during the dry season,
+the electric eels make for themselves little ponds in which to
+pass the season of drought.
+
+My companions now cut each a stout pole, and proceeded to eject
+the eels in order to get at the other fishes, with which they had
+discovered the ponds to abound. I amused them all very much by
+showing how the electric shock from the eels could pass from one
+person to another. We joined hands in a line while I touched the
+biggest and freshest of the animals on the head with the point of
+my hunting-knife. We found that this experiment did not succeed
+more than three times with the same eel when out of the water;
+for, the fourth time the shock was scarcely perceptible. All the
+fishes found in the holes (besides the eels) belonged to one
+species, a small kind of Acari, or Loricaria, a group whose
+members have a complete bony integument. Lino and the boy strung
+them together through the gills with slender sipos, and hung them
+on the trees to await our return later in the day.
+
+Leaving the bed of the creek, we marched onwards, always towards
+the centre of the land, guided by the sun, which now glimmered
+through the thick foliage overhead. About eleven o'clock we saw a
+break in the forest before us, and presently emerged on the banks
+of a rather large sheet of water. This was one of the interior
+pools of which there are so many in this district. The margins
+were elevated some few feet, and sloped down to the water, the
+ground being hard and dry to the water's edge, and covered with
+shrubby vegetation. We passed completely round this pool, finding
+the crowns of the trees on its borders tenanted by curassow
+birds, whose presence was betrayed as usual by the peculiar note
+which they emit. My companions shot two of them. At the further
+end of the lake lay a deep watercourse, which we traced for about
+half a mile, and found to communicate with another and smaller
+pool. This second one evidently swarmed with turtles, as we saw
+the snouts of many peering above the surface of the water: the
+same had not been seen in the larger lake, probably because we
+had made too much noise in hailing our discovery on approaching
+its banks. My friends made an arrangement on the spot for
+returning to this pool, after the termination of the egg harvest
+on Catua.
+
+In recrossing the space between the two pools, we heard the crash
+of monkeys in the crowns of trees overhead. The chase of these
+occupied us a considerable time. Jose fired at length at one of
+the laggards of the troop, and wounded him. He climbed pretty
+nimbly towards a denser part of the tree, and a second and third
+discharge failed to bring him down. The poor maimed creature then
+trailed his limbs to one of the topmost branches, where we
+descried him soon after, seated and picking the entrails from a
+wound in his abdomen-- a most heart-rending sight. The height
+from the ground to the bough on which he was perched could not
+have been less than 150 feet, and we could get a glimpse of him
+only by standing directly underneath, and straining our eyes
+upwards. We killed him at last by loading our best gun with a
+careful charge, and resting the barrel against the treetrunk to
+steady the aim. A few shots entered his chin, and he then fell
+heels over head screaming to the ground. Although it was I who
+gave the final shot, this animal did not fall to my lot in
+dividing the spoils at the end of the day. I regret now not
+having preserved the skin, as it belonged to a very large species
+of Cebus, and one which I never met with afterwards.
+
+It was about one o'clock in the afternoon when we again reached
+the spot where we had first struck the banks of the larger pool.
+We hitherto had but poor sport, so after dining on the remains of
+our fried fish and farinha, and smoking our cigarettes, the
+apparatus for making which, including bamboo tinder-box and steel
+and flint for striking a light, being carried by every one always
+on these expeditions, we made off in another (westerly) direction
+through the forest to try to find better hunting-ground. We
+quenched our thirst with water from the pool, which I was rather
+surprised to find quite pure. These pools are, of course,
+sometimes fouled for a time by the movements of alligators and
+other tenants in the fine mud which settles at the bottom, but I
+never observed a scum of confervae or traces of oil revealing
+animal decomposition on the surface of these waters, nor was
+there ever any foul smell perceptible. The whole of this level
+land, instead of being covered with unwholesome swamps emitting
+malaria, forms in the dry season (and in the wet also) a most
+healthy country. How elaborate must be the natural processes of
+self-purification in these teeming waters!
+
+On our fresh route we were obliged to cut our way through a long
+belt of bamboo underwood, and not being so careful of my steps as
+my companions, I trod repeatedly on the flinty thorns which had
+fallen from the bushes, finishing by becoming completely lame,
+one thorn having entered deeply the sole of my foot. I was
+obliged to be left behind-- Lino, the Indian, remaining with me.
+The careful fellow cleaned my wounds with his saliva, placed
+pieces of isca (the felt-like substance manufactured by ants) on
+them to staunch the blood, and bound my feet with tough bast to
+serve as shoes, which he cut from the bark of a Monguba tree. He
+went about his work in a very gentle way and with much skill, but
+was so sparing of speech that I could scarcely get answers to the
+questions I put to him. When he had done I was able to limp about
+pretty nimbly. An Indian when he performs a service of this kind
+never thinks of a reward. I did not find so much
+disinterestedness in negro slaves or half-castes. We had to wait
+two hours for the return of our companions; during part of this
+time I was left quite alone, Lino having started off into the
+jungle after a peccary (a kind of wild hog) which had come near
+to where we sat, but on seeing us had given a grunt and bounded
+off into the thickets. At length our friends hove in sight,
+loaded with game; having shot twelve curassows and two cujubims
+(Penelope Pipile), a handsome black fowl with a white head, which
+is arboreal in its habits like the rest of this group of
+Gallinaceous birds inhabiting the South American forests. They
+had discovered a third pool containing plenty of turtles. Lino
+rejoined us at the same time, having missed the peccary, but in
+compensation shot a Quandu, or porcupine. The mulatto boy had
+caught alive in the pool a most charming little water-fowl, a
+species of grebe. It was somewhat smaller than a pigeon, and had
+a pointed beak; its feet were furnished with many intricate folds
+or frills of skin instead of webs, and resembled very much those
+of the gecko lizards. The bird was kept as a pet in Jabuti's
+house at Ega for a long time afterwards, where it became
+accustomed to swim about in a common hand-basin full of water,
+and was a great favourite with everybody.
+
+We now retraced our steps towards the water-side, a weary walk of
+five or six miles, reaching our canoe by half-past five o'clock,
+or a little before sunset. It was considered by everyone at Catua
+that we had had an unusually good day's sport. I never knew any
+small party to take so much game in one day in these forests,
+over which animals are everywhere so widely and sparingly
+scattered. My companions were greatly elated, and on approaching
+the encampment at Catua, made a great commotion with their
+paddles to announce their successful return, singing in their
+loudest key one of the wild choruses of the Amazonian boatmen.
+
+The excavation of eggs and preparation of the oil being finished,
+we left Catua on the 3rd of November. Carepira, who was now
+attached to Cardozo's party, had discovered another lake rich in
+turtles, about twelve miles distant, in one of his fishing
+rambles, and my friend resolved, before returning to Ega, to go
+there with his nets and drag it as we had formerly done the
+Aningal. Several Mameluco families of Ega begged to accompany us
+to share the labours and booty; the Shumana family also joined
+the party; we therefore, formed a large body, numbering in all
+eight canoes and fifty persons.
+
+The summer season was now breaking up; the river was rising; the
+sky was almost constantly clouded, and we had frequent rains. The
+mosquitoes also, which we had not felt while encamped on the
+sand-banks, now became troublesome. We paddled up the north-
+westerly channel, and arrived at a point near the upper end of
+Catua at ten o'clock p.m. There was here a very broad beach of
+untrodden white sand, which extended quite into the forest, where
+it formed rounded hills and hollows like sand dunes, covered with
+a peculiar vegetation: harsh, reedy grasses, and low trees matted
+together with lianas, and varied with dwarf spiny palms of the
+genus Bactris. We encamped for the night on the sands, finding
+the place luckily free from mosquitoes. The different portions of
+the party made arched coverings with the toldos or maranta-leaf
+awnings of their canoes to sleep under, fixing the edges in the
+sand. No one, however, seemed inclined to go to sleep, so after
+supper we all sat or lay around the large fires and amused
+ourselves. We had the fiddler with us, and in the intervals
+between the wretched tunes which he played, the usual amusement
+of story-telling beguiled the time: tales of hair-breadth escapes
+from jaguar, alligator, and so forth. There were amongst us a
+father and son who had been the actors, the previous year, in an
+alligator adventure on the edge of the praia we had just left.
+The son, while bathing, was seized by the thigh and carried under
+water-- a cry was raised, and the father, rushing down the bank,
+plunged after the rapacious beast, which was diving away with his
+victim. It seems almost incredible that a man could overtake and
+master the large cayman in his own element; but such was the case
+in this instance, for the animal was reached and forced to
+release his booty by the man's thrusting his thumb into his eye.
+The lad showed us the marks of the alligator's teeth on his
+thigh. We sat up until past midnight listening to these stories
+and assisting the flow of talk by frequent potations of burnt
+rum. A large, shallow dish was filled with the liquor and fired;
+when it had burned for a few minutes, the flame was extinguished
+and each one helped himself by dipping a tea-cup into the vessel.
+
+One by one the people dropped asleep, and then the quiet murmur
+of talk of the few who remained awake was interrupted by the roar
+of jaguars in the jungle about a furlong distant. There was not
+one only, but several of the animals. The older men showed
+considerable alarm and proceeded to light fresh fires around the
+outside of our encampment. I had read in books of travel of
+tigers coming to warm themselves by the fires of a bivouac, and
+thought my strong wish to witness the same sight would have been
+gratified tonight. I had not, however,such good fortune, although
+I was the last to go to sleep, and my bed was the bare sand under
+a little arched covering open at both ends. The jaguars,
+nevertheless, must have come very near during the night, for
+their fresh footmarks were numerous within a score yards of the
+place where we slept. In the morning I had a ramble along the
+borders of the jungle, and found the tracks very numerous and
+close together on the sandy soil.
+
+We remained in this neighbourhood four days, and succeeded in
+obtaining many hundred turtles, but we were obliged to sleep two
+nights within the Carapanatuba channel. The first night passed
+rather pleasantly, for the weather was fine, and we encamped in
+the forest, making large fires and slinging our hammocks between
+the trees. The second was one of the most miserable nights I ever
+spent. The air was close, and a drizzling rain began to fall
+about midnight, lasting until morning. We tried at first to brave
+it out under the trees. Several very large fires were made,
+lighting up with ruddy gleams the magnificent foliage in the
+black shades around our encampment. The heat and smoke had the
+desired effect of keeping off pretty well the mosquitoes, but the
+rain continued until at length everything was soaked, and we had
+no help for it but to bundle off to the canoes with drenched
+hammocks and garments. There was not nearly room enough in the
+flotilla to accommodate so large a number of persons lying at
+full length; moreover the night was pitch dark, and it was quite
+impossible in the gloom and confusion to get at a change of
+clothing. So there we lay, huddled together in the best way we
+could arrange ourselves, exhausted with fatigue and irritated
+beyond all conception by clouds of mosquitoes. I slept on a bench
+with a sail over me, my wet clothes clinging to my body, and to
+increase my discomfort, close beside me lay an Indian girl, one
+of Cardozo's domestics, who had a skin disfigured with black
+diseased patches, and whose thick clothing, not having been
+washed during the whole time we had been out (eighteen days),
+gave forth a most vile effluvium.
+
+We spent the night of the 7th of November pleasantly on the
+smooth sands, where the jaguars again serenaded us, and on the
+succeeding morning we commenced our return voyage to Ega. We
+first doubled the upper end of the island of Catua, and then
+struck off for the right bank of the Solimoens. The river was
+here of immense width, and the current was so strong in the
+middle that it required the most strenuous exertions on the part
+of our paddlers to prevent us from being carried miles away down
+the stream. At night we reached the Juteca, a small river which
+enters the Solimoens by a channel so narrow that a man might
+almost jump across it, but a furlong inwards expands into a very
+pretty lake several miles in circumference. We slept again in the
+forest, and again were annoyed by rain and mosquitoes; but this
+time Cardozo and I preferred remaining where we were to mingling
+with the reeking crowd in the boats. When the grey dawn arose a
+steady rain was still falling, and the whole sky had a settled,
+leaden appearance, but it was delightfully cool. We took our net
+into the lake and gleaned a good supply of delicious fish for
+breakfast. I saw at the upper end of this lake the native rice of
+this country growing wild.
+
+The weather cleared up at ten o'clock a.m. At three p.m. we
+arrived at the mouth of the Cayambe, another tributary stream
+much larger than the Juteca. The channel of exit to the Solimoens
+was here also very narrow, but the expanded river inside is of
+vast dimensions: it forms a lake (I may safely venture to say),
+several score miles in circumference. Although prepared for these
+surprises, I was quite taken aback in this case. We had been
+paddling all day along a monotonous shore, with the dreary
+Solimoens before us, here three to four miles broad, heavily
+rolling onward its muddy waters. We come to a little gap in the
+earthy banks, and find a dark, narrow inlet with a wall of forest
+overshadowing it on each side; we enter it, and at a distance of
+two or three hundred yards a glorious sheet of water bursts upon
+the view. The scenery of Cayambe is very picturesque. The land,
+on the two sides visible of the lake, is high, and clothed with
+sombre woods, varied here and there with a white-washed house, in
+the middle of a green patch of clearing, belonging to settlers.
+In striking contrast to these dark, rolling forests, is the
+vivid, light green and cheerful foliage of the woods on the
+numerous islets which rest like water-gardens on the surface of
+the lake. Flocks of ducks, storks, and snow-white herons inhabit
+these islets, and a noise of parrots with the tingling chorus of
+Tamburi-paras was heard from them as we passed. This has a
+cheering effect after the depressing stillness and absence of
+life in the woods on the margins of the main river.
+
+Cardozo and I took a small boat and crossed the lake to visit one
+of the settlers, and on our return to our canoe, while in the
+middle of the lake, a squall suddenly arose in the direction
+towards which we were going, so that for a whole hour we were in
+great danger of being swamped. The wind blew away the awning and
+mats, and lashed the waters into foam, the waves rising to a
+great height. Our boat, fortunately, was excellently constructed,
+rising well towards the prow, so that with good steering we
+managed to head the billows as they arose, and escaped without
+shipping much water. We reached our igarite at sunset, and then
+made all speed to Curubaru, fifteen miles distant, to encamp for
+the night on the sands. We reached the praia at ten o'clock. The
+waters were now mounting fast upon the sloping beach, and we
+found on dragging the net next morning that fish was beginning to
+be scarce. Cardozo and his friends talked quite gloomily at
+breakfast time over the departure of the joyous verao, and the
+setting in of the dull, hungry winter season.
+
+At nine o'clock in the morning of the 10th of November a light
+wind from down river sprang up, and all who had sails hoisted
+them. It was the first time during our trip that we had had
+occasion to use our sails, so continual is the calm on this upper
+river. We bowled along merrily, and soon entered the broad
+channel lying between Baria and the mainland on the south bank.
+The wind carried us right into the mouth of the Teffe and at four
+o'clock p.m. we cast anchor in the port of Ega.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ANIMALS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
+
+Scarlet-faced Monkeys--Parauacu Monkey--Owl-faced Night-apes--
+Marmosets--Jupura--Bats--Birds--Cuvier's Toucan--Curl-crested
+Toucan--Insects--Pendulous Cocoons--Foraging Ants--Blind Ants
+
+As may have been gathered from the remarks already made, the
+neighbourhood of Ega was a fine field for a Natural History
+collector. With the exception of what could be learned from the
+few specimens brought home, after transient visits by Spix and
+Martius and the Count de Castelnau, whose acquisitions have been
+deposited in the public museums of Munich and Paris, very little
+was known in Europe of the animal tenants of this region; the
+collections that I had the opportunity of making and sending home
+attracted, therefore, considerable attention. Indeed, the name of
+my favourite village has become quite a household word among a
+numerous class of Naturalists, not only in England but abroad, in
+consequence of the very large number of new species (upwards of
+3000) which they have had to describe, with the locality "Ega"
+attached to them. The discovery of new species, however, forms
+but a small item in the interest belonging to the study of the
+living creation. The structure, habits, instincts, and
+geographical distribution of some of the oldest-known forms
+supply inexhaustible materials for reflection. The few remarks I
+have to make on the animals of Ega will relate to the mammals,
+birds, and insects, and will sometimes apply to the productions
+of the whole Upper Amazons region. We will begin with the
+monkeys, the most interesting, next to man, of all animals.
+
+Scarlet-faced Monkeys--Early one sunny morning, in the year 1855,
+I saw in the streets of Ega a number of Indians, carrying on
+their shoulders down to the port, to be embarked on the Upper
+Amazons steamer, a large cage made of strong lianas, some twelve
+feet in length and five in height, containing a dozen monkeys of
+the most grotesque appearance. Their bodies (about eighteen
+inches in height, exclusive of limbs) were clothed from neck to
+tail with very long, straight, and shining whitish hair; their
+heads were nearly bald, owing to the very short crop of thin grey
+hairs, and their faces glowed with the most vivid scarlet hue. As
+a finish to their striking physiognomy, they had bushy whiskers
+of a sandy colour, meeting under the chin, and reddish-yellow
+eyes. These red-faced apes belonged to a species called by the
+Indians Uakari, which is peculiar to the Ega district, and the
+cage with its contents was being sent as a present by Senor
+Chrysostomo, the Director of Indians of the Japura, to one of the
+Government officials at Rio Janeiro, in acknowledgment of having
+been made colonel of the new National Guard. They had been
+obtained with great difficulty in the forests which cover the
+lowlands near the principal mouth of the Japura, about thirty
+miles from Ega. It was the first time I had seen this most
+curious of all the South American monkeys, and one that appears
+to have escaped the notice of Spix and Martius. I afterwards made
+a journey to the district inhabited by it, but did not then
+succeed in obtaining specimens; before leaving the country,
+however, I acquired two individuals, one of which lived in my
+house for several weeks.
+
+The scarlet-faced monkey belongs, in all essential points of
+structure, to the same family (Cebidae) as the rest of the large-
+sized American species; but it differs from all its relatives in
+having only the rudiment of a tail, a member which reaches in
+some allied kinds the highest grade of development known in the
+order. It was so unusual to see a nearly tailless monkey from
+America, that naturalists thought, when the first specimens
+arrived in Europe, that the member had been shortened
+artificially. Nevertheless, the Uakari is not quite isolated from
+its related species of the same family, several other kinds, also
+found on the Amazons, forming a graduated passage between the
+extreme forms as regards the tail. The appendage reaches its
+perfection in those genera (the Howlers, the Lagothrix and the
+Spider monkeys) in which it presents on its under-surface near
+the tip a naked palm, which makes it sensitive and useful as a
+fifth hand in climbing. In the rest of the genera of Cebidae
+(seven in number, containing thirty-eight species), the tail is
+weaker in structure, entirely covered with hair, and of little or
+no service in climbing, a few species nearly related to our
+Uakari having it much shorter than usual. All the Cebidae, both
+long-tailed and short-tailed, are equally dwellers in trees. The
+scarlet-faced monkey lives in forests, which are inundated during
+great part of the year, and is never known to descend to the
+ground; the shortness of its tail is, therefore, no sign of
+terrestrial habits, as it is in the Macaques and Baboons of the
+Old World. It differs a little from the typical Cebidae in its
+teeth, the incisors being oblique and, in the upper jaw,
+converging, so as to leave a gap between the outermost and the
+canine teeth. Like all the rest of its family, it differs from
+the monkeys of the Old World, and from man, in having an
+additional grinding-tooth (premolar) in each side of both jaws,
+making the complete set thirty-six instead of thirty-two in
+number.
+
+The white Uakari (Brachyurus calvus), seems to be found in no
+other part of America than the district just mentioned, namely,
+the banks of the Japura, near its principal mouth; and even there
+it is confined, as far I could learn, to the western side of the
+river. It lives in small troops among the crowns of the lofty
+trees, subsisting on fruits of various kinds. Hunters say it is
+pretty nimble in its motions, but is not much given to leaping,
+preferring to run up and down the larger boughs in travelling
+from tree to tree. The mother, as in other species of the monkey
+order, carries her young on her back. Individuals are obtained
+alive by shooting them with the blow-pipe and arrows tipped with
+diluted Urari poison. They run a considerable distance after
+being pierced, and it requires an experienced hunter to track
+them. He is considered the most expert who can keep pace with a
+wounded one, and catch it in his arms when it falls exhausted. A
+pinch of salt, the antidote to the poison, is then put in its
+mouth, and the creature revives. The species is rare, even in the
+limited district which it inhabits. Senor Chrysostomo sent six of
+his most skillful Indians, who were absent three weeks before
+they obtained the twelve specimens which formed his unique and
+princely gift. When an independent hunter obtains one, a very
+high price (thirty to forty milreis) [Three pounds seven
+shillings to four pounds thirteen shillings] is asked, these
+monkeys being in great demand for presents to persons of
+influence down the river.
+
+Adult Uakaris, caught in the way just described, very rarely
+become tame. They are peevish and sulky, resisting all attempts
+to coax them, and biting anyone who ventures within reach. They
+have no particular cry, even when in their native woods; in
+captivity they are quite silent. In the course of a few days or
+weeks, if not very carefully attended to, they fall into a
+listless condition, refuse food, and die. Many of them succumb to
+a disease which I suppose from the symptoms to be inflammation of
+the chest or lungs. The one which I kept as a pet died of this
+disorder after I had had it about three weeks. It lost its
+appetite in a very few days, although kept in an airy verandah;
+its coat, which was originally long, smooth, and glossy, became
+dingy and ragged like that of the specimens seen in museums, and
+the bright scarlet colour of its face changed to a duller hue.
+This colour, in health, is spread over the features up to the
+roots of the hair on the forehead and temples, and down to the
+neck, including the flabby cheeks which hang down below the jaws.
+The animal, in this condition, looks at a short distance as
+though some one had laid a thick coat of red paint on its
+countenance. The death of my pet was slow; during the last
+twenty-four hours it lay prostrate, breathing quickly, its chest
+strongly heaving; the colour of its face became gradually paler,
+but was still red when it expired. As the hue did not quite
+disappear until two or three hours after the animal was quite
+dead, I judged that it was not exclusively due to the blood, but
+partly to a pigment beneath the skin which would probably retain
+its colour a short time after the circulation had ceased.
+
+After seeing much of the morose disposition of the Uakari, I was
+not a little surprised one day at a friend's house to find an
+extremely lively and familiar individual of this species. It ran
+from an inner chamber straight towards me after I had sat down on
+a chair, climbed my legs and nestled in my lap, turning round and
+looking up with the usual monkey's grin, after it had made itself
+comfortable. It was a young animal which had been taken when its
+mother was shot with a poisoned arrow; its teeth were incomplete,
+and the face was pale and mottled, the glowing scarlet hue not
+supervening in these animals before mature age; it had also a few
+long black hairs on the eyebrows and lips. The frisky little
+fellow had been reared in the house amongst the children, and
+allowed to run about freely, and take its meals with the rest of
+the household. There are few animals which the Brazilians of
+these villages have not succeeded in taming. I have even seen
+young jaguars running loose about a house, and treated as pets.
+The animals that I had rarely became familiar, however long they
+might remain in my possession, a circumstance due no doubt to
+their being kept always tied up.
+
+The Uakari is one of the many species of animals which are
+classified by the Brazilians as "mortal," or of delicate
+constitution, in contradistinction to those which are "duro," or
+hardy. A large proportion of the specimens sent from Ega die
+before arriving at Para, and scarcely one in a dozen succeeds in
+reaching Rip Janeiro alive. The difficulty it has of
+accommodating itself to changed conditions probably has some
+connection with the very limited range or confined sphere of life
+of the species in its natural state, its native home being an
+area of swampy woods, not more than about sixty square miles in
+extent, although no permanent barrier exists to cheek its
+dispersal, except towards the south, over a much wider space.
+When I descended the river in 1859, we had with us a tame adult
+Uakari, which was allowed to ramble about the vessel, a large
+schooner. When we reached the mouth of the Rio Negro, we had to
+wait four days while the custom-house officials at Barra, ten
+miles distant, made out the passports for our crew, and during
+this time the schooner lay close to the shore, with its bowsprit
+secured to the trees on the bank. Well, one morning, scarlet-face
+was missing, having made his escape into the forest. Two men were
+sent in search of him, but returned after several hours' absence
+without having caught sight of the runaway. We gave up the monkey
+for lost, until the following day, when he re-appeared on the
+skirts of the forest, and marched quietly down the bowsprit to
+his usual place on deck. He had evidently found the forests of
+the Rio Negro very different from those of the delta lands of the
+Japura, and preferred captivity to freedom in a place that was so
+uncongenial to him.
+
+The Parauacu Monkey.--Another Ega monkey, nearly related to the
+Uakaris, is the Parauacu (Pithecia hirsuta), a timid inoffensive
+creature with a long bear-like coat of harsh speckled-grey hair.
+The long fur hangs over the head, half concealing the pleasing
+diminutive face, and clothes also the tail to the tip, which
+member is well developed, being eighteen inches in length, or
+longer than the body. The Parauacu is found on the "terra firma"
+lands of the north shore of the Solimoens from Tunantins to Peru.
+It exists also on the south side of the river, namely, on the
+banks of the Teffe, but there under a changed form, which differs
+a little from its type in colours. This form has been described
+by Dr. Gray as a distinct species, under the name of Pithecia
+albicans. The Parauacu is also a very delicate animal, rarely
+living many weeks in captivity; but any one who succeeds in
+keeping it alive for a month or two, gains by it a most
+affectionate pet. One of the specimens of Pithecia albicans now
+in the British Museum was, when living, the property of a young
+Frenchman, a neighbour of mine at Ega. It became so tame in the
+course of a few weeks that it followed him about the streets like
+a dog. My friend was a tailor, and the little pet used to spend
+the greater part of the day seated on his shoulder, while he was
+at work on his board. Nevertheless,it showed great dislike to
+strangers, and was not on good terms with any other member of my
+friend's household than himself. I saw no monkey that showed so
+strong a personal attachment as this gentle, timid, silent,
+little creature. The eager and passionate Cebi seem to take the
+lead of all the South American monkeys in intelligence and
+docility, and the Coaita has perhaps the most gentle and
+impressible disposition; but the Parauacu, although a dull,
+cheerless animal, excels all in this quality of capability of
+attachment to individuals of our own species. It is not wanting,
+however, in intelligence as well as moral goodness, proof of
+which was furnished one day by an act of our little pet. My
+neighbour had quitted his house in the morning without taking
+Parauacu with him, and the little creature having missed its
+friend, and concluded, as it seemed, that he would be sure to
+come to me, both being in the habit of paying me a daily visit
+together, came straight to my dwelling, taking a short cut over
+gardens, trees, and thickets, instead of going the roundabout way
+of the street. It had never done this before, and we knew the
+route it had taken only from a neighbour having watched its
+movements. On arriving at my house and not finding its master, it
+climbed to the top of my table, and sat with an air of quiet
+resignation waiting for him. Shortly afterwards my friend
+entered, and the gladdened pet then jumped to its usual perch on
+his shoulder.
+
+Owl-laced Night Apes--A third interesting genus of monkeys found
+near Ega, are the Nyctipitheci, or night apes, called Ei-a by the
+Indians. Of these I found two species, closely related to each
+other but nevertheless quite distinct, as both inhabit the same
+forests, namely, those of the higher and drier lands, without
+mingling with each other or intercrossing. They sleep all day
+long in hollow trees, and come forth to prey on insects and eat
+fruits only in the night. They are of small size, the body being
+about a foot long, and the tall fourteen inches, and are thickly
+clothed with soft grey and brown fur, similar in substance to
+that of the rabbit. Their physiognomy reminds one of an owl, or
+tiger-cat: the face is round and encircled by a ruff of whitish
+fur. the muzzle is not at all prominent; the mouth and chin are
+small; the cars are very short, scarcely appearing above the hair
+of the head; and the eyes are large and yellowish in colour,
+imparting the staring expression of nocturnal animals of prey.
+The forehead is whitish, and decorated with three black stripes,
+which in one of the species (Nyctipithecus trivirgatus) continue
+to the crown; and in the other (N. felinus), meet on the top of
+the forehead. N. trivirgatus was first described by Humboldt, who
+discovered it on the banks of the Cassiquiare, near the head
+waters of the Rio Negro.
+
+I kept a pet animal of the N. trivirgatus for many months, a
+young one having been given to me by an Indian compadre, as a
+present from my newly-baptised godson. These monkeys, although
+sleeping by day, are aroused by the least noise; so that, when a
+person passes by a tree in which a number of them are concealed,
+he is startled by the sudden apparition of a group of little
+striped faces crowding a hole in the trunk. It was in this way
+that my compadre discovered the colony from which the one given
+to me was taken. I was obliged to keep my pet chained up; it
+therefore, never became thoroughly familiar. I once saw, however,
+an individual of the other species (N. felinus) which was most
+amusingly tame. It was as lively and nimble as the Cebi, but not
+so mischievous and far more confiding in its disposition,
+delighting to be caressed by all persons who came into the house.
+But its owner, the Municipal Judge of Ega, Dr. Carlos Mariana,
+had treated it for many weeks with the greatest kindness,
+allowing it to sleep with him at night in his hammock, and to
+nestle in his bosom half the day as he lay reading. It was a
+great favourite with everyone, from the cleanliness of its habits
+to the prettiness of its features and ways. My own pet was kept
+in a box, in which was placed a broad-mouthed glass jar; into
+this it would dive, head foremost, when any one entered the room,
+turning round inside, and thrusting forth its inquisitive face an
+instant afterwards to stare at the intruder. It was very active
+at night, venting at frequent intervals a hoarse cry, like the
+suppressed barking of a dog, and scampering about the room, to
+the length of its tether, after cockroaches and spiders. In
+climbing between the box and the wall, it straddled the space,
+resting its hands on the palms and tips of the out-stretched
+fingers with the knuckles bent at an acute angle, and thus
+mounted to the top with the greatest facility. Although seeming
+to prefer insects, it ate all kinds of fruit, but would not touch
+raw or cooked meat, and was very seldom thirsty. I was told by
+persons who had kept these monkeys loose about the house, that
+they cleared the chambers of bats as well as insect vermin. When
+approached gently my Ei-a allowed itself to be caressed; but when
+handled roughly, it always took alarm, biting severely, striking
+out its little hands, and making a hissing noise like a cat. As
+already related, my pet was killed by a jealous Caiarara monkey,
+which was kept in the house at the same time.
+
+Barrigudo Monkeys.--Ten other species of monkeys were found, in
+addition to those already mentioned, in the forests of the Upper
+Amazons. All were strictly arboreal and diurnal in their habits,
+and lived in flocks, travelling from tree to tree, the mothers
+with their children on their backs-- leading, in fact, a life
+similar to that of the Pararauate Indians, and, like them,
+occasionally plundering the plantations which lie near their line
+of march. Some of them were found also on the Lower Amazons, and
+have been noticed in former chapters of this narrative. Of the
+remainder, the most remarkable is the Macaco barrigudo, or bag-
+bellied monkey of the Portuguese colonists, a species of
+Lagothrix. The genus is closely allied to the Coaitas, or spider
+monkeys, having, like them, exceedingly strong and flexible
+tails, which are furnished underneath with a naked palm like a
+hand, for grasping. The Barrigudos, however, are very bulky
+animals, while the spider monkeys are remarkable for the
+slenderness of their bodies and limbs. I obtained specimens of
+what have been considered two species, one (L. olivaceus of
+Spix?) having the head clothed with grey, the other (L.
+Humboldtii) with black fur. They both live together in the same
+places, and are probably only differently-coloured individuals of
+one and the same species. I sent home a very large male of one of
+these kinds, which measured twenty-seven inches in length of
+trunk, the tail being twenty-six inches long; it was the largest
+monkey I saw in America, with the exception of a black Howler,
+whose body was twenty-eight inches in height. The skin of the
+face in the Barrigudo is black and wrinkled, the forehead is low,
+with the eyebrows projecting, and, in short, the features
+altogether resemble in a striking manner those of an old negro.
+In the forests, the Barrigudo is not a very active animal; it
+lives exclusively on fruits, and is much persecuted by the
+Indians, on account of the excellence of its flesh as food. From
+information given me by a collector of birds and mammals, whom I
+employed, and who resided a long time among the Tucuna Indians
+near Tabatinga, I calculated that one horde of this tribe, 200 in
+number, destroyed 1200 of these monkeys annually for food. The
+species is very numerous in the forests of the higher lands, but,
+owing to long persecution, it is now seldom seen in the
+neighbourhood of the larger villages. It is not found at all on
+the Lower Amazons. Its manners in captivity are grave, and its
+temper mild and confiding, like that of the Coaitas, owing to
+these traits, the Barrigudo is much sought after for pets; but it
+is not hardy like the Coaitas, and seldom survives a passage down
+the river to Para.
+
+Marmosets.-It now only remains to notice the Marmosets, which
+form the second family of American monkeys. Our old friend Midas
+ursulus, of Para and the Lower Amazons, is not found on the Upper
+river, but in its stead a closely-allied species presents itself,
+which appears to be the Midas rufoniger of Gervais, whose mouth
+is bordered with longish white hairs. The habits of this species
+are the same as those of the M. ursulus, indeed it seems probable
+that it is a form or race of the same stock, modified to suit the
+altered local conditions under which it lives. One day, while
+walking along a forest pathway, I saw one of these lively little
+fellows miss his grasp as he was passing from one tree to another
+along with his troop. He fell head foremost, from a height of at
+least fifty feet, but managed cleverly to alight on his legs in
+the pathway, quickly turning around, gave me a good stare for a
+few moments, and then bounded off gaily to climb another tree. At
+Tunantins, I shot a pair of a very handsome species of Marmoset,
+the M. rufiventer, I believe, of zoologists. Its coat was very
+glossy and smooth, the back deep brown, and the underside of the
+body of rich black and reddish hues. A third species (found at
+Tabatinga, 200 miles further west) is of a deep black colour,
+with the exception of a patch of white hair around its mouth. The
+little animal, at a short distance, looks as though it held a
+ball of snow-white cotton in its teeth. The last I shall mention
+is the Hapale pygmaeus, one of the most diminutive forms of the
+monkey order, three full-grown specimens of which, measuring only
+seven inches in length of body, I obtained near St. Paulo. The
+pretty Lilliputian face is furnished with long brown whiskers,
+which are naturally brushed back over the cars. The general
+colour of the animal is brownish-tawny, but the tail is elegantly
+barred with black. I was surprised, on my return to England, to
+learn from specimens in the British Museum, that the pigmy
+Marmoset was found also in Mexico-- no other Amazonian monkey
+being known to wander far from the great river plain. Thus, the
+smallest and apparently the feeblest, species of the whole order,
+is one which has, by some means, become the most widely
+dispersed.
+
+The Jupura.--A curious animal, known to naturalists as the
+Kinkajou, but called Jupura by the Indians of the Amazons, and
+considered by them as a kind of monkey, may be mentioned in this
+place. It is the Cercoleptes caudivolvus of zoologists, and has
+been considered by some authors as an intermediate form between
+the Lemur family of apes and the plantigrade Carnivora, or Bear
+family. It has decidedly no close relation ship to either of the
+groups of American monkeys, having six cutting teeth to each jaw,
+and long claws instead of nails, with extremities of the usual
+shape of paws instead of hands. Its muzzle is conical and
+pointed, like that of many Lemurs of Madagascar; the expression
+of its countenance, and its habits and actions, are also very
+similar to those of Lemurs. Its tail is very flexible towards the
+tip, and is used to twine round branches in climbing. I did not
+see or hear anything of this animal while residing on the Lower
+Amazons, but on the banks of the Upper river, from the Teffe to
+Peru, it appeared to be rather common. It is nocturnal in its
+habits, like the owl-faced monkeys, although, unlike them, it has
+a bright, dark eye. I once saw it in considerable numbers, when
+on an excursion with an Indian companion along the low Ygapo
+shores of the Teffe, about twenty miles above Ega. We slept one
+night at the house of a native family living in the thick of the
+forest where a festival was going on and, there being no room to
+hang our hammocks under shelter. on account of the number of
+visitors, we lay down on a mat in the open air, near a shed which
+stood in the midst of a grove of fruit-trees and pupunha palms.
+Past midnight, when all became still, after the uproar of
+holidaymaking, as I was listening to the dull, fanning sound made
+by the wings of impish hosts of vampire bats crowding round the
+Caju trees, a rustle commenced from the side of the woods, and a
+troop of slender, long-tailed animals were seen against the clear
+moonlit sky, taking flying leaps from branch to branch through
+the grove. Many of them stopped at the pupunha trees, and the
+hustling, twittering, and screaming, with sounds of falling
+fruits, showed how they were employed. I thought, at first, they
+were Nyctipitheci, but they proved to be Jupuras, for the owner
+of the house early next morning caught a young one, and gave it
+to me. I kept this as a pet animal for several weeks, feeding it
+on bananas and mandioca-meal mixed with treacle. It became tame
+in a very short time, allowing itself to be caressed, but making
+a distinction in the degree of confidence it showed between
+myself and strangers. My pet was unfortunately killed by a
+neighbour's dog, which entered the room where it was kept. The
+animal is so difficult to obtain  alive, its place of retreat in
+the daytime not being known to the natives, that I was unable to
+procure a second living specimen.
+
+Bats--The only other mammals that I shall mention are the bats,
+which exist in very considerable numbers and variety in the
+forest, as well as in the buildings of the villages. Many small
+and curious species, living in the woods, conceal themselves by
+day under the broad leaf-blades of Heliconiae and other plants
+which grow in shady places; others cling to the trunks of trees.
+While walking through the forest in the daytime, especially along
+gloomy ravines, one is almost sure to startle bats from their
+sleeping-places; and at night they are often seen in great
+numbers flitting about the trees on the shady margins of narrow
+channels. I captured altogether, without giving especial
+attention to bats, sixteen different species at Ega.
+
+The Vampire Bat.--The little grey blood-sucking Phyllostoma,
+mentioned in a former chapter as found in my chamber at Caripi,
+was not uncommon at Ega, where everyone believes it to visit
+sleepers and bleed them in the night. But the vampire was here by
+far the most abundant of the family of leaf-nosed bats. It is the
+largest of all the South American species, measuring twenty-eight
+inches in expanse of wing. Nothing in animal physiognomy can be
+more hideous than the countenance of this creature when viewed
+from the front; the large, leathery ears standing out from the
+sides and top of the head, the erect spear-shaped appendage on
+the tip of the nose, the grin and the glistening black eye, all
+combining to make up a figure that reminds one of some mocking
+imp of fable. No wonder that imaginative people have inferred
+diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly an animal. The
+vampire, however, is the most harmless of all bats, and its
+inoffensive character is well known to residents on the banks of
+the Amazons. I found two distinct species of it, one having the
+fur of a blackish colour, the other of a ruddy hue, and
+ascertained that both feed chiefly on fruits. The church at Ega
+was the headquarters of both kinds, I used to see them, as I sat
+at my door during the short evening twilights, trooping forth by
+scores from a large open window at the back of the altar,
+twittering cheerfully as they sped off to the borders of the
+forest. They sometimes enter houses; the first time I saw one in
+my chamber, wheeling heavily round and round, I mistook it for a
+pigeon, thinking that a tame one had escaped from the premises of
+one of my neighbours. I opened the stomachs of several of these
+bats, and found them to contain a mass of pulp and seeds of
+fruits, mingled with a few remains of insects. 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.
+
+Birds.--I have already had occasion to mention several of the
+more interesting birds found in the Ega district. The first thing
+that would strike a newcomer in the forests of the Upper Amazons
+would be the general scarcity of birds; indeed, it often happened
+that I did not meet with a single bird during a whole day's
+ramble in the richest and most varied parts of the woods. Yet the
+country is tenanted by many hundred species, many of which are,
+in reality, abundant, and some of them conspicuous from their
+brilliant plumage. The cause of their apparent rarity is to be
+sought in the sameness and density of the thousand miles of
+forest which constitute their dwelling-place. The birds of the
+country are gregarious, at least during the season when they are
+most readily found; but the frugivorous kinds are to be met with
+only when certain wild fruits are ripe, and to know the exact
+localities of the trees requires months of experience. It would
+not be supposed that the insectivorous birds are also gregarious,
+but they are so-- numbers of distinct species, belonging to many
+different families, joining together in the chase or search of
+food. The proceedings of these associated bands of insect-hunters
+are not a little curious, and merit a few remarks.
+
+While hunting along the narrow pathways that are made through the
+forest in the neighbourhood of houses and villages, one may pass
+several days without seeing many birds; but now and then the
+surrounding bushes and trees appear suddenly to swarm with them.
+There are scores, probably hundreds of birds, all moving about
+with the greatest activity--woodpeckers and Dendrocolaptidae
+(from species no larger than a sparrow to others the size of a
+crow) running up the tree trunks; tanagers, ant-thrushes,
+hummingbirds, fly-catchers, and barbets flitting about the leaves
+and lower branches. The bustling crowd loses no time, and
+although moving in concert, each bird is occupied, on its own
+account, in searching bark or leaf or twig; the barbets visit
+every clayey nest of termites on the trees which lie in the line
+of march. In a few minutes the host is gone, and the forest path
+remains deserted and silent as before. I became, in course of
+time, so accustomed to this habit of birds in the woods near Ega,
+that I could generally find the flock of associated marauders
+whenever I wanted it. There appeared to be only one of these
+flocks in each small district; and, as it traversed chiefly a
+limited tract of woods of second growth, I used to try different
+paths until I came up with it.
+
+The Indians have noticed these miscellaneous hunting parties of
+birds, but appear not to have observed that they are occupied in
+searching for insects. They have supplied their want of
+knowledge, in the usual way of half-civilised people, by a theory
+which has degenerated into a myth, to the effect that the onward
+moving bands are led by a little grey bird, called the Uira-para,
+which fascinates all the rest, and leads them a weary dance
+through the thickets. There is certainly some appearance of truth
+in this explanation, for sometimes stray birds encountered in the
+line of march, are seen to be drawn into the throng, and purely
+frugivorous birds are now and then found mixed up with the rest,
+as though led away by some will-o'-the-wisp. The native women,
+even the white and half-caste inhabitants of the towns, attach a
+superstitious value to the skin and feathers of the Uira-para,
+believing that if they keep them in their clothes' chest, the
+relics will have the effect of attracting for the happy
+possessors a train of lovers and followers. These birds are
+consequently in great demand in some places, the hunters selling
+them at a high price to the foolish girls, who preserve the
+bodies by drying flesh and feathers together in the sun. I could
+never get a sight of this famous little bird in the forest. I
+once employed Indians to obtain specimens for me; but, after the
+same man (who was a noted woodsman) brought me, at different
+times, three distinct species of birds as the Uira-para, I gave
+up the story as a piece of humbug. The simplest explanation
+appears to be this: the birds associate in flocks from the
+instinct of self-preservation in order to be a less easy prey to
+hawks, snakes, and other enemies than they would be if feeding
+alone.
+
+Toucans--Cuvier's Toucan--Of this family of birds, so conspicuous
+from the great size and light structure of their beaks, and so
+characteristic of tropical American forests, five species inhabit
+the woods of Ega. The commonest is Cuvier's Toucan, a large bird,
+distinguished from its nearest relatives by the feathers at the
+bottom of the back being of a saffron hue instead of red. It is
+found more or less numerously throughout the year, as it breeds
+in the neighbourhood, laying its eggs in holes of trees, at a
+great height from the ground. During most months of the year, it
+is met with in single individuals or small flocks, and the birds
+are then very wary. Sometimes one of these little bands of four
+or five is seen perched, for hours together, among the topmost
+branches of high trees, giving vent to their remarkably loud,
+shrill, yelping cries, one bird, mounted higher than the rest,
+acting, apparently, as leader of the inharmonious chorus; but two
+of them are often heard yelping alternately, and in different
+notes. These cries have a vague resemblance to the syllables
+Tocano, Tocano, and hence, the Indian name of this genus of
+birds. At these times it is difficult to get a shot at Toucans,
+for their senses are so sharpened that they descry the hunter
+before he gets near the tree on which they are perched, although
+he may be half-concealed among the underwood, 150 feet below
+them. They stretch their necks downwards to look beneath, and on
+espying the least movement among the foliage, fly off to the more
+inaccessible parts of the forest. Solitary Toucans are sometimes
+met with at the same season, hopping silently up and down the
+larger boughs, and peering into crevices of the tree-trunks. They
+moult in the months from March to June, some individuals earlier,
+others later. This season of enforced quiet being passed, they
+make their appearance suddenly in the dry forest, near Ega, in
+large flocks, probably assemblages of birds gathered together
+from the neighbouring Ygapo forests, which are then flooded and
+cold. The birds have now become exceedingly tame, and the troops
+travel with heavy laborious flight from bough to bough among the
+lower trees. They thus become an easy prey to hunters, and
+everyone at Ega who can get a gun of any sort and a few charges
+of powder and shot, or a blow-pipe, goes daily to the woods to
+kill a few brace for dinner; for, as already observed, the people
+of Ega live almost exclusively on stewed and roasted Toucans
+during the months of June and July, the birds being then very fat
+and the meat exceedingly sweet and tender.
+
+No one, on seeing a Toucan, can help asking what is the use of
+the enormous bill, which, in some species, attains a length of
+seven inches, and a width of more than two inches. A few remarks
+on this subject may be here introduced. The early naturalists,
+having seen only the bill of a Toucan, which was esteemed as a
+marvellous production by the virtuosi of the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries, concluded that the bird must have belonged
+to the aquatic and web-footed order, as this contains so many
+species of remarkable development of beak, adapted for seizing
+fish. Some travvellers also related fabulous stories of Toucans
+resorting to the banks of rivers to feed on fish, and these
+accounts also encouraged the erroneous views of the habits of the
+birds which for a long time prevailed. Toucans, however, are now
+well known to be eminently arboreal birds, and to belong to a
+group including trogons, parrots, and barbets [Capitoninae, G. R.
+Gray.]-- all of whose members are fruit-eaters. On the Amazons,
+where these birds are very common, no one pretends ever to have
+seen a Toucan walking on the ground in its natural state, much
+less acting the part of a swimming or wading bird. Professor Owen
+found, on dissection, that the gizzard in Toucans is not so well
+adapted for the trituration of food as it is in other vegetable
+feeders, and concluded, therefore, as Broderip had observed the
+habit of chewing the cud in a tame bird, that the great toothed
+bill was useful in holding and remasticating the food. The bill
+can scarcely be said to be a very good contrivance for seizing
+and crushing small birds, or taking them from their nests in
+crevices of trees, habits which have been imputed to Toucans by
+some writers. The hollow, cellular structure of the interior of
+the bill, its curved and clumsy shape, and the deficiency of
+force and precision when it is used to seize objects, suggest a
+want of fitness, if this be the function of the member. But fruit
+is undoubtedly the chief food of Toucans, and it is in reference
+to their mode of obtaining it that the use of their uncouth bills
+is to be sought. Flowers and fruit on the crowns of the large
+trees of South American forests grow, principally, towards the
+end of slender twigs, which will not bear any considerable
+weight; all animals, therefore, which feed upon fruit, or on
+insects contained in flowers, must, of course, have some means of
+reaching the ends of the stalks from a distance. Monkeys obtain
+their food by stretching forth their long arms and, in some
+instances, their tails, to bring the fruit near to their mouths.
+Hummingbirds are endowed with highly perfected organs of flight
+with corresponding muscular development by which they are enabled
+to sustain themselves on the wing before blossoms whilst rifling
+them of their contents. These strong-flying creatures, however,
+will, whenever they can get near enough, remain on their perches
+while probing neighbouring flowers for insects. Trogons have
+feeble wings, and a dull, inactive temperament. Their mode of
+obtaining food is to station themselves quietly on low branches
+in the gloomy shades of the forest, and eye the fruits on the
+surrounding trees-- darting off, as if with an effort, every time
+they wish to seize a mouthful, and returning to the same perch.
+Barbets (Capitoninae) seem to have no especial endowment, either
+of habits or structure, to enable them to seize fruits; and in
+this respect they are similar to the Toucans, if we leave the
+bill out of question, both tribes having heavy bodies, with
+feeble organs of flight, so that they are disabled from taking
+their food on the wing. The purpose of the enormous bill here
+becomes evident; it is to enable the Toucan to reach and devour
+fruit whil remaining seated, and thus to counterbalance the
+disadvantage which its heavy body and gluttonous appetite would
+otherwise give it in the competition with allied groups of birds.
+The relation between the extraordinarily lengthened bill of the
+Toucan and its mode of obtaining food, is therefore precisely
+similar to that between the long neck and lips of the Giraffe and
+the mode of browsing of the animal. The bill of the Toucan can
+scarcely be considered a very perfectly-formed instrument for the
+end to which it is applied, as here explained; but nature appears
+not to invent organs at once for the functions to which they are
+now adapted, but avails herself, here of one already-existing
+structure or instinct, there of another, according as they are
+handy when need for their further modification arises.
+
+One day, whil walking along the principal pathway in the woods
+near Ega, I saw one of these Toucans seated gravely on a low
+branch close to the road, and had no difficulty in seizing it
+with my hand. It turned out to be a runaway pet bird; no one,
+however, came to own it, although I kept it in my house for
+several months. The bird was in a half-starved and sickly
+condition, but after a few days of good living it recovered
+health and spirits, and became one of the most amusing pets
+imaginable. Many excellent accounts of the habits of tame Toucans
+have been published, and therefore, I need not describe them in
+detail, but I do not recollect to have seen any notice of their
+intelligence and confiding disposition under domestication, in
+which qualities my pet seemed to be almost equal to parrots. I
+allowed Tocano to go free about the house, contrary to my usual
+practice with pet animals, he never, however, mounted my working-
+table after a smart correction which he received the first time
+he did it. He used to sleep on the top of a box in a corner of
+the room, in the usual position of these birds, namely, with the
+long tail laid right over on the back, and the beak thrust
+underneath the wing. He ate of everything that we eat; beef,
+turtle, fish, farinha, fruit, and was a constant attendant at our
+table--a cloth spread on a mat. His appetite was most ravenous,
+and his powers of digestion quite wonderful. He got to know the
+meal hours to a nicety, and we found it very difficult, after the
+first week or two, to keep him away from the dining-room, where
+he had become very impudent and troublesome. We tried to shut him
+out by enclosing him in the backyard, which was separated by a
+high fence from the street on which our front door opened, but he
+used to climb the fence and hop round by a long circuit to the
+dining-room, making his appearance with the greatest punctuality
+as the meal was placed on the table. He acquired the habit,
+afterwards, of rambling about the street near our house, and one
+day he was stolen, so we gave him up for lost. But two days
+afterwards he stepped through the open doorway at dinner hour,
+with his old gait, and sly magpie-like expression, having escaped
+from the house where he had been guarded by the person who had
+stolen him, and which was situated at the further end of the
+village.
+
+The Curl-crested Toucan (Pteroglossus Beauharnaisii).--Of the
+four smaller Toucans, or Arassaris, found near Ega, the
+Pteroglossus flavirostris is perhaps the most beautiful in
+colours, its breast being adorned with broad belts of rich
+crimson and black; but the most curious species, by far, is the
+Curl-crested, or Beauharnais Toucan. The feathers on the head of
+this singular bird are transformed into thin, horny plates, of a
+lustrous black colour, curled up at the ends, and resembling
+shavings of steel or ebony-wood: the curly crest being arranged
+on the crown in the form of a wig. Mr. Wallace and I first met
+with this species, on ascending the Amazons, at the mouth of the
+Solimoens; from that point it continues as a rather common bird
+on the terra firma, at least on the south side of the river as
+far as Fonte Boa, but I did not hear of its being found further
+to the west. It appears in large flocks in the forests near Ega
+in May and June, when it has completed its moult. I did not find
+these bands congregated at fruit-trees, but always wandering
+through the forest, hopping from branch to branch among the lower
+trees, and partly concealed among the foliage. None of the
+Arassaris, to my knowledge, make a yelping noise like that
+uttered by the larger Toucans (Ramphastos); the notes of the
+curl-crested species are very singular, resembling the croaking
+of frogs. I had an amusing adventure one day with these birds. I
+had shot one from a rather high tree in a dark glen in the
+forest, and entered the thicket where the bird had fallen to
+secure my booty. It was only wounded, and on my attempting to
+seize it, set up a loud scream. In an instant, as if by magic,
+the shady nook seemed alive with these birds, although there was
+certainly none visible when I entered the jungle. They descended
+towards me, hopping from bough to bough, some of them swinging on
+the loops and cables of woody lianas, and all croaking and
+fluttering their wings like so many furies. If I had had a long
+stick in my hand I could have knocked several of them over. After
+killing the wounded one, I began to prepare for obtaining more
+specimens and punishing the viragos for their boldness; but the
+screaming of their companion having ceased, they remounted the
+trees, and before I could reload, every one of them had
+disappeared.
+
+Insects.--Upwards of 7000 species of insects were found in the
+neighbourhood of Ega. I must confine myself in this place to a
+few remarks on the order Lepidoptera, and on the ants, several
+kinds of which, found chiefly on the Upper Amazons, exhibit the
+most extraordinary instincts.
+
+I found about 550 distinct species of butterflies at Ega. Those
+who know a little of Entomology will be able to form some idea of
+the riches of the place in this department, when I mention that
+eighteen species of true Papilio (the swallow-tail genus) were
+found within ten minutes' walk of my house. No fact could speak
+more plainly for the surpassing exuberance of the vegetation, the
+varied nature of the land, the perennial warmth and humidity of
+the climate. But no description can convey an adequate notion of
+the beauty and diversity in form and colour of this class of
+insects in the neighbourhood of Ega. I paid special attention to
+them, having found that this tribe was better adapted than almost
+any other group of animals or plants to furnish facts in
+illustration of the modifications which all species undergo in
+nature, under changed local conditions. This accidental
+superiority is owing partly to the simplicity and distinctness of
+the specific character of the insects, and partly to the facility
+with which very copious series of specimens can be collected and
+placed side by side for comparison. The distinctness of the
+specific characters is due probably to the fact that all the
+superficial signs of change in the organisation are exaggerated,
+and made unusually plain by affecting the framework, shape, and
+colour of the wings, which, as many anatomists believe, are
+magnified extensions of the skin around the breathing orifices of
+the thorax of the insects. These expansions are clothed with
+minute feathers or scales, coloured in regular patterns, which
+vary in accordance with the slightest change in the conditions to
+which the species are exposed. It may be said, therefore, that on
+these expanded membranes Nature writes, as on a tablet, the story
+of the modifications of species, so truly do all changes of the
+organisation register themselves thereon. Moreover, the same
+colour-patterns of the wings generally show, with great
+regularity, the degrees of blood-relationship of the species. As
+the laws of Nature must be the same for all beings, the
+conclusions furnished by this group of insects must be applicable
+to the whole organic world; therefore, the study of butterflies--
+creatures selected as the types of airiness and frivolity--
+instead of being despised, will some day be valued as one of the
+most important branches of Biological science.
+
+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. It is a cocoon, about the size of a sparrow's egg, woven by
+a caterpillar in broad meshes of either buff or rose-coloured
+silk, and is frequently seen in the narrow alleys of the forest,
+suspended from the extreme tip of an outstanding leaf by a strong
+silken thread five or six inches in length. It forms a very
+conspicuous object, hanging thus in mid-air. The glossy threads
+with which it is knitted are stout, and the structure is
+therefore, not liable to be torn by the beaks of insectivorous
+birds, while its pendulous position makes it doubly secure
+against their attacks, the apparatus giving way when they peck at
+it. There is a small orifice at each end of the egg-shaped bag,
+to admit of the escape of the moth when it changes from the
+little chrysalis which sleeps tranquilly in its airy cage. The
+moth is of a dull slatey colour, and belongs to the Lithosiide
+group of the silk-worm family (Bombycidae). When the caterpillar
+begins its work, it lets itself down from the tip of the leaf
+which it has chosen by spinning a thread of silk, the thickness
+of which it slowly increases as it descends. Having given the
+proper length to the cord, it proceeds to weave its elegant bag,
+placing itself in the centre and spinning rings of silk at
+regular intervals, connecting them at the same time by means of
+cross threads - so that the whole, when finished, forms a loose
+web, with quadrangular meshes of nearly equal size throughout.
+The task occupies about four days: when finished, the enclosed
+caterpillar becomes sluggish, its skin shrivels and cracks, and
+there then remains a motionless chrysalis of narrow shape,
+leaning against the sides of its silken cage.
+
+Many other kinds are found at Ega belonging to the same cocoon-
+weaving family, some of which differ from the rest in their
+caterpillars possessing the art of fabricating cases with
+fragments of wood or leaves, in which they live secure from all
+enemies while they are feeding and growing. I saw many species of
+these; some of them knitted together, with fine silken threads,
+small bits of stick, and so made tubes similar to those of
+caddice-worms; others (Saccophora) chose leaves for the same
+purpose, forming with them an elongated bag open at both ends,
+and having the inside lined with a thick web. The tubes of full-
+grown caterpillars of Saccophora are two inches in length, and it
+is at this stage of growth that I have generally seen them. They
+feed on the leaves of Melastoniae, and as in crawling, the weight
+of so large a dwelling would be greater than the contained
+caterpillar could sustain, the insect attaches the case by one or
+more threads to the leaves or twigs near which it is feeding.
+
+Foraging Ants--Many confused statements have been published in
+books of travel, and copied in Natural History works, regarding
+these ants, which appear to have been confounded with the Sauba,
+a sketch of whose habits has been given in the first chapter of
+this work. The Sauba is a vegetable feeder, and does not attack
+other animals; the accounts that have been published regarding
+carnivorous ants which hunt in vast armies, exciting terror
+wherever they go, apply only to the Ecitons, or foraging ants, a
+totally different group of this tribe of insects. The Ecitons are
+called Tauoca by the Indians, who are always on the look-out for
+their armies when they traverse the forest, so as to avoid being
+attacked. I met with ten distinct species of them, nearly all of
+which have a different system of marching; eight were new to
+science when I sent them to England. Some are found commonly in
+every part of the country, and one is peculiar to the open campos
+of Santarem; but, as nearly all the species are found together at
+Ega, where the forest swarmed with their armies, I have left an
+account of the habits of the whole genus for this part of my
+narrative. The Ecitons resemble, in their habits, the Driver ants
+of Tropical Africa; but they have no close relationship with them
+in structure, and indeed belong to quite another sub-group of the
+ant-tribe.
+
+Like many other ants, the communities of Ecitons are composed,
+besides males and females, of two classes of workers, a large-
+headed (worker-major) and a small-headed (worker-minor) class.
+the large-heads have, in some species, greatly lengthened jaws,
+the small-heads have jaws always of the ordinary shape; but the
+two classes are not sharply-defined in structure and function,
+except in two of the species. There is in all of them a little
+difference among the workers regarding the size of the head; but
+in some species this is not sufficient to cause a separation into
+classes, with division of labour; in others, the jaws are so
+monstrously lengthened in the worker-majors, that they are
+incapacitated from taking part in the labours which the worker-
+minors perform; and again, in others the difference is so great
+that the distinction of classes becomes complete, one acting the
+part of soldiers, and the other that of workers. The peculiar
+feature in the habits of the Eciton genus is their hunting for
+prey in regular bodies, or armies. It is this which chiefly
+distinguishes them from the genus of common red stinging-ants,
+several species of which inhabit England, whose habit is to
+search for food in the usual irregular manner. All the Ecitons
+hunt in large organised bodies; but almost every species has its
+own special manner of hunting.
+
+Eciton rapax.--One of the foragers, Eciton rapax, the giant of
+its genus, whose worker-majors are half-an-inch in length, hunts
+in single file through the forest. There is no division into
+classes amongst its workers, although the difference in size is
+very great, some being scarcely one-half the length of others.
+The head and jaws, however, are always of the same shape, and a
+gradation in size is presented from the largest to the smallest,
+so that all are able to take part in the common labours of the
+colony. The chief employment of the species seems to be
+plundering the nests of a large and defenseless ant of another
+genus (Formica), whose mangled bodies I have often seen in their
+possession as they were marching away. The armies of Eciton rapax
+are never very numerous.
+
+Eciton legionis.--Another species, E. legionis, agrees with E.
+rapax in having workers not rigidly divisible into two classes;
+but it is much smaller in size, not differing greatly, in this
+respect, from our common English red ant (Myrmica rubra), which
+it also resembles in colour. The Eciton legionis lives in open
+places, and was seen only on the sandy campos of Santarem.  The
+movement of its hosts were, therefore, much more easy to observe
+than those of all other kinds, which inhabit solely the densest
+thickets; its sting and bite, also, were less formidable than
+those of other species. The armies of E. legionis consist of many
+thousands of individuals, and move in rather broad columns. They
+are just as quick to break line, on being disturbed, and attack
+hurriedly and furiously any intruding object, as the other
+Ecitons. The species is not a common one, and I seldom had good
+opportunities to watch its habits. The first time I saw an army
+was one evening near sunset. The column consisted of two trains
+of ants, moving in opposite directions; one train empty-handed,
+the other laden with the mangled remains of insects, chiefly
+larvae and pupae of other ants. I had no difficulty in tracing
+the line to the spot from which they were conveying their booty:
+this was a low thicket; the Ecitons were moving rapidly about a
+heap of dead leaves; but as the short tropical twilight was
+deepening rapidly, and I had no wish to be benighted on the
+lonely campos, I deferred further examination until the next day.
+
+On the following morning, no trace of ants could be found near
+the place where I had seen them the preceding day, nor were there
+signs of insects of any description in the thicket, but at the
+distance of eighty or one hundred yards, I came upon the same
+army, engaged, evidently, on a razzia of a similar kind to that
+of the previous evening, but requiring other resources of their
+instinct, owing to the nature of the wound. They were eagerly
+occupied on the face of an inclined bank of light earth, in
+excavating mines, whence, from a depth of eight or ten inches,
+they were extracting the bodies of a bulky species of ant, of the
+genus Formica. It was curious to see them crowding around the
+orifices of the mines, some assisting their comrades to lift out
+the bodies of the Formicae, and others tearing them in pieces, on
+account of their weight being too great for a single Eciton-- a
+number of carriers seizing each a fragment, and carrying it off
+down the slope. On digging into the earth with a small trowel
+near the entrances of the mines, I found the nests of the
+Formicae, with grubs and cocoons, which the Ecitons were thus
+invading, at a depth of about eight inches from the surface. The
+eager freebooters rushed in as fast as I excavated, and seized
+the ants in my fingers as I picked them out, so that I had some
+difficulty in rescuing a few intact for specimens. In digging the
+numerous mines to get at their prey, the little Ecitons seemed to
+be divided into parties, one set excavating, and another set
+carrying away the grains of earth. When the shafts became rather
+deep, the mining parties had to climb up the sides each time they
+wished to cast out a pellet of earth; but their work was
+lightened for them by comrades, who stationed themselves at the
+mouth of the shaft, and relieved them of their burthens, carrying
+the particles, with an appearance of foresight which quite
+staggered me, a sufficient distance from the edge of the hole to
+prevent them from rolling in again. All the work seemed thus to
+be performed by intelligent cooperation among the host of eager
+little creatures, but still there was not a rigid division of
+labour, for some of them, whose proceedings I watched, acted at
+one time as carriers of pellets, and at another as miners, and
+all shortly afterwards assumed the office of conveyors of the
+spoil.
+
+In about two hours, all the nests of Formicae were rifled, though
+not completely, of their contents, and I turned towards the army
+of Ecitons, which were carrying away the mutilated remains. For
+some distance there were many separate lines of them moving along
+the slope of the bank-- but a short distance off, these all
+converged, and then formed one close and broad column, which
+continued for some sixty or seventy yards, and terminated at one
+of those large termitariums or hillocks of white ants which are
+constructed of cemented material as hard as stone. The broad and
+compact column of ants moved up the steep sides of the hillock in
+a continued stream; many, which had hitherto trotted along empty-
+handed, now turned to assist their comrades with their heavy
+loads, and the whole descended into a spacious gallery or mine,
+opening on the top of the termitarium. I did not try to reach the
+nest, which I supposed to lie at the bottom of the broad mine,
+and therefore, in the middle of the base of the stony hillock.
+
+Eciton drepanophora.--The commonest species of foraging ants are
+the Eciton hamata and E. drepanophora, two kinds which resemble
+each other so closely that it requires attentive examination to
+distinguish them; yet their armies never intermingle, although
+moving in the same woods and often crossing each other's tracks.
+The two classes of workers look, at first sight, quite distinct,
+on account of the wonderful amount of difference between the
+largest individuals of the one, and the smallest of the other.
+There are dwarfs not more than one-fifth of an inch in length,
+with small heads and jaws, and giants half an inch in length with
+monstrously enlarged head and jaws, all belonging to the same
+brood. There is not, however, a distinct separation of classes,
+individuals existing which connect together the two extremes.
+These Ecitons are seen in the pathways of the forest at all
+places on the banks of the Amazons, travelling in dense columns
+of countless thousands. One or other of them is sure to be met
+with in a woodland ramble, and it is to them, probably, that the
+stories we read in books on South America apply, of ants clearing
+houses of vermin, although I heard of no instance of their
+entering houses, their ravages being confined to the thickest
+parts of the forest.
+
+When the pedestrian falls in with a train of these ants, the
+first signal given him is a twittering and restless movement of
+small flocks of plain-coloured birds (ant-thrushes) in the
+jungle. If this be disregarded until he advances a few steps
+farther, he is sure to fall into trouble, and find himself
+suddenly attacked by numbers of the ferocious little creatures.
+They swarm up his legs with incredible rapidity, each one driving
+his pincer-like jaws into his skin, and with the purchase thus
+obtained, doubling in its tail, and stinging with all its might.
+There is no course left but to run for it; if he is accompanied
+by natives they will be sure to give the alarm, crying "Tauoca!"
+and scampering at full speed to the other end of the column of
+ants. The tenacious insects who have secured themselves to his
+legs then have to be plucked off one by one, a task which is
+generally not accomplished without pulling them in twain, and
+leaving heads and jaws sticking in the wounds.
+
+The errand of the vast ant-armies is plunder, as in the case of
+Eciton legionis; but from their moving always amongst dense
+thickets, their proceedings are not so easy to observe as in that
+species. Wherever they move, the whole animal world is set in
+commotion, and every creature tries to get out of their way. But
+it is especially the various tribes of wingless insects that have
+cause for fear, such as heavy-bodied spiders, ants of other
+species, maggots, caterpillars, larvae of cockroaches and so
+forth, all of which live under fallen leaves, or in decaying
+wood. The Ecitons do not mount very high on trees, and therefore
+the nestlings of birds are not much incommoded by them. The mode
+of operation of these armies, which I ascertained only after
+long-continued observation, is as follows: the main column, from
+four to six deep, moves forward in a given direction, clearing
+the ground of all animal matter dead or alive, and throwing off
+here and there a thinner column to forage for a short time on the
+flanks of the main army, and re-enter it again after their task
+is accomplished. If some very rich place be encountered anywhere
+near the line of march, for example, a mass of rotten wood
+abounding in insect larvae, a delay takes place, and a very
+strong force of ants is concentrated upon it. The excited
+creatures search every cranny and tear in pieces all the large
+grubs they drag to light. It is curious to see them attack wasps'
+nests, which are sometimes built on low shrubs. They gnaw away
+the papery covering to get at the larvae, pupae, and newly-
+hatched wasps, and cut everything to tatters, regardless of the
+infuriated owners which are flying about them. In bearing off
+their spoil in fragments, the pieces are apportioned to the
+carriers with some degree of regard to fairness of load: the
+dwarfs taking the smallest pieces, and the strongest fellows with
+small heads the heaviest portions. Sometimes two ants join
+together in carrying one piece, but the worker-majors, with their
+unwieldy and distorted jaws, are incapacitated from taking any
+part in the labour. The armies never march far on a beaten path,
+but seem to prefer the entangled thickets where it is seldom
+possible to follow them. I have traced an army sometimes for half
+a mile or more, but was never able to find one that had finished
+its day's course and returned to its hive. Indeed, I never met
+with a hive; whenever the Ecitons were seen, they were always on
+the march.
+
+I thought one day, at Villa Nova, that I had come upon a
+migratory horde of this indefatigable ant. The place was a tract
+of open ground near the river side, just outside the edge of the
+forest, and surrounded by rocks and shrubbery. A dense column of
+Ecitons was seen extending from the rocks on one side of the
+little haven, traversing the open space, and ascending the
+opposite declivity. The length of the procession was from sixty
+to seventy yards, and yet neither van nor rear was visible. All
+were moving in one and the same direction, except a few
+individuals on the outside of the column, which were running
+rearward, trotting along for a short distance, and then turning
+again to follow the same course as the main body. But these
+rearward movements were going on continually from one end to the
+other of the line, and there was every appearance of there being
+a means of keeping up a common understanding amongst all the
+members of the army, for the retrograding ants stopped very often
+for a moment to touch one or other of their onward-moving
+comrades with their antennae-- a proceeding which has been
+noticed in other ants, and supposed to be their mode of conveying
+intelligence. When I interfered with the column or abstracted an
+individual from it, news of the disturbance was very quickly
+communicated to a distance of several yards towards the rear, and
+the column at that point commenced retreating. All the small-
+headed workers carried in their jaws a little cluster of white
+maggots, which I thought at the time, might be young larvae of
+their own colony, but afterwards found reason to conclude were
+the grubs of some other species whose nests they had been
+plundering, the procession being most likely not a migration, but
+a column on a marauding expedition.
+
+The position of the large-headed individuals in the marching
+column was rather curious. There was one of these extraordinary
+fellows to about a score of the smaller class. None of them
+carried anything in their mouths, but all trotted along empty-
+handed and outside the column, at pretty regular intervals from
+each other, like subaltern officers in a marching regiment of
+soldiers. It was easy to be tolerably exact in this observation,
+for their shining white heads made them very conspicuous amongst
+the rest, bobbing up and down as the column passed over the
+inequalities of the road. I did not see them change their
+position, or take any notice of their small-headed comrades
+marching in the column, and when I disturbed the line, they did
+not prance forth or show fight so eagerly as the others. These
+large-headed members of the community have been considered by
+some authors as a soldier class, like the similarly-armed caste
+in termites -- but I found no proof of this, at least in the
+present species, as they always seemed to be rather less
+pugnacious than the worker-minors, and their distorted jaws
+disabled them from fastening on a plane surface like the skin of
+an attacking animal. I am inclined, however, to think that they
+may act, in a less direct way, as protectors of the community,
+namely, as indigestible morsels to the flocks of ant-thrushes
+which follow the marching columns of these Ecitons, and are the
+most formidable enemies of the species. It is possible that the
+hooked and twisted jaws of the large-headed class may be
+effective weapons of annoyance when in the gizzards or stomachs
+of these birds, but I unfortunately omitted to ascertain whether
+this was really the fact.
+
+The life of these Ecitons is not all work, for I frequently saw
+them very leisurely employed in a way that looked like
+recreation. When this happened, the place was always a sunny nook
+in the forest. The main column of the army and the branch
+columns, at these times, were in their ordinary relative
+positions; but, instead of pressing forward eagerly, and
+plundering right and left, they seemed to have been all smitten
+with a sudden fit of laziness. Some were walking slowly about,
+others were brushing their antennae with their forefeet; but the
+drollest sight was their cleaning one another. Here and there an
+ant was seen stretching forth first one leg and then another, to
+be brushed or washed by one or more of its comrades, who
+performed the task by passing the limb between the jaws and the
+tongue,and finishing by giving the antennae a friendly wipe. It
+was a curious spectacle, and one well calculated to increase
+one's amazement at the similarity between the instinctive actions
+of ants and the acts of rational beings, a similarity which must
+have been brought about by two different processes of development
+of the primary qualities of mind. The actions of these ants
+looked like simple indulgence in idle amusement. Have these
+little creatures, then, an excess of energy beyond  what is
+required for labours absolutely necessary to the welfare of their
+species, and do they thus expend it in mere sportiveness, like
+young lambs or kittens, or in idle whims like rational beings? It
+is probable that these hours of relaxation and cleaning may be
+indispensable to the effective performance of their harder
+labours, but while looking at them, the conclusion that the ants
+were engaged merely in play was irresistible.
+
+Eciton praedator.--This is a small dark-reddish species, very
+similar to the common red stinging-ant of England. It differs
+from all other Ecitons in its habit of hunting, not in columns,
+but in dense phalanxes consisting of myriads of individuals, and
+was first met with at Ega, where it is very common. Nothing in
+insect movements is more striking than the rapid march of these
+large and compact bodies. Wherever they pass all the rest of the
+animal world is thrown into a state of alarm. They stream along
+the ground and climb to the summits of all the lower trees,
+searching every leaf to its apex, and whenever they encounter a
+mass of decaying vegetable matter, where booty is plentiful, they
+concentrate, like other Ecitons, all their forces upon it, the
+dense phalanx of shining and quickly-moving bodies, as it spreads
+over the surface, looking like a flood of dark-red liquid. They
+soon penetrate every part of the confused heap, and then,
+gathering together again in marching order, onward they move. All
+soft-bodied and inactive insects fall an easy prey to them, and,
+like other Ecitons, they tear their victims in pieces for
+facility of carriage. A phalanx of this species, when passing
+over a tract of smooth ground, occupies a space of from four to
+six square yards; on examining the ants closely they are seen to
+move, not altogether in one straightforward direction, but in
+variously spreading contiguous columns, now separating a little
+from the general mass, now re-uniting with it. The margins of the
+phalanx spread out at times like a cloud of skirmishers from the
+flanks of an army. I was never able to find the hive of this
+species.
+
+Blind Ecitons.--I will now give a short account of the blind
+species of Eciton. None of the foregoing kinds have eyes of the
+facetted or compound structure such as are usual in insects, and
+which ordinary ants (Formica) are furnished with, but all are
+provided with organs of vision composed each of a single lens.
+Connecting them with the utterly blind species of the genus, is a
+very stout-limbed Eciton, the E. crassicornis, whose eyes are
+sunk in rather deep sockets. This ant goes on foraging
+expeditions like the rest of its tribe, and attacks even the
+nests of other stinging species (Myrmica), but it avoids the
+light, moving always in concealment under leaves and fallen
+branches. When its columns have to cross a cleared space, the
+ants construct a temporary covered way with granules of earth,
+arched over, and holding together mechanically; under this, the
+procession passes in secret, the indefatigable creatures
+repairing their arcade as fast as breaches are made in it.
+
+Next in order comes the Eciton vastator, which has no eyes,
+although the collapsed sockets are plainly visible; and, lastly,
+the Eciton erratica, in which both sockets and eyes have
+disappeared, leaving only a faint ring to mark the place where
+they are usually situated. The armies of E. vastator and E.
+erratica move, as far as I could learn, wholly under covered
+roads-- the ants constructing them gradually but rapidly as they
+advance. The column of foragers pushes forward step by step under
+the protection of these covered passages, through the thickets,
+and upon reaching a rotting log, or other promising hunting-
+ground, pour into the crevices in search of booty. I have traced
+their arcades, occasionally, for a distance of one or two hundred
+yards; the grains of earth are taken from the soil over which the
+column is passing, and are fitted together without cement. It is
+this last-mentioned feature that distinguishes them from the
+similar covered roads made by Termites, who use their glutinous
+saliva to cement the grains together. The blind Ecitons, working
+in numbers, build up simultaneously the sides of their convex
+arcades, and contrive, in a surprising manner, to approximate
+them and fit in the key-stones without letting the loose
+uncemented structure fall to pieces. There was a very clear
+division of labour between the two classes of neuters in these
+blind species. The large-headed class, although not possessing
+monstrously-lengthened jaws like the worker-majors in E. hamata
+and E. drepanophora, are rigidly defined in structure from the
+small-headed class, and act as soldiers, defending the working
+community (like soldier Termites) against all comers. Whenever I
+made a breach in one of their covered ways, all the ants
+underneath were set in commotion, but the worker-minors remained
+behind to repair the damage, while the large-heads issued forth
+in a most menacing manner, rearing their heads and snapping their
+jaws with an expression of the fiercest rage and defiance.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA
+
+Steamboat Travelling on the Amazons--Passengers--Tunantins--
+Caishana Indians--The Jutahi--The Sapo--Maraua Indians--Fonte
+Boa--Journey to St. Paulo--Tucuna Indians--Illness--Descent to
+Para--Changes at Para--Departure for England
+
+November 7th, 1856-Embarked on the Upper Amazons steamer, the
+Tabatinga, for an excursion to Tunantins, a small semi-Indian
+settlement, lying 240 miles beyond Ega. The Tabatinga is an iron
+boat of about 170 tons burthen, built at Rio de Janeiro, and
+fitted with engines of fifty horse-power. The saloon, with berths
+on each side for twenty passengers, is above deck, and open at
+both ends to admit a free current of air. The captain or
+"commandante," was a lieutenant in the Brazilian navy, a man of
+polished, sailor-like address, and a rigid disciplinarian-- his
+name, Senor Nunes Mello Cardozo. I was obliged, as usual, to take
+with me a stock of all articles of food, except meat and fish,
+for the time I intended to be absent (three months); and the
+luggage, including hammocks, cooking utensils, crockery, and so
+forth, formed fifteen large packages. One bundle consisted of a
+mosquito tent, an article I had not yet had occasion to use on
+the river, but which was indispensable in all excursions beyond
+Ega, every person, man, woman and child, requiring one, as
+without it existence would be scarcely possible. My tent was
+about eight feet long and five feet broad, and was made of coarse
+calico in an oblong shape, with sleeves at each end through which
+to pass the cords of a hammock. Under this shelter, which is
+fixed up every evening before sundown, one can read and write, or
+swing in one's hammock during the long hours which intervene
+before bedtime, and feel one's sense of comfort increased by
+having cheated the thirsty swarms of mosquitoes which fill the
+chamber.
+
+We were four days on the road. The pilot, a Mameluco of Ega, whom
+I knew very well, exhibited a knowledge of the river and powers
+of endurance which were quite remarkable. He stood all this time
+at his post, with the exception of three or four hours in the
+middle of each day, when he was relieved by a young man who
+served as apprentice, and he knew the breadth and windings of the
+channel, and the extent of all the yearly-shifting shoals from
+the Rio Negro to Loreto, a distance of more than a thousand
+miles. There was no slackening of speed at night, except during
+the brief but violent storms which occasionally broke upon us,
+and then the engines were stopped by the command of Lieutenant
+Nunes, sometimes against the wish of the pilot. The nights were
+often so dark that we passengers on the poop deck could not
+discern the hardy fellow on the bridge, but the steamer drove on
+at full speed, men being stationed on the look-out at the prow,
+to watch for floating logs, and one man placed to pass orders to
+the helmsman; the keel scraped against a sand-bank only once
+during the passage.
+
+The passengers were chiefly Peruvians, mostly thin, anxious,
+Yankee-looking men, who were returning home to the cities of
+Moyobamba and Chachapoyas, on the Andes, after a trading trip to
+the Brazilian towns on the Atlantic seaboard, whither they had
+gone six months previously, with cargoes of Panama hats to
+exchange for European wares. These hats are made of the young
+leaflets of a palm tree, by the Indians and half-caste people who
+inhabit the eastern parts of Peru. They form almost the only
+article of export from Peru by way of the Amazons, but the money
+value is very great compared with the bulk of the goods, as the
+hats are generally of very fine quality, and cost from twelve
+shillings to six pounds sterling each; some traders bring down
+two or three thousand pounds' worth, folded into small compass in
+their trunks. The return cargoes consist of hardware, crockery,
+glass, and other bulky or heavy goods, but not of cloth, which,
+being of light weight, can be carried across the Andes from the
+ports on the Pacific to the eastern parts of Peru. All kinds of
+European cloth can be obtained at a much cheaper rate by this
+route than by the more direct way of the Amazons, the import
+duties of Peru being, as I was told, lower than those of Brazil,
+and the difference not being counter-balanced by increased
+expense of transit, on account of weight, over the passes of the
+Andes.
+
+There was a great lack of amusement on board. The table was very
+well served, professed cooks being employed in these Amazonian
+steamers, and fresh meat insured by keeping on deck a supply of
+live bullocks and fowls, which are purchased whenever there is an
+opportunity on the road. The river scenery was similar to that
+already described as presented between the Rio Negro and Ega:
+long reaches of similar aspect, with two long, low lines of
+forest, varied sometimes with cliffs of red clay, appearing one
+after the other. an horizon of water and sky on some days
+limiting the view both up stream and down. We travelled, however,
+always near the bank, and, for my part, I was never weary of
+admiring the picturesque grouping and variety of trees, and the
+varied mantles of creeping plants which clothed the green wall of
+forest every step of the way. With the exception of a small
+village called Fonte Boa, retired from the main river, where we
+stopped to take in firewood, and which I shall have to speak of
+presently, we saw no human habitation the whole of the distance.
+The mornings were delightfully cool; coffee was served at
+sunrise, and a bountiful breakfast at ten o'clock; after that
+hour the heat rapidly increased until it became almost
+unbearable. How the engine-drivers and firemen stood it without
+exhaustion I cannot tell; it diminished after four o'clock in the
+afternoon, about which time dinner-bell rung, and the evenings
+were always pleasant.
+
+November 11th to 30th.--The Tunantins is a sluggish black-water
+stream, about sixty miles in length, and towards its mouth from
+100 to 200 yards in breadth. The vegetation on its banks has a
+similar aspect to that of the Rio Negro, the trees having small
+foliage of a sombre hue, and the dark piles of greenery resting
+on the surface of the inky water. The village is situated on the
+left bank, about a mile from the mouth of the river, and contains
+twenty habitations, nearly all of which are merely hovels, built
+of lath-work and mud. The short streets, after rain, are almost
+impassable on account of the many puddles, and are choked up with
+weeds--leguminous shrubs, and scarlet-flowered asclepias. The
+atmosphere in such a place, hedged in as it is by the lofty
+forest, and surrounded by swamps, is always close, warm, and
+reeking; and the hum and chirp of insects and birds cause a
+continual din. The small patch of weedy ground around the village
+swarms with plovers, sandpipers, striped herons, and scissor-
+tailed fly-catchers; and alligators are always seen floating
+lazily on the surface of the river in front of the houses.
+
+On landing, I presented myself to Senor Paulo Bitancourt, a good-
+natured half-caste, director of Indians of the neighbouring river
+Issa, who quickly ordered a small house to be cleared for me.
+This exhilarating abode contained only one room, the walls of
+which were disfigured by large and ugly patches of mud, the work
+of white ants. The floor was the bare earth, dirty and damp, the
+wretched chamber was darkened by a sheet of calico being
+stretched over the windows, a plan adopted here to keep out the
+Pium-flies, which float about in all shady places like thin
+clouds of smoke, rendering all repose impossible in the daytime
+wherever they can effect an entrance. My baggage was soon landed,
+and before the steamer departed I had taken gun, insect-net, and
+game-bag, to make a preliminary exploration of my new locality.
+
+I remained here nineteen days, and, considering the shortness of
+the time, made a very good collection of monkeys, birds, and
+insects. A considerable number of the species (especially of
+insects) were different from those of the four other stations,
+which I examined on the south side of the Solimoens, and as many
+of these were "representative forms" [Species or races which take
+the place of other allied species or races.] of others found on
+the opposite banks of the broad river, I concluded that there
+could have been no land connection between the two shores during,
+at least, the recent geological period. This conclusion is
+confirmed by the case of the Uakari monkeys, described in the
+last chapter. All these strongly modified local races of insects
+confined to one side of the Solimoens (like the Uakaris), are
+such as have not been able to cross a wide treeless space such as
+a river. The acquisition which pleased me most, in this place,
+was a new species of butterfly (a Catagramma), which has since
+been named C. excelsior, owing to its surpassing in size and
+beauty all the previously-known species of its singularly
+beautiful genus. The upper surface of the wings is of the richest
+blue, varying in shade with the play of light, and on each side
+is a broad curved stripe of an orange colour. It is a bold flyer,
+and is not confined, as I afterwards found, to, the northern side
+of the river, for I once saw a specimen amidst a number of
+richly-coloured butterflies, flying about the deck of the steamer
+when we were anchored off Fonte Boa, 200 miles, lower down the
+river.
+
+With the exception of three Mameluco families and a stray
+Portuguese trader, all the inhabitants of the village and
+neighbourhood are semi-civilised Indians of the Shumana and Passe
+tribes. The forests of the Tunantins, however, are inhabited by a
+tribe of wild Indians called Caishanas, who resemble much, in
+their social condition and manners, the debased Muras of the
+Lower Amazons, and have, like them, shown no aptitude for
+civilised life in any shape. Their huts commence at the distance
+of an hour's walk from the village, along gloomy and narrow
+forest paths. My first and only visit to a Caishana dwelling was
+accidental. One day, having extended my walk further than usual,
+and followed one of the forest-roads until it became a mere
+picada, or hunters' track, I came suddenly upon a well-trodden
+pathway, bordered on each side with Lycopodia of the most elegant
+shapes, the tips of the fronds stretching almost like tendrils
+down the little earthy slopes which formed the edge of the path.
+The road, though smooth, was narrow and dark, and in many places
+blocked up by trunks of felled trees, which had been apparently
+thrown across by the timid Indians on purpose to obstruct the way
+to their habitations. Half-a-mile of this shady road brought me
+to a small open space on the banks of a brook or creek, on the
+skirts of which stood a conical hut with a very low doorway.
+There was also an open shed, with stages made of split palm-
+stems, and a number of large wooden troughs. Two or three dark-
+skinned children, with a man and woman, were in the shed; but,
+immediately on espying me, all of them ran to the hut, bolting
+through the little doorway like so many wild animals scared into
+their burrows. A few moments after, the man put his head out with
+a look of great distrust; but, on my making the most friendly
+gestures I could think of, he came forth with the children. They
+were all smeared with black mud and paint; the only clothing of
+the elders was a kind of apron made of the inner bark of the
+sapucaya-tree, and the savage aspect of the man was heightened by
+his hair hanging over his forehead to the eyes. I stayed about
+two hours in the neighbourhood, the children gaining sufficient
+confidence to come and help me to search for insects. The only
+weapon used by the Caishanas is the blow-gun, and this is
+employed only in shooting animals for food. They are not a
+warlike people, like most of the neighbouring tribes on the
+Japura and Issa.
+
+The whole tribe of Caishanas does not exceed 400 souls in number.
+None of them are baptised Indians, and they do not dwell in
+villages, like the more advanced sections of the Tupi stock; but
+each family has its own solitary hut. They are quite harmless, do
+not practise tattooing, or perforate their ears and noses in any
+way. Their social condition is of a low type, very little
+removed, indeed, from that of the brutes living in the same
+forests. They do not appear to obey any common chief, and I could
+not make out that they had Pajes, or medicine-men, those rudest
+beginnings of a priest class. Symbolical or masked dances, and
+ceremonies in honour of the Jurupari, or demon, customs which
+prevail among all the surrounding tribes, are unknown to the
+Caishanas. There is among them a trace of festival keeping; but
+the only ceremony used is the drinking of cashiri beer, and
+fermented liquors made of Indian-corn, bananas, and so forth.
+These affairs, however, are conducted in a degenerate style, for
+they do not drink to intoxication, or sustain the orgies for
+several days and nights in succession, like the Juris Passes, and
+Tucunas. The men play a musical instrument, made of pieces of
+stem of the arrow-grass cut in different lengths and arranged
+like Pan-pipes. With this they wile away whole hours, lolling in
+ragged, bast hammocks slung in their dark, smoky huts. The
+Tunantins people say that the Caishanas have persecuted the wild
+animals and birds to such an extent near their settlements that
+there is now quite a scarcity of animal food. If they kill a
+Toucan, it is considered an important event, and the bird is made
+to serve as a meal for a score or more persons. They boil the
+meat in earthenware kettles filled with Tucupi sauce, and eat it
+with beiju, or mandioca-cakes. The women are not allowed to taste
+of the meat, but forced to content themselves with sopping pieces
+of cake in the liquor.
+
+November 30th--I left Tunantins in a trading schooner of eighty
+tons burthen belonging to Senor Batalha, a tradesman of Ega,
+which had been out all the summer collecting produce, and was
+commanded by a friend of mine, a young Paraense, named Francisco
+Raiol. We arrived, on the 3rd of December, at the mouth of the
+Jutahi, a considerable stream about half a mile broad, and
+flowing with a very sluggish current. This is one of the series
+of six rivers, from 400 to 1000 miles in length, which flow from
+the southwest through unknown lands lying between Bolivia and the
+Upper Amazons, and enter this latter river between the Madeira
+and the Ucayali. We remained at anchor four days within the mouth
+of the Sapo, a small tributary of the Jutahi flowing from the
+southeast; Senor Raiol having to send an igarite to the Cupatana,
+a large tributary some few miles farther up the river, to fetch a
+cargo of salt-fish. During this time we made several excursions
+in the montaria to various places in the neighbourhood. Our
+longest trip was to some Indian houses, a distance of fifteen or
+eighteen miles up the Sapo, a journey made with one Indian
+paddler, and occupying a whole day. The stream is not more than
+forty or fifty yards broad; its waters are darker in colour than
+those of the Jutahi, and flow, as in all these small rivers,
+partly under shade between two lofty walls of forest. We passed,
+in ascending, seven habitations, most of them hidden in the
+luxuriant foliage of the banks; their sites being known only by
+small openings in the compact wall of forest, and the presence of
+a canoe or two tied up in little shady ports. The inhabitants are
+chiefly Indians of the Maraua tribe, whose original territory
+comprised all the small by-streams lying between the Jutahi and
+the Jurua, near the mouths of both these great tributaries. They
+live in separate families or small hordes, have no common chief,
+and are considered as a tribe little disposed to adopt civilised
+customs or be friendly with the whites. One of the houses
+belonged to a Juri family, and we saw the owner, an erect, noble-
+looking old fellow, tattooed, as customary with his tribe, in a
+large patch over the middle of his face, fishing under the shade
+of a colossal tree in his port with hook and line. He saluted us
+in the usual grave and courteous manner of the better sort of
+Indians as we passed by.
+
+We reached the last house, or rather two houses, about ten
+o'clock, and spent several hours there during the great heat of
+midday. The houses, which stood. on a high clayey bank, were of
+quadrangular shape, partly open like sheds, and partly enclosed
+with rude mud-walls, forming one or more chambers. The
+inhabitants, a few families of Marauas, comprising about thirty
+persons, received us in a frank, smiling manner-- a reception
+which may have been due to Senor Raiol being an old acquaintance
+and somewhat of a favourite. None of them were tattooed; but the
+men had great holes pierced in their earlobes, in which they
+insert plugs of wood, and their lips were drilled with smaller
+holes. One of the younger men, a fine strapping fellow nearly six
+feet high, with a large aquiline nose, who seemed to wish to be
+particularly friendly with me, showed me the use of these lip-
+holes, by fixing a number of little white sticks in them, and
+then twisting his mouth about and going through a pantomime to
+represent defiance in the presence of an enemy. Nearly all the
+people were disfigured by dark blotches on the skin, the effect
+of a cutaneous disease very prevalent in this part of the
+country. The face of one old man was completely blackened, and
+looked as though it had been smeared with black lead, the
+blotches having coalesced to form one large patch. Others were
+simply mottled; the black spots were hard and rough, but not
+scaly, and were margined with rings of a colour paler than the
+natural hue of the skin.
+
+I had seen many Indians and a few half-castes at Tunantins, and
+afterwards saw others at Fonte Boa, blotched in the same way. The
+disease would seem to be contagious, for I was told that a
+Portuguese trader became disfigured with it after cohabiting some
+years with an Indian woman. It is curious that, although
+prevalent in many places on the Solimoens, no resident of Ega
+exhibited signs of the disease: the early explorers of the
+country, on noticing spotted skins to be very frequent in certain
+localities, thought they were peculiar to a few tribes of
+Indians. The younger children in these houses on the Sapo were
+free from spots; but two or three of them, about ten years of
+age, showed signs of their commencement in rounded yellowish
+patches on the skin, and these appeared languid and sickly,
+although the blotched adults seemed not to be affected in their
+general health. A middle-aged half-caste at Fonte Boa told me he
+had cured himself of the disorder by strong doses of
+sarsaparilla; the black patches had caused the hair of his beard
+and eyebrows to fall off, but it had grown again since his cure.
+
+When my tall friend saw me, after dinner, collecting insects
+along the paths near the houses, he approached, and, taking me by
+the arm, led me to a mandioca shed, making signs, as he could
+speak very little Tupi, that he had something to show. I was not
+a little surprised when, having mounted the girao, or stage of
+split palm-stems, and taken down an object transfixed to a post,
+he exhibited, with an air of great mystery, a large chrysalis
+suspended from a leaf, which he placed carefully in my hands,
+saying, "Pana-pana curi " (Tupi: butterfly by-and-by). Thus I
+found that the metamorphoses of insects were known to these
+savages; but being unable to talk with my new friend, I could not
+ascertain what ideas such a phenomenon had given rise to in his
+mind. The good fellow did not leave my side during the remainder
+of our stay; but, thinking apparently that I had come here for
+information, he put himself to considerable trouble to give me
+all he could. He made a quantity of Hypadu or Coca powder that I
+might see the process; going about the task with much action and
+ceremony, as though he were a conjuror performing some wonderful
+trick.
+
+We left these friendly people about four o'clock in the
+afternoon, and in descending the umbrageous river, stopped, about
+half-way down, at another house, built in one of the most
+charming situations I had yet seen in this country. A clean,
+narrow, sandy pathway led from the shady port to the house,
+through a tract of forest of indescribable luxuriance. The
+buildings stood on an eminence in the middle of a level cleared
+space-- the firm sand soil, smooth as a floor, forming a broad
+terrace around them. The owner was a semi-civilised Indian, named
+Manoel; a dull, taciturn fellow, who, together with his wife and
+children, seemed by no means pleased at being intruded on in
+their solitude. The family must have been very industrious, for
+the plantations were very extensive, and included a little of
+almost all kinds of cultivated tropical productions: fruit trees,
+vegetables, and even flowers for ornament. The silent old man had
+surely a fine appreciation of the beauties of nature, for the
+site he had chosen commanded a view of surprising magnificence
+over the summits of the forest; and, to give finish to the
+prospect, he had planted a large quantity of banana trees in the
+foreground, thus concealing the charred and dead stumps which
+would otherwise have marred the effect of the rolling sea of
+greenery. The only information I could get out of Manoel was,
+that large flocks of richly-coloured birds came down in the fruit
+season and despoiled his trees. The sun set over the treetops
+before we left this little Eden, and the remainder of our journey
+was made slowly and pleasantly, under the chequered shades of the
+river banks, by the light of the moon.
+
+December 7th--Arrived at Fonte Boa; a wretched, muddy, and
+dilapidated village situated two or three miles within the mouth
+of a narrow by-stream called the Cayhiar-hy, which runs almost as
+straight as an artificial canal between the village and the main
+Amazons. The character of the vegetation and soil here was
+different from that of all other localities I had hitherto
+examined; I had planned, therefore, to devote six weeks to the
+place. Having written beforehand to one of the principal
+inhabitants, Senor Venancio, a house was ready for me on landing.
+The only recommendation of the dwelling was its coolness. It was,
+in fact, rather damp; the plastered walls bore a crop of green
+mold, and a slimy moisture oozed through the black, dirty floor;
+the rooms were large, but lighted by miserable little holes in
+place of windows. The village is built on a clayey plateau, and
+the ruinous houses are arranged round a large square, which is so
+choked up with tangled bushes that it is quite impassable, the
+lazy inhabitants having allowed the fine open space to relapse
+into jungle. The stiff clayey eminence is worn into deep gullies
+which slope towards the river, and the ascent from the port in
+rainy weather is so slippery that one is obliged to crawl up to
+the streets on all fours. A large tract of round behind the place
+is clear of forest, but this, as well as the streets and gardens,
+is covered with a dense, tough carpet of shrubs, having the same
+wiry nature as our common heath. Beneath its deceitful covering
+the soil is always moist and soft, and in the wet season the
+whole is converted into a glutinous mud swamp. There is a very
+pretty church in one corner of the square, but in the rainy
+months of the year (nine out of twelve) the place of worship is
+almost inaccessible to the inhabitants on account of the mud, the
+only means of getting to it being by hugging closely the walls
+and palings, and so advancing sideways step by step.
+
+I remained in this delectable place until the 25th of January,
+1857. Fonte Boa, in addition to its other amenities, has the
+reputation throughout the country of being the headquarters of
+mosquitoes, and it fully deserves the title. They are more
+annoying in the houses by day than by night, for they swarm in
+the dark and damp rooms, keeping, in the daytime, near the floor,
+and settling by half-dozens together on the legs. At night the
+calico tent is a sufficient protection; but this is obliged to be
+folded every morning, and in letting it down before sunset, great
+care is required to prevent even one or two of the tormentors
+from stealing in beneath, their insatiable thirst for blood, and
+pungent sting, making these enough to spoil all comfort. In the
+forest the plague is much worse; but the forest-mosquito belongs
+to a different species from that of the town, being much larger,
+and having transparent wings; it is a little cloud that one
+carries about one's person every step on a woodland ramble, and
+their hum is so loud that it prevents one hearing well the notes
+of birds. The town-mosquito has opaque speckled wings, a less
+severe sting, and a silent way of going to work; the inhabitants
+ought to be thankful the big, noisy fellows never come out of the
+forest. In compensation for the abundance of mosquitoes, Fonte
+Boa has no piums; there was, therefore, some comfort outside
+one's door in the daytime; the comfort, however, was lessened by
+their being scarcely any room in front of the house to sit down
+or walk about, for, on our side of the square, the causeway was
+only two feet broad, and to step over the boundary, formed by a
+line of slippery stems of palms, was to sink up to the knees in a
+sticky swamp.
+
+Notwithstanding damp and mosquitoes, I had capital health, and
+enjoyed myself much at Fonte Boa; swampy and weedy places being
+generally more healthy than dry ones in the Amazons, probably
+owing to the absence of great radiation of heat from the ground.
+The forest was extremely rich and picturesque, although the soil
+was everywhere clayey and cold, and broad pathways threaded it
+for many a mile over hill and dale. In every hollow flowed a
+sparkling brook, with perennial and crystal waters. The margins
+of these streams were paradises of leafiness and verdure; the
+most striking feature being the variety of ferns, with immense
+leaves, some terrestrial, others climbing over trees, and two, at
+least, arborescent. I saw here some of the largest trees I had
+yet seen; there was one especially, a cedar, whose colossal trunk
+towered up for more than a hundred feet, straight as an arrow; I
+never saw its crown, which was lost to view, from below, beyond
+the crowd of lesser trees which surrounded it. Birds and monkeys
+in this glorious forest were very abundant; the bear-like
+Pithecia hirsuta being the most remarkable of the monkeys, and
+the Umbrella Chatterer and Curl-crested Toucans amongst the most
+beautiful of the birds. The Indians and half-castes of the
+village have made their little plantations, and built huts for
+summer residence on the banks of the rivulets, and my rambles
+generally terminated at one or other of these places. The people
+were always cheerful and friendly, and seemed to be glad when I
+proposed to join them at their meals, contributing the contents
+of my provision-bag to the dinner, and squatting down among them
+on the mat.
+
+The village was formerly a place of more importance than it now
+is, a great number of Indians belonging to the most industrious
+tribes, Shumanas, Passes, and Cambevas, having settled on the
+site and adopted civilised habits, their industry being directed
+by a few whites, who seem to have been men of humane views as
+well as enterprising traders. One of these old employers, Senor
+Guerreiro, a well-educated Paraense, was still trading on the
+Amazons when I left the country in 1859: he told me that forty
+years previously Fonte Boa was a delightful place to live in. The
+neighbourhood was then well cleared, and almost free from
+mosquitoes, and the Indians were orderly, industrious, and happy.
+What led to the ruin of the settlement was the arrival of several
+Portuguese and Brazilian traders of a low class, who in their
+eagerness for business taught the easy-going Indians all kinds of
+trickery and immorality. They enticed the men and women away from
+their old employers, and thus broke up the large establishments,
+compelling the principals to take their capital to other places.
+At the time of my visit there were few pure-blood Indians at
+Fonte Boa, and no true whites. The inhabitants seemed to be
+nearly all Mamelucos, and were a loose-living, rustic, plain-
+spoken and ignorant set of people. There was no priest or
+schoolmaster within 150 miles, and had not been any for many
+years: the people seemed to be almost without government of any
+kind, and yet crime and deeds of violence appeared to be of very
+rare occurrence. The principal man of the village, one Senor
+Justo, was a big, coarse, energetic fellow, sub-delegado of
+police, and the only tradesman who owned a large vessel running
+directly between Fonte Boa and Para. He had recently built a
+large house, in the style of middle-class dwellings of towns,
+namely, with brick floors and tiled roof, the bricks and tiles
+having been brought from Para, 1500 miles distant, the nearest
+place where they are manufactured in surplus. When Senor Justo
+visited me he was much struck with the engravings in a file of
+Illustrated London News, which lay on my table. It was impossible
+to resist his urgent entreaties to let him have some of them, "to
+look at," so one day he carried off a portion of the papers on
+loan. A fortnight afterwards, on going to request him to return
+them, I found the engravings had been cut out, and stuck all over
+the newly whitewashed walls of his chamber, many of them upside
+down. He thought a room thus decorated with foreign views would
+increase his importance among his neighbours, and when I yielded
+to his wish to keep them, was boundless in demonstrations of
+gratitude, ending by shipping a boat-load of turtles for my use
+at Ega.
+
+These neglected and rude villagers still retained many religious
+practices which former missionaries or priests had taught them.
+The ceremony which they observed at Christmas, like that
+described as practised by negroes in a former chapter, was very
+pleasing for its simplicity, and for the heartiness with which it
+was conducted. The church was opened, dried, and swept clean a
+few days before Christmas Eve, and on the morning all the women
+and children of the village were busy decorating it with festoons
+of leaves and wild flowers. Towards midnight it was illuminated
+inside and out with little oil lamps, made of clay, and the image
+of the "menino Deus," or Child-God, in its cradle, was placed
+below the altar, which was lighted up with rows of wax candles,
+very lean ones, but the best the poor people could afford. All
+the villagers assembled soon afterwards, dressed in their best,
+he women with flowers in their hair, and a few simple hymns,
+totally irrelevant to the occasion, but probably the only ones
+known by them, were sung kneeling; an old half-caste, with black-
+spotted face, leading off the tunes. This finished, the
+congregation rose, and then marched in single file up one side of
+the church and down the other, singing together a very pretty
+marching chorus, and each one, on reaching the little image,
+stooping to kiss the end of a ribbon which was tied round its
+waist. Considering that the ceremony was got up of their own free
+will, and at considerable expense, I thought it spoke well for
+the good intentions and simplicity of heart of these poor,
+neglected villagers.
+
+I left Fonte Boa, for Ega, on the 25th of January, making the
+passage by steamer, down the middle of the current, in sixteen
+hours. The sight of the clean and neat little town, with its open
+spaces, close-cropped grass, broad lake, and white sandy shores,
+had a most exhilarating effect, after my trip into the wilder
+parts of the country. The district between Ega and Loreto, the
+first Peruvian village on the river, is, indeed, the most remote,
+thinly-peopled, and barbarous of the whole line of the Amazons,
+from ocean to ocean. Beyond Loreto, signs of civilisation, from
+the side of the Pacific, begin to be numerous, and, from Ega
+downwards, the improvement is felt from the side of the Atlantic.
+
+September 5th, 1857--Again embarked on the Tabatinga, this time
+for a longer excursion than the last, namely to St. Paulo de
+Olivenca, a village higher up than any I had yet visited, being
+260 miles distant, in a straight line, from Ega, or about 400
+miles following the bends of the river.
+
+The waters were now nearly at their lowest point; but this made
+no difference to the rate of travelling, night or day. Several of
+the Parana mirims, or by-channels, which the steamer threads in
+the season of full-water, to save a long circuit, were now dried
+up, their empty beds looking like deep sandy ravines in the midst
+of the thick forest. The large sand-islands, and miles of sandy
+beach, were also uncovered, and these, with the swarms of large
+aquatic birds; storks, herons, ducks, waders, and spoon-bills,
+which lined their margins in certain places, made the river view
+much more varied and animated than it is in the season of the
+flood. Alligators of large size were common near the shores,
+lazily floating, and heedless of the passing steamer. The
+passengers amused themselves by shooting at them from the deck
+with a double-barrelled rifle we had on board. The sign of a
+mortal hit was the monster turning suddenly over, and remaining
+floating, with its white belly upwards. Lieutenant Nunes wished
+to have one of the dead animals on board, for the purpose of
+opening the abdomen, and, if a male, extracting a part which is
+held in great estimation among Brazilians as a "remedio," charm
+or medicine. The steamer was stopped, and a boat sent, with four
+strong men, to embark the beast; the body, however, was found too
+heavy to be lifted into the boat; so a rope was passed round it,
+and the hideous creature towed alongside, and hoisted on deck by
+means of the crane, which was rigged for the purpose. It had
+still some sparks of life, and when the knife was applied, lashed
+its tail, and opened its enormous jaws, sending the crowd of
+bystanders flying in all directions. A blow with a hatchet on the
+crown of the head gave him his quietus at last. The length of the
+animal was fifteen feet; but this statement can give but an
+imperfect idea of its immense bulk and weight. The numbers of
+turtles which were seen swimming in quiet shoaly bays passed on
+the road, also gave us much amusement. They were seen by dozens
+ahead, with their snouts peering above the surface of the water;
+and, on the steamer approaching, turning round to stare, but not
+losing confidence till the vessel had nearly passed, when they
+appeared to be suddenly smitten with distrust, diving like ducks
+under the stream.
+
+We had on board, among our deck-passengers, a middle-aged Indian,
+of the Juri tribe; a short, thickset man, with features
+resembling much those of the late Daniel O'Connell. His name was
+Caracara-i (Black Eagle), and his countenance seemed permanently
+twisted into a grim smile, the effect of which was heightened by
+the tattooed marks--a blue rim to the mouth, with a diagonal
+pointed streak from each corner towards the ear. He was dressed
+in European-style black hat, coat, and trousers--looking very
+uncomfortable in the dreadful heat which, it is unnecessary to
+say, exists on board a steamer, under a vertical sun, during mid-
+day hours. This Indian was a man of steady resolution, ambitious
+and enterprising; very rare qualities in the race to which he
+belonged, weakness of resolution being one of the fundamental
+defects in the Indian character. He was now on his return home to
+the banks of the Issa from Para, whither he had been to sell a
+large quantity of sarsaparilla that he had collected, with the
+help of a number of Indians, whom he induces, or forces, to work
+for him. One naturally feels inclined to know what ideas such a
+favourable specimen of the Indian race may have acquired after so
+much experience amongst civilised scenes. On conversing with our
+fellow-passenger, I was greatly disappointed in him; he had seen
+nothing, and thought of nothing, beyond what concerned his little
+trading speculation, his mind being, evidently, what it had been
+before, with regard to all higher subjects or general ideas, a
+blank. The dull, mean, practical way of thinking of the Amazonian
+Indians, and the absence of curiosity and speculative thought
+which seems to be organic or confirmed in their character,
+although they are improvable to a certain extent, make them, like
+commonplace people everywhere, most uninteresting companions.
+Caracara-i disembarked at Tunantins with his cargo, which
+consisted of a considerable number of packages of European wares.
+
+The river scenery about the mouth of the Japura is extremely
+grand, and was the subject of remark among the passengers.
+Lieutenant Nunes gave it as his opinion, that there was no
+diminution of width or grandeur in the mighty stream up to this
+point, a distance of 1500 miles from the Atlantic; and yet we did
+not here see the two shores of the river on both sides at once;
+lines of islands, or tracts of alluvial land, having by-channels
+in the rear, intercepting the view of the northern mainland, and
+sometimes also of the southern. Beyond the Issa, however, the
+river becomes evidently narrower, being reduced to an average
+width of about a mile; there were then no longer those
+magnificent reaches, with blank horizons, which occur lower down.
+We had a dark and rainy night after passing Tunantins, and the
+passengers were all very uneasy on account of the speed at which
+we were travelling, twelve miles an hour, with every plank
+vibrating with the force of the engines. Many of them could not
+sleep, myself among the number. At length, a little after
+midnight, a sudden shout startled us: "Back her!" (English terms
+being used in matters relating to steam-engines). The pilot
+instantly sprung to the helm, and in a few moments we felt our
+paddle-box brushing against the wall of forest into which we had
+nearly driven headlong. Fortunately, the water was deep close up
+to the bank. Early in the morning of the 10th of September we
+anchored in the port of St. Paulo, after five days' quick
+travelling from Ega.
+
+St. Paulo is built on a high hill, on the southern bank of the
+river. The hill is formed of the same Tabatinga clay, which
+occurs at intervals over the whole valley of the Amazons, but
+nowhere rises to so great an elevation as here, the height being
+about 100 feet above the mean level of the river. The ascent from
+the port is steep and slippery; steps and resting-places have
+been made to lighten the fatigue of mounting, otherwise the
+village would be almost inaccessible, especially to porters of
+luggage and cargo, for there are no means of making a circuitous
+road of more moderate slope, the hill being steep on all sides,
+and surrounded by dense forests and swamps. The place contains
+about 500 inhabitants, chiefly half-castes and Indians of the
+Tucuna and Collina tribes, who are very little improved from
+their primitive state. The streets are narrow, and in rainy
+weather inches deep in mud; many houses are of substantial
+structure, but in a ruinous condition, and the place altogether
+presents the appearance, like Fonte Boa, of having seen better
+days. Signs of commerce, such as meet the eye at Ega, could
+scarcely be expected in this remote spot, situate 1800 miles, or
+seven months' round voyage by sailing-vessels, from Para, the
+nearest market for produce. A very short experience showed that
+the inhabitants were utterly debased, the few Portuguese and
+other immigrants having, instead of promoting industry, adopted
+the lazy mode of life of the Indians, spiced with the practice of
+a few strong vices of their own introduction.
+
+The head-man of the village, Senor Antonio Ribeiro, half-white
+half-Tucuna, prepared a house for me on landing, and introduced
+me to the principal people. The summit of the hill is grassy
+table-land, of two or three hundred acres in extent. The soil is
+not wholly clay, but partly sand and gravel; the village itself,
+however, stands chiefly on clay, and the streets therefore after
+heavy rains, become filled with muddy puddles. On damp nights the
+chorus of frogs and toads which swarm in weedy back-yards creates
+such a bewildering uproar that it is impossible to carry on a
+conversation indoors except by shouting. My house was damper even
+than the one I occupied at Fonte Boa, and this made it extremely
+difficult to keep my collections from being spoilt by mould. But
+the general humidity of the atmosphere in this part of the river
+was evidently much greater than it is lower down; it appears to
+increase gradually in ascending from the Atlantic to the Andes.
+It was impossible at St. Paulo to keep salt for many days in a
+solid state, which was not the case at Ega, when the baskets in
+which it is contained were well wrapped in leaves. Six degrees
+further westward, namely, at the foot of the Andes, the dampness
+of the climate of the Amazonian forest region appears to reach
+its acme, for Poeppig found at Chinchao that the most refined
+sugar, in a few days, dissolved into syrup, and the best
+gunpowder became liquid, even when enclosed in canisters. At St.
+Paulo refined sugar kept pretty well in tin boxes, and I had no
+difficulty in keeping my gunpowder dry in canisters, although a
+gun loaded overnight could very seldom be fired off in the
+morning.
+
+The principal residents at St. Paulo were the priest, a white
+from Para, who spent his days and most of his nights in gambling
+and rum-drinking, corrupting the young fellows and setting the
+vilest example to the Indians; the sub-delegado, an upright,
+open-hearted, and loyal negro, whom I have before mentioned,
+Senor Jose Patricio; the Juiz de Paz, a half-caste named Geraldo,
+and lastly, Senor Antonio Ribeiro, who was Director of the
+Indians. Geraldo and Ribeiro were my near neighbours, but they
+took offence at me after the first few days, because I would not
+join them in their drinking bouts, which took place about every
+third day. They used to begin early in the morning with Cashaca
+mixed with grated ginger, a powerful drink, which used to excite
+them almost to madness. Neighbour Geraldo, after these morning
+potations, used to station himself opposite my house and rave
+about foreigners, gesticulating in a threatening manner towards
+me by the hour. After becoming sober in the evening, he usually
+came to offer me the humblest apologies, driven to it, I believe,
+by his wife, he himself being quite unconscious of this breach of
+good manners. The wives of the St. Paulo worthies, however, were
+generally as bad as their husbands; nearly all the women being
+hard drinkers, and corrupt to the last degree. Wifebeating
+naturally flourished under such a state of things. I found it
+always best to lock myself indoors after sunset, and take no
+notice of the thumps and screams which used to rouse the village
+in different quarters throughout the night, especially at
+festival times.
+
+The only companionable man I found in the place, except Jose
+Patricio, who was absent most part of the time, was the negro
+tailor of the village, a tall, thin, grave young man, named
+Mestre Chico (Master Frank), whose acquaintance I had made at
+Para several years previously. He was a free negro by birth, but
+had had the advantage of kind treatment in his younger days,
+having been brought up by a humane and sensible man, one Captain
+Basilio, of Pernambuco, his padrinho, or godfather. He neither
+drank, smoked, nor gambled, and was thoroughly disgusted at the
+depravity of all classes in this wretched little settlement,
+which he intended to quit as soon as possible.
+
+When he visited me at night he used to knock at my shutters in a
+manner we had agreed on, it being necessary to guard against
+admitting drunken neighbours, and we then spent the long evenings
+most pleasantly, working and conversing. His manners were
+courteous, and his talk well worth listening to, for the
+shrewdness and good sense of his remarks. I first met Mestre
+Chico at the house of an old negress of Para, Tia Rufina (Aunt
+Rufina), who used to take charge of my goods when I was absent on
+a voyage, and this affords me an opportunity of giving a few
+further instances of the excellent qualities of free negroes in a
+country where they are not wholly condemned to a degrading
+position by the pride or selfishness of the white race. This old
+woman was born a slave, but, like many others in the large towns
+of Brazil, she had been allowed to trade on her own account, as
+market-woman, paying a fixed sum daily to her owner, and keeping
+for herself all her surplus gains. In a few years she had saved
+sufficient money to purchase her freedom, and that of her grown-
+up son. This done, the old lady continued to strive until she had
+earned enough to buy the house in which she lived, a considerable
+property situated in one of the principal streets. When I
+returned from the interior, after seven years' absence from Para,
+I found she was still advancing in prosperity, entirely through
+her own exertions (being a widow) and those of her son, who
+continued, with the most regular industry, his trade as
+blacksmith, and was now building a number of small houses on a
+piece of unoccupied land attached to her property. I found these
+and many other free negroes most trustworthy people, and admired
+the constancy of their friendships and the gentleness and
+cheerfulness of their manners towards each other. They showed
+great disinterestedness in their dealings with me, doing me many
+a piece of service without a hint at remuneration; but this may
+have been partly due to the name of Englishman, the knowledge of
+our national generosity towards the African race being spread far
+and wide amongst the Brazilian negroes.
+
+I remained at St. Paulo five months; five years would not have
+been sufficient to exhaust the treasures of its neighbourhood in
+Zoology and Botany. Although now a forest-rambler of ten years'
+experience, the beautiful forest which surrounds this settlement
+gave me as much enjoyment as if I had only just landed for the
+first time in a tropical country. The plateau on which the
+village is built extends on one side nearly a mile into the
+forest, but on the other side the descent into the lowland begins
+close to the streets; the hill sloping abruptly towards a boggy
+meadow surrounded by woods, through which a narrow winding path
+continues the slope down to a cool shady glen, with a brook of
+icy-cold water flowing at the bottom. At mid-day the vertical sun
+penetrates into the gloomy depths of this romantic spot, lighting
+up the leafy banks of the rivulet and its clean sandy margins,
+where numbers of scarlet, green, and black tanagers and brightly-
+coloured butterflies sport about in the stray beams. Sparkling
+brooks, large and small, traverse the glorious forest in almost
+every direction, and one is constantly meeting, while rambling
+through the thickets, with trickling rills and bubbling springs,
+so well-provided is the country with moisture. Some of the
+rivulets flow over a sandy and pebbly bed, and the banks of all
+are clothed with the most magnificent vegetation conceivable. I
+had the almost daily habit, in my solitary walks, of resting on
+the clean banks of these swift-flowing streams, and bathing for
+an hour at a time in their bracing waters; hours which now remain
+among my most pleasant memories. The broad forest roads continue,
+as I was told, a distance of several days' journey into the
+interior, which is peopled by Tucunas and other Indians, living
+in scattered houses and villages nearly in their primitive state,
+the nearest village lying about six miles from St. Paulo. The
+banks of all the streams are dotted with palm-thatched dwellings
+of Tucunas, all half-buried in the leafy wilderness, the
+scattered families having chosen the coolest and shadiest nooks
+for their abodes.
+
+I frequently heard in the neighbourhood of these huts, the
+"realejo" or organ bird (Cyphorhinus cantans), the most
+remarkable songster, by far, of the Amazonian forests. When its
+singular notes strike the ear for the first time, the impression
+cannot be resisted that they are produced by a human voice. Some
+musical boy must be gathering fruit in the thickets, and is
+singing a few notes to cheer himself. The tones become more fluty
+and plaintive; they are now those of a flageolet, and
+notwithstanding the utter impossibility of the thing, one is for
+the moment convinced that somebody is playing that instrument. No
+bird is to be seen, however closely the surrounding trees and
+bushes may be scanned, and yet the voice seems to come from the
+thicket close to one's ears. The ending of the song is rather
+disappointing. It begins with a few very slow and mellow notes,
+following each other like the commencement of an air; one listens
+expecting to hear a complete strain, but an abrupt pause occurs,
+and then the song breaks down, finishing with a number of
+clicking unmusical sounds like a piping barrel organ out of wind
+and tune. I never heard the bird on the Lower Amazon, and very
+rarely heard it even at Ega; it is the only songster which makes
+an impression on the natives, who sometimes rest their paddles
+whilst travelling in their small canoes, along the shady by-
+streams, as if struck by the mysterious sounds.
+
+The Tucuna Indians are a tribe resembling much the Shumanas,
+Passes, Juris, and Mauhes in their physical appearance and
+customs. They lead, like those tribes, a settled agricultural
+life, each horde obeying a chief of more or less influence,
+according to his energy and ambition, and possessing its paje or
+medicine-man who fosters its superstitions; but, they are much
+more idle and debauched than other Indians belonging to the
+superior tribes. They are not so warlike and loyal as the
+Mundurucus, although resembling them in many respects, nor have
+they the slender figures, dignified mien, and gentle disposition
+of the Passes; there are, however, no trenchant points of
+difference to distinguish them from these highest of all the
+tribes. Both men and women are tattooed, the pattern being
+sometimes a scroll on each cheek, but generally rows of short
+straight lines on the face. Most of the older people wear
+bracelets, anklets, and garters of tapir-hide or tough bark; in
+their homes they wear no other dress except on festival days,
+when they ornament themselves with feathers or masked cloaks made
+of the inner bark of a tree. They were very shy when I made my
+first visits to their habitations in the forest, all scampering
+off to the thicket when I approached, but on subsequent days they
+became more familiar, and I found them a harmless, good-natured
+people.
+
+A great part of the horde living at the first Maloca or village
+dwell in a common habitation, a large oblong hut built and
+arranged inside with such a disregard of all symmetry that it
+appeared as though constructed by a number of hands, each working
+independently, stretching a rafter or fitting in a piece of
+thatch, without reference to what his fellow-labourers were
+doing. The walls as well as the roof are covered with thatch of
+palm leaves-- each piece consisting of leaflets plaited and
+attached in a row to a lath many feet in length. Strong upright
+posts support the roof, hammocks being slung between them,
+leaving a free space for passage and for fires in the middle, and
+on one side is an elevated stage (girao) overhead, formed of
+split palm-stems. The Tucunas excel over most of the other tribes
+in the manufacture of pottery. They make broad-mouthed jars for
+Tucupi sauce, caysuma or mandioca beer, capable of holding twenty
+or more gallons, ornamenting them outside with crossed diagonal
+streaks of various colours. These jars, with cooking-pots,
+smaller jars for holding water, blow-guns, quivers, matiri bags
+[These bags are formed of remarkably neat twine made of Bromelia
+fibres elaborately knitted, all in one piece, with sticks; a belt
+of the same material, but more closely woven, being attached to
+the top to suspend them by. They afford good examples of the
+mechanical ability of these Indians. The Tucunas also possess the
+art of skinning and stuffing birds, the handsome kinds of which
+they sell in great numbers to passing travellers.] full of small
+articles, baskets, skins of animals, and so forth, form the
+principal part of the furniture of their huts both large and
+small. The dead bodies of their chiefs are interred, the knees
+doubled up, in large jars under the floors of their huts.
+
+The semi-religious dances and drinking bouts usual among the
+settled tribes of Amazonian Indians are indulged in to greater
+excess by the Tucunas than they are by most other tribes. The
+Jurupari or Demon is the only superior being they have any
+conception of, and his name is mixed up with all their
+ceremonies, but it is difficult to ascertain what they consider
+to be his attributes. He seems to be believed in simply as a
+mischievous imp, who is at the bottom of all those mishaps of
+their daily life, the causes of which are not very immediate or
+obvious to their dull understandings. It is vain to try to get
+information out of a Tucuna on this subject; they affect great
+mystery when the name is mentioned, and give very confused
+answers to questions: it was clear, however, that the idea of a
+spirit as a beneficent God or Creator had not entered the minds
+of these Indians. There is great similarity in all their
+ceremonies and mummeries, whether the object is a wedding, the
+celebration of the feast of fruits, the plucking of the hair from
+the heads of their children, or a holiday got up simply out of a
+love of dissipation. Some of the tribe on these occasions deck
+themselves with the bright-coloured feathers of parrots and
+macaws. The chief wears a headdress or cap made by fixing the
+breast-feathers of the Toucan on a web of Bromelia twine, with
+erect tail plumes of macaws rising from the crown. The cinctures
+of the arms and legs are also then ornamented with bunches of
+feathers. Others wear masked dresses; these are long cloaks
+reaching below the knee, and made of the thick whitish-coloured
+inner bark of a tree, the fibres of which are interlaced in so
+regular a manner that the material looks like artificial cloth.
+The cloak covers the head; two holes are cut out for the eyes, a
+large round piece of the cloth stretched on a rim of flexible
+wood is stitched on each side to represent cars, and the features
+are painted in exaggerated style with yellow, red, and black
+streaks. The dresses are sewn into the proper shapes with thread
+made of the inner bark of the Uaissima tree. Sometimes grotesque
+head-dresses, representing monkeys' busts or heads of other
+animals, made by stretching cloth or skin over a basketwork
+frame, are worn at these holidays. The biggest and ugliest mask
+represents the Jurupari. In these festival habiliments the
+Tucunas go through their monotonous see-saw and stamping dances
+accompanied by singing and drumming, and keep up the sport often
+for three or four days and nights in succession, drinking
+enormous quantities of caysuma, smoking tobacco, and snuffing
+parica powder.
+
+I could not learn that there was any deep symbolical meaning in
+these masked dances, or that they commemorated any past event in
+the history of the tribe. Some of them seem vaguely intended as a
+propitiation of the Jurupari, but the masker who represents the
+demon sometimes gets drunk along with the rest, and is not
+treated with any reverence. From all I could make out, these
+Indians preserve no memory of events going beyond the times of
+their fathers or grandfathers. Almost every joyful event is made
+the occasion of a festival-- weddings among the best. A young man
+who wishes to wed a Tucuna girl has to demand her hand of her
+parents, who arrange the rest of the affair, and fix a day for
+the marriage ceremony. A wedding which took place in the
+Christmas week while I was at St. Paulo was kept up with great
+spirit for three or four days, flagging during the heats of mid-
+day, but renewing itself with increased vigour every evening.
+During the whole time the bride, decked out with feather
+ornaments, was under the charge of the older squaws whose
+business seemed to be, sedulously, to keep the bridegroom at a
+safe distance until the end of the dreary period of dancing and
+boosing. The Tucunas have the singular custom, in common with the
+Collinas and Mauhes, of treating their young girls, on their
+showing the first signs of womanhood, as if they had committed
+some crime. They are sent up to the girao under the smoky and
+filthy roof, and kept there on very meagre diet, sometimes for a
+whole month. I heard of one poor girl dying under this treatment.
+
+The only other tribe of this neighbourhood concerning which I
+obtained any information were the Majeronas, whose territory
+embraces several hundred miles of the western bank of the river
+Jauari, an affluent of the Solimoens, 120 miles beyond St. Paulo.
+These are a fierce, indomitable, and hostile people, like the
+Araras of the river Madeira; they are also cannibals. The
+navigation of the Jauari is rendered impossible on account of the
+Majeronas lying in wait on its banks to intercept and murder all
+travellers, especially whites.
+
+Four months before my arrival at St. Paulo, two young half-castes
+(nearly white) of the village went to trade on the Jauari; the
+Majeronas having shown signs of abating their hostility for a
+year or two previously. They had not been long gone, when their
+canoe returned with the news that the two young fellows had been
+shot with arrows, roasted, and eaten by the savages. Jose
+Patricio, with his usual activity in the cause of law and order,
+despatched a party of armed men of the National Guard to the
+place to make inquiries, 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
+Senor 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 goodwill by extracting the grub of an
+Oestrus fly from her back, and thus cured her of a painful
+tumour. She was decidedly the best-humoured and, to all
+appearance, the kindest-hearted specimen of her race I had yet
+seen. She was tall and very stout; in colour much lighter than
+the ordinary Indian tint, and her ways altogether were more like
+those of a careless, laughing country wench, such as might be met
+with any day amongst the labouring class in villages in our own
+country, than a cannibal. I heard this artless maiden relate, in
+the coolest manner possible, how she ate a portion of the bodies
+of the young men whom her tribe had roasted. But what increased
+greatly the incongruity of this business, the young widow of one
+of the victims, a neighbour of mine, happened to be present
+during the narrative, and showed her interest in it by laughing
+at the broken Portuguese in which the girl related the horrible
+story.
+
+In the fourth month of my sojourn at St. Paulo I had a serious
+illness, an attack of the "sizoens," or ague of the country,
+which, as it left me with shattered health and damped enthusiasm,
+led to my abandoning the plan I had formed of proceeding to the
+Peruvian towns of Pebas and Moyobamba, 250 and 600 miles further
+west, and so completing the examination of the Natural History of
+the Amazonian plains up to the foot of the Andes. I made a very
+large collection at St. Paulo, and employed a collector at
+Tabatinga and on the banks of the Jauari for several months, so
+that I acquired a very fair knowledge altogether of the
+productions of the country bordering the Amazons to the end of
+the Brazilian territory, a distance of 1900 miles from the
+Atlantic at the mouth of the Para; but beyond the Peruvian
+boundary I found now I should be unable to go. My ague seemed to
+be the culmination of a gradual deterioration of health, which
+had been going on for several years. I had exposed myself too
+much in the sun, working to the utmost of my strength six days a
+week, and had suffered much, besides, from bad and insufficient
+food. The ague did not exist at St. Paulo but the foul and humid
+state of the village was, perhaps, sufficient to produce ague in
+a person much weakened from other causes. The country bordering
+the shores of the Solimoens is healthy throughout; some endemic
+diseases certainly exist, but these are not of a fatal nature,
+and the epidemics which desolated the Lower Amazons from Para to
+the Rio Negro, between the years 1850 and 1856, had never reached
+this favoured land. Ague is known only on the banks of those
+tributary streams which have dark-coloured water.
+
+I always carried a stock of medicines with me; and a small phial
+of quinine, which I had bought at Para in 1851, but never yet had
+use for, now came in very useful. I took for each dose as much as
+would lie on the tip of a penknife-blade, mixing it with warm
+camomile tea. The first few days after my first attack I could
+not stir, and was delirious during the paroxysms of fever; but
+the worst being over, I made an effort to rouse myself, knowing
+that incurable disorders of the liver and spleen follow ague in
+this country if the feeling of lassitude is too much indulged. So
+every morning I shouldered my gun or insect-net, and went my
+usual walk in the forest. The fit of shivering very often seized
+me before I got home, and I then used to stand still and brave it
+out. When the steamer ascended in January, 1858, Lieutenant Nunes
+was shocked to see me so much shattered, and recommended me
+strongly to return at once to Ega. I took his advice, and
+embarked with him, when he touched at St. Paulo on his downward
+voyage, on the 2nd of February. I still hoped to be able to turn
+my face westward again, to gather the yet unseen treasures of the
+marvellous countries lying between Tabatinga and the slopes of
+the Andes; but although, after a short rest in Ega, the ague left
+me, my general health remained in a state too weak to justify the
+undertaking of further journeys. At length I left Ega, on the 3rd
+of February, 1859, en route for England.
+
+I arrived at Para on the 17th of March, after an absence in the
+interior of seven years and a half. My old friends, English,
+American, and Brazilian, scarcely knew me again, but all gave me
+a very warm welcome, especially Mr. G. R. Brocklehurst (of the
+firm of R. Singlehurst and Co., the chief foreign merchants, who
+had been my correspondents), who received me into his house, and
+treated me with the utmost kindness. I was rather surprised at
+the warm appreciation shown by many of the principal people of my
+labours; but, in fact, the interior of the country is still the
+"sertao" (wilderness)--a terra incognita to most residents of the
+seaport--and a man who had spent seven years and a half in
+exploring it solely with scientific aims was somewhat of a
+curiosity. I found Para greatly changed and improved. It was no
+longer the weedy, ruinous, village-looking place that it appeared
+to be when I first knew it in 1848. The population had been
+increased to 20,000 by an influx of Portuguese, Madeiran, and
+German immigrants, and for many years past the provincial
+government had spent their considerable surplus revenue in
+beautifying the city. The streets, formerly unpaved or strewn
+with loose stones and sand, were now laid with concrete in a most
+complete manner, all the projecting masonry of the irregularly-
+built houses had been cleared away, and the buildings made more
+uniform. Most of the dilapidated houses were replaced by handsome
+new edifices, having long and elegant balconies fronting the
+first floors, at an elevation of several feet above the roadway.
+The large, swampy squares had been drained, weeded, and planted
+with rows of almond and casuarina trees, so that they were now a
+great ornament to the city, instead of an eyesore as they
+formerly were. My old favourite road, the Monguba avenue, had
+been renovated and joined to many other magnificent rides lined
+with trees, which in a very few years had grown to a height
+sufficient to afford agreeable shade; one of these, the Estrada
+de Sao Jose, had been planted with cocoa-nut palms. Sixty public
+vehicles, light cabriolets (some of them built in Para), now
+plied in the streets, increasing much the animation of the
+beautified squares, streets, and avenues.
+
+I found also the habits of the people considerably changed. Many
+of the old religious holidays had declined in importance, and
+given way to secular amusements--social parties, balls, music,
+billiards, and so forth. There was quite as much pleasure seeking
+as formerly, but it was turned in a more rational direction, and
+the Paraenses seemed now to copy rather the customs of the
+northern nations of Europe than those of the mother country,
+Portugal. I was glad to see several new booksellers' shops, and
+also a fine edifice devoted to a reading-room supplied with
+periodicals, globes, and maps, and a circulating library. There
+were now many printing-offices, and four daily newspapers. The
+health of the place had greatly improved since 1850, the year of
+the yellow fever, and Para was now considered no longer dangerous
+to newcomers.
+
+So much for the improvements visible in the place, and now for
+the dark side of the picture. The expenses of living had
+increased about fourfold, a natural consequence of the demand for
+labour and for native products of all kinds having augmented in
+greater ratio than the supply, through large arrivals of
+nonproductive residents, and considerable importations of money
+on account of the steamboat company and foreign merchants. Para,
+in 1848, was one of the cheapest places of residence on the
+American continent; it was now one of the dearest. Imported
+articles of food, clothing, and furniture were mostly cheaper,
+although charged with duties varying from 18 to 80 percent,
+besides high freights and large profits, than those produced in
+the neighbourhood. Salt codfish was twopence per pound cheaper
+than the vile salt pirarucu of the country. Oranges, which could
+formerly be had almost gratis, were now sold in the streets at
+the rate of three for a penny; large bananas were a penny each;
+tomatoes were from two to three pence each, and all other fruits
+in this fruit-producing country had advanced in like proportion.
+Mandioca-meal, the bread of the country, had become so scarce and
+dear and bad that the poorer classes of natives suffered famine,
+and all who could afford it were obliged to eat wheaten bread at
+fourpence to fivepence per pound, made from American flour, 1200
+barrels of which were consumed monthly; this was now, therefore,
+a very serious item of daily expense to all but the most wealthy.
+House rent was most exorbitant; a miserable little place of two
+rooms, without fixtures or conveniences of any kind, having
+simply blank walls' cost at the rate of £18 sterling a year.
+Lastly, the hire of servants was beyond the means of all persons
+in moderate circumstances--a lazy cook or porter could not be had
+for less than three or four shillings a day, besides his board
+and what he could steal. It cost me half-a-crown for the hire of
+a small boat and one man to disembark from the steamer, a
+distance of 100 yards.
+
+In rambling over my old ground in the forests of the
+neighbourhood, I found great changes had taken place--to me,
+changes for the worse. The mantle of shrubs, bushes, and creeping
+plants which formerly, when the suburbs were undisturbed by axe
+or spade, had been left free to arrange itself in rich, full, and
+smooth sheets and masses over the forest borders, had been nearly
+all cut away, and troops of labourers were still employed cutting
+ugly muddy roads for carts and cattle, through the once clean and
+lonely woods. Houses and mills had been erected on the borders of
+these new roads. The noble forest-trees had been cut down, and
+their naked, half-burnt stems remained in the midst of ashes,
+muddy puddles, and heaps of broken branches. I was obliged to
+hire a negro boy to show me the way to my favourite path near
+Una, which I have described in the second chapter of this
+narrative; the new clearings having quite obliterated the old
+forest roads. Only a few acres of the glorious forest near Una
+now remained in their natural state. On the other side of the
+city, near the old road to the rice mills, several scores of
+woodsmen were employed under Government, in cutting a broad
+carriage-road through the forest to Maranham, the capital of the
+neighbouring province, distant 250 miles from Para, and this had
+entirely destroyed the solitude of the grand old forest path. In
+the course of a few years, however, a new growth of creepers will
+cover the naked treetrunks on the borders of this new road, and
+luxuriant shrubs form a green fringe to the path: it will then
+become as beautiful a woodland road as the old one was. A
+naturalist will have, henceforward, to go farther from the city
+to find the glorious forest scenery which lay so near in 1848,
+and work much more laboriously than was formerly needed to make
+the large collections which Mr. Wallace and I succeeded in doing
+in the neighbourhood of Para.
+
+June 2, 1859--At length, on the 2nd of June, I left Para,
+probably forever; embarking in a North American trading-vessel,
+the Frederick Demming, for New York, the United States route
+being the quickest as well as the pleasantest way of reaching
+England. My extensive private collections were divided into three
+portions and sent by three separate ships, to lessen the risk of
+loss of the whole. On the evening of the 3rd of June, I took a
+last view of the glorious forest for which I had so much love,
+and to explore which I had devoted so many years. The saddest
+hours I ever recollect to have spent were those of the succeeding
+night when, the Mameluco pilot having left us free of the shoals
+and out of sight of land though within the mouth of the river at
+anchor waiting for the wind, I felt that the last link which
+connected me with the land of so many pleasing recollections was
+broken. The Paraenses, who are fully aware of the attractiveness
+of their country, have an alliterative proverb, "Quem vai para
+(o) Para para," "He who goes to Para stops there," and I had
+often thought I should myself have been added to the list of
+examples. The desire, however, of seeing again my parents and
+enjoying once more the rich pleasures of intellectual society,
+had succeeded in overcoming the attractions of a region which may
+be fittingly called a Naturalist's Paradise. During this last
+night on the Para river, a crowd of unusual thoughts occupied my
+mind. Recollections of English climate, scenery, and modes of
+life came to me with a vividness I had never before experienced,
+during the eleven years of my absence. Pictures of startling
+clearness rose up of the gloomy winters, the long grey twilights,
+murky atmosphere, elongated shadows, chilly springs, and sloppy
+summers; of factory chimneys and crowds of grimy operatives, rung
+to work in early morning by factory bells; of union workhouses,
+confined rooms, artificial cares, and slavish conventionalities.
+To live again amidst these dull scenes, I was quitting a country
+of perpetual summer, where my life had been spent like that of
+three-fourths of the people-- in gipsy fashion-- on the endless
+streams or in the boundless forests. I was leaving the equator,
+where the well-balanced forces of Nature maintained a land-
+surface and climate that seemed to be typical of mundane order
+and beauty, to sail towards the North Pole, where lay my home
+under crepuscular skies somewhere about fifty-two degrees of
+latitude. It was natural to feel a little dismayed at the
+prospect of so great a change; but now, after three years of
+renewed experience of England, I find how incomparably superior
+is civilised life, where feelings, tastes, and intellect find
+abundant nourishment, to the spiritual sterility of half-savage
+existence, even though it be passed in the garden of Eden. What
+has struck me powerfully is the immeasurably greater diversity
+and interest of human character and social conditions in a single
+civilised nation, than in equatorial South America, where three
+distinct races of man live together. The superiority of the bleak
+north to tropical regions, however, is only in their social
+aspect, for I hold to the opinion that, although humanity can
+reach an advanced state of culture only by battling with the
+inclemencies of nature in high latitudes, it is under the equator
+alone that the perfect race of the future will attain to complete
+fruition of man's beautiful heritage, the earth.
+
+The following day, having no wind, we drifted out of the mouth of
+the Para with the current of fresh water that is poured from the
+mouth of the river, and in twenty-four hours advanced in this way
+seventy miles on our road. On the 6th of June, when in 7' 55' N.
+lat. and 52' 30' W. long., and therefore about 400 miles from the
+mouth of the main Amazons, we passed numerous patches of floating
+grass mingled with tree-trunks and withered foliage. Among these
+masses I espied many fruits of that peculiarly Amazonian tree the
+Ubussu palm; this was the last I saw of the Great River.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext The Naturalist on the River Amazons
+
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext The Naturalist on the River Amazons
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+The Naturalist on the River Amazons
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+by Henry Walter Bates
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+December, 2000  [Etext #2440]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext The Naturalist on the River Amazons
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+Scanned by Martin Adamson
+martin@grassmarket.freeserve.co.uk
+
+
+
+
+
+The Naturalist on the River Amazons
+
+by Henry Walter Bates
+
+
+
+
+AN APPRECIATION
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN
+Author of "The Origin of Species," etc.
+
+From Natural History Review, vol. iii. 1863.
+
+IN April, 1848, the author of the present volume left England in
+company with Mr. A. R. Wallace--"who has since acquired wide fame
+in connection with the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection"--on
+a joint expedition up the river Amazons, for the purpose of
+investigating the Natural History of the vast wood-region
+traversed by that mighty river and its numerous tributaries. Mr.
+Wallace returned to England after four years' stay, and was, we
+believe, unlucky enough to lose the greater part of his
+collections by the shipwreck of the vessel in which he had
+transmitted them to London. Mr. Bates prolonged his residence in
+the Amazon valley seven years after Mr. Wallace's departure, and
+did not revisit his native country again until 1859. Mr. Bates
+was also more fortunate than his companion in bringing his
+gathered treasures home to England in safety. So great, indeed,
+was the mass of specimens accumulated by Mr. Bates during his
+eleven years' researches, that upon the working out of his
+collection, which has been accomplished (or is now in course of
+being accomplished) by different scientific naturalists in this
+country, it has been ascertained that representatives of no less
+than 14,712 species are amongst them, of which about 8000 were
+previously unknown to science. It may be remarked that by far the
+greater portion of these species, namely, about 14,000, belong to
+the class of Insects--to the study of which Mr. Bates principally
+devoted his attention--being, as is well known, himself
+recognised as no mean authority as regards this class of organic
+beings. In his present volume, however, Mr. Bates does not
+confine himself to his entomological discoveries, nor to any
+other branch of Natural History, but supplies a general outline
+of his adventures during his journeyings up and down the mighty
+river, and a variety of information concerning every object of
+interest, whether physical or political, that he met with by the
+way.
+
+Mr. Bates landed at Para in May, 1848. His first part is entirely
+taken up with an account of the Lower Amazons--that is, the river
+from its sources up to the city of Manaos or Barra do Rio Negro,
+where it is joined by the large northern confluent of that name--
+and with a narrative of his residence at Para and his various
+excursions in the neighbourhood of that city. The large
+collection made by Mr. Bates of the animal productions of Para
+enabled him to arrive at the following conclusions regarding the
+relations of the Fauna of the south side of the Amazonian delta
+with those of other regions.
+
+"It is generally allowed that Guiana and Brazil, to the north and
+south of the Para district, form two distinct provinces, as
+regards their animal and vegetable inhabitants. By this it means
+that the two regions have a very large number of forms peculiar
+to themselves, and which are supposed not to have been derived
+from other quarters during modern geological times. Each may be
+considered as a centre of distribution in the latest process of
+dissemination of species over the surface of tropical America.
+Para lies midway between the two centres, each of which has a
+nucleus of elevated table-land, whilst the intermediate river-
+valley forms a wide extent of low-lying country. It is,
+therefore, interesting to ascertain from which the latter
+received its population, or whether it contains so large a number
+of endemic species as would warrant the conclusion that it is
+itself an independent province. To assist in deciding such
+questions as these, we must compare closely the species found in
+the district with those of the other contiguous regions, and
+endeavour to ascertain whether they are identical, or only
+slightly modified, or whether they are highly peculiar.
+
+"Von Martius when he visited this part of Brazil forty years ago,
+coming from the south, was much struck with the dissimilarity of
+the animal and vegetable productions to those of other parts of
+Brazil. In fact the Fauna of Para, and the lower part of the
+Amazons has no close relationship with that of Brazil proper; but
+it has a very great affinity with that of the coast region of
+Guiana, from Cayenne to Demerara. If we may judge from the
+results afforded by the study of certain families of insects, no
+peculiar Brazilian forms are found in the Para district; whilst
+more than one-half of the total number are essentially Guiana
+species, being found nowhere else but in Guiana and Amazonia.
+Many of them, however, are modified from the Guiana type, and
+about one-seventh seem to be restricted to Para. These endemic
+species are not highly peculiar, and they may yet be found over a
+great part of Northern Brazil when the country is better
+explored. They do not warrant us in concluding that the district
+forms an independent province, although they show that its Fauna
+is not wholly derivative, and that the land is probably not
+entirely a new formation. From all these facts, I think we must
+conclude that the Para district belongs to the Guiana province
+and that, if it is newer land than Guiana, it must have received
+the great bulk of its animal population from that region. I am
+informed by Dr. Sclater that similar results are derivable from
+the comparison of the birds of these countries."
+
+One of the most interesting excursions made by Mr. Bates from
+Para was the ascent of the river Tocantins--the mouth of which
+lies about 4-5 miles from the city of Para. This was twice
+attempted. On the second occasion--our author being in company
+with Mr. Wallace--the travellers penetrated as far as the rapids
+of Arroyos, about 130 miles from its mouth. This district is one
+of the chief collecting-grounds of the well-known Brazil-nut
+(Bertholletia excelsa), which is here very plentiful, grove after
+grove of these splendid trees being visible, towering above their
+fellows, with the "woody fruits, large and round as cannon-balls,
+dotted over the branches." The Hyacinthine Macaw (Ara
+hyacinthina) is another natural wonder, first met with here. This
+splendid bird, which is occasionally brought alive to the
+Zoological Gardens of Europe, "only occurs in the interior of
+Brazil, from 16' S.L. to the southern border of the Amazon
+valley." Its enormous beak--which must strike even the most
+unobservant with wonder--appears to be adapted to enable it to
+feed on the nuts of the Mucuja Palm (Acrocomia lasiospatha).
+"These nuts, which are so hard as to be difficult to break with a
+heavy hammer, are crushed to a pulp by the powerful beak of this
+Macaw."
+
+Mr. Bates' later part is mainly devoted to his residence at
+Santarem, at the junction of the Rio Tapajos with the main
+stream, and to his account of Upper Amazon, or Solimoens--the
+Fauna of which is, as we shall presently see, in many respects
+very different from that of the lower part of the river. At
+Santarem--"the most important and most civilised settlement on
+the Amazon, between the Atlantic and Para "--Mr. Bates made his
+headquarters for three years and a half, during which time
+several excursions up the little-known Tapajos were effected.
+Some 70 miles up the stream, on its affluent, the Cupari, a new
+Fauna, for the most part very distinct from that of the lower
+part of the same stream, was entered upon. "At the same time a
+considerable proportion of the Cupari species were identical with
+those of Ega, on the Upper Amazon, a district eight times further
+removed than the village just mentioned." Mr. Bates was more
+successful here than on his excursion up the Tocantins, and
+obtained twenty new species of fishes, and many new and
+conspicuous insects, apparently peculiar to this part of the
+Amazonian valley.
+
+In a later chapter Mr. Bates commences his account of the
+Solimoens, or Upper Amazons, on the banks of which he passed four
+years and a half. The country is a "magnificent wilderness, where
+civilised man has, as yet, scarcely obtained a footing-the
+cultivated ground, from the Rio Negro to the Andes, amounting
+only to a few score acres." During the whole of this time Mr.
+Bates' headquarters were at Ega, on the Teffe, a confluent of the
+great river from the south, whence excursions were made sometimes
+for 300 or 400 miles into the interior. In the intervals Mr.
+Bates followed his pursuit as a collecting naturalist in the same
+"peaceful, regular way," as he might have done in a European
+village. Our author draws a most striking picture of the quiet,
+secluded life he led in this far-distant spot. The difficulty of
+getting news and the want of intellectual society were the great
+drawbacks--"the latter increasing until it became almost
+insupportable." "I was obliged at last," Mr. Bates naively
+remarks, "to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of
+Nature, alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and
+mind." Mr. Bates must indeed have been driven to great straits as
+regards his mental food, when, as he tell us, he took to reading
+the Athenaeum three times over, "the first time devouring the
+more interesting articles--the second, the whole of the
+remainder--and the third, reading all the advertisements from
+beginning to end."
+
+Ega was, indeed, as Mr. Bates remarks, a fine field for a Natural
+History collector, the only previous scientific visitants to that
+region having been the German Naturalists, Spix and Martius, and
+the Count de Castelnau when he descended the Amazons from the
+Pacific. Mr. Bates' account of the monkeys of the genera
+Brachyuyus, Nyctipithecus and Midas met with in this region, and
+the whole of the very pregnant remarks which follow on the
+American forms of the Quadrumana, will be read with interest by
+every one, particularly by those who pay attention to the
+important subject of geographical distribution. We need hardly
+say that Mr. Bates, after the attention he has bestowed upon this
+question, is a zealous advocate of the hypothesis of the origin
+of species by derivation from a common stock. After giving an
+outline of the general distribution of Monkeys, he clearly argues
+that unless the "common origin at least of the species of a
+family be admitted, the problem of their distribution must remain
+an inexplicable mystery." Mr. Bates evidently thoroughly
+understands the nature of this interesting problem, and in
+another passage, in which the very singular distribution of the
+Butterflies of the genus Heliconius is enlarged upon, concludes
+with the following significant remarks upon this important
+subject:
+
+"In the controversy which is being waged amongst Naturalists
+since the publication of the Darwinian theory of the origin of
+species, it has been rightly said that no proof at present
+existed of the production of a physiological species, that is, a
+form which will not interbreed with the one from which it was
+derived, although given ample opportunities of doing so, and does
+not exhibit signs of reverting to its parent form when placed
+under the same conditions with it. Morphological species, that
+is, forms which differ to an amount that would justify their
+being considered good species, have been produced in plenty
+through selection by man out of variations arising under
+domestication or cultivation. The facts just given are therefore
+of some scientific importance, for they tend to show that a
+physiological species can be and is produced in nature out of the
+varieties of a pre-existing closely allied one. This is not an
+isolated case, for I observed in the course of my travels a
+number of similar instances. But in very few has it happened that
+the species which clearly appears to be the parent, co-exists
+with one that has been evidently derived from it. Generally the
+supposed parent also seems to have been modified, and then the
+demonstration is not so clear, for some of the links in the chain
+of variation are wanting. The process of origination of a species
+in nature as it takes place successively, must be ever, perhaps,
+beyond man's power to trace, on account of the great lapse of
+time it requires. But we can obtain a fair view of it by tracing
+a variable and far-spreading species over the wide area of its
+present distribution; and a long observation of such will lead to
+the conclusion that new species must in all cases have arisen out
+of variable and widely-disseminated forms. It sometimes happens,
+as in the present instance, that we find in one locality a
+species under a certain form which is constant to all the
+individuals concerned; in another exhibiting numerous varieties;
+and in a third presenting itself as a constant form quite
+distinct from the one we set out with. If we meet with any two of
+these modifications living side by side, and maintaining their
+distinctive characters under such circumstances, the proof of the
+natural origination of a species is complete; it could not be
+much more so were we able to watch the process step by step. It
+might be objected that the difference between our two species is
+but slight, and that by classing them as varieties nothing
+further would be proved by them. But the differences between them
+are such as obtain between allied species generally. Large genera
+are composed in great part of such species, and it is interesting
+to show the great and beautiful diversity within a large genus as
+brought about by the working of laws within our comprehension."
+
+But to return to the Zoological wonders of the Upper Amazon,
+birds, insects, and butterflies are all spoken of by Mr. Bates in
+his chapter on the natural features of the district, and it is
+evident that none of these classes of beings escaped the
+observation of his watchful intelligence. The account of the
+foraging ants of the genus Eciton is certainly marvellous, and
+would, even of itself, be sufficient to stamp the recorder of
+their habits as a man of no ordinary mark.
+
+The last chapter of Mr. Bates' work contains the account of his
+excursions beyond Ega. Fonteboa, Tunantins--a small semi-Indian
+settlement, 240 miles up the stream--and San Paulo de Olivenca,
+some miles higher up, were the principal places visited, and new
+acquisitions were gathered at each of these localities. In the
+fourth month of Mr. Bates' residence at the last-named place, a
+severe attack of ague led to the abandonment of the plans he had
+formed of proceeding to the Peruvian towns of Pebas and
+Moyobamba, and "so completing the examination of the Natural
+History of the Amazonian plains up to the foot of the Andes."
+This attack, which seemed to be the culmination of a gradual
+deterioration of health, caused by eleven years' hard work under
+the tropics, induced him to return to Ega, and finally to Para,
+where he embarked, on the 2nd June 1859, for England. Naturally
+enough, Mr. Bates tells us he was at first a little dismayed at
+leaving the equator, "where the well-balanced forces of Nature
+maintain a land-surface and a climate typical of mind, and order
+and beauty," to sail towards the "crepuscular skies" of the cold
+north. But he consoles us by adding the remark that "three years'
+renewed experience of England" have convinced him "how
+incomparably superior is civilised life to the spiritual
+sterility of half-savage existence, even if it were passed in the
+Garden of Eden."
+
+
+
+The following is the list of H. W. Bates' published works:
+
+Contributions to an insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley, Paper read
+before the Linnean Society, June 21, 1861; The Naturalist on the
+Amazons, a Record of Adventure, Habits of Animals, Sketches of
+Brazilian and Indian Life . . . during Eleven Years of Travel,
+1863; 3rd Edition, 1873, with a Memoir of the author by E. Clodd
+to reprint of unabridged edition, 1892.
+
+Bates was for many years the editor of the Transactions of the
+Royal Geographical Society; the following works were edited and
+revised, or supplemented by him:--Mrs. Somerville's Physical
+Geography, 1870; A. Humbert, Japan and the Japanese, 1874; C.
+Koldewey, the German Arctic Expedition, 1874; P. E. Warburton,
+Journey across the Western Interior of Australia, 1875; Cassell's
+Illustrated Travels, 6 vols., 1869-1875; E. Whymper, Travels
+among the Great Andes of the Equator (Introduction to Appendix
+volume), 1892, etc.; Central America, the West Indies and South
+America; Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel, 2nd
+revised Ed., 1882; he also added a list of Coleoptera collected
+by J. S. Jameson on the Aruwini to the latter's Story of the Rear
+Column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, etc., 1890; and an
+appendix to a catalogue of Phytophaga by H. Clark, 1866, etc.;
+and contributed a biographical notice of Keith Johnson to J.
+Thomson's Central African Lakes and Back, 1881.
+
+He contributed largely to the Zoologist, Entomological Society's
+journal, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, and
+Entomologist.
+
+LIFE--Memoir by E. Clodd, 1892; short notice in Clodd's Pioneers
+of Evolution, 1897.
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1864
+
+HAVING been urged to prepare a new edition of this work for a
+wider circle than that contemplated in the former one, I have
+thought it advisable to condense those portions which, treating
+of abstruse scientific questions, presuppose a larger amount of
+Natural History knowledge than an author has a right to expect of
+the general reader. The personal narrative has been left entire,
+together with those descriptive details likely to interest all
+classes, young and old, relating to the great river itself, and
+the wonderful country through which it flows,--the luxuriant
+primaeval forests that clothe almost every part of it, the
+climate, productions, and inhabitants.
+
+Signs are not wanting that this fertile, but scantily peopled
+region will soon become, through recent efforts of the Peruvian
+and Brazilian governments to make it accessible and colonise it,
+of far higher importance to the nations of Northern Europe than
+it has been hitherto. The full significance of the title, the
+"largest river in the world," which we are all taught in our
+schoolboy days to apply to the Amazons, without having a distinct
+idea of its magnitude, will then become apparent to the English
+public. It will be new to most people, that this noble stream has
+recently been navigated by steamers to a distance of 2200
+geographical miles from its mouth at Para, or double the distance
+which vessels are able to reach on the Yang-tze-Kiang, the
+largest river of the old world; the depth of water in the dry
+season being about seven fathoms up to this terminus of
+navigation. It is not, however, the length of the trunk stream,
+that has earned for the Amazons the appellation of the
+"Mediterranean of South America," given it by the Brazilians of
+Para; but the network of by-channels and lakes, which everywhere
+accompanies its course at a distance from the banks, and which
+adds many thousands of miles of easy inland navigation to the
+total presented by the main river and its tributaries. The
+Peruvians, especially, if I may judge from letters received
+within the past few weeks, seem to be stirring themselves to
+grasp the advantages which the possession of the upper course of
+the river places within their reach. Vessels of heavy tonnage
+have arrived in Para, from England, with materials for the
+formation of shipbuilding establishments, at a point situated two
+thousand miles from the mouth of the river. Peruvian steamers
+have navigated from the Andes to the Atlantic, and a quantity of
+cotton (now exported for the first time), the product of the rich
+and healthy country bordering the Upper Amazons, has been
+conveyed by this means, and shipped from Para to Europe. The
+probability of general curiosity in England being excited before
+long with regard to this hitherto neglected country, will be
+considered, of itself, a sufficient reason for placing an account
+of its natural features and present condition within reach of all
+readers.
+
+LONDON, January, 1864.
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PARA
+
+Arrival--Aspect of the Country--The Para River--First Walk in the
+Suburbs of Para--Birds, Lizards, and Insects of the Suburbs--
+Leaf-carrying Ant--Sketch of the Climate, History, and present
+Condition of Para.
+
+I embarked at Liverpool, with Mr. Wallace, in a small trading
+vessel, on the 26th of April, 1848; and, after a swift passage
+from the Irish Channel to the equator, arrived, on the 26th of
+May, off Salinas. This is the pilot-station for vessels bound to
+Para, the only port of entry to the vast region watered by the
+Amazons. It is a small village, formerly a missionary settlement
+of the Jesuits, situated a few miles to the eastward of the Para
+River. Here the ship anchored in the open sea at a distance of
+six miles from the shore, the shallowness of the water far out
+around the mouth of the great river not permitting, in safety, a
+nearer approach; and, the signal was hoisted for a pilot.
+
+It was with deep interest that my companion and myself, both now
+about to see and examine the beauties of a tropical country for
+the first time, gazed on the land where I, at least, eventually
+spent eleven of the best years of my life. To the eastward the
+country was not remarkable in appearance, being slightly
+undulating, with bare sandhills and scattered trees; but to the
+westward, stretching towards the mouth of the river, we could see
+through the captain's glass a long line of forest, rising
+apparently out of the water; a densely-packed mass of tall trees,
+broken into groups, and finally into single trees, as it dwindled
+away in the distance. This was the frontier, in this direction,
+of the great primaeval forest characteristic of this region,
+which contains so many wonders in its recesses, and clothes the
+whole surface of the country for two thousand miles from this
+point to the foot of the Andes.
+
+On the following day and night we sailed, with a light wind,
+partly aided by the tide, up the Para river. Towards evening we
+passed Vigia and Colares, two fishing villages, and saw many
+native canoes, which seemed like toys beneath the lofty walls of
+dark forest. The air was excessively close, the sky overcast, and
+sheet lightning played almost incessantly around the horizon-- an
+appropriate greeting on the threshold of a country lying close
+under the equator! The evening was calm, this being the season
+when the winds are not strong, so we glided along in a noiseless
+manner, which contrasted pleasantly with the unceasing turmoil to
+which we had been lately accustomed on the Atlantic. The
+immensity of the river struck us greatly, for although sailing
+sometimes at a distance of eight or nine miles from the eastern
+bank, the opposite shore was at no time visible. Indeed, the Para
+river is thirty-six miles in breadth at its mouth; and at the
+city of Para, nearly seventy miles from the sea, it is twenty
+miles wide; but at that point, a series of islands commences
+which contracts the riverview in front of the port.
+
+On the morning of the 28th of May, we arrived at our destination.
+The appearance of the city at sunrise was pleasing in the highest
+degree. It is built on a low tract of land, having only one small
+rocky elevation at its southern extremity; it, therefore, affords
+no amphitheatral view from the river; but the white buildings
+roofed with red tiles, the numerous towers and cupolas of
+churches and convents, the crowns of palm trees reared above the
+buildings, all sharply defined against the clear blue sky, give
+an appearance of lightness and cheerfulness which is most
+exhilarating. The perpetual forest hems the city in on all sides
+landwards; and towards the suburbs, picturesque country houses
+are seen scattered about, half buried in luxuriant foliage. The
+port was full of native canoes and other vessels, large and
+small; and the ringing of bells and firing of rockets, announcing
+the dawn of some Roman Catholic festival day, showed that the
+population was astir at that early hour.
+
+We went ashore in due time, and were kindly received by Mr.
+Miller, the consignee of the vessel, who invited us to make his
+house our home until we could obtain a suitable residence. On
+landing, the hot moist mouldy air, which seemed to strike from
+the ground and walls, reminded me of the atmosphere of tropical
+stoves at Kew. In the course of the afternoon a heavy shower
+fell, and in the evening, the atmosphere having been cooled by
+the rain, we walked about a mile out of town to the residence of
+an American gentleman to whom our host wished to introduce us.
+
+The impressions received during this first walk can never wholly
+fade from my mind. After traversing the few streets of tall,
+gloomy, convent-looking buildings near the port, inhabited
+chiefly by merchants and shopkeepers, along which idle soldiers,
+dressed in shabby uniforms carrying their muskets carelessly over
+their arms, priests, negresses with red water-jars on their
+heads, sad-looking Indian women carrying their naked children
+astride on their hips, and other samples of the motley life of
+the place, we passed down a long narrow street leading to the
+suburbs. Beyond this, our road lay across a grassy common into a
+picturesque lane leading to the virgin forest. The long street
+was inhabited by the poorer class of the population. The houses
+were of one story only, and had an irregular and mean appearance.
+The windows were without glass, having, instead, projecting
+lattice casements. The street was unpaved, and inches deep in
+loose sand. Groups of people were cooling themselves outside
+their doors-- people of all shades in colour of skin, European,
+Negro and Indian, but chiefly an uncertain mixture of the three.
+Amongst them were several handsome women dressed in a slovenly
+manner, barefoot or shod in loose slippers, but wearing richly-
+decorated earrings, and around their necks strings of very large
+gold beads. They had dark expressive eyes, and remarkably rich
+heads of hair. It was a mere fancy, but I thought the mingled
+squalor, luxuriance and beauty of these women were pointedly in
+harmony with the rest of the scene-- so striking, in the view,
+was the mixture of natural riches and human poverty. The houses
+were mostly in a dilapidated condition, and signs of indolence
+and neglect were visible everywhere. The wooden palings which
+surrounded the weed-grown gardens were strewn about and broken;
+hogs, goats, and ill-fed poultry wandered in and out through the
+gaps.
+
+But amidst all, and compensating every defect, rose the
+overpowering beauty of the vegetation. The massive dark crowns of
+shady mangos were seen everywhere amongst the dwellings, amidst
+fragrant blossoming orange, lemon, and many other tropical fruit
+trees, some in flower, others in fruit, at varying stages of
+ripeness. Here and there, shooting above the more dome-like and
+sombre trees, were the smooth columnar stems of palms, bearing
+aloft their magnificent crowns of finely-cut fronds. Amongst the
+latter the slim assai-palm was especially noticeable, growing in
+groups of four or five; its smooth, gently-curving stem, twenty
+to thirty feet high, terminating in a head of feathery foliage,
+inexpressibly light and elegant in outline. On the boughs of the
+taller and more ordinary-looking trees sat tufts of curiously-
+leaved parasites. Slender, woody lianas hung in festoons from the
+branches, or were suspended in the form of cords and ribbons;
+whilst luxuriant creeping plants overran alike tree-trunks, roofs
+and walls, or toppled over palings in a copious profusion of
+foliage. The superb banana (Musa paradisiaca), of which I had
+always read as forming one of the charms of tropical vegetation,
+grew here with great luxuriance-- its glossy velvety-green
+leaves, twelve feet in length, curving over the roofs of
+verandahs in the rear of every house. The shape of the leaves,
+the varying shades of green which they present when lightly moved
+by the wind, and especially the contrast they afford in colour
+and form to the more sombre hues and more rounded outline of the
+other trees, are quite sufficient to account for the charm of
+this glorious tree.
+
+Strange forms of vegetation drew our attention at almost every
+step. Amongst them were the different kinds of Bromelia, or
+pineapple plants, with their long, rigid, sword-shaped leaves, in
+some species jagged or toothed along their edges. Then there was
+the bread-fruit tree--an importation, it is true; but remarkable
+from its large, glossy, dark green, strongly digitated foliage,
+and its interesting history. Many other trees and plants, curious
+in leaf, stem, or manner of growth, grew on the borders of the
+thickets along which lay our road; they were all attractive to
+newcomers, whose last country ramble of quite recent date was
+over the bleak moors of Derbyshire on a sleety morning in April.
+
+As we continued our walk the brief twilight commenced, and the
+sounds of multifarious life came from the vegetation around. The
+whirring of cicadas; the shrill stridulation of a vast number and
+variety of field crickets and grasshoppers, each species sounding
+its peculiar note; the plaintive hooting of tree frogs--all
+blended together in one continuous ringing sound--the audible
+expression of the teeming profusion of Nature. As night came on,
+many species of frogs and toads in the marshy places joined in
+the chorus-- their croaking and drumming, far louder than
+anything I had before heard in the same line, being added to the
+other noises, created an almost deafening din. This uproar of
+life, I afterwards found, never wholly ceased, night or day. In
+the course of time I became, like other residents, accustomed to
+it. It is, however, one of the peculiarities of a tropical--at
+least, a Brazilian--climate which is most likely to surprise a
+stranger.  After my return to England, the deathlike stillness of
+summer days in the country appeared to me as strange as the
+ringing uproar did on my first arrival at Para. The object of our
+visit being accomplished, we returned to the city. The fire-flies
+were then out in great numbers, flitting about the sombre woods,
+and even the frequented streets. We turned into our hammocks,
+well pleased with what we had seen, and full of anticipation with
+regard to the wealth of natural objects we had come to explore.
+
+ During the first few days, we were employed in landing our
+baggage and arranging our extensive apparatus. We then accepted
+the invitation of Mr. Miller to make use of his rocinha, or
+country-house in the suburbs, until we finally decided on a
+residence. Upon this, we made our first essay in housekeeping. We
+bought cotton hammocks, the universal substitute for beds in this
+country, cooking utensils and crockery, and engaged a free negro,
+named Isidoro, as cook and servant-of-all-work.
+
+Our first walks were in the immediate suburbs of Para. The city
+lies on a corner of land formed by the junction of the river
+Guama with the Para. As I have said before, the forest, which
+covers the whole country, extends close up to the city streets;
+indeed, the town is built on a tract of cleared land, and is kept
+free from the jungle only by the constant care of the Government.
+The surface, though everywhere low, is slightly undulating, so
+that areas of dry land alternate throughout with areas of swampy
+ground, the vegetation and animal tenants of the two being widely
+different. Our residence lay on the side of the city nearest the
+Guama, on the borders of one of the low and swampy areas which
+here extends over a portion of the suburbs. The tract of land is
+intersected by well-macadamised suburban roads, the chief of
+which, the Estrada das Mongubeiras (the Monguba road), about a
+mile long, is a magnificent avenue of silk-cotton trees (Bombax
+monguba and B. ceiba), huge trees whose trunks taper rapidly from
+the ground upwards, and whose flowers before opening look like
+red balls studding the branches. This fine road was constructed
+under the governorship of the Count dos Arcos, about the year
+1812. At right angles to it run a number of narrow green lanes,
+and the whole district is drained by a system of small canals or
+trenches through which the tide ebbs and flows, showing the
+lowness of the site.
+
+Before I left the country, other enterprising presidents had
+formed a number of avenues lined with cocoanut palms, almond and
+other trees, in continuation of the Monguba road, over the more
+elevated and drier ground to the north-east of the city. On the
+high ground the vegetation has an aspect quite different from
+that which it presents in the swampy parts. Indeed, with the
+exception of the palm trees, the suburbs here have an aspect like
+that of a village green at home. The soil is sandy, and the open
+commons are covered with a short grassy and shrubby vegetation.
+Beyond this, the land again descends to a marshy tract, where, at
+the bottom of the moist hollows, the public wells are situated.
+Here all the linen of the city is washed by hosts of noisy
+negresses, and here also the water-carts are filled--painted
+hogsheads on wheels, drawn by bullocks. In early morning, when
+the sun sometimes shines through a light mist, and everything is
+dripping with moisture, this part of the city is full of life;
+vociferous negroes and wrangling Gallegos, [Natives of Galicia,
+in Spain, who follow this occupation in Lisbon and Oporto, as
+well as at Para] the proprietors of the water-carts, are gathered
+about, jabbering continually, and taking their morning drams in
+dirty wineshops at the street corners.
+
+Along these beautiful roads we found much to interest us during
+the first few days. Suburbs of towns, and open, sunny cultivated
+places in Brazil, are tenanted by species of animals and plants
+which are mostly different from those of the dense primaeval
+forests. I will, therefore, give an account of what we observed
+of the animal world during our explorations in the immediate
+neighbourhood of Para.
+
+The number and beauty of the birds and insects did not at first
+equal our expectations. The majority of the birds we saw were
+small and obscurely coloured; they were indeed similar, in
+general appearance, to such as are met with in country places in
+England. Occasionally a flock of small parroquets, green, with a
+patch of yellow on the forehead, would come at early morning to
+the trees near the Estrada. They would feed quietly, sometimes
+chattering in subdued tones, but setting up a harsh scream, and
+flying off, on being disturbed. Hummingbirds we did not see at
+this time, although I afterwards found them by hundreds when
+certain trees were in flower. Vultures we only saw at a distance,
+sweeping round at a great height, over the public slaughter-
+houses. Several flycatchers, finches, ant-thrushes, a tribe of
+plainly-coloured birds, intermediate in structure between
+flycatchers and thrushes, some of which startle the new-comer by
+their extraordinary notes emitted from their places of
+concealment in the dense thickets; and also tanagers, and other
+small birds, inhabited the neighbourhood. None of these had a
+pleasing song, except a little brown wren (Troglodytes furvus),
+whose voice and melody resemble those of our English robin. It is
+often seen hopping and climbing about the walls and roofs of
+houses and on trees in their vicinity. Its song is more
+frequently heard in the rainy season, when the Monguba trees shed
+their leaves. At those times the Estrada das Mongubeiras has an
+appearance quite unusual in a tropical country. The tree is one
+of the few in the Amazon region which sheds all its foliage
+before any of the new leaf-buds expand. The naked branches, the
+sodden ground matted with dead leaves, the grey mist veiling the
+surrounding vegetation, and the cool atmosphere soon after
+sunrise, all combine to remind one of autumnal mornings in
+England. Whilst loitering about at such times in a half-oblivious
+mood, thinking of home, the song of this bird would create for
+the moment a perfect illusion. Numbers of tanagers frequented the
+fruit and other trees in our garden. The two principal kinds
+which attracted our attention were the Rhamphoccelus Jacapa and
+the Tanagra Episcopus. The females of both are dull in colour,
+but the male of Jacapa has a beautiful velvety purple and black
+plumage, the beak being partly white, whilst the same sex in
+Episcopus is of a pale blue colour, with white spots on the
+wings. In their habits they both resemble the common house-
+sparrow of Europe, which does not exist in South America, its
+place being in some measure filled by these familiar tanagers.
+They are just as lively, restless, bold, and wary; their notes
+are very similar, chirping and inharmonious, and they seem to be
+almost as fond of the neighbourhood of man. They do not, however,
+build their nests on houses.
+
+Another interesting and common bird was the Japim, a species of
+Cassicus ( C. icteronotus). It belongs to the same family of
+birds as our starling, magpie, and rook--it has a rich yellow and
+black plumage, remarkably compact and velvety in texture. The
+shape of its head and its physiognomy are very similar to those
+of the magpie; it has light grey eyes, which give it the same
+knowing expression. It is social in its habits, and builds its
+nest, like the English rook, on trees in the neighbourhood of
+habitations. But the nests are quite differently constructed,
+being shaped like purses, two feet in length, and suspended from
+the slender branches all around the tree, some of them very near
+the ground. The entrance is on the side near the bottom of the
+nest. The bird is a great favourite with the Brazilians of Para--
+it is a noisy, stirring, babbling creature, passing constantly to
+and fro, chattering to its comrades, and is very ready at
+imitating other birds, especially the domestic poultry of the
+vicinity. There was at one time a weekly newspaper published at
+Para, called "The Japim"; the name being chosen, I suppose, on
+account of the babbling propensities of the bird. Its eggs are
+nearly round, and of a bluish-white colour, speckled with brown.
+
+Of other vertebrate animals we saw very little, except of the
+lizards. These are sure to attract the attention of the newcomer
+from Northern Europe, by reason of their strange appearance,
+great numbers, and variety. The species which are seen crawling
+over the walls of buildings in the city are different from those
+found in the forest or in the interior of houses. They are
+unpleasant-looking animals, with colours assimilated to those of
+the dilapidated stone and mud walls on which they are seen. The
+house lizards belong to a peculiar family, the Geckos, and are
+found even in the best-kept chambers, most frequently on the
+walls and ceilings, to which they cling motionless by day, being
+active only at night. They are of speckled grey or ashy colours.
+The structure of their feet is beautifully adapted for clinging
+to and running over smooth surfaces; the underside of their toes
+being expanded into cushions, beneath which folds of skin form a
+series of flexible plates. By means of this apparatus they can
+walk or run across a smooth ceiling with their backs downwards;
+the plated soles, by quick muscular action, exhausting and
+admitting air alternately. The Geckos are very repulsive in
+appearance. The Brazilians give them the name of Osgas, and
+firmly believe them to be poisonous; they are, however, harmless
+creatures. Those found in houses are small; but I have seen
+others of great size, in crevices of tree trunks in the forest.
+Sometimes Geckos are found with forked tails; this results from
+the budding of a rudimentary tail at the side, from an injury
+done to the member. A slight rap will cause their tails to snap
+off; the loss being afterwards partially repaired by a new
+growth. The tails of lizards seem to be almost useless appendages
+to these animals. I used often to amuse myself in the suburbs,
+whilst resting in the verandah of our house during the heat of
+mid-day, by watching the variegated green, brown, and yellow
+ground-lizards. They would come nimbly forward, and commence
+grubbing with their forefeet and snouts around the roots of
+herbage, searching for insect larvae. On the slightest alarm,
+they would scamper off, their tails cocked up in the air as they
+waddled awkwardly away, evidently an incumbrance to them in their
+flight.
+
+Next to the birds and lizards, the insects of the suburbs of Para
+deserve a few remarks. The species observed in the weedy and open
+places, as already remarked, were generally different from those
+which dwell in the shades of the forest. In the gardens, numbers
+of fine showy butterflies were seen. There were two swallow-
+tailed species, similar in colours to the English Papilio
+Machaon; a white Pieris (P. Monuste), and two or three species of
+brimstone and orange coloured butterflies, which do not belong,
+however, to the same genus as our English species. In weedy
+places a beautiful butterfly, with eye-like spots on its wings
+was common, the Junonia Lavinia, the only Amazonian species which
+is at all nearly related to our Vanessas, the Admiral and Peacock
+Butterflies. One day, we made our first acquaintance with two of
+the most beautiful productions of nature in this department--
+namely, the Helicopis Cupido and Endymion. A little beyond our
+house, one of the narrow green lanes which I have already
+mentioned diverged from the Monguba avenue, and led, between
+enclosures overrun with a profusion of creeping plants and
+glorious flowers, down to a moist hollow, where there was a
+public well in a picturesque nook, buried in a grove of Mucaja
+palm trees. On the tree trunks, walls, and palings, grew a great
+quantity of climbing Pothos plants, with large glossy heart-
+shaped leaves. These plants were the resort of these two
+exquisite species, and we captured a great number of specimens.
+They are of extremely delicate texture. The wings are cream-
+coloured, the hind pair have several tail-like appendages, and
+are spangled beneath as if with silver. Their flight is very slow
+and feeble; they seek the protected under-surface of the leaves,
+and in repose close their wings over the back, so as to expose
+the brilliantly spotted under-surface.
+
+I will pass over the many other orders and families of insects,
+and proceed at once to the ants. These were in great numbers
+everywhere, but I will mention here only two kinds. We were
+amazed at seeing ants an inch and a quarter in length, and stout
+in proportion, marching in single file through the thickets.
+These belonged to the species called Dinoponera grandis. Its
+colonies consist of a small number of individuals, and are
+established about the roots of slender trees. It is a stinging
+species, but the sting is not so severe as in many of the smaller
+kinds. There was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of
+this giant among the ants. Another far more interesting species
+was the Sauba (Oecodoma cephalotes). This ant is seen everywhere
+about the suburbs, marching to and fro in broad columns. From its
+habit of despoiling the most valuable cultivated trees of their
+foliage, it is a great scourge to the Brazilians. In some
+districts it is so abundant that agriculture is almost
+impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible
+pest.
+
+The workers of this species are of three orders, and vary in size
+from two to seven lines; some idea of them may be obtained from
+the accompanying woodcut. The true working-class of a colony is
+formed by the small-sized order of workers, the worker-minors as
+they are called (Fig. I). The two other kinds, whose functions,
+as we shall see, are not yet properly understood, have enormously
+swollen and massive heads; in one (Fig. 2), the head is highly
+polished; in the other (Fig. 3), it is opaque and hairy. The
+worker-minors vary greatly in size, some being double the bulk of
+others. The entire body is of very solid consistency, and of a
+pale reddish-brown colour. The thorax or middle segment is armed
+with three pairs of sharp spines; the head, also, has a pair of
+similar spines proceeding from the cheeks behind.
+
+In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of
+earth, of a different colour from the surrounding soil, which
+were thrown up in the plantations and woods. Some of them were
+very extensive, being forty yards in circumference, but not more
+than two feet in height. We soon ascertained that these were the
+work of the Saubas, being the outworks, or domes, which overlie
+and protect the entrances to their vast subterranean galleries.
+On close examination, I found the earth of which they are
+composed to consist of very minute granules, agglomerated without
+cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and turrets. The
+difference in colour from the superficial soil of the vicinity is
+owing to their being formed of the undersoil, brought up from a
+considerable depth. It is very rarely that the ants are seen at
+work on these mounds; the entrances seem to be generally closed;
+only now and then, when some particular work is going on, are the
+galleries opened. The entrances are small and numerous; in the
+larger hillocks it would require a great amount of excavation to
+get at the main galleries; but, I succeeded in removing portions
+of the dome in smaller hillocks, and then I found that the minor
+entrances converged, at the depth of about two feet, into one
+broad, elaborately-worked gallery or mine, which was four or five
+inches in diameter.
+
+This habit of the Sauba ant, of clipping and carrying away
+immense quantities of leaves, has long been recorded in books on
+natural history. When employed on this work, their processions
+look like a multitude of animated leaves on the march. In some
+places I found an accumulation of such leaves, all circular
+pieces, about the size of a sixpence, lying on the pathway,
+unattended by ants, and at some distance from any colony. Such
+heaps are always found to be removed when the place is revisited
+the next day. In course of time I had plenty of opportunities of
+seeing them at work. They mount the tree in multitudes, the
+individuals being all worker-minors. Each one places itself on
+the surface of a leaf, and cuts, with its sharp scissor-like
+jaws, a nearly semicircular incision on the upper side; it then
+takes the edge between its jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the
+piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, where a
+little heap accumulates, until carried off by another relay of
+workers; but, generally, each marches off with the piece it has
+operated upon, and as all take the same road to their colony, the
+path they follow becomes in a short time smooth and bare, looking
+like the impression of a cartwheel through the herbage.
+
+It is a most interesting sight to see the vast host of busy
+diminutive labourers occupied on this work. Unfortunately, they
+choose cultivated trees for their purpose. This ant is quite
+peculiar to Tropical America, as is the entire genus to which it
+belongs; it sometimes despoils the young trees of species growing
+wild in its native forests, but seems to prefer, when within
+reach, plants imported from other countries, such as the coffee
+and orange trees. It has not hitherto been shown satisfactorily
+to what use it applies the leaves. I discovered this only after
+much time spent in investigation. The leaves are used to thatch
+the domes which cover the entrances to their subterranean
+dwellings, thereby protecting from the deluging rains the young
+broods in the nests beneath. The larger mounds, already
+described, are so extensive that few persons would attempt to
+remove them for the purpose of examining their interior; but
+smaller hillocks, covering other entrances to the same system of
+tunnels and chambers, may be found in sheltered places, and these
+are always thatched with leaves, mingled with granules of earth.
+The heavily-laden workers, each carrying its segment of leaf
+vertically, the lower edge secured in its mandibles, troop up and
+cast their burdens on the hillock; another relay of labourers
+place the leaves in position, covering them with a layer of
+earthy granules, which are brought one by one from the soil
+beneath.
+
+The underground abodes of this wonderful ant are known to be very
+extensive. The Rev. Hamlet Clark has related that the Sauba of
+Rio de Janeiro, a species closely allied to ours, has excavated a
+tunnel under the bed of the river Parahyba, at a place where it
+is broad as the Thames at London Bridge. At the Magoary Rice
+Mills, near Para, these ants once pierced the embankment of a
+large reservoir; the great body of water which it contained
+escaped before the damage could be repaired. In the Botanic
+Gardens, at Para, an enterprising French gardener tried all he
+could think of to extirpate the Sauba. With this object, he made
+fires over some of the main entrances to their colonies, and blew
+the fumes of sulphur down the galleries by means of bellows. I
+saw the smoke issue from a great number of outlets, one of which
+was seventy yards distant from the place where the bellows were
+used. This shows how extensively the underground galleries are
+ramified.
+
+Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of
+their foliage, the Sauba ant is troublesome to the inhabitants
+from its habit of plundering the stores of provisions in houses
+at night, for it is even more active by night than in the day-
+time. At first I was inclined to discredit the stories of their
+entering habitations and carrying off grain by grain the farinha
+or mandioca meal, the bread of the poorer classes of Brazil. At
+length, whilst residing at an Indian village on the Tapajos, I
+had ample proof of the fact. One night my servant woke me three
+or four hours before sunrise, by calling out that the rats were
+robbing the farinha baskets--the article at that time being
+scarce and dear. I got up, listened, and found the noise was very
+unlike that made by rats. So, I took the light and went into the
+storeroom, which was close to my sleeping-place. I there found a
+broad column of Sauba ants, consisting of thousands of
+individuals, as busy as possible, passing to and fro between the
+door and my precious baskets. Most of those passing outwards were
+laden each with a grain of farinha, which was, in some cases,
+larger and many times heavier than the bodies of the carriers.
+Farinha consists of grains of similar size and appearance to the
+tapioca of our shops; both are products of the same root, tapioca
+being the pure starch, and farinha the starch mixed with woody
+fibre, the latter ingredient giving it a yellowish colour. It was
+amusing to see some of the dwarfs, the smallest members of their
+family, staggering along, completely hidden under their load. The
+baskets, which were on a high table, were entirely covered with
+ants, many hundreds of whom were employed in snipping the dry
+leaves which served as lining. This produced the rustling sound
+which had at first disturbed us. My servant told me that they
+would carry off the whole contents of the two baskets (about two
+bushels) in the course of the night, if they were not driven off;
+so we tried to exterminate them by killing them with our wooden
+clogs. It was impossible, however, to prevent fresh hosts coming
+in as fast as we killed their companions. They returned the next
+night; and I was then obliged to lay trains of gunpowder along
+their line, and blow them up. This, repeated many times, at last
+seemed to intimidate them, for we were free from their visits
+during the remainder of my residence at the place. What they did
+with the hard dry grains of mandioca I was never able to
+ascertain, and cannot even conjecture. The meal contains no
+gluten, and therefore would be useless as cement. It contains
+only a smallrelative portion of starch, and, when mixed with
+water, it separates and falls away like so much earthy matter. It
+may serve as food for the subterranean workers. But the young or
+larvae of ants are usually fed by juices secreted by the worker
+nurses.
+
+Ants, it is scarcely necessary to observe, consist, in each
+species, of three sets of individuals, Or, as some express it, of
+three sexes--namely, males, females, and workers; the last-
+mentioned being undeveloped females. The perfect sexes are winged
+on their first attaining the adult state; they alone propagate
+their kind, flying away, previous to the act of reproduction,
+from the nest in which they have been reared. This winged state
+of the perfect males and females, and the habit of flying abroad
+before pairing, are very important points in the economy of ants;
+for they are thus enabled to intercross with members of distant
+colonies which swarm at the same time, and thereby increase the
+vigour of the race, a proceeding essential to the prosperity of
+any species. In many ants, especially those of tropical climates,
+the workers, again, are of two classes, whose structure and
+functions are widely different. In some species they are
+wonderfully unlike each other, and constitute two well-defined
+forms of workers. In others, there is a gradation of individuals
+between the two extremes. The curious differences in structure
+and habits between these two classes form an interesting, but
+very difficult, study. It is one of the great peculiarities of
+the Sauba ant to possess three classes of workers. My
+investigations regarding them were far from complete; I will
+relate, however, what I have observed on the subject.
+
+When engaged in leaf-cutting, plundering farinha, and other
+operations, two classes of workers are always seen (Figs. 1 and
+2, page 10). They are not, it is true, very sharply defined in
+structure, for individuals of intermediate grades occur. All the
+work, however, is done by the individuals which have small heads
+(Fig. 1), while those which have enormously large heads, the
+worker-majors (Fig. 2), are observed to be simply walking about.
+I could never satisfy myself as to the function of these worker-
+majors. They are not the soldiers or defenders of the working
+portion of the community, like the armed class in the termites,
+or white ants, for they never fight. The species has no sting,
+and does not display active resistance when interfered with. I
+once imagined they exercised a sort of superintendence over the
+others; but this function is entirely unnecessary in a community
+where all work with a precision and regularity resembling the
+subordinate parts of a piece of machinery. I came to the
+conclusion, at last, that they have no very precisely defined
+function. They cannot, however, be entirely useless to the
+community, for the sustenance of an idle class of such bulky
+individuals would be too heavy a charge for the species to
+sustain. I think they serve, in some sort, as passive instruments
+of protection to the real workers. Their enormously large, hard,
+and indestructible heads may be of use in protecting them against
+the attacks of insectivorous animals. They would be, on this
+view, a kind of "pieces de resistance," serving as a foil against
+onslaughts made on the main body of workers.
+
+The third order of workers is the most curious of all. If the top
+of a small, fresh hillock, one in which the thatching process is
+going on, is taken off, a broad cylindrical shaft is disclosed at
+a depth of about two feet from the surface. If this is probed
+with a stick, which may be done to the extent of three or four
+feet without touching bottom, a small number of colossal fellows
+(Fig. 3) will slowly begin to make their way up the smooth sides
+of the mine. Their heads are of the same size as those of the
+class Fig. 2, but the front is clothed with hairs, instead of
+being polished, and they have in the middle of the forehead a
+twin, ocellus, or simple eye, of quite different structure from
+the ordinary compound eyes, on the sides of the head. This
+frontal eye is totally wanting in the other workers, and is not
+known in any other kind of ant. The apparition of these strange
+creatures from the cavernous depths of the mine reminded me, when
+I first observed them, of the Cyclopes of Homeric fable. They
+were not very pugnacious, as I feared they would be, and I had no
+difficulty in securing a few with my fingers. I never saw them
+under any other circumstances than those here related, and what
+their special functions may be I cannot divine.
+
+The whole arrangement of a Formicarium, or ant-colony, and all
+the varied activity of ant-life, are directed to one main
+purpose--the perpetuation and dissemination of the species. Most
+of the labour which we see performed by the workers has for its
+end the sustenance and welfare of the young brood, which are
+helpless grubs. The true females are incapable of attending to
+the wants of their offspring; and it is on the poor sterile
+workers, who are denied all the other pleasures of maternity,
+that the entire care devolves. The workers are also the chief
+agents in carrying out the different migrations of the colonies,
+which are of vast importance to the dispersal and consequent
+prosperity of the species. The successful debut of the winged
+males and females depends likewise on the workers. It is amusing
+to see the activity and excitement which reigns in an ant's nest
+when the exodus of the winged individuals is taking place. The
+workers clear the roads of exit, and show the most lively
+interest in their departure, although it is highly improbable
+that any of them will return to the same colony. The swarming or
+exodus of the winged males and females of the Sauba ant takes
+place in January and February, that is, at the commencement of
+the rainy season. They come out in the evening in vast numbers,
+causing quite a commotion in the streets and lanes. They are of
+very large size, the female measuring no less than two-and-a-
+quarter inches in expanse of wing; the male is not much more than
+half this size. They are so eagerly preyed upon by insectivorous
+animals that on the morning after their flight not an individual
+is to be seen, a few impregnated females alone escaping the
+slaughter to found new colonies.
+
+At the time of our arrival, Para had not quite recovered from the
+effects of a series of revolutions, brought about by the hatred
+which existed between the native Brazilians and the Portuguese;
+the former, in the end, calling to their aid the Indian and mixed
+coloured population. The number of inhabitants of the city had
+decreased, in consequence of these disorders, from 24,500 in
+1819, to 15,000 in 1848. Although the public peace had not been
+broken for twelve years before the date of our visit, confidence
+was not yet completely restored, and the Portuguese merchants and
+tradesmen would not trust themselves to live at their beautiful
+country houses or rocinhas, which lie embosomed in the luxuriant
+shady gardens around the city. No progress had been made in
+clearing the second-growth forest which had grown over the once
+cultivated grounds, and now reached the end of all the suburban
+streets. The place had the aspect of one which had seen better
+days; the public buildings, including the palaces of the
+President and Bishop, the cathedral, the principal churches and
+convents, all seemed constructed on a scale of grandeur far
+beyond the present requirements of the city. Streets full of
+extensive private residences, built in the Italian style of
+architecture, were in a neglected condition, weeds and
+flourishing young trees growing from large cracks in the masonry.
+The large public squares were overgrown with weeds and
+impassable, on account of the swampy places which occupied
+portions of their areas. Commerce, however, was now beginning to
+revive, and before I left the country I saw great improvements,
+as I shall have to relate towards the conclusion of this
+narrative.
+
+The province of which Para is the capital, was at the time I
+allude to, the most extensive in the Brazilian empire, being
+about 1560 miles in length from east to west, and about 600 in
+breadth. Since that date--namely in 1853--it has been divided
+into two by the separation of the Upper Amazons as a distinct
+province. It formerly constituted a section, capitania, or
+governorship of the Portuguese colony. Originally it was well
+peopled by Indians, varying much in social condition according to
+their tribe, but all exhibiting the same general physical
+characters, which are those of the American red man, somewhat
+modified by long residence in an equatorial forest country.
+
+Most of the tribes are now extinct or forgotten, at least those
+which originally peopled the banks of the main river, their
+descendants having amalgamated with the white and negro
+immigrants. [The mixed breeds which now form, probably, the
+greater part of the population, each have a distinguishing name.
+Mameluco denotes the offspring of White with Indian; Mulatto,
+that of White with Negro; Cafuzo, the mixture of the Indian and
+Negro; Curiboco, the cross between the Cafuzo and the Indian;
+Xibaro, that between the Cafuzo and Negro. These are seldom,
+however, well-demarcated, and all shades of colour exist; the
+names are generally applied only approximatively. The term Creole
+is confined to negroes born in the country. The civilised Indian
+is called Tapuyo or Caboclo.]   Many still exist, however, in
+their original state on the Upper Amazons and most of the branch
+rivers. On this account, Indians in this province are far more
+numerous than elsewhere in Brazil, and the Indian element may be
+said to prevail in the mongrel population-- the negro proportion
+being much smaller than in South Brazil.
+
+The city is built on the best available site for a port of entry
+to the Amazons region, and must in time become a vast emporium;
+the northern shore of the main river, where alone a rival capital
+could be founded, is much more difficult of access to vessels,
+and is besides extremely unhealthy. Although lying so near the
+equator (1 28' S. lat.) the climate is not excessively hot. The
+temperature during three years only once reached 95 degrees
+Fahrenheit. The greatest heat of the day, about 2 p.m., ranges
+generally between 89 and 94; but on the other hand, the air is
+never cooler than 73, so that a uniformly high temperature
+exists, and the mean of the year is 81. North American residents
+say that the heat is not so oppressive as it is in summer in New
+York and Philadelphia. The humidity is, of course, excessive, but
+the rains are not so heavy and continuous in the wet season as in
+many other tropical climates. The country had for a long time a
+reputation for extreme salubrity. Since the small-pox in 1819,
+which attacked chiefly the Indians, no serious epidemic had
+visited the province. We were agreeably surprised to find no
+danger from exposure to the night air or residence in the low
+swampy lands. A few English residents, who had been established
+here for twenty or thirty years, looked almost as fresh in colour
+as if they had never left their native country. The native women,
+too, seemed to preserve their good looks and plump condition
+until late in life. I nowhere observed that early decay of
+appearance in Brazilian ladies, which is said to be so general in
+the women of North America.
+
+Up to 1848 the salubrity of Para was quite remarkable for a city
+lying in the delta of a great river, in the middle of the tropics
+and half surrounded by swamps. It did not much longer enjoy its
+immunity from epidemics. In 1850 the yellow fever visited the
+province for the first time, and carried off in a few weeks more
+than four percent of the population. One disease after another
+succeeded, until in 1855 cholera swept through the country and
+caused fearful havoc. Since then, the healthfulness of the
+climate has been gradually restored, and it is now fast
+recovering its former good reputation. Para is free from serious
+endemic disorders, and was once a resort of invalids from New
+York and Massachusetts. The equable temperature, the perpetual
+verdure, the coolness of the dry season when the sun's heat is
+tempered by the strong sea-breezes and the moderation of the
+periodical rains, make the climate one of the most enjoyable on
+the face of the earth.
+
+The province is governed, like all others in the empire, by a
+President, as chief civil authority. At the time of our arrival
+he also held, exceptionally, the chief military command. This
+functionary, together with the head of the police administration
+and the judges, is nominated by the central Government at Rio
+Janeiro. The municipal and internal affairs are managed by a
+provincial assembly elected by the people. Every villa or borough
+throughout the province also possesses its municipal council, and
+in thinly-populated districts the inhabitants choose every four
+years a justice of the peace, who adjudicates in small disputes
+between neighbours. A system of popular education exists, and
+every village has its school of first letters, the master being
+paid by the government, the salary amounting to about £70, or the
+same sum as the priests receive. Besides common schools, a well-
+endowed classical seminary is maintained at Para, to which the
+sons of most of the planters and traders in the interior are sent
+to complete their education. The province returns its quota of
+members every four years to the lower and upper houses of the
+imperial parliament. Every householder has a vote. Trial by jury
+has been established, the jurymen being selected from
+householders, no matter what their race or colour; and I have
+seen the white merchant, the negro husbandman, the mameluco, the
+mulatto, and the Indian, all sitting side by side on the same
+bench. Altogether the constitution of government in Brazil seems
+to combine happily the principles of local self-government and
+centralisation, and only requires a proper degree of virtue and
+intelligence in the people to lead the nation to great
+prosperity.
+
+The province of Para, or, as we may now say, the two provinces of
+Para and the Amazons, contain an area of 800,000 square miles,
+the population of which is only about 230,000, or in the ratio of
+one person to four square miles! The country is covered with
+forests, and the soil is fertile in the extreme, even for a
+tropical country. It is intersected throughout by broad and deep
+navigable rivers. It is the pride of the Paraenses to call the
+Amazons the Mediterranean of South America. The colossal stream
+perhaps deserves the name, for not only have the main river and
+its principal tributaries an immense expanse of water bathing the
+shores of extensive and varied regions, but there is also
+throughout a system of back channels, connected with the main
+rivers by narrow outlets and linking together a series of lakes,
+some of which are fifteen, twenty, and thirty miles in length.
+The whole Amazons valley is thus covered by a network of
+navigable waters, forming a vast inland freshwater sea with
+endless ramifications-- rather than a river.
+
+The city of Para was founded in 1615, and was a place of
+considerable importance towards the latter half of the eighteenth
+century, under the government of the brother of Pombal, the
+famous Portuguese statesman. The province was the last in Brazil
+to declare its independence of the mother-country and acknowledge
+the authority of the first emperor, Don Pedro. This was owing to
+the great numbers and influence of the Portuguese, and the rage
+of the native party was so great in consequence, that immediately
+after independence was proclaimed in 1823, a counter revolution
+broke out, during which many hundred lives were lost and much
+hatred engendered. The antagonism continued for many years,
+partial insurrections taking place when the populace thought that
+the immigrants from Portugal were favoured by the governors sent
+from the capital of the empire. At length, in 1835, a serious
+revolt took place which in a short time involved the entire
+province. It began by the assassination of the President and the
+leading members of the government; the struggle was severe, and
+the native party in an evil hour called to their aid the ignorant
+and fanatic part of the mongrel and Indian population. The cry of
+death to the Portuguese was soon changed to death to the
+freemasons, then a powerfully organised society embracing the
+greater part of the male white inhabitants. The victorious native
+party endeavoured to establish a government of their own.
+
+After this state of things had endured six months, they accepted
+a new President sent from Rio Janeiro, who, however, again
+irritated them by imprisoning their favourite leader, Vinagre.
+The revenge which followed was frightful. A vast host of half-
+savage coloured people assembled in the retired creeks behind
+Para, and on a day fixed, after Vinagre's brother had sent a
+message three times to the President demanding, in vain, the
+release of their leader, the whole body poured into the city
+through the gloomy pathways of the forest which encircles it. A
+cruel battle, lasting nine days, was fought in the streets; an
+English, French, and Portuguese man-of-war, from the side of the
+river, assisting the legal authorities. All the latter, however,
+together with every friend of peace and order, were finally
+obliged to retire to an island a few miles distant. The city and
+province were given up to anarchy; the coloured people, elated
+with victory, proclaimed the slaughter of all whites, except the
+English, French, and American residents. The mistaken principals
+who had first aroused all this hatred of races were obliged now
+to make their escape. In the interior, the supporters of lawful
+authority including, it must be stated, whole tribes of friendly
+Indians and numbers of the better disposed negroes and mulattos,
+concentrated themselves in certain strong positions and defended
+themselves, until the reconquest of the capital and large towns
+of the interior in 1836 by a force sent from Rio Janeiro-- after
+ten months of anarchy.
+
+Years of conciliatory government, the lesson learned by the
+native party and the moderation of the Portuguese, aided by the
+indolence and passive goodness of the Paraenses of all classes
+and colours, were only beginning to produce their good effects
+about the time I am speaking of. Life, however, was now and had
+been for some time quite safe throughout the country. Some few of
+the worst characters had been transported or imprisoned, and the
+remainder, after being pardoned, were converted once more into
+quiet and peaceable citizens.
+
+I resided at Para nearly a year and a half altogether, returning
+thither and making a stay of a few months after each of my
+shorter excursions into the interior, until the 6th of November,
+1851, when I started on my long voyage to the Tapajos and the
+Upper Amazons, which occupied me seven years and a half. I became
+during this time tolerably familiar with the capital of the
+Amazons region, and its inhabitants. Compared with other
+Brazilian seaport towns, I was always told, Para shone to great
+advantage. It was cleaner, the suburbs were fresher, more rural
+and much pleasanter on account of their verdure, shade, and
+magnificent vegetation. The people were simpler, more peaceable
+and friendly in their manners and dispositions; and
+assassinations, which give the southern provinces so ill a
+reputation, were almost unknown. At the same time the Para people
+were much inferior to Southern Brazilians in energy and industry.
+Provisions and house rents being cheap and the wants of the
+people few--for they were content with food and lodging of a
+quality which would be spurned by paupers in England--they spent
+the greater part of their time in sensual indulgences and in
+amusements which the government and wealthier citizens provided
+for them gratis.
+
+The trade, wholesale and retail, was in the hands of the
+Portuguese, of whom there were about 2500 in the place. Many
+handicrafts were exercised by coloured people, mulattos,
+mamelucos, free negroes, and Indians. The better sort of
+Brazilians dislike the petty details of shop-keeping, and if they
+cannot be wholesale merchants, prefer the life of planters in the
+country, however small may be the estate and the gains. The
+negroes constituted the class of field-labourers and porters;
+Indians were universally the watermen, and formed the crews of
+the numberless canoes of all sizes and shapes which traded
+between Para and the interior. The educated Brazilians, not many
+of whom are of pure Caucasian descent--for the immigration of
+Portuguese, for many years, has been almost exclusively of the
+male sex--are courteous, lively, and intelligent people. They
+were gradually weaning themselves of the ignorant, bigoted
+notions which they inherited from their Portuguese ancestors,
+especially those entertained with regard to the treatment of
+women. Formerly, the Portuguese would not allow their wives to go
+into society, or their daughters to learn reading and writing. In
+1848, Brazilian ladies were only just beginning to emerge from
+this inferior position, and Brazilian fathers were opening their
+eyes to the advantages of education for their daughters. Reforms
+of this kind are slow. It is, perhaps, in part owing to the
+degrading position always held by women, that the relations
+between the sexes were, and are still, on so unsatisfactory a
+footing, and private morality at so low an ebb, in Brazil. In
+Para, I believe that an improvement is now taking place, but
+formerly promiscuous intercourse seemed to be the general rule
+among all classes, and intrigues and love-making the serious
+business of the greater part of the population. That this state
+of things is a necessity depending on the climate and
+institutions I do not believe, as I have resided at small towns
+in the interior, where the habits, and the general standard of
+morality of the inhabitants, were as pure as they are in similar
+places in England.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PARA
+
+The Swampy Forests of Para--A Portuguese Landed Proprietor--
+Country House at Nazareth--Life of a Naturalist under the
+Equator--The drier Virgin Forests--Magoary--Retired Creeks--
+Aborigines
+
+After having resided about a fortnight at Mr. Miller's rocinha,
+we heard of another similar country-house to be let, much better
+situated for our purpose, in the village of Nazareth, a mile and
+a half from the city and close to the forest. The owner was an
+old Portuguese gentleman named Danin, who lived at his tile
+manufactory at the mouth of the Una, a small river lying two
+miles below Para. We resolved to walk to his place through the
+forest, a distance of three miles, although the road was said to
+be scarcely passable at this season of the year, and the Una much
+more easily accessible by boat. We were glad, however, of this
+early opportunity of traversing the rich swampy forest which we
+had admired so much from the deck of the ship; so, about eleven
+o'clock one sunny morning, after procuring the necessary
+information about the road, we set off in that direction. This
+part of the forest afterwards became one of my best hunting-
+grounds. I will narrate the incidents of the walk, giving my
+first impressions and some remarks on the wonderful vegetation.
+The forest is very similar on most of the low lands, and
+therefore, one description will do for all.
+
+On leaving the town we walked along a straight, suburban road
+constructed above the level of the surrounding land. It had low
+swampy ground on each side, built upon, however, and containing
+several spacious rocinhas which were embowered in magnificent
+foliage. Leaving the last of these, we arrived at a part where
+the lofty forest towered up like a wall five or six yards from
+the edge of the path to the height of, probably, a hundred feet.
+The tree trunks were only seen partially here and there, nearly
+the whole frontage from ground to summit being covered with a
+diversified drapery of creeping plants, all of the most vivid
+shades of green; scarcely a flower to be seen, except in some
+places a solitary scarlet passion-flower set in the green mantle
+like a star. The low ground on the borders between the forest
+wall and the road was encumbered with a tangled mass of bushy and
+shrubby vegetation, amongst which prickly mimosas were very
+numerous, covering the other bushes in the same way as brambles
+do in England. Other dwarf mimosas trailed along the ground close
+to the edge of the road, shrinking at the slightest touch of the
+feet as we passed by. Cassia trees, with their elegant pinnate
+foliage and conspicuous yellow flowers, formed a great proportion
+of the lower trees, and arborescent arums grew in groups around
+the swampy hollows. Over the whole fluttered a larger number of
+brilliantly-coloured butterflies than we had yet seen; some
+wholly orange or yellow (Callidryas), others with excessively
+elongated wings, sailing horizontally through the air, coloured
+black, and varied with blue, red, and yellow (Heliconii). One
+magnificent grassy-green species (Colaenis Dido) especially
+attracted our attention. Near the ground hovered many other
+smaller species very similar in appearance to those found at
+home, attracted by the flowers of numerous leguminous and other
+shrubs. Besides butterflies, there were few other insects except
+dragonflies, which were in great numbers, similar in shape to
+English species, but some of them looking conspicuously different
+on account of their fiery red colours.
+
+After stopping repeatedly to examine and admire, we at length
+walked onward. The road then ascended slightly, and the soil and
+vegetation became suddenly altered in character. The shrubs here
+were grasses, low sedges and other plants, smaller in foliage
+than those growing in moist grounds. The forest was second
+growth, low, consisting of trees which had the general aspect of
+laurels and other evergreens in our gardens at home-- the leaves
+glossy and dark green. Some of them were elegantly veined and
+hairy (Melastomae), while many, scattered amongst the rest, had
+smaller foliage (Myrtles), but these were not sufficient to
+subtract much from the general character of the whole.
+
+The sun, now, for we had loitered long on the road, was
+exceedingly powerful. The day was most brilliant; the sky without
+a cloud. In fact, it was one of those glorious days which
+announce the commencement of the dry season. The radiation of
+heat from the sandy ground was visible by the quivering motion of
+the air above it. We saw or heard no mammals or birds; a few
+cattle belonging to an estate down a shady lane were congregated,
+panting, under a cluster of wide spreading trees. The very soil
+was hot to our feet, and we hastened onward to the shade of the
+forest which we could see not far ahead. At length, on entering
+it, what a relief! We found ourselves in a moderately broad
+pathway or alley, where the branches of the trees crossed
+overhead and produced a delightful shade. The woods were at first
+of recent growth, dense, and utterly impenetrable; the ground,
+instead of being clothed with grass and shrubs as in the woods of
+Europe, was everywhere carpeted with Lycopodiums (fern-shaped
+mosses). Gradually the scene became changed. We descended
+slightly from an elevated, dry, and sandy area to a low and
+swampy one; a cool air breathed on our faces, and a mouldy smell
+of rotting vegetation greeted us. The trees were now taller, the
+underwood less dense, and we could obtain glimpses into the
+wilderness on all sides. The leafy crowns of the trees, scarcely
+two of which could be seen together of the same kind, were now
+far away above us, in another world as it were. We could only see
+at times, where there was a break above, the tracery of the
+foliage against the clear blue sky. Sometimes the leaves were
+palmate, or of the shape of large outstretched hands; at others,
+finely cut or feathery, like the leaves of Mimosae. Below, the
+tree trunks were everywhere linked together by sipos; the woody,
+flexible stems of climbing and creeping trees, whose foliage is
+far away above, mingled with that of the taller independent
+trees. Some were twisted in strands like cables, others had thick
+stems contorted in every variety of shape, entwining snake-like
+round the tree trunks, or forming gigantic loops and coils among
+the larger branches; others, again, were of zigzag shape, or
+indented like the steps of a staircase, sweeping from the ground
+to a giddy height.
+
+It interested me much afterwards to find that these climbing
+trees do not form any particular family. There is no distinct
+group of plants whose special habit is to climb, but species of
+many and the most diverse families, the bulk of whose members are
+not climbers, seem to have been driven by circumstances to adopt
+this habit. There is even a climbing genus of palms (Desmoncus),
+the species of which are called, in the Tupi language, Jacitara.
+These have slender, thickly-spined, and flexuous stems, which
+twine about the taller trees from one to the other, and grow to
+an incredible length. The leaves, which have the ordinary pinnate
+shape characteristic of the family, are emitted from the stems at
+long intervals, instead of being collected into a dense crown,
+and have at their tips a number of long recurved spines. These
+structures are excellent contrivances to enable the trees to
+secure themselves by in climbing, but they are a great nuisance
+to the traveller, for they sometimes hang over the pathway and
+catch the hat or clothes, dragging off the one or tearing the
+other as he passes. The number and variety of climbing trees in
+the Amazons forests are interesting, taken in connection with the
+fact of the very general tendency of the animals, also, to become
+climbers.
+
+All the Amazonian, and in fact all South American, monkeys are
+climbers. There is no group answering to the baboons of the Old
+World, which live on the ground. The Gallinaceous birds of the
+country, the representatives of the fowls and pheasants of Asia
+and Africa, are all adapted by the position of the toes to perch
+on trees, and it is only on trees, at a great height, that they
+are to be seen. A genus of Plantigrade Carnivora, allied to the
+bears (Cercoleptes), found only in the Amazonian forests, is
+entirely arboreal, and has a long flexible tail like that of
+certain monkeys. Many other similar instances could be
+enumerated, but I will mention only the Geodephaga, or
+carnivorous ground beetles, a great proportion of whose genera
+and species in these forest regions are, by the structure of
+their feet, fitted to live exclusively on the branches and leaves
+of trees.
+
+Many of the woody lianas suspended from trees are not climbers,
+but the air-roots of epiphytous plants (Aroideae), which sit on
+the stronger boughs of the trees above and hang down straight as
+plumb-lines. Some are suspended singly, others in clusters; some
+reach halfway to the ground and others touch it, striking their
+rootlets into the earth. The underwood in this part of the forest
+was composed partly of younger trees of the same species as their
+taller neighbours, and partly of palms of many species, some of
+them twenty to thirty feet in height, others small and delicate,
+with stems no thicker than a finger. These latter (different
+kinds of Bactris) bore small bunches of fruit, red or black,
+often containing a sweet, grape-like juice.
+
+Further on, the ground became more swampy and we had some
+difficulty in picking our way. The wild banana (Urania Amazonica)
+here began to appear, and, as it grew in masses, imparted a new
+aspect to the scene. The leaves of this beautiful plant are like
+broad-sword blades, eight feet in length and a foot broad; they
+rise straight upwards, alternately, from the top of a stem five
+or six feet high. Numerous kinds of plants with leaves similar in
+shape to these but smaller clothed the ground. Amongst them were
+species of Marantaceae, some of which had broad glossy leaves,
+with long leaf-stalks radiating from joints in a reed-like stem.
+The trunks of the trees were clothed with climbing ferns, and
+Pothos plants with large, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves. Bamboos
+and other tall grass and reed-like plants arched over the
+pathway. The appearance of this part of the forest was strange in
+the extreme; description can convey no adequate idea of it. The
+reader who has visited Kew may form some notion by conceiving a
+vegetation like that in the great palm-house, spread over a large
+tract of swampy ground, but he must fancy it mingled with large
+exogenous trees similar to our oaks and elms covered with
+creepers and parasites, and figure to himself the ground
+encumbered with fallen and rotting trunks, branches, and leaves;
+the whole illuminated by a glowing vertical sun, and reeking with
+moisture.
+
+At length we emerged from the forest, on the banks of the Una,
+near its mouth. It was here about one hundred yards wide. The
+residence of Senor Danin stood on the opposite shore; a large
+building, whitewashed and red-tiled as usual, raised on wooden
+piles above the humid ground. The second story was the part
+occupied by the family, and along it was an open verandah, where
+people, both male and female, were at work. Below were several
+negroes
+employed carrying clay on their heads. We called out for a boat,
+and one of them crossed over to fetch us. Senor Danin received
+us with the usual formal politeness of the Portuguese, he spoke
+English very well, and after we had arranged our business, we
+remained conversing with him on various subjects connected with
+the country. Like all employers in this province, he was full of
+one topic--the scarcity of hands. It appeared that he had made
+great exertions to introduce white labour, but had failed, after
+having brought numbers of men from Portugal and other countries
+under engagement to work for him. They all left him one by one
+soon after their arrival. The abundance of unoccupied land, the
+liberty that exists, a state of things produced by the half-wild
+canoe-life of the people, and the case with which a mere
+subsistence can be obtained with moderate work, tempt even the
+best-disposed to quit regular labour as soon as they can. He
+complained also of the dearness of slaves, owing to the
+prohibition of the African traffic, telling us that formerly a
+slave could be bought for 120 dollars, whereas they are now
+difficult to procure at 400 dollars.
+
+Mr. Danin told us that he had travelled in England and the United
+States, and that he had now two sons completing their education
+in those countries. I afterwards met with many enterprising
+persons of Mr. Danin's order, both Brazilians and Portuguese;
+their great ambition is to make a voyage to Europe or North
+America, and to send their sons to be educated there. The land on
+which his establishment is built, he told us, was an artificial
+embankment on the swamp; the end of the house was built on a
+projecting point overlooking the river, so that a good view was
+obtained, from the sitting-rooms, of the city and the shipping.
+We learned there was formerly a large and flourishing cattle
+estate on this spot, with an open grassy space like a park. On
+Sundays, gay parties of forty or fifty persons used to come by
+land and water, in carriages and gay galliotas, to spend the day
+with the hospitable owner. Since the political disorders which I
+have already mentioned, decay had come upon this as on most other
+large establishments in the country. The cultivated grounds, and
+the roads leading to them, were now entirely overgrown with dense
+forest. When we were ready to depart, Senor Danin lent a canoe
+and two negroes to take us to the city, where we arrived in the
+evening after a day rich in new experiences.
+
+Shortly afterwards, we took possession of our new residence. The
+house was a square building, consisting of four equal-sized
+rooms; the tiled roof projected all round, so as to form a broad
+verandah, cool and pleasant to sit and work in. The cultivated
+ground, which appeared as if newly cleared from the forest, was
+planted with fruit trees and small plots of coffee and mandioca.
+The entrance to the grounds was by an iron-grille gateway from a
+grassy square, around which were built the few houses and palm-
+thatched huts which then constituted the village. The most
+important building was the chapel of our Lady of Nazareth, which
+stood opposite our place. The saint here enshrined was a great
+favourite with all orthodox Paraenses, who attributed to her the
+performance of many miracles. The image was to be seen on the
+altar, a handsome doll about four feet high, wearing a silver
+crown and a garment of blue silk, studded with golden stars. In
+and about the chapel were the offerings that had been made to
+her, proofs of the miracles which she had performed. There were
+models of legs, arms, breasts, and so forth, which she had cured.
+But most curious of all was a ship's boat, deposited here by the
+crew of a Portuguese vessel which had foundered, a year or two
+before our arrival, in a squall off Cayenne; part of them having
+been saved in the boat, after invoking the protection of the
+saint here enshrined. The annual festival in honour of our Lady
+of Nazareth is the greatest of the Para holidays; many persons
+come to it from the neighbouring city of Maranham, 300 miles
+distant. Once the President ordered the mail steamer to be
+delayed two days at Para for the convenience of these visitors.
+The popularity of the festival is partly owing to the beautiful
+weather that prevails when it takes place, namely, in the middle
+of the fine season, on the ten days preceding the full moon in
+October or November. Para is then seen at its best. The weather
+is not too dry, for three weeks never follow in succession
+without a shower; so that all the glory of verdure and flowers
+can be enjoyed with clear skies. The moonlit nights are then
+especially beautiful, the atmosphere is transparently clear, and
+the light sea-breeze produces an agreeable coolness.
+
+We now settled ourselves for a few months' regular work. We had
+the forest on three sides of us; it was the end of the wet
+season; most species of birds had finished moulting, and every
+day the insects increased in number and variety. Behind the
+rocinha, after several days' exploration, I found a series of
+pathways through the woods, which led to the Una road; about half
+way was the house in which the celebrated travellers Spix and
+Martius resided during their stay at Para, in 1819. It was now in
+a neglected condition, and the plantations were overgrown with
+bushes. The paths hereabout were very productive of insects, and
+being entirely under shade, were very pleasant for strolling.
+Close to our doors began the main forest road. It was broad
+enough for two horsemen abreast, and branched off in three
+directions; the main line going to the village of Ourem, a
+distance of fifty miles. This road formerly extended to Maranham,
+but it had been long in disuse and was now grown up, being
+scarcely passable between Para and Ourem.
+
+Our researches were made in various directions along these paths,
+and every day produced us a number of new and interesting
+species. Collecting, preparing our specimens, and making notes,
+kept us well occupied. One day was so much like another, that a
+general description of the diurnal round of incidents, including
+the sequence of natural phenomena, will be sufficient to give an
+idea of how days pass to naturalists under the equator.
+
+We used to rise soon after dawn, when Isidoro would go down to
+the city, after supplying us with a cup of coffee, to purchase
+the fresh provisions for the day. The two hours before breakfast
+were devoted to ornithology. At that early period of the day the
+sky was invariably cloudless (the thermometer marking 72 or 73
+Fahr.); the heavy dew or the previous night's rain, which lay on
+the moist foliage, becoming quickly dissipated by the glowing
+sun, which rising straight out of the east, mounted rapidly
+towards the zenith. All nature was fresh, new leaf and flower-
+buds expanding rapidly. Some mornings a single tree would appear
+in flower amidst what was the preceding evening a uniform green
+mass of forest--a dome of blossom suddenly created as if by
+magic. The birds were all active; from the wild-fruit trees, not
+far off, we often heard the shrill yelping of the Toucans
+(Ramphastos vitellinus). Small flocks of parrots flew over on
+most mornings, at a great height, appearing in distinct relief
+against the blue sky, always two-by-two chattering to each other,
+the pairs being separated by regular intervals; their bright
+colours, however, were not apparent at that height. After
+breakfast we devoted the hours from 10 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. to
+entomology; the best time for insects in the forest being a
+little before the greatest heat of the day.
+
+The heat increased rapidly towards two o'clock (92 and 93 Fahr.),
+by which time every voice of bird or mammal was hushed; only in
+the trees was heard at intervals the harsh whirr of a cicada. The
+leaves, which were so moist and fresh in early morning, now
+become lax and drooping; the flowers shed their petals. Our
+neighbours, the Indian and Mulatto inhabitants of the open palm-
+thatched huts, as we returned home fatigued with our ramble, were
+either asleep in their hammocks or seated on mats in the shade,
+too languid even to talk. On most days in June and July a heavy
+shower would fall some time in the afternoon, producing a most
+welcome coolness. The approach of the rain-clouds was after a
+uniform fashion very interesting to observe. First, the cool sea-
+breeze, which commenced to blow about ten o'clock, and which had
+increased in force with the increasing power of the sun, would
+flag and finally die away. The heat and electric tension of the
+atmosphere would then become almost insupportable. Languor and
+uneasiness would seize on every one, even the denizens of the
+forest, betraying it by their motions. White clouds would appear
+in the cast and gather into cumuli, with an increasing blackness
+along their lower portions. The whole eastern horizon would
+become almost suddenly black, and this would spread upwards, the
+sun at length becoming obscured. Then the rush of a mighty wind
+is heard through the forest, swaying the tree-tops; a vivid flash
+of lightning bursts forth, then a crash of thunder, and down
+streams the deluging rain. Such storms soon cease, leaving
+bluish-black, motionless clouds in the sky until night. Meantime
+all nature is refreshed; but heaps of flower-petals and fallen
+leaves are seen under the trees. Towards evening life revives
+again, and the ringing uproar is resumed from bush and tree. The
+following morning the sun again rises in a cloudless sky, and so
+the cycle is completed; spring, summer, and autumn, as it were,
+in one tropical day.
+
+The days are more or less like this throughout the year in this
+country. A little difference exists between the dry and wet
+seasons;
+but generally, the dry season, which lasts from July to December,
+is
+varied with showers, and the wet, from January to June, with
+sunny days.
+It results from this, that the periodical phenomena of plants and
+animals
+do not take place at about the same time in all species, or in
+the
+individuals of any given species, as they do in temperate
+countries. Of course there is no hybernation; nor, as the dry
+season is not excessive, is there any summer torpidity as in some
+tropical countries. Plants do not flower or shed their leaves,
+nor do birds moult, pair, or breed simultaneously. In Europe, a
+woodland scene has its spring, its summer, its autumn, and its
+winter aspects. In the equatorial forests the aspect is the same
+or nearly so every day in the year: budding, flowering, fruiting,
+and leaf shedding are always going on in one species or other.
+The activity of birds and insects proceeds without interruption,
+each species having its own separate times; the colonies of
+wasps, for instance, do not die off annually, leaving only the
+queens, as in cold climates; but the succession of generations
+and colonies goes on incessantly. It is never either spring,
+summer, or autumn, but each day is a combination of all three.
+With the day and night always of equal length, the atmospheric
+disturbances of each day neutralising themselves before each
+succeeding morn; with the sun in its course proceeding midway
+across the sky, and the daily temperature the same within two or
+three degrees throughout the year--how grand in its perfect
+equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under the
+equator!
+
+Our evenings were generally fully employed preserving our
+collections, and making notes. We dined at four, and took tea
+about seven o'clock. Sometimes we walked to the city to see
+Brazilian life or enjoy the pleasures of European and American
+society. And so the time passed away from June 15th to August
+26th. During this period we made two excursions of greater length
+to the rice and saw-mills of Magoary, an establishment owned by
+an American gentleman, Mr. Upton, situated on the banks of a
+creek in the heart of the forest, about twelve miles from Para. I
+will narrate some of the incidents of these excursions, and give
+an account of the more interesting observations made on the
+Natural History and inhabitants of these interior creeks and
+forests.
+
+Our first trip to the mills was by land. The creek on whose banks
+they stand, the Iritiri, communicates with the river Pars,
+through another larger creek, the Magoary; so that there is a
+passage by water; but this is about twenty miles round. We
+started at sunrise, taking Isidoro with us. The road plunged at
+once into the forest after leaving Nazareth, so that in a few
+minutes we were enveloped in shade. For some distance the woods
+were of second growth, the original forest near the town having
+been formerly cleared or thinned. They were dense and
+impenetrable on account of the close growth of the young trees
+and the mass of thorny shrubs and creepers. These thickets
+swarmed with ants and ant-thrushes; they were also frequented by
+a species of puff-throated manikin, a little bird which flies
+occasionally across the road, emitting a strange noise, made, I
+believe, with its wings, and resembling the clatter of a small
+wooden rattle.
+
+A mile or a mile and a half further on, the character of the
+woods began to change, and we then found ourselves in the
+primaeval forest. The appearance was greatly different from that
+of the swampy tract I have already described. The land was rather
+more elevated and undulating; the many swamp plants with their
+long and broad leaves were wanting, and there was less underwood,
+although the trees were wider apart. Through this wilderness the
+road continued for seven or eight miles. The same unbroken forest
+extends all the way to Maranham and in other directions, as we
+were told, a distance of about 300 miles southward and eastward
+of Para. In almost every hollow part the road was crossed by a
+brook, whose cold, dark, leaf-stained waters were bridged over by
+tree trunks. The ground was carpeted, as usual, by Lycopodiums,
+but it was also encumbered with masses of vegetable debris and a
+thick coating of dead leaves. Fruits of many kinds were scattered
+about, amongst which were many sorts of beans, some of the pods a
+foot long, flat and leathery in texture, others hard as stone. In
+one place there was a quantity of large empty wooden vessels,
+which Isidoro told us fell from the Sapucaya tree. They are
+called Monkey's drinking-cups (Cuyas de Macaco), and are the
+capsules which contain the nuts sold under the name just
+mentioned, in Covent Garden Market. At the top of the vessel is a
+circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly. When the nuts
+are ripe this lid becomes loosened and the heavy cup falls with a
+crash, scattering the nuts over the ground. The tree which yields
+the nut (Lecythis ollaria), is of immense height. It is closely
+allied to the Brazil-nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), whose seeds
+are also enclosed in large woody vessels; but these have no lid,
+and fall to the ground intact. This is the reason why the one
+kind of nut is so much dearer than the other. The Sapucaya is not
+less abundant, probably, than the Bertholletia, but its nuts in
+falling are scattered about and eaten by wild animals; whilst the
+full, whole capsules of Brazil-nuts are collected by the natives.
+
+What attracted us chiefly were the colossal trees. The general
+run of trees had not remarkably thick stems; the great and
+uniform height to which they grow without emitting a branch, was
+a much more noticeable feature than their thickness; but at
+intervals of a furlong or so a veritable giant towered up. Only
+one of these monstrous trees can grow within a given space; it
+monopolises the domain, and none but individuals of much inferior
+size can find a footing near it. The cylindrical trunks of these
+larger trees were generally about twenty to twenty-five feet in
+circumference. Von Martius mentions having measured trees in the
+Para district belonging to various species (Symphonia coccinea,
+Lecythis sp. and Crataeva Tapia), which were fifty to sixty feet
+in girth at the point where they become cylindrical. The height
+of the vast column-like stems could not be less than 100 feet
+from the ground to their lowest branch. Mr. Leavens, at the
+sawmills, told me they frequently squared logs for sawing a
+hundred feet long, of the Pao d'Arco and the Massaranduba. The
+total height of these trees, stem and crown together, may be
+estimated at from 180 to 200 feet; where one of them stands, the
+vast dome of foliage rises above the other forest trees as a
+domed cathedral does above the other buildings in a city.
+
+A very remarkable feature in these trees is the growth of
+buttress-shaped projections around the lower part of their stems.
+The spaces between these buttresses, which are generally thin
+walls of wood, form spacious chambers, and may be compared to
+stalls in a stable; some of them are large enough to hold a half-
+dozen persons. The purpose of these structures is as obvious, at
+the first glance, as that of the similar props of brickwork which
+support a high wall. They are not peculiar to one species, but
+are common to most of the larger forest trees. Their nature and
+manner of growth are explained when a series of young trees of
+different ages is examined. It is then seen that they are the
+roots which have raised themselves ridge-like out of the earth;
+growing gradually upwards as the increasing height of the tree
+required augmented support. Thus, they are plainly intended to
+sustain the massive crown and trunk in these crowded forests,
+where lateral growth of the roots in the earth is rendered
+difficult by the multitude of competitors.
+
+The other grand forest trees whose native names we learned, were
+the Moiratinga (the White or King tree), probably the same as, or
+allied to, the Mora Excelsa, which Sir Robert Schomburgh
+discovered in British Guiana; the Samauma (Eriodendron Samauma)
+and the Massaranduba, or Cow tree. The last-mentioned is the most
+remarkable. We had already heard a good deal about this tree, and
+about its producing from its bark a copious supply of milk as
+pleasant to drink as that of the cow. We had also eaten its fruit
+in Para, where it is sold in the streets by negro market women;
+and had heard a good deal of the durableness in water of its
+timber. We were glad, therefore, to see this wonderful tree
+growing in its native wilds. It is one of the largest of the
+forest monarchs, and is peculiar in appearance on account of its
+deeply-scored reddish and ragged bark. A decoction of the bark, I
+was told, is used as a red dye for cloth. A few days afterwards
+we tasted its milk, which was drawn from dry logs that had been
+standing many days in the hot sun, at the saw-mills. It was
+pleasant with coffee, but had a slight rankness when drunk pure;
+it soon thickens to a glue, which is excessively tenacious, and
+is often used to cement broken crockery. I was told that it was
+not safe to drink much of it, for a slave had recently nearly
+lost his life through taking it too freely.
+
+In some parts of the road ferns were conspicuous objects. But I
+afterwards found them much more numerous on the Maranham road,
+especially in one place where the whole forest glade formed a
+vast fernery; the ground was covered with terrestrial species,
+and the tree trunks clothed with climbing and epiphytous kinds. I
+saw no tree ferns in the Para district; they belong to hilly
+regions; some occur, however, on the Upper Amazons.
+
+Such were the principal features in the vegetation of the
+wilderness; but where were the flowers? To our great
+disappointment we saw none, or only such as were insignificant in
+appearance. Orchids are very rare in the dense forests of the low
+lands. I believe it is now tolerably well ascertained that the
+majority of forest trees in equatorial Brazil have small and
+inconspicuous flowers. Flower-frequenting insects are also rare
+in the forest. Of course they would not be found where their
+favourite food was wanting, but I always noticed that even where
+flowers occurred in the forest, few or no insects were seen upon
+them. In the open country or campos of Santarem on the Lower
+Amazons, flowering trees and bushes are more abundant, and there
+a large number of floral insects are attracted. The forest bees
+of South America belonging to the genera Melipona and Euglossa
+are more frequently seen feeding on the sweet sap which exudes
+from the trees or on the excrement of birds on leaves, rather
+than
+on flowers.
+
+We were disappointed also in not meeting with any of the larger
+animals in the forest. There was no tumultuous movement, or sound
+of life. We did not see or hear monkeys, and no tapir or jaguar
+crossed our path. Birds, also, appeared to be exceedingly
+scarce. We heard, however, occasionally, the long-drawn, wailing
+note of the Inambu, a kind of partridge (Crypturus cincreus?);
+and, also, in the hollows on the banks, of the rivulets, the
+noisy
+notes of another bird, which seemed to go in pairs, amongst the
+tree-tops, calling to each other as they went. These notes
+resounded through the wilderness. Another solitary bird had
+a most sweet and melancholy song; it consisted simply of a
+few notes, uttered in a plaintive key, commencing high, and
+descending by harmonic intervals. It was probably a species
+of warbler of the genus Trichas. All these notes of birds
+are very striking and characteristic of the forest.
+
+I afterwards saw reason to modify my opinion, founded on these
+first impressions, with regard to the amount and variety of
+animal life in this and other parts of the Amazonian forests.
+There is, in fact, a great variety of mammals, birds, and
+reptiles, but they are widely scattered, and all excessively shy
+of man. The region is so extensive, and uniform in the forest
+clothing of its surface, that it is only at long intervals that
+animals are seen in abundance when some particular spot is found
+which is more attractive than others. Brazil, moreover, is
+poor throughout in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of
+small size; they do not, therefore, form a conspicuous feature in
+its forests. The huntsman would be disappointed who expected to
+find here flocks of animals similar to the buffalo herds of North
+America, or the swarms of antelopes and herds of ponderous
+pachyderms of Southern Africa. The largest and most interesting
+portion of the Brazilian mammal fauna is arboreal in its habits;
+this feature of the animal denizens of these forests I have
+already alluded to. The most intensely arboreal animals in the
+world are the South American monkeys of the family Cebidae, many
+of which have a fifth hand for climbing in their prehensile
+tails, adapted for this function by their strong muscular
+development, and the naked palms under their tips. This seems to
+teach us that the South American fauna has been slowly adapted to
+a forest life, and, therefore, that extensive forests must have
+always existed since the region was first peopled by mammalia.
+But to this subject, and to the natural history of the monkeys,
+of which thirty-eight species inhabit the Amazon region, I shall
+have to return.
+
+We often read, in books of travels, of the silence and gloom of
+the Brazilian forests. They are realities, and the impression
+deepens on a longer acquaintance. The few sounds of birds are of
+that pensive or mysterious character which intensifies the
+feeling of solitude rather than imparts a sense of life and
+cheerfulness. Sometimes, in the midst of the stillness, a sudden
+yell or scream will startle one; this comes from some defenseless
+fruit-eating animal, which is pounced upon by a tiger-cat or
+stealthy boa-constrictor. Morning and evening the howling monkeys
+make a most fearful and harrowing noise, under which it is
+difficult to keep up one's buoyancy of spirit. The feeling of
+inhospitable wildness, which the forest is calculated to inspire,
+is increased tenfold under this fearful uproar. Often, even in
+the still hours of midday, a sudden crash will be heard
+resounding afar through the wilderness, as some great bough or
+entire tree falls to the ground. There are, besides, many sounds
+which it is impossible to account for. I found the natives
+generally as much at a loss in this respect as myself. Sometimes
+a sound is heard like the clang of an iron bar against a hard,
+hollow tree, or a piercing cry rends the air; these are not
+repeated, and the succeeding silence tends to heighten the
+unpleasant impression which they make on the mind. With the
+native it is always the Curupira, the wild man or spirit of the
+forest, which produces all noises they are unable to explain. For
+myths are the rude theories which mankind, in the infancy of
+knowledge, invent to explain natural phenomena. The Curupira is a
+mysterious being, whose attributes are uncertain, for they vary
+according to locality. Sometimes he is described as a kind of
+orangutang, being covered with long, shaggy hair, and living in
+trees. At others, he is said to have cloven feet and a bright red
+face. He has a wife and children, and sometimes comes down to the
+rocas to steal the mandioca. At one time I had a Mameluco youth
+in my service, whose head was full of the legends and
+superstitions of the country. He always went with me into the
+forest; in fact, I could not get him to go alone, and whenever we
+heard any of the strange noises mentioned above. he used to
+tremble with fear. He would crouch down behind me, and beg of me
+to turn back; his alarm ceasing only after he had made a charm to
+protect us from the Curupira. For this purpose, he took a young
+palm leaf, plaited it, and formed it into a ring, which he hung
+to a branch on our track.
+
+At length, after a six hour walk, we arrived at our
+destination, the last mile or two having been again through
+second-growth forest. The mills formed a large pile of buildings,
+pleasantly situated in a cleared tract of land, many acres in
+extent, and everywhere surrounded by the perpetual forest. We
+were received in the kindest manner by the overseer, Mr. Leavens,
+who showed us all that was interesting about the place, and took
+us to the best spots in the neighbourhood for birds and insects.
+The mills were built a long time ago by a wealthy Brazilian. They
+had belonged to Mr. Upton for many years. I was told that when
+the dark-skinned revolutionists were preparing for their attack
+on Para, they occupied the place, but not the slightest injury
+was done to the machinery or building, for the leaders said it
+was against the Portuguese and their party that they were at war,
+not against the other foreigners.
+
+The Iritiri Creek at the mills is only a few yards wide; it winds
+about between two lofty walls of forest for some distance, then
+becomes much broader, and finally joins the Magoary. There are
+many other ramifications, creeks or channels, which lead to
+retired hamlets and scattered houses, inhabited by people of
+mixed white, Indian, and negro descent. Many of them did business
+with Mr. Leavens, bringing for sale their little harvests of
+rice, or a few logs of timber. It was interesting to see them in
+their little, heavily-laden montarias. Sometimes the boats were
+managed by handsome, healthy young lads, loosely clad in a straw
+hat, white shirt, and dark blue trousers, turned up to the knee.
+They steered, paddled, and managed the varejao (the boating
+pole), with much grace and dexterity.
+
+We made many excursions down the Iritiri, and saw much of these
+creeks; besides, our second visit to the mills was by water. The
+Magoary is a magnificent channel; the different branches form
+quite a labyrinth, and the land is everywhere of little
+elevation.  All these smaller rivers, throughout the Para
+Estuary, are of the nature of creeks. The land is so level, that
+the short local rivers have no sources and downward currents like
+rivers as we generally understand them. They serve the purpose of
+draining the land, but instead of having a constant current one
+way, they have a regular ebb and flow with the tide. The natives
+call them, in the Tupi language, Igarapes, or canoe-paths. The
+igarapes and furos or channels, which are infinite in number in
+this great river delta, are characteristic of the country. The
+land is everywhere covered with impenetrable forests; the houses
+and villages are all on the waterside, and nearly all
+communication is by water. This semi-aquatic life of the people
+is one of the most interesting features of the country. For short
+excursions, and for fishing in still waters, a small boat, called
+montaria, is universally used. It is made of five planks; a broad
+one for the bottom, bent into the proper shape by the action of
+heat, two narrow ones for the sides, and two small triangular
+pieces for stem and stern. It has no rudder; the paddle serves
+for both steering and propelling. The montaria takes here the
+place of the horse, mule, or camel of other regions. Besides one
+or more montarias, almost every family has a larger canoe, called
+igarite. This is fitted with two masts, a rudder, and keel, and
+has an arched awning or cabin near the stern, made of a framework
+of tough lianas thatched with palm leaves. In the igarite they
+will cross stormy rivers fifteen or twenty miles broad. The
+natives are all boat-builders. It is often remarked, by white
+residents, that an Indian is a carpenter and shipwright by
+intuition. It is astonishing to see in what crazy vessels these
+people will risk themselves. I have seen Indians cross rivers in
+a leaky montaria, when it required the nicest equilibrium to keep
+the leak just above water; a movement of a hair's breadth would
+send all to the bottom, but they managed to cross in safety. They
+are especially careful when they have strangers under their
+charge, and it is the custom of Brazilian and Portuguese
+travellers to leave the whole management to them. When they are
+alone they are more reckless, and often have to swim for their
+lives. If a squall overtakes them as they are crossing in a
+heavily-laden canoe, they all jump overboard and swim about until
+the heavy sea subsides, then they re-embark.
+
+A few words on the aboriginal population of the Para estuary will
+not be out of place here. The banks of the Para were originally
+inhabited by a number of distinct tribes, who, in their habits,
+resembled very much the natives of the sea-coast from Maranham to
+Bahia. It is related that one large tribe, the Tupinambas,
+migrated from Pernambuco to the Amazons. One fact seems to be
+well-established, namely, that all the coast tribes were far more
+advanced in civilisation, and milder in their manners, than the
+savages who inhabited the interior lands of Brazil. They were
+settled in villages, and addicted to agriculture. They navigated
+the rivers in large canoes, called ubas, made of immense
+hollowed-out tree trunks; in these they used to go on war
+expeditions, carrying in the prows their trophies and calabash
+rattles, whose clatter was meant to intimidate their enemies.
+They were gentle in disposition, and received the early
+Portuguese settlers with great friendliness. The inland savages,
+on the other hand, led a wandering life, as they do at the
+present time, only coming down occasionally to rob the
+plantations of the coast tribes, who always entertained the
+greatest enmity towards them.
+
+The original Indian tribes of the district are now either
+civilised, or have amalgamated with the white and negro
+immigrants. Their distinguishing tribal names have long been
+forgotten, and the race bears now the general appellation of
+Tapuyo, which seems to have been one of the names of the ancient
+Tupinambas. The Indians of the interior, still remaining in the
+savage state, are called by the Brazilians Indios, or Gentios
+(Heathens). All the semi-civilised Tapuyos of the villages, and
+in fact the inhabitants of retired places generally, speak the
+Lingoa geral, a language adapted by the Jesuit missionaries from
+the original idiom of the Tupinambas. The language of the
+Guaranis, a nation living on the banks of the Paraguay, is a
+dialect of it, and hence it is called by philologists the Tupi-
+Guarani language; printed grammars of it are always on sale at
+the shops of the Para booksellers. The fact of one language
+having been spoken over so wide an extent of country as that from
+the Amazons to Paraguay, is quite an isolated one in this
+country, and points to considerable migrations of the Indian
+tribes in former times. At present the languages spoken by
+neighbouring tribes on the banks of the interior rivers are
+totally distinct; on the Jurua, even scattered hordes belonging
+to the same tribe are not able to understand each other.
+
+The civilised Tapuyo of Para differs in no essential point, in
+physical or moral qualities, from the Indian of the interior. He
+is more stoutly built, being better fed than some of them; but in
+this respect there are great differences amongst the tribes
+themselves. He presents all the chief characteristics of the
+American red man. The skin of a coppery brown colour, the
+features of the face broad, and the hair black, thick, and
+straight. He is generally about the middle height, thick-set, has
+a broad muscular chest, well-shaped but somewhat thick legs and
+arms, and small hands and feet. The cheek bones are not generally
+prominent; the eyes are black, and seldom oblique like those of
+the Tartar races of Eastern Asia, which are supposed to have
+sprung from the same original stock as the American red man. The
+features exhibit scarcely any mobility of expression; this is
+connected with the excessively apathetic and undemonstrative
+character of the race. They never betray, in fact they do not
+feel keenly, the emotions of joy, grief, wonder, fear, and so
+forth. They can never be excited to enthusiasm; but they have
+strong affections, especially those connected with family. It is
+commonly stated by the whites and negroes that the Tapuyo is
+ungrateful. Brazilian mistresses of households, who have much
+experience of Indians, have always a long list of instances to
+relate to the stranger, showing their base ingratitude. They
+certainly do not appear to remember or think of repaying
+benefits, but this is probably because they did not require, and
+do not value such benefits as their would-be masters confer upon
+them. I have known instances of attachment and fidelity on the
+part of Indians towards their masters, but these are exceptional
+cases. All the actions of the Indian show that his ruling desire
+is to be let alone; he is attached to his home, his quiet
+monotonous forest and river life; he likes to go to towns
+occasionally, to see the wonders introduced by the white man, but
+he has a great repugnance to living in the midst of the crowd; he
+prefers handicraft to field labour, and especially dislikes
+binding himself to regular labour for hire. He is shy and uneasy
+before strangers, but if they visit his abode, he treats them
+well, for he has a rooted appreciation of the duty of
+hospitality; there is a pride about him, and being naturally
+formal and polite, he acts the host with great dignity. He
+withdraws from towns as soon as the stir of civilisation begins
+to make itself felt. When we first arrived at Para many Indian
+families resided there, for the mode of living at that time was
+more like that of a large village than a city; but as soon as
+river steamers and more business activity were introduced, they
+all gradually took themselves away.
+
+These characteristics of the Para Indians are applicable, of
+course, to some extent, to the Mamelucos, who now constitute a
+great proportion of the population. The inflexibility of
+character of the Indian, and his total inability to accommodate
+himself to new arrangements, will infallibly lead to his
+extinction, as immigrants, endowed with more supple
+organisations, increase, and civilisation advances in the Amazon
+region. But, as the different races amalgamate readily, and the
+offspring of white and Indian often become distinguished
+Brazilian citizens, there is little reason to regret the fate of
+the race. Formerly the Indian was harshly treated, and even now
+he is so, in many parts of the interior. But, according to the
+laws of Brazil, he is a free citizen, having equal privileges
+with the whites; and there are very strong enactments providing
+against the enslaving and ill-treatment of the Indians. The
+residents of the interior, who have no higher principles to
+counteract instinctive selfishness or antipathy of race, cannot
+comprehend why they are not allowed to compel Indians to work for
+them, seeing that they will not do it of their own accord. The
+inevitable result of the conflict of interests between a European
+and a weaker indigenous race, when the two come in contact, is
+the sacrifice of the latter. In the Para district, the Indians
+are no longer enslaved, but they are deprived of their lands, and
+this they feel bitterly, as one of them, an industrious and
+worthy man, related to me. Is not a similar state of things now
+exhibited in New Zealand, between the Maoris and the English
+colonists?
+
+It is very interesting to read of the bitter contests that were
+carried on from the year 1570 to 1759, between the Portuguese
+immigrants in Brazil, and the Jesuit and other missionaries. They
+were similar to those which have recently taken place in South
+Africa, between the Beers and the English missionaries, but they
+were on a much larger scale. The Jesuits, as far as I could glean
+from tradition and history, were actuated by the same motives as
+our missionaries; and they seemed like them to have been, in
+great measure, successful, in teaching the pure and elevated
+Christian morality to the simple natives. But the attempt was
+vain to protect the weaker race from the inevitable ruin which
+awaited it in the natural struggle with the stronger one; in
+1759, the white colonists finally prevailed, the Jesuits were
+forced to leave the country, and the fifty-one happy mission
+villages went to ruin. Since then, the aboriginal race has gone
+on decreasing in numbers under the treatment which it has
+received; it is now, as I have already stated, protected by the
+laws of the central government.
+
+On our second visit to the mills, we stayed ten days. There is a
+large reservoir and also a natural lake near the place, both
+containing aquatic plants, whose leaves rest on the surface like
+our water lilies, but they are not so elegant as our nymphaea,
+either in leaf or flower. On the banks of these pools grow
+quantities of a species of fan-leaved palm tree, the Carana,
+whose stems are surrounded by whorls of strong spines. I
+sometimes took a montaria, and paddled myself alone down the
+creek. One day I got upset, and had to land on a grassy slope
+leading to an old plantation, where I ran about naked while my
+clothes were being dried on a bush. The Iritiri Creek is not so
+picturesque as many others which I subsequently explored. Towards
+the Magoary, the banks at the edge of the water are clothed with
+mangrove bushes, and beneath them the muddy banks into which the
+long roots that hang down from the fruit before it leaves the
+branches strike their fibres, swarm with crabs. On the lower
+branches the beautiful bird, Ardea helias, is found. This is a
+small heron of exquisitely graceful shape and mien; its plumage
+is minutely variegated with bars and spots of many colours, like
+the wings of certain kinds of moths. It is difficult to see the
+bird in the woods, on account of its sombre colours, and the
+shadiness of its dwelling-places; but its note, a soft long-drawn
+whistle, often betrays its hiding place. I was told by the
+Indians that it builds in trees, and that the nest, which is made
+of clay, is beautifully constructed. It is a favourite pet-bird
+of the Brazilians, who call it Pavao (pronounced Pavaong), or
+peacock. I often had opportunities to observe its habits. It
+soon becomes tame, and walks about the floors of houses picking
+up scraps of food or catching insects, which it secures by
+walking gently to the place where they settle, and spearing them
+with its long, slender beak. It allows itself to be handled by
+children, and will answer to its name "Pavao! Pavao!" walking up
+with a dainty, circumspect gait, and taking a fly or beetle from
+the hand.
+
+During these rambles by land and water we increased our
+collections considerably. Before we left the mills, we arranged a
+joint excursion to the Tocantins. Mr. Leavens wished to ascend
+that river to ascertain if the reports were true, that cedar grew
+abundantly between the lowermost cataract and the mouth of the
+Araguava, and we agreed to accompany him.
+
+While we were at the mills, a Portuguese trader arrived with a
+quantity of worm-eaten logs of this cedar, which he had gathered
+from the floating timber in the current of the main Amazons. The
+tree producing this wood, which is named cedar on account of the
+similarity of its aroma to that of the true cedars, is not, of
+course, a coniferous tree, as no member of that class is found in
+equatorial America, at least in the Amazons region. It is,
+according to Von Martius, the Cedrela Odorata, an exogen
+belonging to the same order as the mahogany tree. The wood is
+light, and the tree is therefore, on falling into the water,
+floated down with the river currents. It must grow in great
+quantities somewhere in the interior, to judge from the number of
+uprooted trees annually carried to the sea, and as the wood is
+much esteemed for cabinet work and canoe building, it is of some
+importance to learn where a regular supply can be obtained. We
+were glad of course to arrange with Mr. Leavens, who was familiar
+with the language, and an adept in river navigation--so we
+returned to Para to ship our collections for England, and prepare
+for the journey to a new region.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PARA
+
+Religious Holidays--Marmoset Monkeys--Serpents--Insects
+
+Before leaving the subject of Para, where I resided, as already
+stated, in all eighteen months, it will be necessary to give a
+more detailed account of several matters connected with the
+customs of the people and the Natural History of the
+neighbourhood, which have hitherto been only briefly mentioned. I
+reserve an account of the trade and improved condition of Para in
+1859 for the end of this narrative.
+
+During the first few weeks of our stay, many of those religious
+festivals took place, which occupied so large a share of the time
+and thoughts of the people. These were splendid affairs, wherein
+artistically-arranged processions through the streets,
+accompanied by thousands of people, military displays, the
+clatter of fireworks, and the clang of military music, were
+superadded to pompous religious services in the churches. To
+those who had witnessed similar ceremonies in the Southern
+countries of Europe, there would be nothing remarkable perhaps in
+these doings, except their taking place amidst the splendours of
+tropical nature; but to me they were full of novelty, and were
+besides interesting as exhibiting much that was peculiar in the
+manners of the people.
+
+The festivals celebrate either the anniversaries of events
+concerning saints, or those of the more important transactions in
+the life of Christ. To them have been added, since the
+Independence, many gala days connected with the  events in the
+Brazilian national history; but these have all a semi-religious
+character. The holidays had become so numerous, and interfered so
+much with trade and industry towards the year 1852, that the
+Brazilian Government was obliged to reduce them; obtaining the
+necessary permission from Rome to abolish several which were of
+minor importance. Many of those which have been retained are
+declining in importance since the introduction of railways and
+steamboats, and the increased devotion of the people to commerce;
+at the time of our arrival, however, they were in full glory. The
+way they were managed was in this fashion. A general manager or
+"Juiz" for each festival was elected by lot every year in the
+vestry of the church, and to him were handed over all the
+paraphernalia pertaining to the particular festival which he was
+chosen to manage; the image of the saint, the banners, silver
+crowns and so forth. He then employed a number of people to go
+the round of the parish, and collect alms towards defraying the
+expenses. It was considered that the greater the amount of money
+spent in wax candles, fireworks, music and feasting, the greater
+the honour done to the saint. If the Juiz was a rich man, he
+seldom sent out alms-gatherers, but celebrated the whole affair
+at his own expense, which was sometimes to the extent of several
+hundred pounds. Each festival lasted nine days (a novena), and in
+many cases refreshments for the public were provided every
+evening. In the smaller towns a ball took place two or three
+evenings during the novena, and on the last day there was a grand
+dinner. The priest, of course, had to be paid very liberally,
+especially for the sermon delivered on the Saint's Day or
+termination of the festival, sermons being extra duty in Brazil.
+
+There was much difference as to the accessories of these
+festivals between the interior towns and villages and the
+capital; but little or no work was done anywhere whilst they
+lasted, and they tended much to demoralise the people. It was
+soon perceived that religion is rather the amusement of the
+Paraenses, than their serious exercise. The ideas of the majority
+evidently do not reach beyond the belief that all the proceedings
+are, in each case, in honour of the particular wooden image
+enshrined at the church. The uneducated Portuguese immigrants
+seemed to me to have very degrading notions of religion.
+
+I have often travelled in the company of these shining examples
+of European enlightenment. They generally carry with them,
+wherever they go, a small image of some favourite saint in their
+trunks, and when a squall or any other danger arises, their first
+impulse is to rush to the cabin, take out the image and clasp it
+to their lips, whilst uttering a prayer for protection. The
+negroes and mulattos are similar in this respect to the low
+Portuguese, but I think they show a purer devotional feeling; and
+in conversation, I have always found them to be more rational in
+religious views than the lower orders of Portuguese. As to the
+Indians; with the exception of the more civilised families
+residing near the large towns, they exhibit no religious
+sentiment at all. They have their own patron saint, St. Thome,
+and celebrate his anniversary in the orthodox way, for they are
+fond of observing all the formalities; but they think the
+feasting to be of equal importance with the church ceremonies. At
+some of the festivals, masquerading forms a large part of the
+proceedings, and then the Indians really shine. They get up
+capital imitations of wild animals, dress themselves to represent
+the Caypor and other fabulous creatures of the forest, and act
+their parts throughout with great cleverness. When St. Thome's
+festival takes place, every employer of Indians knows that all
+his men will get drunk. The Indian, generally too shy to ask
+directly for cashaca (rum), is then very bold; he asks for a
+frasco at once (two-and-a-half bottles), and says, if
+interrogated, that he is going to fuddle in honour of St. Thome.
+
+In the city of Para, the provincial government assists to augment
+the splendour of the religious holidays. The processions which
+traverse the principal streets consist, in the first place, of
+the image of the saint, and those of several other subordinate
+ones belonging to the same church; these are borne on the
+shoulders of respectable householders, who volunteer for the
+purpose--sometimes you will see your neighbour the grocer or the
+carpenter groaning under the load. The priest and his crowd of
+attendants precede the images, arrayed in embroidered robes, and
+protected by magnificent sunshades--no useless ornament here, for
+the heat is very great when the sun is not obscured. On each side
+of the long line the citizens walk, clad in crimson silk cloaks
+and holding each a large lighted wax candle. Behind follows a
+regiment or two of foot soldiers with their bands of music, and
+last of all the crowd--the coloured people being cleanly dressed
+and preserving a grave demeanour. The women are always in great
+force, their luxuriant black hair decorated with jasmines, white
+orchids and other tropical flowers. They are dressed in their
+usual holiday attire, gauze chemises and black silk petticoats;
+their necks are adorned with links of gold beads, which when they
+are slaves are generally the property of their mistresses, who
+love thus to display their wealth.
+
+At night, when festivals are going on in the grassy squares
+around the suburban churches, there is really much to admire. A
+great deal that is peculiar in the land and the life of its
+inhabitants can be seen best at those times. The cheerful white
+church is brilliantly lighted up, and the music, not of a very
+solemn description, peals forth from the open windows and doors.
+Numbers of young gaudily-dressed negresses line the path to the
+church doors with stands of liqueurs, sweetmeats, and cigarettes,
+which they sell to the outsiders. A short distance off is heard
+the rattle of dice-boxes and roulette at the open-air gambling-
+stalls. When the festival happens on moonlit nights, the whole
+scene is very striking to a newcomer. Around the square are
+groups of tall palm trees, and beyond it, over the illuminated
+houses, appear the thick groves of mangoes near the suburban
+avenues, from which comes the perpetual ringing din of insect
+life. The soft tropical moonlight lends a wonderful charm to the
+whole.
+
+The inhabitants are all out, dressed in their best. The upper
+classes, who come to enjoy the fine evening and the general
+cheerfulness, are seated on chairs around the doors of friendly
+houses. There is no boisterous conviviality, but a quiet
+enjoyment seems to be felt everywhere, and a gentle courtesy
+rules among all classes and colours. I have seen a splendidly-
+dressed colonel, from the President's palace, walk up to a
+mulatto, and politely ask his permission to take a light from his
+cigar. When the service is over, the church bells are set
+ringing, a shower of rockets mounts upwards, the bands strike up,
+and parties of coloured people in the booths begin their dances.
+About ten o'clock the Brazilian national air is played, and all
+disperse quietly and soberly to their homes.
+
+At the festival of Corpus Christi, there was a very pretty
+arrangement. The large green square of the Trinidade was lighted
+up all round with bonfires. On one side a fine pavilion was
+erected, the upright posts consisting of real fan-leaved palm
+trees--the Mauritia flexuosa, which had been brought from the
+forest, stems and heads entire, and fixed in the ground. The
+booth was illuminated with coloured lamps, and lined with red and
+white cloth. In it were seated the ladies, not all of pure
+Caucasian blood, but presenting a fine sample of Para beauty and
+fashion.
+
+The grandest of all these festivals is that held in honour of Our
+Lady of Nazareth: it is, I believe, peculiar to Para. As I have
+said before, it falls in the second quarter of the moon, about
+the middle of the dry season--that is, in October or November--
+and lasts, like the others, nine days. On the first day, a very
+extensive procession takes place, starting from the Cathedral,
+whither the image of the saint had been conveyed some days
+previous, and terminating at the chapel or hermitage, as it is
+called, of the saint at Nazareth--a distance of more than two
+miles. The whole population turns out on this occasion. All the
+soldiers, both of the line and the National Guard, take part in
+it, each battalion accompanied by its band of music. The civil
+authorities, also, with the President at their head, and the
+principal citizens, including many of the foreign residents, join
+in the line. The boat of the shipwrecked Portuguese vessel is
+carried after the saint on the shoulders of officers or men of
+the Brazilian navy, and along with it are borne the other symbols
+of the miracles which Our Lady is supposed to have performed. The
+procession starts soon after the sun's heat begins to moderate--
+that is, about half-past four o'clock in the afternoon. When the
+image is deposited in the chapel the festival is considered to be
+inaugurated, and the village every evening becomes the resort of
+the pleasure-loving population, the holiday portion of the
+programme being preceded, of course, by a religious service in
+the chapel. The aspect of the place is then that of a fair,
+without the humour and fun, but, at the same time, without the
+noise and coarseness of similar holidays in England. Large rooms
+are set apart for panoramic and other exhibitions, to which the
+public is admitted gratis. In the course of each evening, large
+displays of fireworks take place, all arranged according to a
+published programme of the festival.
+
+The various ceremonies which take place during Lent seemed to me
+the most impressive, and some of them were exceedingly well-
+arranged. The people, both performers and spectators, conduct
+themselves with more gravity on these occasions, and there is no
+holiday-making. Performances, representing the last events in the
+life of Christ, are enacted in the churches or streets in such a
+way as to remind one of the old miracle plays or mysteries. A few
+days before Good Friday, a torchlight procession takes place by
+night from one church to another, in which is carried a large
+wooden image of Christ bent under the weight of the cross. The
+chief members of the government assist, and the whole slowly
+moves to the sound of muffled drums. A double procession is
+managed a few days afterwards. The image of St. Mary is carried
+in one direction, and that of the Saviour in another. The two
+images meet in the middle of one of the most beautiful of the
+churches, which is previously filled to excess with the
+multitudes anxious to witness the affecting meeting of mother and
+son a few days before the crucifixion. The images are brought
+face to face in the middle of the church, the crowd falls
+prostrate, and a lachrymose sermon is delivered from the pulpit.
+
+The whole thing, as well as many other spectacles arranged during
+the few succeeding days, is highly theatrical and well calculated
+to excite the religious emotions of the people-- although,
+perhaps, only temporarily. On Good Friday the bells do not ring,
+all musical sounds are interdicted, and the hours, night and day,
+are announced by the dismal noise of wooden clappers, wielded by
+negroes stationed near the different churches. A sermon is
+delivered in each church. In the middle of it, a scroll is
+suddenly unfolded from the pulpit, upon which is an exaggerated
+picture of the bleeding Christ. This act is accompanied by loud
+groans, which come from stout-lunged individuals concealed in the
+vestry and engaged for the purpose. The priest becomes greatly
+excited, and actually sheds tears. On one of these occasions I
+squeezed myself into the crowd, and watched the effect of the
+spectacle on the audience. Old Portuguese men and Brazilian women
+seemed very much affected-- sobbing, beating their breasts, and
+telling their beads. The negroes themselves behaved with great
+propriety, but seemed moved more particularly by the pomp, the
+gilding, the dresses, and the general display. Young Brazilians
+laughed. Several aborigines were there, coolly looking on. One
+old Indian, who was standing near me, said, in a derisive manner,
+when the sermon was over: "It's all very good; better it could
+not be" (Esta todo bom; melhor nao pude ser).
+
+The negroes of Para are very devout. They have built, by slow
+degrees, as I was told, a fine church by their own unaided
+exertions. It is called Nossa Senhora do Rosario, or Our Lady of
+the Rosary. During the first weeks of our residence at Para, I
+frequently observed a line of negroes and negresses, late at
+night, marching along the streets, singing a chorus. Each carried
+on his or her head a quantity of building materials--stones,
+bricks, mortar, or planks. I found they were chiefly slaves, who,
+after their hard day's work, were contributing a little towards
+the construction of their church. The materials had all been
+purchased by their own savings. The interior was finished about a
+year afterwards, and is decorated, I thought, quite as superbly
+as the other churches which were constructed, with far larger
+means, by the old religious orders more than a century ago.
+Annually, the negroes celebrate the festival of Nossa Senora de
+Rosario, and generally make it a complete success.
+
+I will now add a few more notes which I have accumulated on the
+subject of the natural history, and then we shall have done, for
+the present, with Para and its neighbourhood.
+
+I have already mentioned that monkeys were rare in the immediate
+vicinity of Para. I met with only three species in the forest
+near the city; they are shy animals, and avoid the neighbourhood
+of towns, where they are subject to much persecution by the
+inhabitants, who kill them for food. The only kind which I saw
+frequently was the little Midas ursulus, one of the Marmosets, a
+family peculiar to tropical America, and differing in many
+essential points of structure and habits from all other apes.
+They are small in size, and more like squirrels than true monkeys
+in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind
+thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squirrels, and the
+thumbs of the fore extremities, or hands, are not opposable to
+the other fingers. I do not mean to imply that they have a near
+relationship to squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an
+inferior order of mammals; their resemblance to those animals is
+merely a superficial one. They have two molar teeth less in each
+jaw than the Cebidae, the other family of American monkeys; they
+agree with them, however, in the sideway position of the
+nostrils, a character which distinguishes both from all the
+monkeys of the old world. The body is long and slender, clothed
+with soft hairs, and the tail, which is nearly twice the length
+of the trunk, is not prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger
+in volume than the anterior pair. The Midas ursulus is never seen
+in large flocks; three or four is the greatest number observed
+together. It seems to be less afraid of the neighbourhood of man
+than any other monkey. I sometimes saw it in the woods which
+border the suburban streets, and once I espied two individuals in
+a thicket behind the English consul's house at Nazareth. Its mode
+of progression along the main boughs of the lofty trees is like
+that of the squirrel; it does not ascend to the slender branches,
+or take those wonderful flying leaps which the Cebidae do, whose
+prehensile tails and flexible hands fit them for such headlong
+travelling. It confines itself to the larger boughs and trunks of
+trees, the long nails being of great assistance to the creature,
+enabling it to cling securely to the bark, and it is often seen
+passing rapidly around the perpendicular cylindrical trunks. It
+is a quick, restless, timid little creature, and has a great
+share of curiosity, for when a person passes by under the trees
+along which a flock is running, they always stop for a few
+moments to have a stare at the intruder.
+
+In Para, Midas ursulus is often seen in a tame state in the
+houses of the inhabitants. When full grown it is about nine
+inches long, independently of the tail, which measures fifteen
+inches. The fur is thick, and black in colour, with the exception
+of a reddish-brown streak down the middle of the back. When first
+taken, or when kept tied up, it is very timid and irritable. It
+will not allow itself to be approached, but keeps retreating
+backwards when any one attempts to coax it. It is always in a
+querulous humour, uttering a twittering, complaining noise; its
+dark, watchful eyes are expressive of distrust, and observant of
+every movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly,
+however, as it generally is in the houses of the natives, it
+becomes very tame and familiar. I once saw one as playful as a
+kitten, running about the house after the negro children, who
+fondled it to their hearts' content. It acted somewhat
+differently towards strangers, and seemed not to like them to sit
+in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up, trying to
+bite, and otherwise annoying them. It is generally fed sweet
+fruits, such as the banana; but it is also fond of insects,
+especially soft-bodied spiders and grasshoppers, which it will
+snap up with eagerness when within reach. The expression of
+countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing.
+This is partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given as
+one of 60; but the quick movements of the head, and the way they
+have of inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited,
+contribute very much to give them a knowing expression.
+
+On the Upper Amazons I once saw a tame individual of the Midas
+leoninus, a species first described by Humboldt, which was still
+more playful and intelligent than the one just described. This
+rare and beautiful little monkey is only seven inches in length,
+exclusive of the tail. It is named leoninus on account of the
+long brown mane which depends from the neck, and which gives it
+very much the appearance of a diminutive lion. In the house where
+it was kept, it was familiar with everyone; its greatest pleasure
+seeming to be to climb about the bodies of different persons who
+entered. The first time I went in, it ran across the room
+straightway to the chair on which I had sat down, and climbed up
+to my shoulder; having arrived there, it turned round and looked
+into my face, showing its little teeth and chattering, as though
+it would say, "Well, and how do you do?" It showed more affection
+towards its master than towards strangers, and would climb up to
+his head a dozen times in the course of an hour, making a great
+show every time of searching there for certain animalcula.
+Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire relates of a species of this genus,
+that it distinguished between different objects depicted on an
+engraving. M. Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a
+wasp; at these it became much terrified; whereas, at the sight of
+a figure of a grasshopper or beetle, it precipitated itself on
+the picture, as if to seize the objects there represented.
+
+Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near Para, a great
+number may be seen semi-domesticated in the city. The Brazilians
+are fond of pet animals. Monkeys, however, have not been known to
+breed in captivity in this country. I counted, in a short time,
+thirteen different species, whilst walking about the Para
+streets, either at the doors or windows of houses, or in the
+native canoes. Two of them I did not meet with afterwards in any
+other part of the country. One of these was the well-known Hapale
+Jacchus, a little creature resembling a kitten, banded with black
+and grey all over the body and tail, and having a fringe of long
+white hairs surrounding the ears. It was seated on the shoulder
+of a young mulatto girl, as she was walking along the street, and
+I was told had been captured in the island of Marajo. The other
+was a species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It had
+ruddy-brown fur, paler on the face, but presenting a blackish
+tuft on the top of the forehead.
+
+In the wet season serpents are common in the neighbourhood of
+Para. One morning, in April, 1849, after a night of deluging
+rain, the lamplighter, on his rounds to extinguish the lamps,
+woke me up to show me a boa-constrictor he had just killed in the
+Rua St. Antonio, not far from my door. He had cut it nearly in
+two with a large knife, as it was making its way down the sandy
+street. Sometimes the native hunters capture boa- constrictors
+alive in the forest near the city. We bought one which had been
+taken in this way, and kept it for some time in a large box under
+our verandah. This is not, however, the largest or most
+formidable serpent found in the Amazons region. It is far
+inferior, in these respects, to the hideous Sucuruju, or Water
+Boa (Eunectes murinus), which sometimes attacks man; but of this
+I shall have to give an account in a subsequent chapter.
+
+It frequently happened, in passing through the thickets, that a
+snake would fall from the boughs close to me. Once for a few
+moments I got completely entangled in the folds of one, a
+wonderfully slender kind, being nearly six feet in length, and
+not more than half an inch in diameter at its broadest part. It
+was a species of Dryophis. The majority of the snakes seen were
+innocuous. One day, however, I trod on the tail of a young
+serpent belonging to a very poisonous kind, the Jararaca
+(Craspedocephalus atrox). It turned round and bit my trousers;
+and a young Indian lad, who was behind me, dexterously cut it
+through with his knife before it had time to free itself. In some
+seasons snakes are very abundant, and it often struck me as
+strange that accidents did not occur more frequently than was the
+case.
+
+Amongst the most curious snakes found here were the Amphisbaenae,
+a genus allied to the slow-worm of Europe. Several species occur
+at Para. Those brought to me were generally not much more than a
+foot in length. They are of cylindrical shape, having, properly
+speaking, no neck, and the blunt tail which is only about an inch
+in length, is of the same shape as the head. This peculiar form,
+added to their habit of wriggling backwards as well as forwards,
+has given rise to the fable that they have two heads, one at each
+extremity. They are extremely sluggish in their motions, and are
+clothed with scales that have the form of small imbedded plates
+arranged in rings round the body. The eye is so small as to be
+scarcely perceptible. They live habitually in the subterranean
+chambers of the Sauba ant; only coming out of their abodes
+occasionally in the night time. The natives call the Amphisbaena
+the "Mai das Saubas," or Mother of the Saubas, and believe it to
+be poisonous, although it is perfectly harmless. It is one of the
+many curious animals which have become the subject of mythical
+stories with the natives. They say the ants treat it with great
+affection, and that if the snake be taken away from a nest, the
+Saubas will forsake the spot. I once took one quite whole out of
+the body of a young Jararaca, the poisonous species already
+alluded to, whose body was so distended with its contents that
+the skin was stretched out to a film over the contained
+Amphisbaena. I was, unfortunately, not able to ascertain the
+exact relation which subsists between these curious snakes and
+the Sauba ants. I believe however, they feed upon the Saubas, for
+I once found remains of ants in the stomach of one of them. Their
+motions are quite peculiar; the undilatable jaws, small eyes and
+curious plated integument also distinguish them from other
+snakes. These properties have evidently some relation to their
+residence in the subterranean abodes of ants. It is now well
+ascertained by naturalists, that some of the most anomalous forms
+amongst Coleopterous insects are those which live solely in the
+nests of ants, and it is curious that an abnormal form of snakes
+should also be found in the society of these insects.
+
+The neighbourhood of Para is rich in insects. I do not speak of
+the number of individuals, which is probably less than one meets
+with, excepting ants and termites, in summer days in temperate
+latitudes; but the variety, or in other words, the number of
+species, is very great. It will convey some idea of the diversity
+of butterflies when I mention that about 700 species of that
+tribe are found within an hour's walk of the town; while the
+total number found in the British Islands does not exceed 66, and
+the whole of Europe supports only 321. Some of the most showy
+species, such as the swallow-tailed kinds, Papilio Polycaon,
+Thoas, Torquatus, and others, are seen flying about the streets
+and gardens; sometimes they come through the open windows,
+attracted by flowers in the apartments. Those species of Papilio
+which are most characteristic of the country, so conspicuous in
+their velvety-black, green, and rose-coloured hues, which
+Linnaeus, in pursuance of his elegant system of nomenclature--
+naming the different kinds after the heroes of Greek mythology--
+called Trojans, never leave the shades of the forest. The
+splendid metallic blue Morphos, some of which measure seven
+inches in expanse, are generally confined to the shady alleys of
+the forest. They sometimes come forth into the broad sunlight.
+
+When we first went to look at our new residence in Nazareth, a
+Morpho Menelaus, one of the most beautiful kinds, was seen
+flapping its huge wings like a bird along the verandah. This
+species, however, although much admired, looks dull in colour by
+the side of its congener, the Morpho Rhetenor, whose wings, on
+the upper face, are of quite a dazzling lustre. Rhetenor usually
+prefers the broad sunny roads in the forest, and is an almost
+unattainable prize, on account of its lofty flight, for it very
+rarely descends nearer the ground than about twenty feet. When it
+comes sailing along, it occasionally flaps its wings, and then
+the blue surface flashes in the sunlight, so that it is visible a
+quarter of a mile off. There is another species of this genus, of
+a satiny-white hue, the Morpho Uraneis; this is equally difficult
+to obtain; the male only has the satiny lustre, the female being
+of a pale-lavender colour. It is in the height of the dry season
+that the greatest number and variety of butterflies are found in
+the woods; especially when a shower falls at intervals of a few
+days. An infinite number of curious and rare species may then be
+taken, most diversified in habits, mode of flight, colours, and
+markings: some yellow, others bright red, green, purple, and
+blue, and many bordered or spangled with metallic lines and spots
+of a silvery or golden lustre. Some have wings transparent as
+glass-- one of these clear wings is especially beautiful, namely,
+the Hetaira Esmeralda. It has one spot only of opaque colouring
+on its wings, which is of a violet and rose hue; this is the only
+part visible when the insect is flying low over dead leaves in
+the gloomy shades where alone it is found, and it then looks like
+a wandering petal of a flower.
+
+Bees and wasps are not especially numerous near Para, and I will
+reserve an account of their habits for a future chapter. Many
+species of Mygale, those monstrous hairy spiders, half a foot in
+expanse, which attract the attention so much in museums, are
+found in sandy places at Nazareth. The different kinds have the
+most diversified habits. Some construct, amongst the tiles or
+thatch of houses, dens of closely-woven web, which, in its
+texture, very much resembles fine muslin; these are often seen
+crawling over the walls of apartments. Others build similar nests
+in trees, and are known to attack birds. One very robust fellow,
+the Mygale Blondii, burrows into the earth, forming a broad,
+slanting gallery, about two feet long, the sides of which he
+lines beautifully with silk. He is nocturnal in his habits. Just
+before sunset he may be seen keeping watch within the mouth of
+his tunnel, disappearing suddenly when he hears a heavy foot-
+tread near his hiding place. The number of spiders ornamented
+with showy colours was somewhat remarkable. Some double
+themselves up at the base of leaf-stalks, so as to resemble
+flower-buds, and thus deceive the insects on which they prey. The
+most extraordinary-looking spider was a species of Acrosoma,
+which had two curved bronze-coloured spines, an inch and a half
+in length, proceeding from the tip of its abdomen. It spins a
+large web, the monstrous appendages being apparently no
+impediment to it in its work; but what their use can be I am
+unable to divine.
+
+Coleoptera, or beetles, at first seemed to be very scarce. This
+apparent scarcity has been noticed in other equatorial countries,
+and arises, probably, from the great heat of the sun not
+permitting them to exist in exposed situations, where they form
+such conspicuous objects in Europe. Many hundred species of the
+different families can be found when they are patiently searched
+for in the shady places to which they are confined. It is vain to
+look for the Geodephaga, or carnivorous beetles, under stones, or
+anywhere, indeed, in open, sunny places. The terrestrial forms of
+this interesting family, which abound in England and temperate
+countries generally, are scarce in the neighbourhood of Para; in
+fact, I met with only four or five species.
+
+On the other hand, the purely arboreal kinds were rather
+numerous. The contrary of this happens in northern latitudes,
+where the great majority of the species and genera are
+exclusively terrestrial. The arboreal forms are distinguished by
+the structure of the feet, which have broad spongy soles and
+toothed claws, enabling them to climb over  and cling to branches
+and leaves. The remarkable scarcity of ground beetles is,
+doubtless, attributable to the number of ants and Termites which
+people every inch of surface in all shady places, and which would
+most likely destroy the larvae of Coleoptera. Moreover, these
+active creatures have the same functions as Coleoptera, and thus
+render their existence unnecessary. The large proportion of
+climbing forms of carnivorous beetles is an interesting fact,
+because it affords another instance of the arboreal character
+which animal forms tend to assume in equinoctial America, a
+circumstance which points to the slow adaptation of the fauna to
+a forest-clad country throughout an immense lapse of geological
+time.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETA
+
+Preparations for the journey--The Bay of Goajara--Grove of fan-
+leaved Palms--The lower Tocantins--Sketch of the River-Vista
+Alegre--Baiao--Rapids--Boat journey to the Guariba Falls--Native
+Life on the Tocantins--Second journey to Cameta.
+
+August 26th, 1848--Mr. Wallace and I started today on the
+excursion ,which I have already mentioned as having been planned
+with Mr. Leavens, up the river Tocantins, whose mouth lies about
+forty-five miles in a straight line, but eighty miles following
+the bends of the river channels to the southwest of Para. This
+river, as before stated, has a course of 1600 miles, and stands
+third in rank amongst the streams which form the Amazons system.
+The preparations for the journey took a great deal of time and
+trouble. We had first to hire a proper vessel, a two-masted
+vigilinga twenty-seven feet long, with a flat prow and great
+breadth of beam and fitted to live in heavy seas; for, although
+our voyage was only a river trip, there were vast sea-like
+expanses of water to traverse. It was not decked over, but had
+two arched awnings formed of strong wickerwork, and thatched with
+palm leaves. We then had to store it with provisions for three
+months, the time we at first intended to be away; procure the
+necessary passports; and, lastly, engage a crew. Mr. Leavens,
+having had much experience in the country, managed all these
+matters. He brought two Indians from the rice-mills, and these
+induced another to enroll himself. We, on our parts, took our
+cook Isidoro, and a young Indian lad, named Antonio, who had
+attached himself to us in the course of our residence at
+Nazareth. Our principal man was Alexandro, one of Mr. Leavens's
+Indians. He was an intelligent and well-disposed young Tapuyo, an
+expert sailor, and an indefatigable hunter. To his fidelity we
+were indebted for being enabled to carry out any of the objects
+of our voyage. Being a native of a district near the capital,
+Alexandro was a civilised Tapuyo, a citizen as free as his white
+neighbours. He spoke only Portuguese. He was a spare-built man,
+rather under the middle height, with fine regular features, and,
+what was unusual in Indians, the upper lip decorated with a
+moustache. Three years afterwards I saw him at Para in the
+uniform of the National Guard, and he called on me often to talk
+about old times. I esteemed him as a quiet, sensible, manly young
+fellow.
+
+We set sail in the evening, after waiting several hours in vain
+for one of our crew. It was soon dark, the wind blew stiffly, and
+the tide rushed along with great rapidity, carrying us swiftly
+past the crowd of vessels which were anchored in the port. The
+canoe rolled a good deal. After we had made five or six miles of
+way, the tide turned and we were obliged to cast anchor. Not long
+after, we lay ourselves down, all three together, on the mat
+which was spread over the floor of our cabin, and soon fell
+asleep.
+
+On awaking at sunrise the next morning, we found ourselves
+gliding upwards with the tide, along the Bahia or Bay, as it is
+called, of Goajara. This is a broad channel lying between the
+mainland and a line of islands which extends some distance beyond
+the city. Into it three large rivers discharge their waters,
+namely, the Guama, the Acara, and the Moju-- so that it forms a
+kind of sub-estuary within the grand estuary of Para. It is
+nearly four miles broad. The left bank, along which we were now
+sailing, was beautiful in the extreme; not an inch of soil was to
+be seen; the water frontage presented a compact wall of rich and
+varied forest, resting on the surface of the stream. It seemed to
+form a finished border to the water scene, where the dome-like,
+rounded shapes of exogenous trees which constituted the mass
+formed the groundwork, and the endless diversity of broad-leaved
+Heliconiae and Palms--each kind differing in stem, crown, and
+fronds--the rich embroidery. The morning was calm and cloudless;
+and the slanting beams of the early sun, striking full on the
+front of the forest, lighted up the whole most gloriously. The
+only sound of life which reached us was the call of the Serracura
+(Gallinula Cayennensis), a kind of wild-fowl; all else was so
+still that the voices of boatmen could be plainly heard from
+canoes passing a mile or two distant from us. The sun soon gains
+great power on the water, but with it the sea-breeze increases in
+strength, moderating the heat which would otherwise be almost
+insupportable. We reached the end of the Goajara about midday,
+and then entered the narrower channel of the Moju. Up this we
+travelled, partly rowing and partly sailing between the same
+unbroken walls of forest, until the morning of the 28th.
+
+August 29th--The Moju, a stream slightly inferior to the Thames
+in size, is connected about twenty miles from its mouth by means
+of a short, artificial canal with a small stream, the Igarape-
+mirim, which flows the opposite way into the water-system of the
+Tocantins. Small vessels like ours take this route in preference
+to the stormy passage by way of the main river, although the
+distance is considerably greater. We passed through the canal
+yesterday, and today have been threading our way through a
+labyrinth of narrow channels, their banks all clothed with the
+same magnificent forest, but agreeably varied by houses of
+planters and settlers. We passed many quite large establishments,
+besides one pretty little village called Santa Anna. All these
+channels are washed through by the tides--the ebb, contrary to
+what takes place in the short canal, setting towards the
+Tocantins. The water is almost tepid (77 Fahr.), and the rank
+vegetation all around seems reeking with moisture. The country
+however, as we were told, is perfectly healthy. Some of the
+houses are built on wooden piles driven into the mud of the
+swamp.
+
+In the afternoon we reached the end of the last channel, called
+the Murut Ipucu, which runs for several miles between two
+unbroken lines of fan-leaved palms, forming colossal palisades
+with their straight stems . On rounding a point of land, we came
+in full view of the Tocantins. The event was announced by one of
+our Indians, who was on the lookout at the prow, shouting: "La
+esta o Parana-uassu!" "Behold, the great river!" It was a grand
+sight- -a broad expanse of dark waters dancing merrily to the
+breeze; the opposite shore, a narrow blue line, miles away.
+
+We went ashore on an island covered with palm trees, to make a
+fire and boil our kettle for tea. I wandered a short way inland,
+and was astounded at the prospect. The land lay below the upper
+level of the daily tides, so that there was no underwood, and the
+ground was bare. The trees were almost all of one species of
+Palm, the gigantic fan-leaved Mauritia flexuosa; only on the
+borders was there a small number of a second kind, the equally
+remarkable Ubussu palm, Manicaria saccifera. The Ubussu has
+erect, uncut leaves, twenty-five feet long, and six feet wide,
+all arranged round the top of a four-foot high stem, so as to
+form a figure like that of a colossal shuttlecock. The fan-leaved
+palms, which clothed nearly the entire islet, had huge
+cylindrical smooth stems, three feet in diameter, and about a
+hundred feet high. The crowns were formed of enormous clusters of
+fan-shaped leaves, the stalks alone of which measured seven to
+ten feet in length. Nothing in the vegetable world could be more
+imposing than this grove of palms. There was no underwood to
+obstruct the view of the long perspective of towering columns.
+The crowns, which were densely packed together at an immense
+height overhead, shut out the rays of the sun; and the gloomy
+solitude beneath, through which the sound of our voices seemed to
+reverberate, could be compared to nothing so well as a solemn
+temple. The fruits of the two palms were scattered over the
+ground; those of the Ubussu adhere together by twos and threes,
+and have a rough, brown-coloured shell; the fruit of the
+Mauritia, on the contrary, is of a bright red hue, and the skin
+is impressed with deep-crossing lines, which give it a
+resemblance to a quilted cricket-ball.
+
+About midnight, the tide being favourable and the breeze strong,
+we crossed the river, taking it in a slanting direction a
+distance of sixteen miles, and arrived at eight o'clock the
+following morning at Cameta. This is a town of some importance,
+pleasantly situated on the somewhat high terra firma of the left
+bank of the Tocantins. I will defer giving an account of the
+place till the end of this narrative of our Tocantins voyage. We
+lost here another of our men, who got drinking with some old
+companions ashore, and were obliged to start on the difficult
+journey up the river with two hands only, and they in a very
+dissatisfied humour with the prospect.
+
+The river view from Cameta is magnificent. The town is situated,
+as already mentioned, on a high bank, which forms quite a
+considerable elevation for this flat country, and the broad
+expanse of dark-green waters is studded with low, palm-clad
+islands-- the prospect down river, however, being clear, or
+bounded only by a sea-like horizon of water and sky. The shores
+are washed by the breeze-tossed waters into little bays and
+creeks, fringed with sandy beaches. The Tocantins has been
+likened, by Prince Adalbert of Prussia, who crossed its mouth in
+1846, to the Ganges. It is upwards of ten miles in breadth at its
+mouth; opposite Cameta it is five miles broad. Mr. Burchell, the
+well-known English traveller, descended the river from the mining
+provinces of interior Brazil some years before our visit.
+Unfortunately, the utility of this fine stream is impaired by the
+numerous obstructions to its navigation in the shape of cataracts
+and rapids, which commence, in ascending, at about 120 miles
+above Cameta, as will be seen in the sequel.
+
+August 30th.--Arrived, in company with Senor Laroque, an
+intelligent Portuguese merchant, at Vista Alegre, fifteen miles
+above Cameta. This was the residence of Senor Antonio Ferreira
+Gomez, and was a fair sample of a Brazilian planter's
+establishment in this part of the country. The buildings covered
+a wide space, the dwelling-house being separated from the place
+of business, and as both were built on low, flooded ground, the
+communication between the two was by means of a long wooden
+bridge. From the office and visitors' apartments a wooden pier
+extended into the river. The whole was raised on piles above the
+high-water mark. There was a rude mill for grinding sugar-cane,
+worked by bullocks; but cashaca, or rum, was the only article
+manufactured from the juice. Behind the buildings was a small
+piece of ground cleared from the forest, and planted with fruit
+trees-- orange, lemon, genipapa, goyava, and others; and beyond
+this, a broad path through a neglected plantation of coffee and
+cacao, led to several large sheds, where the farinha, or mandioca
+meal, was manufactured. The plantations of mandioca are always
+scattered about in the forest, some of them being on islands in
+the middle of the river. Land being plentiful, and the plough, as
+well as, indeed, nearly all other agricultural implements,
+unknown, the same ground is not planted three years together; but
+a new piece of forest is cleared every alternate year, and the
+old clearing suffered to relapse into jungle.
+
+We stayed here two days, sleeping ashore in the apartment devoted
+to strangers. As usual in Brazilian houses of the middle class,
+we were not introduced to the female members of the family, and,
+indeed, saw nothing of them except at a distance. In the forest
+and thickets about the place we were tolerably successful in
+collecting, finding a number of birds and insects which do not
+occur at Para. I saw here, for the first time, the sky-blue
+Chatterer (Ampelis cotinga). It was on the topmost bough of a
+very lofty tree, and completely out of the reach of an ordinary
+fowling-piece. The beautiful light-blue colour of its plumage was
+plainly discernible at that distance. It is a dull, quiet bird. A
+much commoner species was the Cigana or Gipsy (Opisthocomus
+cristatus), a bird belonging to the same order (Gallinacea) as
+our domestic fowl. It is about the size of a pheasant; the
+plumage is dark brown, varied with reddish, and the head is
+adorned with a crest of long feathers. It is a remarkable bird in
+many respects. The hind toe is not placed high above the level of
+the other toes, as it is in the fowl order generally, but lies on
+the same plane with them; the shape of the foot becomes thus
+suited to the purely arboreal habits of the bird, enabling it to
+grasp firmly the branches of trees. This is a distinguishing
+character of all the birds in equinoctial America which
+represents the fowl and pheasant tribes of the old world, and
+affords another proof of the adaptation of the fauna to a forest
+region. The Cigana lives in considerable flocks on the lower
+trees and bushes bordering the streams and lagoons, and feeds on
+various wild fruits, especially the sour Goyava (Psidium sp). The
+natives say it devours the fruit of arborescent Arums (Caladium
+arborescens), which grow in crowded masses around the swampy
+banks of lagoons. Its voice is a harsh, grating hiss; it makes
+the noise when alarmed or when disturbed by passing canoes, all
+the individuals sibilating as they fly heavily away from tree to
+tree. It is polygamous, like other members of the same order. It
+is never, however, by any chance, seen on the ground, and is
+nowhere domesticated. The flesh has an unpleasant odour of musk
+combined with wet hides--a smell called by the Brazilians
+catinga; it is, therefore, uneatable. If it be as unpalatable to
+carnivorous animals as it is to man, the immunity from
+persecution which it would thereby enjoy would account for its
+existing in such great numbers throughout the country.
+
+We lost another of our crew here; and thus, at the commencement
+of our voyage, had before us the prospect of being forced to
+return, from sheer want of hands, to manage the canoe. Senor
+Gomez, to whom we had brought letters of introduction from Senor
+Joao Augusto Correia, a Brazilian gentlemen of high standing at
+Para, tried what he could do to induce the canoe-men of his
+neighbourhood to engage with us, but it was a vain endeavour. The
+people of these parts seemed to be above working for wages. They
+are naturally indolent, and besides, have all some little
+business or plantation of their own, which gives them a
+livelihood with independence. It is difficult to obtain hands
+under any circumstances, but it was particularly so in our case,
+from being foreigners, and suspected, as was natural amongst
+ignorant people, of being strange in our habits. At length, our
+host lent us two of his slaves to help us on another stage,
+namely, to the village of Baiao, where we had great hopes of
+having this, our urgent want, supplied by the military commandant
+of the district.
+
+September 2nd--The distance from Vista Alegre to Baiao is about
+twenty-five miles. We had but little wind, and our men were
+therefore obliged to row the greater part of the way. The oars
+used in such canoes as ours are made by tying a stout paddle to
+the end of a long pole by means of woody lianas. The men take
+their stand on a raised deck, formed by a few rough planks placed
+over the arched covering in the fore part of the vessel, and pull
+with their backs to the stern. We started at six a.m., and about
+sunset reached a point where the west channel of the river, along
+which we had been travelling since we left Cameta, joined a
+broader middle one, and formed with it a great expanse of water.
+The islands here seem to form two pretty regular lines, dividing
+the great river into three channels. As we progressed slowly, we
+took the montaria, and went ashore, from time to time, to the
+houses, which were numerous on the river banks as well as on the
+larger islands. In low situations they had a very unfinished
+appearance, being mere frameworks raised high on wooden piles,
+and thatched with the leaves of the Ubussu palm. In their
+construction another palm tree is made much use of, viz., the
+Assai (Euterpe oleracea). The outer part of the stem of this
+species is hard and tough as horn-- it is split into narrow
+planks, and these form a great portion of the walls and flooring.
+The residents told us that the western channel becomes nearly dry
+in the middle of the fine season, but that at high water, in
+April and May, the river rises to the level of the house floors.
+The river bottom is everywhere sandy, and the country perfectly
+healthy. The people seemed to all be contented and happy, but
+idleness and poverty were exhibited by many unmistakeable signs.
+As to the flooding of their island abodes, they did not seem to
+care about that at all. They seem to be almost amphibious, or as
+much at home on the water as on land. It was really quite
+alarming to see men and women and children, in little leaky
+canoes laden to the water-level with bag and baggage, crossing
+broad reaches of river.
+
+Most of them have houses also on the terra firma, and reside in
+the cool palm swamps of the Ygapo islands, as they are called,
+only in the hot and dry season. They live chiefly on fish,
+shellfish (amongst which were large Ampullariae, whose flesh I
+found, on trial, to be a very tough morsel), the never failing
+farinha, and the fruits of the forest. Among the latter, the
+fruits of palm trees occupied the chief place. The Assai is the
+most in use, but this forms a universal article of diet in all
+parts of the country. The fruit, which is perfectly round, and
+about the size of a cherry, contains but a small portion of pulp
+lying between the skin and the hard kernel. This is made, with
+the addition of water, into a thick, violet-coloured beverage,
+which stains the lips like blackberries. The fruit of the Miriti
+is also a common article of food, although the pulp is sour and
+unpalatable, at least to European tastes. It is boiled, and then
+eaten with farinha. The Tucuma (Astrocaryum tucuma), and the
+Mucuja (Acrocomia lasiospatha), grow only on the mainland. Their
+fruits yield a yellowish, fibrous pulp, which the natives eat in
+the same way as the Miriti. They contain so much fatty matter,
+that vultures and dogs devour them greedily.
+
+Early on the morning of September 3rd we reached the right or
+eastern bank, which is forty to sixty feet high at this point.
+The houses were more substantially built than those we had
+hitherto seen. We succeeded in buying a small turtle; most of the
+inhabitants had a few of these animals, which they kept in little
+enclosures made with stakes. The people were of the same class
+everywhere, Mamelucos. They were very civil; we were not able,
+however, to purchase much fresh food from them. I think this was
+owing to their really not having more than was absolutely
+required to satisfy their own needs. In these districts, where
+the people depend solely on fishing for animal food, there is a
+period of the year when they suffer hunger, so that they are
+disposed to highly prize a small stock when they have it. They
+generally answered in the negative when we asked, money in hand,
+whether they had fowls, turtles, or eggs to sell. "Nao ha, sinto
+que nao posso lhe ser bom"; or, "Nao ha, men coracao-- we have
+none; I am sorry I cannot oblige you"; or, "There is none, my
+heart."
+
+Sept. 3rd to 7th.--At half-past eight a.m. we arrived at Baiao,
+which is built on a very high bank, and contains about 400
+inhabitants. We had to climb to the village up a ladder, which is
+fixed against the bank, and, on arriving at the top, took
+possession of a room, which Senhor Seixas had given orders to be
+prepared for us. He himself was away at his sitio, and would not
+be here until the next day. We were now quite dependent upon him
+for men to enable us to continue our voyage, and so had no remedy
+but to wait his leisure. The situation of the place, and the
+nature of the woods around it, promised well for novelties in
+birds and insects; so we had no reason to be vexed at the delay,
+but brought our apparatus and store-boxes up from the canoe, and
+set to work.
+
+The easy, lounging life of the people amused us very much. I
+afterwards had plenty of time to become used to tropical village
+life. There is a free, familiar, pro-bono publico style of living
+in these small places, which requires some time for a European to
+fall into. No sooner were we established in our rooms, than a
+number of lazy young fellows came to look on and make remarks,
+and we had to answer all sorts of questions. The houses have
+their doors and windows open to the street, and people walk in
+and out as they please; there is always, however, a more secluded
+apartment, where the female members of the families reside. In
+their familiarity there is nothing intentionally offensive, and
+it is practised simply in the desire to be civil and sociable. A
+young Mameluco, named Soares, an Escrivao, or public clerk, took
+me into his house to show me his library. I was rather surprised
+to see a number of well-thumbed Latin classics: Virgil, Terence,
+Cicero's Epistles, and Livy. I was not familiar enough, at this
+early period of my residence in the country, with Portuguese to
+converse freely with Senhor Scares, or ascertain what use he made
+of these books; it was an unexpected sight, a classical library
+in a mud-plastered and palm-thatched hut on the banks of the
+Tocantins.
+
+The prospect from the village was magnificent, over the green
+wooded islands, far away to the grey line of forest on the
+opposite shore of the Tocantins. We were now well out of the low
+alluvial country of the Amazons proper, and the climate was
+evidently much drier than it is near Para. They had had no rain
+here for many weeks, and the atmosphere was hazy around the
+horizon-- so much so that the sun, before setting, glared like a
+blood-red globe. At Para this never happens; the stars and sun
+are as clear and sharply defined when they peep above the distant
+treetops as they are at the zenith. This beautiful transparency
+of the air arises, doubtless, from the equal distribution through
+it of invisible vapour. I shall ever remember, in one of my
+voyages along the Para river, the grand spectacle that was once
+presented at sunrise. Our vessel was a large schooner, and we
+were bounding along before a spanking breeze, which tossed the
+waters into foam as the day dawned. So clear was the air, that
+the lower rim of the full moon remained sharply defined until it
+touched the western horizon, while at the same time, the sun rose
+in the east. The two great orbs were visible at the same time,
+and the passage from the moonlit night to day was so gentle that
+it seemed to be only the brightening of dull weather.
+
+The woods around Baiao were of second growth, the ground having
+been formerly cultivated. A great number of coffee and cotton
+trees grew amongst the thickets. A fine woodland pathway extends
+for miles over the high, undulating bank, leading from one house
+to another along the edge of the cliff. I went into several of
+them, and talked to their inmates. They were all poor people. The
+men were out fishing, some far away, a distance of many days
+journey; the women plant mandioca, make the farinha, spin and
+weave cotton, manufacture soap of burnt cacao shells and andiroba
+oil, and follow various other domestic employments. I asked why
+they allowed their plantations to run to waste. They said that it
+was useless trying to plant anything hereabout; the Sauba ant
+devoured the young coffee trees, and everyone who attempted to
+contend against this universal ravager was sure to be defeated.
+The country, for many miles along the banks of the river, seemed
+to be well peopled. The inhabitants were nearly all of the tawny-
+white Mameluco class. I saw a good many mulattos, but very few
+negroes and Indians, and none that could be called pure whites.
+
+When Senor Seixas arrived, he acted very kindly. He provided us
+at once with two men, killed an ox in our honour, and treated us
+altogether with great consideration. We were not, however,
+introduced to his family. I caught a glimpse once of his wife, a
+pretty little Mameluco woman, as she was tripping with a young
+girl, whom I supposed to be her daughter, across the backyard.
+Both wore long dressing-gowns made of bright-coloured calico
+print, and had long wooden tobacco-pipes in their mouths. The
+room in which we slept and worked had formerly served as a
+storeroom for cacao, and at night I was kept awake for hours by
+rats and cockroaches, which swarm in all such places. The latter
+were running about all over the walls; now and then one would
+come suddenly with a whirr full at my face, and get under my
+shirt if I attempted to jerk it off. As to the rats, they were
+chasing one another by the dozens all night long over the floor,
+up and down the edges of the doors, and along the rafters of the
+open roof.
+
+September 7th.--We started from Baiao at an early hour. One of
+our new men was a good-humoured, willing young mulatto named
+Jose; the other was a sulky Indian called Manoel, who seemed to
+have been pressed into our service against his will. Senor
+Seixas, on parting, sent a quantity of fresh provisions on board.
+A few miles above Baiao the channel became very shallow; we ran
+aground several times, and the men had to disembark and shove the
+vessel off. Alexandro shot several fine fish here, with bow and
+arrow. It was the first time I had seen fish captured in this
+way. The arrow is a reed, with a steel barbed point, which is
+fixed in a hole at the end, and secured by fine twine made from
+the fibres of pineapple leaves. It is only in the clearest water
+that fish can be thus shot--and the only skill required is to
+make, in taking aim, the proper allowance for refraction.
+
+The next day before sunrise a fine breeze sprang up, and the men
+awoke and set the sails. We glided all day through channels
+between islands with long, white, sandy beaches, over which, now
+and then, aquatic and wading birds were seen running. The forest
+was low, and had a harsh, dry aspect. Several palm trees grew
+here which we had not before seen. On low bushes, near the water,
+pretty, red-headed tanagers (Tanagra gularis) were numerous,
+flitting about and chirping like sparrows. About half-past four
+p.m., we brought to at the mouth of a creek or channel, where
+there was a great extent of sandy beach. The sand had been blown
+by the wind into ridges and undulations, and over the more moist
+parts, large flocks of sandpipers were running about. Alexandro
+and I had a long ramble over the rolling plain, which came as an
+agreeable change after the monotonous forest scenery amid which
+we had been so long travelling. He pointed out to me the tracks
+of a huge jaguar on the sand. We found here, also, our first
+turtle's nest, and obtained 120 eggs from it, which were laid at
+a depth of nearly two feet from the surface-- the mother first
+excavating a hole and afterwards, covering it up with sand. The
+place is discoverable only by following the tracks of the turtle
+from the water. I saw here an alligator for the first time, which
+reared its head and shoulders above the water just after I had
+taken a bath near the spot. The night was calm and cloudless, and
+we employed the hours before bedtime in angling by moonlight.
+
+On the 10th, we reached a small settlement called Patos,
+consisting of about a dozen houses, and built on a high, rocky
+bank, on the eastern shore. The rock is the same nodular
+conglomerate which is found at so many places, from the seacoast
+to a distance of 600 miles up the Amazons. Mr. Leavens made a
+last attempt here to engage men to accompany us to the Araguaya,
+but it was in vain; not a soul could be induced by any amount of
+wages to go on such an expedition. The reports as to the
+existence of cedar were very vague. All said that the tree was
+plentiful somewhere, but no one could fix on the precise
+locality. I believe that the cedar grows, like all other forest
+trees, in a scattered way, and not in masses anywhere. The fact
+of its being the principal tree observed floating down with the
+current of the Amazons is to be explained by its wood being much
+lighter than that of the majority of trees. When the banks are
+washed away by currents, trees of all species fall into the
+river; but the heavier ones, which are the most numerous, sink,
+and the lighter, such as the cedar, alone float down to the sea.
+
+Mr. Leavens was told that there were cedar trees at Trocara, on
+the opposite side of the river, near some fine rounded hills
+covered with forest, visible from Patos; so there we went. We
+found here several families encamped in a delightful spot. The
+shore sloped gradually down to the water, and was shaded by a few
+wide-spreading trees. There was no underwood. A great number of
+hammocks were seen slung between the tree trunks, and the litter
+of a numerous household lay scattered about. Women, old and
+young, some of the latter very good-looking, and a large number
+of children, besides pet animals, enlivened the encampment. They
+were all half-breeds, simple, well-disposed people, and explained
+to us that they were inhabitants of Cameta, who had come thus
+far, eighty miles, to spend the summer months. The only motive
+they could give for coming was that: "it was so hot in the town
+in the verao (summer), and they were all so fond of fresh fish."
+
+Thus, these simple folks think nothing of leaving home and
+business to come on a three months' picnic. It is the annual
+custom of this class of people throughout the province to spend a
+few months of the fine season in the wilder parts of the country.
+They carry with them all the farinha they can scrape together,
+this being the only article of food necessary to provide. The men
+hunt and fish for the day's wants, and sometimes collect a little
+India-rubber, salsaparilla, or copaiba oil, to sell to traders on
+their return; the women assist in paddling the canoes, do the
+cooking, and sometimes fish with rod and line. The weather is
+enjoyable the whole time, and so days and weeks pass happily
+away.
+
+One of the men volunteered to walk with us into the forest, and
+show us a few cedar trees. We passed through a mile or two of
+spiny thickets, and at length came upon the banks of the rivulet
+Trocara, which flows over a stony bed, and, about a mile above
+its mouth, falls over a ledge of rocks, thus forming a very
+pretty cascade. In the neighbourhood, we found a number of
+specimens of a curious land-shell, a large flat Helix, with a
+labyrinthine mouth (Anastoma). We learned afterwards that it was
+a species which had been discovered a few years previously by Dr.
+Gardner, the botanist, on the upper part of the Tocantins.
+
+We saw here, for the first time, the splendid Hyacinthine macaw
+(Macrocercus hyacinthinus, Lath., the Araruna of the natives),
+one of the finest and rarest species of the Parrot family. It
+only occurs in the interior of Brazil, from 16' S. lat. to the
+southern border of the Amazons valley. It is three feet long from
+the beak to the tip of the tail, and is entirely of a soft
+hyacinthine blue colour, except round the eyes, where the skin is
+naked and white. It flies in pairs, and feeds on the hard nuts of
+several palms, but especially of the Mucuja (Acrocomia
+lasiospatha). These nuts, which are so hard as to be difficult to
+break with a heavy hammer, are crushed to a pulp by the powerful
+beak of this macaw.
+
+Mr. Leavens was thoroughly disgusted with the people of Patos.
+Two men had come from below with the intention, I believe, of
+engaging with us, but they now declined. The inspector,
+constable, or governor of the place appeared to be a very
+slippery customer, and I fancy discouraged the men from going,
+whilst making a great show of forwarding our views. These
+outlying settlements are the resort of a number of idle,
+worthless characters. There was a kind of festival going on, and
+the people fuddled themselves with cashiri, an intoxicating drink
+invented by the Indians. It is made by soaking mandioca cakes in
+water until fermentation takes place, and tastes like new beer.
+
+Being unable to obtain men, Mr. Leavens now gave up his project
+of ascending the river as far as the Araguaya. He assented to our
+request, however, to ascend to the cataracts near Arroyos. We
+started, therefore, from Patos with a more definite aim before us
+than we had hitherto. The river became more picturesque as we
+advanced. The water was very low, it being now the height of the
+dry reason; the islands were smaller than those further down, and
+some of them were high and rocky. Bold wooded bluffs projected
+into the stream, and all the shores were fringed with beaches of
+glistening white sand. On one side of the river there was an
+extensive grassy plain or campo with isolated patches of trees
+scattered over it. On the 14th and following day we stopped
+several times to ramble ashore. Our longest excursion was to a
+large shallow lagoon, choked up with aquatic plants, which lay
+about two miles across the campo. At a place called Juquerapua,
+we engaged a pilot to conduct us to Arroyos, and a few miles
+above the pilot's house, arrived at a point where it was not
+possible to advance further in our large canoe on account of the
+rapids.
+
+September 16th.--Embarked at six a.m. in a large montaria which
+had been lent to us for this part of our voyage by Senor Seixas,
+leaving the vigilinga anchored close to a rocky islet, named
+Santa Anna, to await our return. Isidoro was left in charge, and
+we were sorry to be obliged to leave behind also our mulatto
+Jose, who had fallen ill since leaving Baiao. We had then
+remaining only Alexandro, Manoel, and the pilot, a sturdy Tapuyo
+named Joaquim-- scarcely a sufficient crew to paddle against the
+strong currents.
+
+At ten a.m. we arrived at the first rapids, which are called
+Tapaiunaquara. The river, which was here about a mile wide, was
+choked up with rocks, a broken ridge passing completely across
+it. Between these confused piles of stone the currents were
+fearfully strong, and formed numerous eddies and whirlpools. We
+were obliged to get out occasionally and walk from rock to rock,
+whilst the men dragged the canoe over the obstacles. Beyond
+Tapaiunaquara, the stream became again broad and deep, and the
+river scenery was beautiful in the extreme. The water was clear
+and of a bluish-green colour. On both sides of the stream
+stretched ranges of wooded hills, and in the middle picturesque
+islets rested on the smooth water, whose brilliant green woods
+fringed with palms formed charming bits of foreground to the
+perspective of sombre hills fading into grey in the distance.
+Joaquim pointed out to us grove after grove of Brazil nut trees
+(Bertholletia excelsa) on the mainland. This is one of the chief
+collecting grounds for this nut. The tree is one of the loftiest
+in the forest, towering far above its fellows; we could see the
+woody fruits, large and round as cannon-balls, dotted over the
+branches. The currents were very strong in some places, so that
+during the greater part of the way the men preferred to travel
+near the shore, and propel the boat by means of long poles.
+
+We arrived at Arroyos about four o'clock in the afternoon, after
+ten hours' hard pull. The place consists simply of a few houses
+built on a high bank, and forms a station where canoemen from the
+mining countries of the interior of Brazil stop to rest
+themselves before or after surmounting the dreaded falls and
+rapids of Guaribas, situated a couple of miles further up. We
+dined ashore, and in the evening again embarked to visit the
+falls. The vigorous and successful way in which our men battled
+with the terrific currents excited our astonishment. The bed of
+the river, here about a mile wide, is strewn with blocks of
+various sizes, which lie in the most irregular manner, and
+between them rush currents of more or less rapidity. With an
+accurate knowledge of the place and skillful management, the
+falls can be approached in small canoes by threading the less
+dangerous channels. The main fall is about a quarter of a mile
+wide; we climbed to an elevation overlooking it, and had a good
+view of the cataract. A body of water rushes with terrific force
+down a steep slope, and boils up with deafening roar around the
+boulders which obstruct its course. The wildness of the whole
+scene was very impressive. As far as the eye could see, stretched
+range after range of wooded hills and scores of miles of
+beautiful wilderness, inhabited only by scanty tribes of wild
+Indians. In the midst of such a solitude, the roar of the
+cataract seemed fitting music.
+
+September 17th.--We commenced early in the morning our downward
+voyage. Arroyos is situated in about 4 10' S. lat.; and lies,
+therefore, about 130 miles from the mouth of the Tocantins.
+Fifteen miles above Guaribas, another similar cataract called
+Tabocas lies across the river. We were told that there were in
+all fifteen of these obstructions to navigate, between Arroyos
+and the mouth of the Araguaya. The worst was the Inferno, the
+Guaribas standing second to it in evil reputation. Many canoes
+and lives have been lost here, most of the accidents arising
+through the vessels being hurled against an enormous cubical mass
+of rock called the Guaribinha, which we, on our trip to the falls
+in the small canoe, passed round with the greatest ease about a
+quarter of a mile below the main falls. This, however, was the
+dry season; in the time of full waters, a tremendous current sets
+against it. We descended the river rapidly, and found it
+excellent fun shooting the rapids. The men seemed to delight in
+choosing the swiftest parts of the current; they sang and yelled
+in the greatest excitement, working the paddles with great force,
+and throwing clouds of spray above us as we bounded downwards. We
+stopped to rest at the mouth of a rivulet named Caganxa. The
+pilot told us that gold had been found in the bed of this brook;
+so we had the curiosity to wade several hundred yards through the
+icy cold waters in search of it. Mr. Leavens seemed very much
+interested in the matter. He picked up all the shining stones he
+could espy in the pebbly bottom, in hopes of finding diamonds
+also. There is, in fact, no reason why both gold and diamonds
+should not be found here, the hills being a continuation of those
+of the mining countries of interior Brazil, and the brooks
+flowing through the narrow valleys between them.
+
+On arriving at the place where we had left our canoe, we found
+poor Jose the mulatto much worse, so we hastened on to Juquerapua
+to procure aid. An old half-caste woman took charge of him; she
+made poultices of the pulp of a wild fruit, administered cooling
+draughts made from herbs which grew near the house, and in fact,
+acted the part of nurse admirably. We stayed at this place all
+night and part of the following day, and I had a stroll along a
+delightful pathway, which led over hill and dale, two or three
+miles through the forest. I was surprised at the number and
+variety of brilliantly-coloured butterflies; they were all of
+small size and started forth from the low bushes, which bordered
+the road, at every step I took. I first heard here the notes of a
+trogon; it was seated alone on a branch, at no great elevation; a
+beautiful bird, with glossy-green back and rose-coloured breast
+(probably Trogon melanurus). At intervals it uttered, in a
+complaining tone, a sound resembling the words "qua, qua." It is
+a dull inactive bird, and not very ready to take flight when
+approached. In this respect, however, the trogons are not equal
+to the jacamars, whose stupidity in remaining at their posts,
+seated on low branches in the gloomiest shades of the forest, is
+somewhat remarkable in a country where all other birds are
+exceedingly wary. One species of jacamar was not uncommon here
+(Galbula viridis); I sometimes saw two or three together seated
+on a slender branch, silent and motionless with the exception of
+a slight movement of the head; when an insect flew past within a
+short distance, one of the birds would dart off, seize it, and
+return again to its sitting-place. The trogons are found in the
+tropics of both hemispheres. The jacamars, which are clothed in
+plumage of the most beautiful golden-bronze and steel colours,
+are peculiar to tropical America.
+
+At night I slept ashore as a change from the confinement of the
+canoe, having obtained permission from Senor Joaquim to sling my
+hammock under his roof. The house, like all others in these out-
+of-the-way parts of the country, was a large open, palm-thatched
+shed, having one end enclosed by means of partitions also made of
+palm-leaves, so as to form a private apartment. Under the shed
+were placed all the household utensils-- earthenware jars, pots,
+and kettles, hunting and fishing implements, paddles, bows and
+arrows, harpoons, and so forth. One or two common wooden chests
+serve to contain the holiday clothing of the females. There is no
+other furniture except a few stools and the hammock, which
+answers the purposes of chair and sofa. When a visitor enters, he
+is asked to sit down in a hammock; persons who are on intimate
+terms with each other recline together in the same hammock, one
+at each end. This is a very convenient arrangement for friendly
+conversation. There are neither tables nor chairs; the cloth for
+meals is spread on a mat, and the guests squat round in any
+position they choose. There is no cordiality of manners, but the
+treatment of the guests shows a keen sense of the duties of
+hospitality on the part of the host. There is a good deal of
+formality in the intercourse of these half-wild mamelucos, which,
+I believe, has been chiefly derived from their Indian
+forefathers, although a little of it may have been copied from
+the Portuguese.
+
+A little distance from the house were the open sheds under which
+the farinha for the use of the establishment was manufactured. In
+the centre of each shed stood the shallow pans, made of clay and
+built over ovens, where the meal is roasted. A long flexible
+cylinder made of the peel of a marantaceous plant, plaited into
+the proper form, hung suspended from a beam; it is in this that
+the pulp of the mandioca is pressed, and from it the juice, which
+is of a highly poisonous nature, although the pulp is wholesome
+food, runs into pans placed beneath to receive it. A wooden
+trough, such as is used in all these places for receiving the
+pulp before the poisonous matter is extracted, stood on the
+ground, and from the posts hung the long wicker-work baskets, or
+aturas, in which the women carry the roots from the roca or
+clearing; a broad ribbon made from the inner bark of the monguba
+tree is attached to the rims of the baskets, and is passed round
+the forehead of the carriers, to relieve their backs in
+supporting the heavy load. Around the shed were planted a number
+of banana and other fruit trees; among them were the never-
+failing capsicum-pepper bushes, brilliant as holly-trees at
+Christmas time with their fiery-red fruit, and lemon trees; the
+one supplying the pungent, the other the acid, for sauce to the
+perpetual meal of fish. There is never in such places any
+appearance of careful cultivation-- no garden or orchard. The
+useful trees are surrounded by weeds and bushes, and close behind
+rises the everlasting forest.
+
+There were other strangers under Senor Joaquim's roof besides
+myself--mulattos, mamelucos, and Indian,--so we formed altogether
+a large party. Houses occur at rare intervals in this wild
+country, and hospitality is freely given to the few passing
+travellers. After a frugal supper, a large wood fire was lighted
+in the middle of the shed, and all turned in to their hammocks,
+and began to converse. A few of the party soon dropped asleep;
+others, however, kept awake until a very late hour telling
+stories. Some related adventures which had happened to them while
+hunting or fishing; others recounted myths about the Curupira,
+and other demons or spirits of the forest. They were all very
+appropriate to the time and place, for now and then a yell or a
+shriek resounded through the gloomy wilderness around the shed.
+One old parchment-faced fellow, with a skin the colour of
+mahogany, seemed to be a capital story-teller; but I was sorry I
+did not know enough of the language to follow him in all the
+details which he gave. Amongst other things, he related an
+adventure he had once had with a jaguar. He got up from his
+hammock in the course of the narrative to give it the greater
+effect by means of gestures; he seized a bow and a large taquara
+arrow to show how he slew the beast, imitated its hoarse growl,
+and danced about the fire like a demon.
+
+In descending the river we landed frequently, and Mr. Wallace and
+I lost no chance of adding to our collections, so that before the
+end of our journey, we had got together a very considerable
+number of birds, insects, and shells, chiefly taken, however, in
+the low country. Leaving Baiao, we took our last farewell of the
+limpid waters and varied scenery of the upper river, and found
+ourselves again in the humid flat region of the Amazons valley.
+We sailed down this lower part of the river by a different
+channel from the one we travelled along in ascending, and
+frequently went ashore on the low islands in mid-river. As
+already stated, these are covered with water in the wet season;
+but at this time, there having been three months of fine weather,
+they were dry throughout, and by the subsidence of the waters,
+placed four or five feet above the level of the river. They are
+covered with a most luxuriant forest, comprising a large number
+of india-rubber trees. We found several people encamped here, who
+were engaged in collecting and preparing the rubber, and thus had
+an opportunity of observing the process.
+
+The tree which yields this valuable sap is the Siphonia elastica,
+a member of the Euphorbiaceous order; it belongs, therefore, to a
+group of plants quite different from that which furnishes the
+caoutchouc of the East Indies and Africa. This latter is the
+product of different species of Ficus, and is considered, I
+believe, in commerce, an inferior article to the India-rubber of
+Para. The Siphonia elastica grows only on the lowlands in the
+Amazons region; hitherto, the rubber has been collected chiefly
+in the islands and swampy parts of the mainland within a distance
+of fifty to a hundred miles to the west of Para; but there are
+plenty of untapped trees still growing in the wilds of the
+Tapajos, Madeira, Jurua, and Jauari, as far as 1800 miles from
+the Atlantic coast. The tree is not remarkable in appearance; in
+bark and foliage it is not unlike the European ash. But the
+trunk, like that of all forest trees, shoots up to an immense
+height before throwing off branches. The trees seem to be no
+man's property hereabout. The people we met with told us they
+came every year to collect rubber on these islands as soon as the
+waters had subsided, namely in August, and remained until January
+or February.
+
+The process is very simple. Every morning each person, man or
+woman, to whom is allotted a certain number of trees, goes the
+round of the whole and collects in a large vessel the milky sap
+which trickles from gashes made in the bark on the preceding
+evening, and which is received in little clay cups, or in
+ampullaria shells stuck beneath the wounds. The sap, which at
+first is of the consistence of cream, soon thickens; the
+collectors are provided with a great number of wooden moulds of
+the shape in which the rubber is wanted, and when they return to
+the camp, they dip them into the liquid, laying on, in the course
+of several days, one coat after another. When this is done, the
+substance is white and hard; the proper colour and consistency
+are given by passing it repeatedly through a thick black smoke
+obtained by burning the nuts of certain palm trees, after which
+process the article is ready for sale.
+
+India-rubber is known throughout the province only by the name of
+seringa, the Portuguese word for syringe; it owes this
+appellation to the circumstance that it was only in this form
+that the first Portuguese settlers noticed it to be employed by
+the aborigines. It is said that the Indians were first taught to
+make syringes of rubber by seeing natural tubes formed by it when
+the spontaneously-flowing sap gathered round projecting twigs.
+Brazilians of all classes still use it extensively in the form of
+syringes, for injections form a great feature in the popular
+system of cures; the rubber for this purpose is made into a pear-
+shaped bottle, and a quill fixed in the long neck.
+
+September 24th.--Opposite Cameta, the islands are all planted
+with cacao, the tree which yields the chocolate nut. The forest
+is not cleared for the purpose, but the cacao plants are stuck in
+here and there almost at random amongst the trees. There are many
+houses on the banks of the river, all elevated above the swampy
+soil on wooden piles, and furnished with broad ladders by which
+to mount to the ground floor. As we passed by in our canoe, we
+could see the people at their occupations in the open verandas,
+and in one place saw a ball going on in broad daylight; there
+were fiddles and guitars hard at work, and a number of lads in
+white shirts and trousers dancing with brown damsels clad in
+showy print dresses. The cacao tree produces a curious impression
+on account of the flowers and fruit growing directly out of the
+trunk and branches. There is a whole group of wild fruit trees
+which have the same habit in this country. In the wildernesses
+where the cacao is planted, the collecting of the fruit is
+dangerous due to the number of poisonous snakes which inhabit the
+places. One day, when we were running our montaria to a landing-
+place, we saw a large serpent on the trees overhead as we were
+about to brush past; the boat was stopped just in the nick of
+time, and Mr. Leavens brought the reptile down with a charge of
+shot.
+
+September 26th.--At length we got clear of the islands, and saw
+once more before us the sea-like expanse of waters which forms
+the mouth of the Tocantins. The river had now sunk to its lowest
+point, and numbers of fresh-water dolphins were rolling about in
+shoaly places. There are here two species, one of which was new
+to science when I sent specimens to England; it is called the
+Tucuxi (Steno tucuxi of Gray). When it comes to the surface to
+breathe, it rises horizontally, showing first its back fin, then
+draws an inspiration, and dives gently down, head foremost. This
+mode of proceeding distinguishes the Tucuxi at once from the
+other species, which is called Bouto or porpoise by the natives
+(Inia Geoffroyi of Desmarest). When this rises the top of the
+head is the part first seen; it then blows, and immediately
+afterwards dips head downwards, its back curving over, exposing
+successively the whole dorsal ridge with its fin. It seems thus
+to pitch heels over head, but does not show the tail fin. Besides
+this peculiar motion, it is distinguished from the Tucuxi by its
+habit of generally going in pairs. Both species are exceedingly
+numerous throughout the Amazons and its larger tributaries, but
+they are nowhere more plentiful than in the shoaly water at the
+mouth of the Tocantins, especially in the dry season. In the
+Upper Amazons a third pale flesh-coloured species is also
+abundant (the Delphinus pallidus of Gervais). With the exception
+of a species found in the Ganges, all other varieties of dolphin
+inhabit the sea exclusively. In the broader parts of the Amazons,
+from its mouth to a distance of fifteen hundred miles in the
+interior, one or other of the three kinds here mentioned are
+always heard rolling, blowing, and snorting, especially at night,
+and these noises contribute much to the impression of sea-wide
+vastness and desolation which haunts the traveller. Besides
+dolphins in the water, frigate birds in the air are
+characteristic of this lower part of the Tocantins. Flocks of
+them were seen the last two or three days of our journey,
+hovering above at an immense height. Towards night, we were
+obliged to cast anchor over a shoal in the middle of the river to
+await the ebb tide. The wind blew very strongly, and this,
+together with the incoming flow, caused such a heavy sea that it
+was impossible to sleep. The vessel rolled and pitched until
+every bone in our bodies ached with the bumps we received, and we
+were all more or less seasick. On the following day we entered
+the Anapu, and on the 30th September, after threading again the
+labyrinth of channels communicating between the Tocantins and the
+Moju, arrived at Para.
+
+I will now give a short account of Cameta, the principal town on
+the banks of the Tocantins, which I visited for the second time,
+in June,1849. Mr. Wallace, in the same month, departed from Para
+to explore the rivers Guama and Capim. I embarked as passenger in
+a Cameta trading vessel, the St. John, a small schooner of thirty
+tons burthen. I had learnt by this time that the only way to
+attain the objects for which I had come to this country was to
+accustom myself to the ways of life of the humbler classes of the
+inhabitants. A traveller on the Amazons gains little by being
+furnished with letters of recommendation to persons of note, for
+in the great interior wildernesses of forest and river the
+canoemen have pretty much their own way; the authorities cannot
+force them to grant passages or to hire themselves to travellers,
+and therefore, a stranger is obliged to ingratiate himself with
+them in order to get conveyed from place to place. I thoroughly
+enjoyed the journey to Cameta; the weather was again beautiful in
+the extreme. We started from Para at sunrise on the 8th of June,
+and on the 10th emerged from the narrow channels of the Anapu
+into the broad Tocantins. The vessel was so full of cargo that
+there was no room to sleep in the cabin; so we passed the nights
+on deck. The captain or supercargo, called in Portuguese cabo,
+was a mameluco, named Manoel, a quiet, good-humoured person, who
+treated me with the most unaffected civility during the three
+days' journey. The pilot was also a mameluco, named John Mendez,
+a handsome young fellow, full of life and spirit. He had on board
+a wire guitar or viola, as it is here called; and in the bright
+moonlight nights, as we lay at anchor hour after hour waiting for
+the tide, he enlivened us all with songs and music. He was on the
+best of terms with the cabo, both sleeping in the same hammock
+slung between the masts. I passed the nights wrapped in an old
+sail outside the roof of the cabin. The crew, five in number,
+were Indians and half-breeds, all of whom treated their two
+superiors with the most amusing familiarity, yet I never sailed
+in a better managed vessel than the St. John.
+
+In crossing to Cameta we had to await the flood-tide in a channel
+called Entre-as-Ilhas, which lies between two islands in mid-
+river, and John Mendez, being in good tune, gave us an extempore
+song, consisting of a great number of verses. The crew lay about
+the deck listening, and all joined in the chorus. Some stanzas
+related to me, telling how I had come all the way from
+"Inglaterra," to skin monkeys and birds and catch insects; the
+last-mentioned employment of course giving ample scope for fun.
+He passed from this to the subject of political parties in
+Cameta; and then, as all the hearers were Cametaenses and
+understood the hits, there were roars of laughter, some of them
+rolling over and over on the deck, so much were they tickled.
+Party spirit runs high at Cameta, not merely in connection with
+local politics, but in relation to affairs of general concern,
+such as the election of members to the Imperial Parliament, and
+so forth. This political strife is partly attributable to the
+circumstance that a native of Cameta, Dr. Angelo Custodio
+Correia, had been in almost every election, one of the candidates
+for the representation of the province. I fancied these shrewd
+but unsophisticated canoe-men saw through the absurdities
+attending these local contests, and hence their inclination to
+satirise them; they were, however, evidently partisans of Dr.
+Angelo. The brother of Dr. Angelo, Joao Augusto Correia, a
+distinguished merchant, was an active canvasser. The party of the
+Correias was the Liberal, or, as it is called throughout Brazil,
+the Santa Luzia faction; the opposite side, at the head of which
+was one Pedro Moraes, was the Conservative, or Saquarema party. I
+preserved one of the stanzas of the song, which, however, does
+not contain much point; it ran thus:
+
+Ora pana, tana pana!, pana tana, Joao Augusto he bonito e homem
+pimpao, Mas Pedro he feio e hum grande ladrao, (Chorus) Ora pana,
+etc.
+
+John Augustus is handsome and as a man ought to be, But Peter is
+ugly and a great thief. (Chorus) Ora pana, etc.
+
+The canoe-men of the Amazons have many songs and choruses, with
+which they are in the habit of relieving the monotony of their
+slow voyages, and which are known all over the interior. The
+choruses consist of a simple strain, repeated almost to
+weariness, and sung generally in unison, but sometimes with an
+attempt at harmony. There is a wildness and sadness about the
+tunes which harmonise well with, and in fact are born of, the
+circumstances of the canoe-man's life: the echoing channels, the
+endless gloomy forests, the solemn nights, and the desolate
+scenes of broad and stormy waters and falling banks. Whether they
+were invented by the Indians or introduced by the Portuguese it
+is hard to decide, as many of the customs of the lower classes of
+Portuguese are so similar to those of the Indians that they have
+become blended with them. One of the commonest songs is very wild
+and pretty. It has for refrain the words "Mai, Mai" ("Mother,
+Mother"), with a long drawl on the second word. The stanzas are
+quite variable; the best wit on board starts the verse,
+improvising as he goes on, and the others join in the chorus.
+They all relate to the lonely river life and the events of the
+voyage-- the shoals, the wind, how far they shall go before they
+stop to sleep, and so forth. The sonorous native names of places,
+Goajara, Tucumanduba, etc., add greatly to the charm of the wild
+music. Sometimes they bring in the stars thus:
+
+A lua esta sahindo, Mai, Mai! A lua esta sahindo, Mai, Mai! As
+sete estrellas estao chorando, Mai, Mai! Por s'acharem
+desamparados, Mai, Mai!
+
+The moon is rising, Mother, Mother! The moon is rising, Mother,
+Mother! The seven stars (Pleiades) are weeping, Mother, Mother!
+To find themselves forsaken, Mother, mother!
+
+I fell asleep about ten o'clock, but at four in the morning John
+Mendez woke me to enjoy the sight of the little schooner tearing
+through the waves before a spanking breeze. The night was
+transparently clear and almost cold, the moon appeared sharply
+defined against the dark blue sky, and a ridge of foam marked
+where the prow of the vessel was cleaving its way through the
+water. The men had made a fire in the galley to make tea of an
+acid herb, called erva cidreira, a quantity of which they had
+gathered at the last landing-place, and the flames sparkled
+cheerily upwards. It is at such times as these that Amazon
+travelling is enjoyable, and one no longer wonders at the love
+which many, both natives and strangers, have for this wandering
+life. The little schooner sped rapidly on with booms bent and
+sails stretched to the utmost; just as day dawned, we ran with
+scarcely slackened speed into the port of Cameta, and cast
+anchor.
+
+I stayed at Cameta until the 16th of July, and made a
+considerable collection of the natural productions of the
+neighbourhood. The town in 1849 was estimated to contain about
+5000 inhabitants, but the municipal district of which Cameta is
+the capital numbered 20,000; this, however, comprised the whole
+of the lower part of the Tocantins, which is the most thickly
+populated part of the province of Para. The productions of the
+district are cacao, india-rubber, and Brazil nuts. The most
+remarkable feature in the social aspect of the place is the
+hybrid nature of the whole population, the amalgamation of the
+white and Indian races being here complete. The aborigines were
+originally very numerous on the western bank of the Tocantins,
+the principal tribe having been the Camutas, from which the city
+takes its name. They were a superior nation, settled, and
+attached to agriculture, and received with open arms the white
+immigrants who were attracted to the district by its fertility,
+natural beauty, and the healthfulness of the climate. The
+Portuguese settlers were nearly all males, the Indian women were
+good-looking, and made excellent wives; so the natural result has
+been, in the course of two centuries, a complete blending of the
+two races. There is now, however, a considerable infusion of
+negro blood in the mixture, several hundred African slaves having
+been introduced during the last seventy years. The few whites are
+chiefly Portuguese, but there are also two or three Brazilian
+families of pure European descent. The town consists of three
+long streets, running parallel to the river, with a few shorter
+ones crossing them at right angles. The houses are very plain,
+being built, as usual in this country, simply of a strong
+framework, filled up with mud, and coated with white plaster. A
+few of them are of two or three stories. There are three
+churches, and also a small theatre, where a company of native
+actors at the time of my visit were representing light Portuguese
+plays with considerable taste and ability. The people have a
+reputation all over the province for energy and perseverance; and
+it is often said that they are as keen in trade as the
+Portuguese. The lower classes are as indolent and sensual here as
+in other parts of the province, a moral condition not to be
+wondered at in a country where perpetual summer reigns, and where
+the necessities of life are so easily obtained. But they are
+light-hearted, quick-witted, communicative, and hospitable. I
+found here a native poet, who had written some pretty verses,
+showing an appreciation of the natural beauties of the country,
+and was told that the Archbishop of Bahia, the primate of Brazil,
+was a native of Cameta. It is interesting to find the mamelucos
+displaying talent and enterprise, for it shows that degeneracy
+does not necessarily result from the mixture of white and Indian
+blood. The Cametaenses boast, as they have a right to do, of
+theirs being the only large town which resisted successfully the
+anarchists in the great rebellion of 1835-6. While the whites of
+Para were submitting to the rule of half-savage revolutionists,
+the mamelucos of Cameta placed themselves under the leadership of
+a courageous priest, named Prudencio. They armed themselves,
+fortified the place, and repulsed the large forces which the
+insurgents of Para sent to attack the place. The town not only
+became the refuge for all loyal subjects, but was a centre whence
+large parties of volunteers sallied forth repeatedly to attack
+the anarchists in their various strongholds.
+
+The forest behind Cameta is traversed by several broad roads,
+which lead over undulating ground many miles into the interior.
+They pass generally under shade, and part of the way through
+groves of coffee and orange trees, fragrant plantations of cacao,
+and tracts of second-growth woods. The narrow brook-watered
+valleys, with which the land is intersected, alone have remained
+clothed with primaeval forest, at least near the town. The houses
+along these beautiful roads belong chiefly to Mameluco, mulatto,
+and Indian families, each of which has its own small plantation.
+There are only a few planters with larger establishments, and
+these have seldom more than a dozen slaves. Besides the main
+roads, there are endless bypaths which thread the forest and
+communicate with isolated houses. Along these the traveller may
+wander day after day without leaving the shade, and everywhere
+meet with cheerful, simple, and hospitable people.
+
+Soon after landing, I was introduced to the most distinguished
+citizen of the place, Dr. Angelo Custodio Correia, whom I have
+already mentioned. This excellent man was a favourable specimen
+of the highest class of native Brazilians. He had been educated
+in Europe, was now a member of the Brazilian Parliament, and had
+been twice president of his native province.His manners were less
+formal, and his goodness more thoroughly genuine, perhaps, than
+is the rule generally with Brazilians. He was admired and loved,
+as I had ample opportunity of observing, throughout all Amazonia.
+He sacrificed his life in 1855, for the good of his fellow-
+townsmen, when Cameta was devastated by the cholera; having
+stayed behind with a few heroic spirits to succour invalids and
+direct the burying of the dead, when nearly all the chief
+citizens had fled from the place. After he had done what he
+could, he embarked for Para but was himself then attacked with
+cholera, and died on board the steamer before he reached the
+capital. Dr. Angelo received me with the usual kindness which he
+showed to all strangers. He procured me, unsolicited, a charming
+country house, free of rent, hired a mulatto servant for me, and
+thus relieved me of the many annoyances and delays attendant on a
+first arrival in a country town where even the name of an inn is
+unknown. The rocinha, thus given up for my residence, belonged to
+a friend of his, Senor Jose Raimundo Furtado, a stout florid-
+complexioned gentleman, such a one as might be met with any day
+in a country town in England. To him also I was indebted for many
+acts of kindness.
+
+The rocinha was situated near a broad grassy road bordered by
+lofty woods, which leads from Cameta to the Aldeia, a village two
+miles distant. My first walks were along this road. From it
+branches another similar but still more picturesque road, which
+runs to Curima and Pacaja, two small settlements, several miles
+distant, in the heart of the forest. The Curima road is beautiful
+in the extreme. About half a mile from the house where I lived,
+it crosses a brook flowing through a deep dell by means of a long
+rustic wooden bridge. The virgin forest is here left untouched;
+numerous groups of slender palms, mingled with lofty trees
+overrun with creepers and parasites, fill the shady glen and arch
+over the bridge, forming one of the most picturesque scenes
+imaginable. A little beyond the bridge there was an extensive
+grove of orange and other trees, which yielded me a rich harvest.
+The Aldeia road runs parallel to the river, the land from the
+border of the road to the indented shore of the Tocantins forming
+a long slope which was also richly wooded; this slope was
+threaded by numerous shady paths, and abounded in beautiful
+insects and birds. At the opposite or southern end of the town,
+there was a broad road called the Estrada da Vacaria-- this ran
+along the banks of the Tocantins at some distance from the river,
+and continued over hill and dale, through bamboo thickets and
+palm swamps, for about fifteen miles.
+
+At Cameta I chanced to verify a fact relating to the habits of a
+large hairy spider of the genus Mygale, in a manner worth
+recording. The species was M. avicularia, or one very closely
+allied to it; the individual was nearly two inches in length of
+body, but the legs expanded seven inches, and the entire body and
+legs were covered with coarse grey and reddish hairs. I was
+attracted by a movement of the monster on a tree-trunk; it was
+close beneath a deep crevice in the tree, across which was
+stretched a dense white web. The lower part of the web was
+broken, and two small birds, finches, were entangled in the
+pieces; they were about the size of the English siskin, and I
+judged the two to be male and female. One of them was quite dead,
+the other lay under the body of the spider, not quite dead, and
+was smeared with the filthy liquor or saliva exuded by the
+monster. I drove away the spider and took the birds, but the
+second one soon died. The fact of species of Mygale sallying
+forth at night, mounting trees, and sucking the eggs and young of
+hummingbirds, has been recorded long ago by Madame Merian and
+Palisot de Beauvois; but, in the absence of any confirmation, it
+has come to be discredited. From the way the fact has been
+related, it would appear that it had been merely derived from the
+report of natives, and had not been witnessed by the narrators.
+Count Langsdorff, in his Expedition into the Interior of Brazil,
+states that he totally disbelieved the story. I found the
+circumstance to be quite a novelty to the residents hereabout.
+The Mygales are quite common insects: some species make their
+cells under stones, others form artistical tunnels in the earth,
+and some build their dens in the thatch of houses. The natives
+call them Aranhas carangueijeiras, or crab-spiders. The hairs
+with which they are clothed come off when touched, and cause a
+peculiar and almost maddening irritation. The first specimen that
+I killed and prepared was handled incautiously, and I suffered
+terribly for three days afterwards. I think this is not owing to
+any poisonous quality residing in the hairs, but to their being
+short and hard, and thus getting into the fine creases of the
+skin. Some Mygales are of immense size. One day I saw the
+children belonging to an Indian family, who collected for me with
+one of these monsters secured by a cord round its waist, by which
+they were leading it about the house as they would a dog.
+
+The only monkeys I observed at Cameta were the Couxio (Pithecia
+Satanas)--a large species, clothed with long brownish-black hair-
+-and the tiny Midas argentatus. The Couxio has a thick bushy
+tail, and the hair of the head, which looks as if it had been
+carefully combed, sits on it like a wig. It inhabits only the
+most retired parts of the forest, on the terra firma, and I
+observed nothing of its habits. The little Midas argentatus is
+one of the rarest of the American monkeys; indeed, I have not
+heard of its being found anywhere except near Cameta, where I
+once saw three individuals, looking like so many white kittens,
+running along a branch in a cacao grove; in their motions, they
+resembled precisely the Midas ursulus already described. I saw
+afterwards a pet animal of this species, and heard that there
+were many so kept, and that they were esteemed as great
+treasures. The one mentioned was full-grown, although it measured
+only seven inches in length of body. It was covered with long,
+white, silky hairs, the tail being blackish, and the face nearly
+naked and flesh-coloured. It was a most timid and sensitive
+little thing. The woman who owned it carried it constantly in her
+bosom, and no money would induce her to part with her pet. She
+called it Mico. It fed from her mouth and allowed her to fondle
+it freely, but the nervous little creature would not permit
+strangers to touch it. If any one attempted to do so, it shrank
+back, the whole body trembling with fear, and its teeth chattered
+while it uttered its tremulous, frightened tones. The expression
+of its features was like that of its more robust brother, Midas
+ursulus; the eyes, which were black, were full of curiosity and
+mistrust, and were always kept fixed upon the person who
+attempted to advance towards it.
+
+In the orange groves and other parts, hummingbirds were
+plentiful, but I did not notice more than three species. I saw
+one day a little pigmy belonging to the genus Phaethornis in the
+act of washing itself in a brook; perched on a thin branch, one
+end of which was under water. It dipped itself, then fluttered
+its wings and pruned its feathers, and seemed thoroughly to enjoy
+itself alone in the shady nook which it had chosen--a place
+overshadowed by broad leaves of ferns and Heliconiae. I thought,
+as I watched it, that there was no need for poets to invent elves
+and gnomes while Nature furnishes us with such marvellous little
+sprites ready at hand.
+
+My return journey to Para afforded many incidents characteristic
+of Amazonian travelling. I left Cameta on the 16th of July. My
+luggage was embarked in the morning in the Santa Rosa, a vessel
+of the kind called cuberta, or covered canoe. The cuberta is very
+much used on these rivers. It is not decked, but the sides
+forward are raised and arched over so as to admit of cargo being
+piled high above the water-line. At the stern is a neat square
+cabin, also raised, and between the cabin and covered forepart is
+a narrow piece decked over, on which are placed the cooking
+arrangements. This is called the tombadilha or quarterdeck, and
+when the canoe is heavily laden, it goes underwater as the vessel
+heels over to the wind. There are two masts, rigged with fore and
+aft sails--the foremast has often besides a main and top sail.
+The forepart is planked over at the top, and on this raised deck
+the crew work the vessel, pulling it along, when there is no
+wind, by means of the long oars already described.
+
+As I have just said, my luggage was embarked in the morning. I
+was informed that we should start with the ebb-tide in the
+afternoon; so I thought I should have time to pay my respects to
+Dr. Angelo and other friends, whose extreme courtesy and goodness
+had made my residence at Cameta so agreeable. After dinner the
+guests, according to custom at the house of the Correias, walked
+into the cool verandah which overlooks the river; and there we
+saw the Santa Rosa, a mere speck in the offing miles away,
+tacking down river with a fine breeze. I was now in a fix, for it
+would be useless attempting to overtake the cuberta, and besides
+the sea ran too high for any montaria. I was then told that I
+ought to have been aboard hours before the time fixed for
+starting, because when a breeze springs up, vessels start before
+the tide turns; the last hour of the flood not being very strong.
+All my precious collections, my clothes, and other necessaries
+were on board, and it was indispensable that I should be at Para
+when the things were disembarked. I tried to hire a montaria and
+men, but was told that it would be madness to cross the river in
+a small boat with this breeze. On going to Senor Laroque, another
+of my Cameta friends, I was relieved of my embarrassment, for I
+found there an English gentleman, Mr. Patchett of Pernambuco, who
+was visiting Para and its neighbourhood on his way to England,
+and who, as he was going back to Para in a small boat with four
+paddles, which would start at midnight, kindly offered me a
+passage.
+
+The evening from seven to ten o'clock was very stormy. About
+seven, the night became intensely dark, and a terrific squall of
+wind burst forth, which made the loose tiles fly over the
+housetops; to this succeeded lightning and stupendous claps of
+thunder, both nearly simultaneous. We had had several of these
+short and sharp storms during the past month. At midnight, when
+we embarked, all was as calm as though a ruffle had never
+disturbed air, forest, or river. The boat sped along like an
+arrow to the rhythmic paddling of the four stout youths we had
+with us, who enlivened the passage with their wild songs. Mr.
+Patchett and I tried to get a little sleep, but the cabin was so
+small and encumbered with boxes placed at all sorts of angles,
+that we found sleep impossible. I was just dozing when the day
+dawned, and, on awakening, the first object I saw was the Santa
+Rosa, at anchor under a green island in mid-river. I preferred to
+make the remainder of the voyage in company of my collections, so
+bade Mr. Patchett good-day. The owner of the Santa Rosa, Senor
+Jacinto Machado, whom I had not seen before, received me aboard,
+and apologised for having started without me. He was a white man,
+a planter, and was now taking his year's production of cacao,
+about twenty tons, to Para. The canoe was very heavily laden, and
+I was rather alarmed to see that it was leaking at all points.
+The crew were all in the water diving about to feel for the
+holes, which they stopped with pieces of ray and clay, and an old
+negro was baling the water out of the hold. This was a pleasant
+prospect for a three-day voyage! Senor Machado treated it as the
+most ordinary incident possible: "It was always likely to leak,
+for it was an old vessel that had been left as worthless high and
+dry on the beach, and he had bought it very cheap."
+
+When the leaks were stopped, we proceeded on our journey and at
+night reached the mouth of the Anapu. I wrapped myself in an old
+sail, and fell asleep on the raised deck. The next day, we
+threaded the Igarape-mirim, and on the 19th descended the Moju.
+Senor Machado and I by this time had become very good friends. At
+every interesting spot on the banks of the Moju, he manned the
+small boat and took me ashore. There are many large houses on
+this river belonging to what were formerly large and flourishing
+plantations, but which, since the Revolution of 1835-6, had been
+suffered to go to decay. Two of the largest buildings were
+constructed by the Jesuits in the early part of the last century.
+We were told that there were formerly eleven large sugar mills on
+the banks of the Moju, while now there are only three.
+
+At Burujuba, there is a large monastery in a state of ruin; part
+of the edifice, however, was still inhabited by a Brazilian
+family. The walls are four feet in thickness. The long dark
+corridors and gloomy cloisters struck me as very inappropriate in
+the midst of this young and radiant nature. They would be better
+if placed on some barren moor in Northern Europe than here in the
+midst of perpetual summer. The next turn in the river below
+Burujuba brought the city of Para into view. The wind was now
+against us, and we were obliged to tack about. Towards evening,
+it began to blow stiffly, the vessel heeled over very much, and
+Senor Machado, for the first time, trembled for the safety of his
+cargo; the leaks burst out afresh when we were yet two miles from
+the shore. He ordered another sail to be hoisted in order to run
+more quickly into port, but soon afterwards an extra puff of wind
+came, and the old boat lurched alarmingly, the rigging gave way,
+and down fell boom and sail with a crash, encumbering us with the
+wreck. We were then obliged to have recourse to oars; and as soon
+as we were near the land, fearing that the crazy vessel would
+sink before reaching port, I begged Senor Machado to send me
+ashore in the boat with the more precious portion of my
+collections.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CARIPI AND THE BAY OF MARAJO
+
+River Para and Bay of Marajo--Journey to Caripi--Negro Observance
+of Christmas--A German Family--Bats--Ant-eaters--Hummingbirds--
+Excursion to the Murucupi--Domestic Life of the Inhabitants--
+Hunting Excursion with Indians--White Ants
+
+That part of the Para river which lies in front of the city, as I
+have already explained, forms a narrow channel, being separated
+from the main waters of the estuary by a cluster of islands. This
+channel is about two miles broad, and constitutes part of the
+minor estuary of Goajara, into which the three rivers Guama,
+Moju, and Acara discharge their waters. The main channel of the
+Para lies ten miles away from the city, directly across the
+river; at that point, after getting clear of the islands, a great
+expanse of water is beheld, ten to twelve miles in width; on the
+opposite shore the island of Marajo, being visible only in clear
+weather as a line of tree-tops dotting the horizon. A little
+further upwards, that is to the southwest, the mainland on the
+right or eastern shore appears--this is called Carnapijo; it is
+rocky, covered with the neverending forest, and the coast, which
+is fringed with broad sandy beaches, describes a gentle curve
+inwards. The broad reach of the Para in front of this coast is
+called the Bahia, or Bay of Marajo. The coast and the interior of
+the land are peopled by civilised Indians and Mamelucos, with a
+mixture of free negroes and mulattos. They are poor, for the
+waters are not abundant in fish, and they are dependent for a
+livelihood solely on their small plantations, and the scant
+supply of game found in the woods. The district was originally
+peopled by various tribes of Indians, of whom the principal were
+the Tupinambas and Nhengahibas. Like all the coast tribes,
+whether inhabiting the banks of the Amazons or the seashore
+between Para and Bahia, they were far more advanced in
+civilisation than the hordes scattered through the interior of
+the country, some of which still remain in the wild state,
+between the Amazons and the Plata. There are three villages on
+the coast of Carnapijo, and several planters' houses, formerly
+the centres of flourishing estates, which have now relapsed into
+forest in consequence of the scarcity of labour and diminished
+enterprise. One of the largest of these establishments is called
+Caripi. At the time of which I am speaking, it belonged to a
+Scotch gentleman, Mr. Campbell, who had married the daughter of a
+large Brazilian proprietor. Most of the occasional English and
+American visitors to Para had made some stay at Caripi, and it
+had obtained quite a reputation for the number and beauty of the
+birds and insects found there; I therefore applied for, and
+obtained permission, to spend two or three months at the place.
+The distance from Para was about twenty-three miles, round by the
+northern end of the Ilha das oncas (Isle of Tigers), which faces
+the city. I bargained for a passage thither with the cabo of a
+small trading-vessel, which was going past the place, and started
+on the 7th of December, 1848.
+
+We were thirteen persons aboard: the cabo, his pretty mulatto
+mistress, the pilot and five Indian canoemen, three young
+mamelucos (tailor-apprentices who were taking a holiday trip to
+Cameta), a heavily chained runaway slave, and myself. The young
+mamelucos were pleasant, gentle fellows; they could read and
+write, and amused themselves on the voyage with a book containing
+descriptions and statistics of foreign countries, in which they
+seemed to take great interest--one reading while the others
+listened. At Uirapiranga, a small island behind the Ilha das
+oncas, we had to stop a short time to embark several pipes of
+cashaca at a sugar estate. The cabo took the montaria and two
+men; the pipes were rolled into the water and floated to the
+canoe, the men passing cables round and towing them through a
+rough sea. Here we slept, and the following morning, continuing
+our voyage, entered a narrow channel which intersects the land of
+Carnapijo. At 2 p.m. we emerged from this channel, which is
+called the Aitituba, or Arrozal, into the broad Bahia, and then
+saw, two or three miles away to the left, the red-tiled mansion
+of Caripi, embosomed in woods on the shores of a charming little
+bay.
+
+The water is very shallow near the shore, and when the wind blows
+there is a heavy ground swell. A few years previously, an English
+gentleman, Mr. Graham, an amateur naturalist, was capsized here
+and drowned with his wife and child, while passing in a heavily-
+laden montaria to his large canoe. Remembering their fate, I was
+rather alarmed to see that I should be obliged to take all my
+luggage ashore in one trip in a leaky little boat. The pile of
+chests with two Indians and myself sank the montaria almost to
+the level of the water. I was kept busy bailing all the way. The
+Indians manage canoes in this condition with admirable skill.
+They preserve the nicest equilibrium, and paddle so gently that
+not the slightest oscillation is perceptible. On landing, an old
+negress named Florinda, the feitora or manageress of the
+establishment (which was kept only as a poultry-farm and hospital
+for sick slaves), gave me the keys, and I forthwith took
+possession of the rooms I required.
+
+I remained here nine weeks, or until the 12th of February, 1849.
+The house was very large and most substantially built, but
+consisted of only one story. I was told it was built by the
+Jesuits more than a century ago. The front had no veranda, the
+doors opening upon a slightly elevated terrace about a hundred
+yards distant from the broad sandy beach. Around the residence
+the ground had been cleared to the extent of two or three acres,
+and was planted with fruit trees. Well-trodden pathways through
+the forest led to little colonies of the natives on the banks of
+retired creeks and rivulets in the interior. I led here a
+solitary but not unpleasant life; for there was a great charm in
+the loneliness of the place. The swell of the river beating on
+the sloping beach caused an unceasing murmur, which lulled me to
+sleep at night, and seemed appropriate music in those midday
+hours when all nature was pausing breathless under the rays of a
+vertical sun. Here I spent my first Christmas Day in a foreign
+land. The festival was celebrated by the negroes of their own
+free will and in a very pleasing manner. The room next to the one
+I had chosen was the capella, or chapel. It had a little altar
+which was neatly arranged, and the room was furnished with a
+magnificent brass chandelier. Men, women, and children were busy
+in the chapel all day on the 24th of December decorating the
+altar with flowers and strewing the floor with orange-leaves.
+They invited some of their neighbours to the evening prayers, and
+when the simple ceremony began an hour before midnight, the
+chapel was crowded. They were obliged to dispense with the mass,
+for they had no priest; the service therefore consisted merely of
+a long litany and a few hymns. There was placed on the altar a
+small image of the infant Christ, the "Menino Deos" as they
+called it, or the child-god, which had a long ribbon depending
+from its waist. An old white-haired negro led off the litany, and
+the rest of the people joined in the responses. After the service
+was over they all went up to the altar, one by one, and kissed
+the end of the ribbon. The gravity and earnestness shown
+throughout the proceedings were remarkable. Some of the hymns
+were very simple and beautiful, especially one beginning
+"Virgensoberana," a trace of whose melody springs to my
+recollection whenever I think on the dreamy solitude of Caripi.
+
+The next day after I arrived, two blue-eyed and red-haired boys
+came up and spoke to me in English, and presently their father
+made his appearance. They proved to be a German family named
+Petzell, who were living in the woods, Indian fashion, about a
+mile from Caripi. Petzell explained to me how he came here. He
+said that thirteen years ago he came to Brazil with a number of
+other Germans under engagement to serve in the Brazilian army.
+When his time had expired he came to Para to see the country, but
+after a few months' rambling left the place to establish himself
+in the United States. There he married, went to Illinois, and
+settled as farmer near St. Louis. He remained on his farm seven
+or eight years, and had a family of five children. He could never
+forget, however, the free river-life and perpetual summer of the
+banks of the Amazons; so, he persuaded his wife to consent to
+break up their home in North America, and migrate to Para. No one
+can imagine the difficulties the poor fellow had to go through
+before reaching the land of his choice. He first descended the
+Mississippi, feeling sure that a passage to Para could be got at
+New Orleans. He was there told that the only port in North
+America he could start from was New York, so away he sailed for
+New York; but there was no chance of a vessel sailing thence to
+Para, so he took a passage to Demerara, as bringing him, at any
+rate, near to the desired land. There is no communication
+whatever between Demerara and Para, and he was forced to remain
+here with his family four or five months, during which they all
+caught the yellow fever, and one of his children died. At length,
+he heard of a small coasting vessel going to Cayenne, so he
+embarked, and thereby got another stage nearer the end of his
+journey. A short time after reaching Cayenne, he shipped in a
+schooner that was going to Para, or rather the island of Marajo,
+for a cargo of cattle. He had now fixed himself, after all his
+wanderings, in a healthy and fertile little nook on the banks of
+a rivulet near Caripi, built himself a log-hut, and planted a
+large patch of mandioca and Indian corn. He seemed to be quite
+happy, but his wife complained much of the want of wholesome
+food, meat, and wheaten bread. I asked the children whether they
+liked the country; they shook their heads, and said they would
+rather be in Illinois. Petzell told me that his Indian neighbours
+treated him very kindly; one or other of them called almost every
+day to see how he was getting on, and they had helped him in many
+ways. He had a high opinion of the Tapuyos, and said, "If you
+treat them well, they will go through fire to serve you."
+
+Petzell and his family were expert insect-collectors, so I
+employed them at this work during my stay at Caripi. The daily
+occurrences here were after a uniform fashion. I rose with the
+dawn, took a cup of coffee, and then sallied forth after birds.
+At ten I breakfasted, and devoted the hours from ten until three
+to entomology. The evening was occupied in preserving and storing
+my captures. Petzell and I sometimes undertook long excursions,
+occupying the whole day. Our neighbours used to bring me all the
+quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and shells they met with, and so
+altogether I was enabled to acquire a good collection of the
+productions of the district.
+
+The first few nights I was much troubled by bats. The room where
+I slept had not been used for many months, and the roof was open
+to the tiles and rafters. The first night I slept soundly and did
+not perceive anything unusual, but on the next I was aroused
+about midnight by the rushing noise made by vast hosts of bats
+sweeping about the room. The air was alive with them; they had
+put out the lamp, and when I relighted it the place appeared
+blackened with the impish multitudes that were whirling round and
+round. After I had laid about well with a stick for a few
+minutes, they disappeared amongst the tiles, but when all was
+still again they returned, and once more extinguished the light.
+I took no further notice of them, and went to sleep. The next
+night several got into my hammock; I seized them as they were
+crawling over me, and dashed them against the wall. The next
+morning I found a wound, evidently caused by a bat, on my hip.
+This was rather unpleasant, so I set to work with the negroes,
+and tried to exterminate them. I shot a great many as they hung
+from the rafters, and the negroes having mounted with ladders to
+the roof outside, routed out from beneath the caves many hundreds
+of them, including young broods. There were altogether four
+species--two belonging to the genus Dysopes, one to Phyllostoma,
+and the fourth to Glossophaga. By far the greater number belonged
+to the Dysopes perotis, a species having very large ears, and
+measuring two feet from tip to tip of the wings. The Phyllostoma
+was a small kind, of a dark-grey colour, streaked with white down
+the back, and having a leaf-shaped fleshy expansion on the tip of
+the nose. I was never attacked by bats except on this occasion.
+The fact of their sucking the blood of persons sleeping, from
+wounds which they make in the toes, is now well established; but
+it is only a few persons who are subject to this blood-letting.
+According to the negroes, the Phyllostoma is the only kind which
+attacks man. Those which I caught crawling over me were Dysopes,
+and I am inclined to think many different kinds of bats have this
+propensity.
+
+One day I was occupied searching for insects in the bark of a
+fallen tree, when I saw a large cat-like animal advancing towards
+the spot. It came within a dozen yards before perceiving me. I
+had no weapon with me but an old chisel, and was getting ready to
+defend myself if it should make a spring, when it turned around
+hastily and trotted off. I did not obtain a very distinct view of
+it, but I could see its colour was that of the Puma, or American
+Lion, although it was rather too small for that species. The Puma
+is not a common animal in the Amazons forests. I did not see
+altogether more than a dozen skins, in the possession of the
+natives. The fur is of a fawn colour. On account of its hue
+resembling that of a deer common in the forests, the natives call
+it the Sassu-arana, [The old zoologist Marcgrave called the Puma
+the Cuguacuarana, probably (the c's being soft) a misspelling of
+Sassu-arana; hence, the name Cougouar employed by French
+zoologists, and copied in most works on natural history.] or the
+false deer; that is, an animal which deceives one at first sight
+by its superficial resemblance to a deer. The hunters are not at
+all afraid of it, and speak always in disparaging terms of its
+courage. Of the Jaguar, they give a very different account.
+
+The only species of monkey I met with at Caripi was the same
+dark-coloured little Midas already mentioned as found near Para.
+The great Anteater, Tamandua of the natives (Myrmecophaga
+jubata), was not uncommon here. After the first few weeks of
+residence, I ran short of fresh provisions. The people of the
+neighbourhood had sold me all the fowls they could spare; I had
+not yet learned to eat the stale and stringy salt-fish which is
+the staple food in these places, and for several days I had lived
+on rice-porridge, roasted bananas, and farinha. Florinda asked me
+whether I could eat Tamandua. I told her almost anything in the
+shape of flesh would be acceptable; so the same day she went with
+an old negro named Antonio and the dogs, and in the evening
+brought one of the animals. The meat was stewed and turned out
+very good, something like goose in flavour. The people at Caripi
+would not touch a morsel, saying it was not considered fit to eat
+in these parts; I had read, however, that it was an article of
+food in other countries of South America. During the next two or
+three weeks, whenever we were short of fresh meat, Antonio was
+always ready, for a small reward, to get me a Tamandua. But one
+day he came to me in great distress, with the news that his
+favourite dog, Atrevido, had been caught in the grip of an ant-
+eater, and was killed. We hastened to the place, and found the
+dog was not dead, but severely torn by the claws of the animal,
+which itself was mortally wounded, and was now relaxing its
+grasp.
+
+The habits of the Myrmecophaga jubata are now pretty well known.
+It is not uncommon in the drier forests of the Amazons valley,
+but is not found, I believe, in the Ygapo, or flooded lands. The
+Brazilians call the species the Tamandua bandeira, or the Banner
+Anteater, the term banner being applied in allusion to the
+curious colouration of the animal, each side of the body having a
+broad oblique stripe, half grey and half black, which gives it
+some resemblance to a heraldic banner. It has an excessively long
+slender muzzle, and a wormlike extensile tongue. Its jaws are
+destitute of teeth. The claws are much elongated, and its gait is
+very awkward. It lives on the ground, and feeds on termites, or
+white ants -- the long claws being employed to pull in pieces the
+solid hillocks made by the insects, and the long flexible tongue
+to lick them up from the crevices. All the other species of this
+singular genus are arboreal. I met with four species altogether.
+One was the Myrmecophaga tetradactyla; the two others, more
+curious and less known, were very small kinds, called Tamandua-i.
+Both are similar in size--ten inches in length, exclusive of the
+tail--and in the number of the claws, having two of unequal
+length to the anterior feet, and four to the hind feet. One
+species is clothed with greyish-yellow silky hair-- this is of
+rare occurrence. The other has a fur of a dingy brown colour,
+without silky lustre. One was brought to me alive at Caripi,
+having been caught by an Indian, clinging motionless inside a
+hollow tree. I kept it in the house about twenty-four hours. It
+had a moderately long snout, curved downwards, and extremely
+small eyes. It remained nearly all the time without motion except
+when irritated, in which case it reared itself on its hind legs
+from the back of a chair to which it clung, and clawed out with
+its forepaws like a cat. Its manner of clinging with its claws,
+and the sluggishness of its motions, gave it a great resemblance
+to a sloth. It uttered no sound, and remained all night on the
+spot where I had placed it in the morning. The next day, I put it
+on a tree in the open air, and at night it escaped. These small
+Tamanduas are nocturnal in their habits, and feed on those
+species of termites which construct earthy nests that look like
+ugly excrescences on the trunks and branches of trees. The
+different kinds of ant-eaters are thus adapted to various modes
+of life, terrestrial and arboreal. Those which live on trees are
+again either diurnal or nocturnal, for Myrmecophaga tetradactyla
+is seen moving along the main branches in the daytime. The allied
+group of the Sloths, which are still more exclusively South
+American forms than ant-eaters are, at the present time furnish
+arboreal species only, but formerly terrestrial forms of sloths
+also existed, as the Megatherium, whose mode of life was a
+puzzle, seeing that it was of too colossal a size to live on
+trees, until Owen showed how it might have obtained its food from
+the ground.
+
+In January the orange-trees became covered with blossom, at least
+to a greater extent than usual, for they flower more or less in
+this country all the year round--and attracting a great number of
+hummingbirds. Every day, in the cooler hours of the morning, and
+in the evening from four o'clock until six, they were to be seen
+whirring about the trees by scores. Their motions are unlike
+those of all other birds. They dart to and fro so swiftly that
+the eye can scarcely follow them, and when they stop before a
+flower, it is only for a few moments. They poise themselves in an
+unsteady manner, their wings moving with inconceivable rapidity,
+probe the flower, and then shoot off to another part of the tree.
+They do not proceed in that methodical manner which bees follow,
+taking the flowers seriatim, but skip about from one part of the
+tree to another in the most capricious way. Sometimes two males
+close with each other and fight, mounting upwards in the
+struggle, as insects are often seen to do when similarly engaged,
+and then separating hastily and darting back to their work. Now
+and then they stop to rest, perching on leafless twigs, where
+they may be sometimes seen probing, from the places where they
+sit, the flowers within their reach. The brilliant colours with
+which they are adorned cannot be seen whilst they are fluttering
+about, nor can the different species be distinguished unless they
+have a deal of white hue in their plumage, such as Heliothrix
+auritus, which is wholly white underneath, although of a
+glittering green colour above, and the white-tailed Florisuga
+mellivora.
+
+There is not a great variety of hummingbirds in the Amazons
+region, the number of species being far smaller in these uniform
+forest plains than in the diversified valleys of the Andes, under
+the same parallels of latitude. The family is divisible into two
+groups, contrasted in form and habits: one containing species
+which live entirely in the shade of the forest, and the other
+comprising those which prefer open sunny places. The forest
+species (Phaethorninae) are seldom seen at flowers, flowers
+being, in the shady places where they abide, of rare occurrence;
+but they search for insects on leaves, threading the bushes and
+passing above and beneath each leaf with wonderful rapidity. The
+other group (Trochilinae) are not quite confined to cleared
+places, as they come into the forest wherever a tree is in
+blossom, and descend into sunny openings where flowers are to be
+found. But it is only where the woods are less dense than usual
+that this is the case; in the lofty forests and twilight shades
+of the lowlands and islands, they are scarcely ever seen. I
+searched well at Caripi, expecting to find the Lophornis Gouldii,
+which I was told had been obtained in the locality. This is one
+of the most beautiful of all hummingbirds, having round the neck
+a frill of long white feathers tipped with golden green. I was
+not, however, so fortunate as to meet with it. Several times I
+shot by mistake a hummingbird hawk-moth instead of a bird. This
+moth (Macroglossa Titan) is somewhat smaller than hummingbirds
+generally are; but its manner of flight, and the way it poises
+itself before a flower whilst probing it with its proboscis, are
+precisely like the same actions of hummingbirds. It was only
+after many days' experience that I learned to distinguish one
+from the other when on the wing. This resemblance has attracted
+the notice of the natives, all of whom, even educated whites,
+firmly believe that one is transmutable into the other. They have
+observed the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies, and
+think it not at all more wonderful that a moth should change into
+a hummingbird. The resemblance between this hawk-moth and a
+hummingbird is certainly very curious, and strikes one even when
+both are examined in the hand. Holding them sideways, the shape
+of the head and position of the eyes in the moth are seen to be
+nearly the same as in the bird, the extended proboscis
+representing the long beak. At the tip of the moth's body there
+is a brush of long hair-scales resembling feathers, which, being
+expanded, looks very much like a bird's tail. But, of course, all
+these points of resemblance are merely superficial. The negroes
+and Indians tried to convince me that the two were of the same
+species. "Look at their feathers," they said; "their eyes are the
+same, and so are their tails." This belief is so deeply rooted
+that it was useless to reason with them on the subject. The
+Macroglossa moths are found in most countries, and have
+everywhere the same habits; one well-known species is found in
+England. Mr. Gould relates that he once had a stormy altercation
+with an English gentleman, who affirmed that hummingbirds were
+found in England, for he had seen one flying in Devonshire,
+meaning thereby the moth Macroglossa stellatarum. The analogy
+between the two creatures has been brought about, probably, by
+the similarity of their habits, there being no indication of the
+one having been adapted in outward appearance with reference to
+the other.
+
+It has been observed that hummingbirds are unlike other birds in
+their mental qualities, resembling in this respect insects rather
+than warm-blooded vertebrate animals. The want of expression in
+their eyes, the small degree of versatility in their actions, the
+quickness and precision of their movements, are all so many
+points of resemblance between them and insects.
+
+In walking along the alleys of the forest, a Phaethornis
+frequently crosses one's path, often stopping suddenly and
+remaining poised in midair, a few feet distant from the face of
+the intruder. The Phaethorninae are certainly more numerousin the
+Amazons region that the Trochilinae. They build their nests,
+which are made of fine vegetable fibres and lichens; densely
+woven together and thickly lined with silk-cotton from the fruit
+of the samauma tree (Eriodendron samauma); and on the inner sides
+lined with of the tips of palm-fronds. They are long and
+purseshaped. The young when first hatched have very much shorter
+bills than their parents. The only species of Trochilinae which I
+found at Caripi were the little brassy-green Polytmus
+viridissimus, the sapphire and emerald (Thalurania furcata), and
+the large falcate-winged Campylopterus obscurus.
+
+Snakes were very numerous at Caripi; many harmless species were
+found near the house, and these sometimes came into the rooms. I
+was wandering one day amongst the green bushes of Guajara, a tree
+which yields a grape-like berry (Chrysobalanus Icaco) and grows
+along all these sandy shores, when I was startled by what
+appeared to be the flexuous stem of a creeping plant endowed with
+life and threading its way amongst the leaves and branches. This
+animated liana turned out to be a pale-green snake, the Dryophis
+fulgida. Its whole body is of the same green hue, and it is thus
+rendered undistinguishable amidst the foliage of the Guajara
+bushes, where it prowls in search of its prey-- treefrogs and
+lizards. The forepart of its head is prolonged into a slender
+pointed beak, and the total length of the reptile was six feet.
+There was another kind found amongst bushes on the borders of the
+forest closely allied to this, but much more slender, viz., the
+Dryophis acuminata. This grows to a length of four feet eight
+inches, the tail alone being twenty-two inches; but the diameter
+of the thickest part of the body is little more than a quarter of
+an inch. It is of light-brown colour, with iridescent shades
+variegated with obscurer markings, and looks like a piece of
+whipcord. One individual which I caught of this species had a
+protuberance near the middle of the body. Upon opening it, I
+found a half-digested lizard which was much more bulky than the
+snake itself.
+
+Another kind of serpent found here, a species of Helicops, was
+amphibiousin its habits. I saw several of this in wet weather on
+the beach, which, on being approached, always made straightway
+for the water, where they swamwith much grace and dexterity.
+Florinda one day caught a Helicops while angling for fish, it
+having swallowed the fishhook with the bait. She and others told
+me these water-snakes lived on small fishes, but I did not meet
+with any proof of the statement. In the woods, snakes were
+constantly occurring; it was not often, however, that I saw
+poisonous species. There were many arboreal kinds besides the two
+just mentioned; and it was rather alarming, in entomologising
+about the trunks of trees, to suddenly encounter, on turning
+round, as sometimes happened, a pair of glittering eyes and a
+forked tongue within a few inches of one's head. The last kind I
+shall mention is the Coral-snake, which is a most beautiful
+object when seen coiled up on black soil in the woods. The one I
+saw here was banded with black and vermilion, the black bands
+having each two clear white rings. The state of specimens
+preserved in spirits can give no idea of the brilliant colours
+which adorn the Coral-snake in life.
+
+Petzell and I, as already mentioned, made many excursions of long
+extent in the neighbouring forest. We sometimes went to Murucupi,
+a creek which passes through the forest, about four miles behind
+Caripi, the banks of which are inhabited by Indians and half-
+breeds who have lived there for many generations in perfect
+seclusion from the rest of the world-- the place being little
+known or frequented. A path from Caripi leads to it through a
+gloomy tract of virgin forest, where the trees are so closely
+packed together that the ground beneath is thrown into the
+deepest shade, under which nothing but fetid fungi and rotting
+vegetable debris is to be seen. On emerging from this unfriendly
+solitude near the banks of the Murucupi, a charming contrast is
+presented. A glorious vegetation, piled up to an immense height,
+clothes the banks of the creek, which traverses a broad tract of
+semi-cultivated ground, and the varied masses of greenery are
+lighted up with the sunny glow. Open palm-thatched huts peep
+forth here and there from amidst groves of banana, mango, cotton,
+and papaw trees and palms. On our first excursion, we struck the
+banks of the river in front of a house of somewhat more
+substantial architecture than the rest, having finished mud walls
+that were plastered and whitewashed, and had a covering of red
+tiles. It seemed to be full of children, and the aspect of the
+household was improved by a number of good-looking mameluco
+women, who were busily employed washing, spinning, and making
+farinha. Two of them, seated on a mat in the open verandah, were
+engaged sewing dresses, for a festival was going to take place a
+few days hence at Balcarem, a village eight miles distant from
+Murucupi, and they intended to be present to hear mass and show
+their finery. One of the children, a naked boy about seven years
+of age, crossed over with the montaria to fetch us. We were made
+welcome at once, and asked to stay for dinner. On our accepting
+the invitation, a couple of fowls were killed, and a wholesome
+stew of seasoned rice and fowls soon put into preparation. It is
+not often that the female members of a family in these retired
+places are familiar with strangers; but, these people had lived a
+long time in the capital, and therefore, were more civilised than
+their neighbours. Their father had been a prosperous tradesman,
+and had given them the best education the place afforded. After
+his death the widow with several daughters, married and
+unmarried, retired to this secluded spot, which had been their
+sitio, farm or country-house, for many years. One of the
+daughters was married to a handsome young mulatto, who was
+present, and sang us some pretty songs, accompanying himself on
+the guitar.
+
+After dinner I expressed a wish to see more of the creek; so a
+lively and polite old man, whom I took to be one of the
+neighbours, volunteered as guide. We embarked in a little
+montaria, and paddled some three or four miles up and down the
+stream. Although I had now become familiarised with beautiful
+vegetation, all the glow of fresh admiration came again to me in
+this place. The creek was about a hundred yards wide, but
+narrower in some places. Both banks were masked by lofty walls of
+green drapery, here and there a break occurring, through which,
+under overarching trees, glimpses were obtained of the palm-
+thatched huts of settlers. The projecting boughs of lofty trees,
+which in some places stretched half-way across the creek, were
+hung with natural garlands and festoons, and an endless variety
+of creeping plants clothed the water-frontage, some of which,
+especially the Bignonias, were ornamented with large gaily-
+coloured flowers. Art could not have assorted together beautiful
+vegetable forms so harmoniously as was here done by Nature.
+Palms, as usual, formed a large proportion of the lower trees;
+some of them, however, shot up their slim stems to a height of
+sixty feet or more, and waved their bunches of nodding plumes
+between us and the sky. One kind of palm, the Pashiuba (Iriartea
+exorhiza), which grows here in greater abundance than elsewhere,
+was especially attractive. It is not one of the tallest kinds,
+for when full-grown its height is not more, perhaps, than forty
+feet; the leaves are somewhat less drooping, and the leaflets
+much broader than in other species, so that they have not that
+feathery appearance which those of some palms have, but still
+they possess their own peculiar beauty. My guide put me ashore in
+one place to show me the roots of the Pashiuba. These grow above
+ground, radiating from the trunk many feet above the surface, so
+that the tree looks as if supported on stilts; and a person can,
+in old trees, stand upright amongst the roots with the
+perpendicular stem wholly above his head. It adds to the
+singularity of their appearance that these roots, which have the
+form of straight rods, are studded with stout thorns, while the
+trunk of the tree is quite smooth. The purpose of this curious
+arrangement is, perhaps, similar to that of the buttress roots
+already described--namely, to recompense the tree by root-growth
+above the soil for its inability, in consequence of the
+competition of neighbouring roots, to extend it underground. The
+great amount of moisture and nutriment contained in the
+atmosphere may also favour these growths.
+
+On returning to the house, I found Petzell had been well occupied
+during the hot hours of the day collecting insects in a
+neighbouring clearing. Our kind hosts gave us a cup of coffee
+about five o'clock, and we then started for home. The last mile
+of our walk was performed in the dark. The forest in this part is
+obscure even in broad daylight, but I was scarcely prepared for
+the intense opacity of darkness which reigned here on this night,
+and which prevented us from seeing each other while walking side
+by side. Nothing occurred of a nature to alarm us, except that
+now and then a sudden rush was heard among the trees, and once a
+dismal shriek startled us. Petzell tripped at one place and fell
+all his length into the thicket. With this exception, we kept
+well to the pathway, and in due time arrived safely at Caripi.
+
+One of my neighbours at Murucupi was a hunter of reputation in
+these parts. He was a civilised Indian, married and settled,
+named Raimundo, whose habit was to sally forth at intervals to
+certain productive hunting-grounds, the situation of which he
+kept secret, and procure fresh provisions for his family. I had
+found out by this time that animal food was as much a necessary
+of life in this exhausting climate as it is in the North of
+Europe. An attempt which I made to live on vegetable food was
+quite a failure, and I could not eat the execrable salt-fish
+which Brazilians use. I had been many days without meat of any
+kind, and nothing more was to be found near Caripi, so I asked as
+a favour of Senor Raimundo permission to accompany him on one of
+his hunting-trips, and shoot a little game for my own use. He
+consented, and appointed a day on which I was to come over to his
+house to sleep, so as to be ready for starting with the ebb-tide
+shortly after midnight.
+
+The locality we were to visit was situated near the extreme point
+of the land of Carnapijo, where it projects northwardly into the
+middle of the Para estuary, and is broken into a number of
+islands. On the afternoon of January 11th, 1849, I walked through
+the woods to Raimundo's house, taking nothing with me but a
+double-barrelled gun, a supply of ammunition, and a box for the
+reception of any insects I might capture. Raimundo was a
+carpenter, and seemed to be a very industrious, man; he had two
+apprentices, Indians like himself: one a young lad, and the other
+apparently about twenty years of age. His wife was of the same
+race. The Indian women are not always of a taciturn disposition
+like their husbands. Senora Dominga was very talkative; there was
+another old squaw at the house on a visit, and the tongues of the
+two were going at a great rate the whole evening, using only the
+Tupi language. Raimundo and his apprentices were employed
+building a canoe. Notwithstanding his industry, he seemed to be
+very poor, and this was the condition of most of the residents on
+the banks of the Murucupi. They have, nevertheless, considerable
+plantations of mandioca and Indian corn, besides small plots of
+cotton, coffee, and sugarcane; the soil is very fertile, they
+have no rent to pay, and no direct taxes. There is, moreover,
+always a market in Para, twenty miles distant, for their surplus
+produce, and a ready communication with it by water.
+
+In the evening we had more visitors. The sounds of pipe and tabor
+were heard, and presently a procession of villagers emerged from
+a pathway through the mandioca fields. They were on a begging
+expedition for St. Thome, the patron saint of Indians and
+Mamelucos. One carried a banner, on which was crudely painted the
+figure of St. Thome with a glory round his head. The pipe and
+tabor were of the simplest description. The pipe was a reed
+pierced with four holes, by means of which a few unmusical notes
+were produced, and the tabor was a broad hoop with a skin
+stretched over each end. A deformed young man played both the
+instruments. Senor Raimundo received them with the quiet
+politeness which comes so naturally to the Indian when occupying
+the position of host. The visitors, who had come from the Villa
+de Conde, five miles through the forest, were invited to rest.
+
+Raimundo then took the image of St. Thome from one of the party,
+and placed it by the side of Nossa Senhora in his own oratorio, a
+little decorated box in which every family keeps its household
+gods, finally lighting a couple of wax candles before it. Shortly
+afterwards a cloth was laid on a mat, and all the guests were
+invited to supper. The fare was very scanty-- a boiled fowl with
+rice, a slice of roasted pirarucu, farinha, and bananas. Each one
+partook very sparingly, some of the young men contenting
+themselves with a plateful of rice. One of the apprentices stood
+behind with a bowl of water and a towel, with which each guest
+washed his fingers and rinsed his mouth after the meal. They
+stayed all night-- the large open shed was filled with hammocks,
+which were slung from pole to pole; and upon retiring, Raimundo
+gave orders for their breakfast in the morning.
+
+Raimundo called me at two o'clock, when we embarked (he, his
+older apprentice Joaquim, and myself) in a shady place where it
+was so dark that I could see neither canoe nor water, taking with
+us five dogs. We glided down a winding creek where huge trunks of
+trees slanted across close overhead, and presently emerged into
+the Murucupi. A few yards further on we entered the broader
+channel of the Aitituba. This we crossed, and entered another
+narrow creek on the opposite side. Here the ebb-tide was against
+us, and we had great difficulty in making progress. After we had
+struggled against the powerful current a distance of two miles,
+we came to a part where the ebb-tide ran in the opposite
+direction, showing that we had crossed the watershed. The tide
+flows into this channel or creek at both ends simultaneously, and
+meets in the middle, although there is apparently no difference
+of level, and the breadth of the water is the same. The tides are
+extremely intricate throughout all the infinite channels and
+creeks which intersect the lands of the Amazons delta.
+
+The moon now broke forth and lighted up the trunks of colossal
+trees, the leaves of monstrous Jupati palms which arched over the
+creek, and revealed groups of arborescent arums standing like
+rows of spectres on its banks. We had a glimpse now and then into
+the black depths of the forest, where all was silent except the
+shrill stridulation of wood-crickets. Now and then a sudden
+plunge in the water ahead would startle us, caused by heavy fruit
+or some nocturnal animal dropping from the trees. The two Indians
+here rested on their paddles and allowed the canoe to drift with
+the tide. A pleasant perfume came from the forest, which Raimundo
+said proceeded from a cane-field. He told me that all this land
+was owned by large proprietors at Para, who had received grants
+from time to time from the Government for political services.
+Raimundo was quite in a talkative humour; he related to me many
+incidents of the time of the "Cabanagem," as the revolutionary
+days of 1835-6 are popularly called. He said he had been much
+suspected himself of being a rebel, but declared that the
+suspicion was unfounded. The only complaint he had to make
+against the white man was that he monopolised the land without
+having any intention or prospect of cultivating it. He had been
+turned out of one place where he had squatted and cleared a large
+piece of forest. I believe the law of Brazil at this time was
+that the new lands should become the property of those who
+cleared and cultivated them, if their right was not disputed
+within a given term of years by some one who claimed the
+proprietorship. This land-law has since been repealed, and a new
+one adopted founded on that of the United States. Raimundo spoke
+of his race as the redskins, "pelle vermelho." They meant well to
+the whites, and only begged to be let alone. "God," he said, "had
+given room enough for us all."
+
+It was pleasant to hear the shrewd good-natured fellow talk in
+this strain. Our companion, Joaquim, had fallen asleep; the night
+air was cool, and the moonlight lit up the features of Raimundo,
+revealing a more animated expression than is usually observable
+in Indian countenances. I always noticed that Indians were more
+cheerful on a voyage, especially in the cool hours of night and
+morning, than when ashore. There is something in their
+constitution of body which makes them feel excessively depressed
+in the hot hours of the day, especially inside their houses.
+Their skin is always hot to the touch. They certainly do not
+endure the heat of their own climate so well as the whites. The
+negroes are totally different in this respect; the heat of midday
+has very little effect on them, and they dislike the cold nights
+on the river.
+
+We arrived at our hunting-ground about half-past four. The
+channel was broader here and presented several ramifications. It
+yet wanted an hour and a half to daybreak, so
+Raimundo,recommended me to have a nap. We both stretched
+ourselves on the benches of the canoe and fell asleep, letting
+the boat drift with the tide, which was now slack. I slept well
+considering the hardness of our bed, and when I awoke in the
+middle of a dream about home-scenes, the day was beginning to
+dawn. My clothes were quite wet with the dew. The birds were
+astir, the cicadas had begun their music, and the Urania Leilus,
+a strange and beautiful tailed and gilded moth, whose habits are
+those of a butterfly, commenced to fly in flocks over the tree-
+tops. Raimundo exclaimed "Clareia o dia!"--"The day brightens!"
+The change was rapid: the sky in the east assumed suddenly the
+loveliest azure colour, across which streaks of thin white clouds
+were painted. It is at such moments as this when one feels how
+beautiful our earth truly is! The channel on whose waters our
+little boat was floating was about two hundred yards wide; others
+branched off right and left, surrounding the group of lonely
+islands which terminate the land of Carnapijo. The forest on all
+sides formed a lofty hedge without a break; below, it was fringed
+with mangrove bushes, whose small foliage contrasted with the
+large glossy leaves of the taller trees, or the feather and fan-
+shaped fronds of palms.
+
+Being now arrived at our destination, Raimundo turned up his
+trousers and shirt-sleeves, took his long hunting-knife, and
+leapt ashore with the dogs. He had to cut a gap in order to enter
+the forest. We expected to find Pacas and Cutias; and the method
+adopted to secure them was this: at the present early hour they
+would be seen feeding on fallen fruits, but would quickly, on
+hearing a noise, betake themselves to their burrows; Raimundo was
+then to turn them out by means of the dogs, and Joaquim and I
+were to remain in the boat with our guns, ready to shoot all that
+came to the edge of the stream--the habits of both animals, when
+hard-pressed, being to take to the water. We had not long to
+wait. The first arrival was a Paca, a reddish, nearly tail-less
+rodent, spotted with white on the sides, and intermediate in size
+and appearance between a hog and a hare. My first shot did not
+take effect; the animal dived into the water and did not
+reappear. A second was brought down by my companion as it was
+rambling about under the mangrove bushes. A Cutia next appeared:
+this is also a rodent, about one-third the size of the Paca; it
+swims, but does not dive, and I was fortunate enough to shoot it.
+We obtained in this way two more Pacas and another Cutia. All the
+time the dogs were yelping in the forest.
+
+Shortly afterwards Raimundo made his appearance, and told us to
+paddle to the other side of the island. Arrived there, we landed
+and prepared for breakfast. It was a pretty spot--a clean, white,
+sandy beach beneath the shade of wide-spreading trees. Joaquim
+made a fire. He first scraped fine shavings from the midrib of a
+Bacaba palm-leaf; these he piled into a little heap in a dry
+place, and then struck a light in his bamboo tinderbox with a
+piece of an old file and a flint, the tinder being a felt-like
+substance manufactured by an ant (Polyrhachis bispinosus). By
+gentle blowing, the shavings ignited, dry sticks were piled on
+them, and a good fire soon resulted. He then singed and prepared
+the cutia, finishing by running a spit through the body and
+fixing one end in the ground in a slanting position over the
+fire. We had brought with us a bag of farinha and a cup
+containing a lemon, a dozen or two of fiery red peppers, and a
+few spoonsful of salt. We breakfasted heartily when our cutia was
+roasted, and washed the meal down with a calabash full of the
+pure water of the river.
+
+After breakfast the dogs found another cutia, which was hidden in
+its burrow two or three feet beneath the roots of a large tree,
+and it took Raimundo nearly an hour to disinter it. Soon
+afterwards we left this place, crossed the channel, and, paddling
+past two islands, obtained a glimpse of the broad river between
+them, with a long sandy spit, on which stood several scarlet
+ibises and snow-white egrets. One of the islands was low and
+sandy, and half of it was covered with gigantic arum-trees, the
+often-mentioned Caladium arborescens, which presented a strange
+sight. Most people are acquainted with the little British
+species, Arum maculatum, which grows in hedge-bottoms, and many,
+doubtless, have admired the larger kinds grown in hothouses; they
+can therefore form some idea of a forest of arums. On this islet
+the woody stems of the plants near the bottom were eight to ten
+inches in diameter, and the trees were twelve to fifteen feet
+high-- all growing together in such a manner that there was just
+room for a man to walk freely between them. There was a canoe
+inshore, with a man and a woman-- the man, who was hooting with
+all his might, told us in passing that his son was lost in the
+"aningal" (arum-grove). He had strayed while walking ashore, and
+the father had now been an hour waiting for him in vain.
+
+About one o'clock we again stopped at the mouth of a little
+creek. It was now intensely hot. Raimundo said deer were found
+here; so he borrowed my gun, as being a more effective weapon
+than the wretched arms called Lazarinos, which he, in common with
+all the native hunters, used, and which sell at Para for seven or
+eight shillings apiece. Raimundo and Joaquim now stripped
+themselves quite naked, and started off in different directions
+through the forest, going naked in order to move with less noise
+over the carpet of dead leaves, among which they stepped so
+stealthily that not the slightest rustle could be heard. The dogs
+remained in the canoe, in the neighbourhood of which I employed
+myself two hours entomologising. At the end of that time my two
+companions returned, having met with no game whatever.
+
+We now embarked on our return voyage. Raimundo cut two slender
+poles, one for a mast and the other for a sprit-- to these he
+rigged a sail we had brought in the boat, for we were to return
+by the open river, and expected a good wind to carry us to
+Caripi. As soon as we got out of the channel we began to feel the
+wind--the sea-breeze, which here makes a clean sweep from the
+Atlantic. Our boat was very small and heavily laden; and when,
+after rounding a point, I saw the great breadth we had to
+traverse (seven miles), I thought the attempt to cross in such a
+slight vessel foolhardy in the extreme. The waves ran very high,
+there was no rudder, Raimundo steered with a paddle, and all we
+had to rely upon to save us from falling into the trough of the
+sea and being instantly swamped were his nerve and skill. There
+was just room in the boat for our three selves, the dogs, and the
+game we had killed, and when between the swelling ridges of waves
+in so frail a shell, our destruction seemed inevitable; as it
+was, we shipped a little water now and then. Joaquim assisted
+with his paddle to steady the boat-- my time was fully occupied
+in bailing out the water and watching the dogs, which were
+crowded together in the prow, yelling with fear-- one or other of
+them occasionally falling over the side and causing great
+commotion in scrambling in again. Off the point was a ridge of
+rocks, over which the surge raged furiously. Raimundo sat at the
+stern, rigid and silent, his eye steadily watching the prow of
+the boat. It was almost worth the risk and discomfort of the
+passage to witness the seamanlike ability displayed by Indians on
+the water. The little boat rode beautifully, rising well with
+each wave, and in the course of an hour and a half we arrived at
+Caripi, thoroughly tired and wet through to the skin.
+
+On the 16th of January, the dry season came abruptly to an end.
+The sea-breezes, which had been increasing in force for some
+days, suddenly ceased, and the atmosphere became misty; at length
+heavy clouds collected where a uniform blue sky had for many
+weeks prevailed, and down came a succession of heavy showers, the
+first of which lasted a whole day and night. This seemed to give
+a new stimulus to animal life. On the first night there was a
+tremendous uproar--tree-frogs, crickets, goat-suckers, and owls
+all joining to perform a deafening concert. One kind of goat-
+sucker kept repeating at intervals throughout the night a phrase
+similar to the Portuguese words, "Joao corta pao,"--"John, cut
+wood"-- a phrase which forms the Brazilian name of the bird. An
+owl in one of the Genipapa trees muttered now and then a
+succession of syllables resembling the word "Murucututu."
+Sometimes the croaking and hooting of frogs and toads were so
+loud that we could not hear one another's voices within doors.
+Swarms of dragonflies appeared in the daytime about the pools of
+water created by the rain, and ants and termites came forth in
+the winged state in vast numbers. I noticed that the winged
+termites, or white ants, which came by hundreds to the lamps at
+night, when alighting on the table, often jerked off their wings
+by a voluntary movement. On examination I found that the wings
+were not shed by the roots, for a small portion of the stumps
+remained attached to the thorax. The edge of the fracture was in
+all cases straight, not ruptured; there is, in fact, a natural
+seam crossing the member towards its root, and at this point the
+long wing naturally drops or is jerked off when the insect has no
+further use for it. The white ant is endowed with wings simply
+for the purpose of flying away from the colony peopled by its
+wingless companions, to pair with individuals of the same or
+other colonies, and thus propagate and disseminate its kind. The
+winged individuals are males and females, while the great bulk of
+their wingless fraternity are of no sex, but are of two castes,
+soldiers and workers, which are restricted to the functions of
+building the nests, nursing, and defending the young brood. The
+two sexes mate while on the ground, after the wings are shed; and
+then the married couples, if they escape the numerous enemies
+which lie in wait for them, proceed to the task of founding new
+colonies. Ants and white ants have much that is analogous in
+their modes of life-- they belong, however, to two widely
+different orders of insects, strongly contrasted in their
+structure and manner of growth.
+
+I amassed at Caripi a very large collection of beautiful and
+curious insects, amounting altogether to about twelve hundred
+species. The number of Coleoptera was remarkable, seeing that
+this order is so poorly represented near Para. I attributed their
+abundance to the number of new clearings made in the virgin
+forest by the native settlers. The felled timber attracts
+lignivorous insects, and these draw in their train the predaceous
+species of various families. As a general rule, the species were
+smaller and much less brilliant in colours than those of Mexico
+and South Brazil. The species too, although numerous, were not
+represented by great numbers of individuals; they were also
+extremely nimble, and therefore much less easy of capture than
+insects of the same order in temperate climates. The carnivorous
+beetles at Caripi were, like those of Para, chiefly arboreal.
+Most of them exhibited a beautiful contrivance for enabling them
+to cling to and run over smooth or flexible surfaces, such as
+leaves. Their tarsi or feet are broad, and furnished beneath with
+a brush of short stiff hairs; while their claws are toothed in
+the form of a comb, adapting them for clinging to the smooth
+edges of leaves, the joint of the foot which precedes the claw
+being cleft so as to allow free play to the claw in grasping. The
+common dung-beetles at Caripi, which flew about in the evening
+like the Geotrupes, the familiar "shard-borne beetle with his
+drowsy hum" of our English lanes, were of colossal size and
+beautiful colours. One kind had a long spear-shaped horn
+projecting from the crown of its head (Phanaeus lancifer). A blow
+from this fellow, as he came heavily flying along, was never very
+pleasant. All the tribes of beetles which feed on vegetable
+substances, fresh or decayed, were very numerous. The most
+beautiful of these, but not the most common, were the
+Longicornes; very graceful insects, having slender bodies and
+long antennae, often ornamented with fringes and tufts of hair.
+They were found on flowers, on trunks of trees, or flying about
+the new clearings. One small species (Coremia hirtipes) has a
+tuft of hairs on its hind legs, while many of its sister species
+have a similar ornament on the antennae. It suggests curious
+reflections when we see an ornament like the feather of a
+grenadier's cap situated on one part of the body in one species,
+and in a totally different part in nearly allied ones. I tried in
+vain to discover the use of these curious brush-like decorations.
+On the trunk of a living leguminous tree, Petzell found a number
+of a very rare and handsome species, the Platysternus hebraeus,
+which is of a broad shape, coloured ochreous, but spotted and
+striped with black, so as to resemble a domino. On the felled
+trunks of trees, swarms of gilded-green Longicornes occurred, of
+small size (Chrysoprasis), which looked like miniature musk-
+beetles, and, indeed, are closely allied to those well-known
+European insects.
+
+At length, on the 12th of February, I left Caripi, my Negro and
+Indian neighbours bidding me a warm "adios." I had passed a
+delightful time, notwithstanding the many privations undergone in
+the way of food. The wet season had now set in; the lowlands and
+islands would soon become flooded daily at high water, and the
+difficulty of obtaining fresh provisions would increase. I
+intended, therefore, to spend the next three months at Para, in
+the neighbourhood of which there was still much to be done in the
+intervals of fine weather, and then start off on another
+excursion into the interior.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE LOWER AMAZONS-PARA TO OBYDOS
+
+Modes of Travelling on the Amazons--Historical Sketch of the
+Early Explorations of the River--Preparations for Voyage--Life on
+Board a Large Trading Vessel--The narrow channels joining the
+Para to the Amazons--First Sight of the Great River--Gurupa--The
+Great Shoal--Flat-topped Mountains--Santarem--Obydos
+
+At the time of my first voyage up the Amazons--namely, in 1849--
+nearly all communication with the interior was by means of small
+sailing-vessels, owned by traders residing in the remote towns
+and villages, who seldom came to Para themselves, but entrusted
+vessels and cargoes to the care of half-breeds or Portuguese
+cabos. Sometimes, indeed, they risked all in the hands of the
+Indian crew, making the pilot, who was also steersman, do duty as
+supercargo. Now and then, Portuguese and Brazilian merchants at
+Para furnished young Portuguese with merchandise, and dispatched
+them to the interior to exchange the goods for produce among the
+scattered population. The means of communication, in fact, with
+the upper parts of the Amazons had been on the decline for some
+time, on account of the augmented difficulty of obtaining hands
+to navigate vessels. Formerly, when the Government wished to send
+any important functionary, such as a judge or a military
+commandant, into the interior, they equipped a swift-sailing
+galliota manned with ten or a dozen Indians. These could travel,
+on the average, in one day farther than the ordinary sailing
+craft could in three. Indian paddlers were now, however, almost
+impossible to be obtained, and Government officers were obliged
+to travel as passengers in trading-vessels. The voyage made in
+this way was tedious in the extreme. When the regular east-wind
+blew--the "vento geral," or trade-wind of the Amazons--sailing-
+vessels could get along very well; but when this failed, they
+were obliged to remain, sometimes many days together, anchored
+near the shore, or progress laboriously by means of the "espia."
+
+The latter mode of travelling was as follows. The montaria, with
+twenty or thirty fathoms of cable, one end of which was attached
+to the foremast, was sent ahead with a couple of hands, who
+secured the other end of the rope to some strong bough or tree-
+trunk; the crew then hauled the vessel up to the point, after
+which the men in the boat re-embarked the cable, and paddled
+forwards to repeat the process. In the dry season, from August to
+December, when the trade-wind is strong and the currents slack, a
+schooner could reach the mouth of the Rio Negro, a thousand miles
+from Para, in about forty days; but in the wet season, from
+January to July, when the east-wind no longer blows and the
+Amazons pours forth its full volume of water, flooding the banks
+and producing a tearing current, it took three months to travel
+the same distance. It was a great blessing to the inhabitants
+when, in 1853, a line of steamers was established, and this same
+journey could be accomplished with ease and comfort, at all
+seasons, in eight days!
+
+It is, perhaps, not generally known that the Portuguese, as early
+as 1710, had a fair knowledge of the Amazons; but the information
+gathered by their Government, from various expeditions undertaken
+on a grand scale, was long withheld from the rest of the world,
+through the jealous policy which ruled in their colonial affairs.
+From the foundation of Para by Caldeira, in 1615, to the
+settlement of the boundary line between the Spanish and
+Portuguese possessions, Peru and Brazil, in 1781-91, numbers of
+these expeditions were undertaken in succession . The largest was
+the one commanded by Pedro Texeira in 1637-9, who ascended the
+river to Quito by way of the Napo, a distance of about 2800
+miles, with 45 canoes and 900 men, and returned to Para without
+any great misadventure by the same route. The success of this
+remarkable undertaking amply proved, at that early date, the
+facility of the river navigation, the practicability of the
+country, and the good disposition of the aboriginal inhabitants.
+The river, however, was first discovered by the Spaniards, the
+mouth having been visited by Pinzon in 1500, and nearly the whole
+course of the river navigated by Orellana in 1541-2. The voyage
+of the latter was one of the most remarkable on record. Orellana
+was a lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro, Governor of Quito, and
+accompanied the latter in an adventurous journey which he
+undertook across the easternmost chain of the Andes, down into
+the sweltering valley of the Napo, in search of the land of El
+Dorado, or the Gilded King. They started with 300 soldiers and
+4000 Indian porters; but, arrived on the banks of one of the
+tributaries of the Napo, their followers were so greatly
+decreased in number by disease and hunger, and the remainder so
+much weakened, that Pizarro was obliged to despatch Orellana with
+fifty men, in a vessel they had built, to the Napo, in search of
+provisions. It can be imagined by those acquainted with the
+Amazons country how fruitless this errand would be in the
+wilderness of forest where Orellana and his followers found
+themselves when they reached the Napo, and how strong their
+disinclination would be to return against the currents and rapids
+which they had descended. The idea then seized them to commit
+themselves to the chances of the stream, although ignorant
+whither it would lead. So onward they went. From the Napo they
+emerged into the main Amazons, and, after many and various
+adventures with the Indians on its banks, reached the Atlantic--
+eight months from the date of their entering the great river. [It
+was during this voyage that the nation of female warriors was
+said to have been met with; a report which gave rise to the
+Portuguese name of the river, Amazonas. It is now pretty well
+known that this is a mere fable, originating in the love of the
+marvellous which distinguished the early Spanish adventurers, and
+impaired the credibility of their narratives.]
+
+Another remarkable voyage was accomplished, in a similar manner,
+by a Spaniard named Lopez d'Aguirre, from Cusco, in Peru, down
+the Ucayali, a branch of the Amazons flowing from the south, and
+therefore, from an opposite direction to that of the Napo. An
+account of this journey was sent by D'Aguirre, in a letter to the
+King of Spain, from which Humboldt has given an extract in his
+narrative. As it is a good specimen of the quaintness of style
+and looseness of statement exhibited by these early narrators of
+adventures in South America, I will give a translation of it:
+
+"We constructed rafts, and, leaving behind our horses and
+baggage, sailed down the river (the Ucayali) with great risk,
+until we found ourselves in a gulf of fresh water. In this river
+Maranon we continued more than ten months and a half, down to its
+mouth, where it falls into the sea. We made one hundred days'
+journey, and travelled 1500 leagues. It is a great and fearful
+stream, has 80 leagues of fresh water at its mouth, vast shoals,
+and 800 leagues of wilderness without any kind of inhabitants,
+[This account disagrees with that of Acunna, the historiographer
+of Texeira's expedition, who accompanied him, in 1639, on his
+return voyage from Quito. Acunna speaks of a very numerous
+population on the banks of the Amazons.] as your Majesty will see
+from the true and correct narrative of the journey which we have
+made. It has more than 6000 islands. God knows how we came out of
+this fearful sea!"
+
+Many expeditions were undertaken in the course of the eighteenth
+century; in fact, the crossing of the continent from the Pacific
+to the Atlantic, by way of the Amazons, seems to have become by
+this time a common occurrence. The only voyage, however, which
+yielded much scientific information to the European public was
+that of the French astronomer, La Condamine, in 1743-4. The most
+complete account yet published of the river is that given by Von
+Martius in the third volume of Spix and Martius' Travels. These
+most accomplished travellers were eleven months in the country--
+namely, from July, 1819, to June, 1820--and ascended the river to
+the frontiers of the Brazilian territory. The accounts they have
+given of the geography, ethnology, botany, history, and
+statistics of the Amazons region are the most complete that have
+ever been given to the world. Their narrative was not published
+until 1831, and was unfortunately inaccessible to me during the
+time I travelled in the same country.
+
+While preparing for my voyage it happened, fortunately, that the
+half-brother of Dr. Angelo Custodio, a young mestizo named Joao
+da Cunha Correia, was about to start for the Amazons on a trading
+expedition in his own vessel, a schooner of about forty tons'
+burthen. A passage for me was soon arranged with him through the
+intervention of Dr. Angelo, and we started on the 5th of
+September, 1849. I intended to stop at some village on the
+northern shore of the Lower Amazons, where it would be
+interesting to make collections, in order to show the relations
+of the fauna to those of Para and the coast region of Guiana. As
+I should have to hire a house or hut wherever I stayed, I took
+all the materials for housekeeping--cooking utensils, crockery,
+and so forth. To these were added a stock of such provisions as
+it would be difficult to obtain in the interior--also ammunition,
+chests, store-boxes, a small library of natural history books,
+and a hundredweight of copper money. I engaged, after some
+trouble, a Mameluco youth to accompany me as servant--a short,
+fat, yellow-faced boy named Luco, whom I had already employed at
+Para in collecting. We weighed anchor at night, and on the
+following day found ourselves gliding along the dark-brown waters
+of the Moju.
+
+Joao da Cunha, like most of his fellow countrymen, took matters
+very easily. He was going to be absent in the interior several
+years, and therefore, intended to diverge from his route to visit
+his native place, Cameta, and spend a few days with his friends.
+It seemed not to matter to him that he had a cargo of
+merchandise, vessel, and crew of twelve persons, which required
+an economical use of time; "pleasure first and business
+afterwards" appeared to be his maxim. We stayed at Cameta twelve
+days. The chief motive for prolonging the stay to this extent was
+a festival at the Aldeia, two miles below Cameta, which was to
+commence on the 21st, and which my friend wished to take part in.
+On the day of the festival the schooner was sent down to anchor
+off the Aldeia, and master and men gave themselves up to revelry.
+In the evening a strong breeze sprang up, and orders were given
+to embark. We scrambled down in the dark through the thickets of
+cacao, orange, and coffee trees which clothed the high bank, and,
+after running great risk of being swamped by the heavy sea in the
+crowded montaria, got all aboard by nine o'clock. We made all
+sail amidst the "adios" shouted to us by Indian and mulatto
+sweethearts from the top of the bank, and, tide and wind being
+favourable, were soon miles away.
+
+Our crew consisted, as already mentioned, of twelve persons. One
+was a young Portuguese from the province of Traz os Montes, a
+pretty sample of the kind of emigrants which Portugal sends to
+Brazil. He was two or three and twenty years of age, and had been
+about two years in the country, dressing and living like the
+Indians, to whom he was certainly inferior in manners. He could
+not read or write, whereas one at least of our Tapuyos had both
+accomplishments. He had a little wooden image of Nossa Senora in
+his rough wooden clothes-chest, and to this he always had
+recourse when any squall arose, or when we ran aground on a
+shoal. Another of our sailors was a tawny white of Cameta; the
+rest were Indians, except the cook, who was a Cafuzo, or half-
+breed between the Indian and negro. It is often said that this
+class of mestizos is the most evilly-disposed of all the numerous
+crosses between the races inhabiting Brazil; but Luiz was a
+simple, good-hearted fellow, always ready to do one a service.
+The pilot was an old Tapuyo of Para, with regular oval face and
+well-shaped features. I was astonished at his endurance. He never
+quitted the helm night or day, except for two or three hours in
+the morning. The other Indians used to bring him his coffee and
+meals, and after breakfast one of them relieved him for a time,
+when he used to lie down on the quarterdeck and get his two hours
+nap. The Indians forward had things pretty much their own way. No
+system of watches was followed; when any one was so disposed, he
+lay down on the deck and went to sleep; but a feeling of good
+fellowship seemed always to exist amongst them. One of them was a
+fine specimen of the Indian race-- a man just short of six feet
+high, with remarkable breadth of shoulder and full muscular
+chest. His comrades called him the commandant, on account of his
+having been one of the rebel leaders when the Indians and others
+took Santarem in 1835. They related of him that, when the legal
+authorities arrived with an armed flotilla to recapture the town,
+he was one of the last to quit, remaining in the little fortress
+which commands the place to make a show of loading the guns,
+although the ammunition had given out long ago. Such were our
+travelling companions. We lived almost the same as on board ship.
+Our meals were cooked in the galley; but, where practicable, and
+during our numerous stoppages, the men went in the montaria to
+fish near the shore, so that our breakfasts and dinners of salt
+pirarucu were sometimes varied with fresh food.
+
+September 24th--We passed Entre-as-Ilhas with the morning tide
+yesterday, and then made across to the eastern shore--the
+starting-point for all canoes which have to traverse the broad
+mouth of the Tocantins going west. Early this morning we
+commenced the passage. The navigation is attended with danger on
+account of the extensive shoals in the middle of the river, which
+are covered only by a small depth of water at this season of the
+year. The wind was fresh, and the schooner rolled and pitched
+like a ship at sea. The distance was about fifteen miles. In the
+middle, the river-view was very imposing. Towards the northeast
+there was a long sweep of horizon clear of land, and on the
+southwest stretched a similar boundless expanse, but varied with
+islets clothed with fan-leaved palms, which, however, were
+visible only as isolated groups of columns, tufted at the top,
+rising here and there amidst the waste of waters. In the
+afternoon we rounded the westernmost point; the land, which is
+not terra firma, but simply a group of large islands forming a
+portion of the Tocantins delta, was then about three miles
+distant.
+
+On the following day (25th) we sailed towards the west, along the
+upper portion of the Para estuary, which extends seventy miles
+beyond the mouth of the Tocantins. It varies in width from three
+to five miles, but broadens rapidly near its termination, where
+it is eight or nine miles wide. The northern shore is formed by
+the island of Marajo, and is slightly elevated and rocky in some
+parts. A series of islands conceals the southern shore from view
+most of the way. The whole country, mainland and islands, is
+covered with forest. We had a good wind all day, and about 7 p.m.
+entered the narrow river of Breves, which commences abruptly the
+extensive labyrinth of channels that connects the Para with the
+Amazons. The sudden termination of the Para at a point where it
+expands to so great a breadth is remarkable; the water, however,
+is very shallow over the greater portion of the expanse. I
+noticed both on this and on the three subsequent occasions of
+passing this place in ascending and descending the river, that
+the flow of the tide from the east along the estuary, as well as
+up the Breves, was very strong. This seems sufficient to prove
+that no considerable volume of water passes by this medium from
+the Amazons to the Para, and that the opinion of those
+geographers is an incorrect one, who believe the Para to be one
+of the mouths of the great river. There is, however, another
+channel connecting the two rivers, which enters the Para six
+miles to the south of the Breves. The lower part of its course
+for eighteen miles is formed by the Uanapu, a large and
+independent river flowing from the south. The tidal flow is said
+by the natives to produce little or no current up this river--a
+fact which seems to afford a little support to the view just
+stated.
+
+We passed the village of Breves at 3 p.m. on the 26th. It
+consists of about forty houses, most of which are occupied by
+Portuguese shopkeepers. A few Indian families reside here, who
+occupy themselves with the manufacture of ornamental pottery and
+painted cuyas, which they sell to traders or passing travellers.
+The cuyas--drinking-cups made from gourds--are sometimes very
+tastefully painted. The rich black ground colour is produced by a
+dye made from the bark of a tree called Comateu, the gummy nature
+of which imparts a fine polish. The yellow tints are made with
+the Tabatinga clay; the red with the seeds of the Urucu, or
+anatto plant; and the blue with indigo, which is planted round
+the huts. The art is indigenous with the Amazonian Indians, but
+it is only the settled agricultural tribes belonging to the Tupi
+stock who practise it.
+
+September 27th-30th.--After passing Breves, we continued our way
+slowly along a channel, or series of channels, of variable width.
+On the morning of the 27th we had a fair wind, the breadth of the
+stream varying from about 150 to 400 yards. About midday we
+passed, on the western side, the mouth of the Aturiazal, through
+which, on account of its swifter current, vessels pass in
+descending from the Amazons to Para. Shortly afterwards we
+entered the narrow channel of the Jaburu, which lies twenty miles
+above the mouth of the Breves. Here commences the peculiar
+scenery of this remarkable region. We found ourselves in a narrow
+and nearly straight canal, not more than eighty to a hundred
+yards in width, and hemmed in by two walls of forest, which rose
+quite perpendicularly from the water to a height of seventy or
+eighty feet. The water was of great and uniform depth, even close
+to the banks. We seemed to be in a deep gorge, and the strange
+impression the place produced was augmented by the dull echoes
+wakened by the voices of our Indians and the splash of their
+paddles. The forest was excessively varied. Some of the trees,
+the dome-topped giants of the Leguminous and Bombaceous orders,
+reared their heads far above the average height of the green
+walls. The fan-leaved Miriti palm was scattered in some numbers
+amidst the rest, a few solitary specimens shooting up their
+smooth columns above the other trees. The graceful Assai palm
+grew in little groups, forming feathery pictures set in the
+rounder foliage of the mass. The Ubussu, lower in height, showed
+only its shuttlecock shaped crowns of huge undivided fronds,
+which, being of a vivid pale-green, contrasted forcibly against
+the sombre hues of the surrounding foliage. The Ubussu grew here
+in great numbers; the equally remarkable Jupati palm (Rhaphia
+taedigera), which, like the Ubussu, is peculiar to this district,
+occurred more sparsely, throwing its long shaggy leaves, forty to
+fifty feet in length, in broad arches over the canal. An infinite
+diversity of smaller-sized palms decorated the water's edge, such
+as the Maraja-i (Bactris, many species), the Ubim (Geonoma), and
+a few stately Bacabas (Oenocarpus Bacaba). The shape of this last
+is exceedingly elegant, the size of the crown being in proper
+proportion to the straight smooth stem. The leaves, down even to
+the bases of the glossy petioles, are of a rich dark-green
+colour, and free from spines.
+
+"The forest wall"--I am extracting from my journal-"under which
+we are now moving, consists, besides palms, of a great variety of
+ordinary forest trees. From the highest branches of these down to
+the water sweep ribbons of climbing plants of the most diverse
+and ornamental foliage possible. Creeping convolvuli and others
+have made use of the slender lianas and hanging air roots as
+ladders to climb by. Now and then appears a Mimosa or other tree
+having similar fine pinnate foliage, and thick masses of Inga
+border the water, from whose branches hang long bean-pods, of
+different shape and size according to the species, some of them a
+yard in length. Flowers there are very few. I see, now and then,
+a gorgeous crimson blossom on long spikes ornamenting the sombre
+foliage towards the summits of the forest. I suppose it to belong
+to a climber of the Combretaceous order. There are also a few
+yellow and violet Trumpet-flowers (Bignoniae). The blossoms of
+the Ingas, although not conspicuous, are delicately beautiful.
+The forest all along offers so dense a front that one never
+obtains a glimpse into the interior of the wilderness."
+
+The length of the Jaburu channel is about thirty-five miles,
+allowing for the numerous abrupt bends which occur between the
+middle and the northern end of its course. We were three days and
+a half accomplishing the passage. The banks on each side seemed
+to be composed of hard river-mud with a thick covering of
+vegetable mold, so that I should imagine this whole district
+originated in a gradual accumulation of alluvium, through which
+the endless labyrinths of channels have worked their deep and
+narrow beds. The flood-tide as we travelled northward became
+gradually of less assistance to us, as it caused only a feeble
+current upwards. The pressure of the waters from the Amazons here
+makes itself felt; as this is not the case lower down, I suppose
+the currents are diverted through some of the numerous channels
+which we passed on our right, and which traverse, in their course
+towards the sea, the northwestern part of Marajo. In the evening
+of the 29th we arrived at a point where another channel joins the
+Jaburu from the northeast. Up this the tide was flowing; we
+turned westward, and thus met the flood coming from the Amazons.
+This point is the object of a strange superstitious observance on
+the part of the canoemen. It is said to be haunted by a Paje, or
+Indian wizard, whom it is necessary to propitiate by depositing
+some article on the spot, if the voyager wishes to secure a safe
+return from the "sertao," as the interior of the country is
+called. The trees were all hung with rags, shirts, straw hats,
+bunches of fruit, and so forth. Although the superstition
+doubtless originated with the aborigines, I observed in both my
+voyages, that it was only the Portuguese and uneducated
+Brazilians who deposited anything. The pure Indians gave nothing,
+and treated the whole affair as a humbug; but they were all
+civilised Tapuyos.
+
+On the 30th, at 9 p.m., we reached a broad channel called Macaco,
+and now left the dark, echoing Jaburu. The Macaco sends off
+branches towards the northwest coast of Marajo. It is merely a
+passage amongst a cluster of islands, between which a glimpse is
+occasionally obtained of the broad waters of the main Amazons. A
+brisk wind carried us rapidly past its monotonous scenery, and
+early in the morning of the 1st of October we reached the
+entrance of the Uituquara, or the Wind-hole, which is fifteen
+miles distant from the end of the Jaburu. This is also a winding
+channel, thirty-five miles in length, threading a group of
+islands, but it is much narrower than the Macaco.
+
+On emerging from the Uituquara on the 2nd, we all went ashore--
+the men to fish in a small creek; Joao da Cunha and I to shoot
+birds. We saw a flock of scarlet and blue macaws (Macrocercus
+Macao) feeding on the fruits of a Bacaba palm, and looking like a
+cluster of flaunting banners beneath its dark-green crown. We
+landed about fifty yards from the place, and crept cautiously
+through the forest, but before we reached them they flew off with
+loud harsh screams. At a wild fruit tree we were more successful,
+as my companion shot an anaca (Derotypus coronatus), one of the
+most beautiful of the parrot family. It is of a green colour, and
+has a hood of feathers, red bordered with blue, at the back of
+its head, which it can elevate or depress at pleasure. The anaca
+is the only new-world parrot which nearly resembles the cockatoo
+of Australia. It is found in all the lowlands throughout the
+Amazons region, but is not a common bird anywhere. Few persons
+succeed in taming it, and I never saw one that had been taught to
+speak. The natives are very fond of the bird nevertheless, and
+keep it in their houses for the sake of seeing the irascible
+creature expand its beautiful frill of feathers, which it readily
+does when excited.
+
+The men returned with a large quantity of fish. I was surprised
+at the great variety of species; the prevailing kind was a
+species of Loricaria, a foot in length, and wholly encased in
+bony armour. It abounds at certain seasons in shallow water. The
+flesh is dry, but very palatable. They brought also a small
+alligator, which they called Jacare curua, and said it was a kind
+found only in shallow creeks. It was not more than two feet in
+length, although full-grown according to the statement of the
+Indians, who said it was a "mai d'ovos," or mother of eggs, as
+they had pillaged the nest, which they had found near the edge of
+the water. The eggs were rather larger than a hen's, and
+regularly oval in shape, presenting a rough hard surface of
+shell. Unfortunately, the alligator was cut up ready for cooking
+when we returned to the schooner, and I could not therefore make
+a note of its peculiarities. The pieces were skewered and roasted
+over the fire, each man being his own cook. I never saw this
+species of alligator afterwards.
+
+October 3rd--About midnight the wind, for which we had long been
+waiting, sprang up; the men weighed anchor, and we were soon
+fairly embarked on the Amazons. I rose long before sunrise to see
+the great river by moonlight. There was a spanking breeze, and
+the vessel was bounding gaily over the waters. The channel along
+which we were sailing was only a narrow arm of the river, about
+two miles in width: the total breadth at this point is more than
+twenty miles, but the stream is divided into three parts by a
+series of large islands. The river, notwithstanding this
+limitation of its breadth, had a most majestic appearance. It did
+not present that lake-like aspect which the waters of the Para
+and Tocantins affect, but had all the swing, so to speak, of a
+vast flowing stream. The ochre-coloured turbid waters offered
+also a great contrast to the rivers belonging to the Para system.
+The channel formed a splendid reach, sweeping from southwest to
+northeast, with a horizon of water and sky both upstream and
+down. At 11 a.m. we arrived at Gurupa, a small village situated
+on a rocky bank thirty or forty feet high. Here we landed, and I
+had an opportunity of rambling in the neighbouring woods, which
+are intersected by numerous pathways, and carpeted with Lycopodia
+growing to a height of eight or ten inches, and enlivened by
+numbers of glossy blue butterflies of the Theclidae or hairstreak
+family. At 5 p.m. we were again under way. Soon after sunset, as
+we were crossing the mouth of the Xingu, the first of the great
+tributaries of the Amazons, 1200 miles in length, a black cloud
+arose suddenly in the northeast. Joao da Cunha ordered all sails
+to be taken in, and immediately afterwards a furious squall burst
+forth, tearing the waters into foam, and producing a frightful
+uproar in the neighbouring forests. A drenching rain followed,
+but in half an hour all was again calm and the full moon appeared
+sailing in a cloudless sky.
+
+From the mouth of the Xingu the route followed by vessels leads
+straight across the river, here ten miles broad. Towards midnight
+the wind failed us, when we were close to a large shoal called
+the Baixo Grande. We lay here becalmed in the sickening heat for
+two days, and when the trade-wind recommenced with the rising
+moon at 10 p.m. on the 6th, we found ourselves on a ice-shore.
+Notwithstanding all the efforts of our pilot to avoid it, we ran
+aground. Fortunately the bottom consisted only of soft mud, so
+that by casting anchor to windward, and hauling in with the whole
+strength of crew and passengers, we got off after spending an
+uncomfortable night. We rounded the point of the shoal in two
+fathoms' water; the head of the vessel was then put westward, and
+by sunrise we were bounding forward before a steady breeze, all
+sail set and everybody in good humour.
+
+The weather was now delightful for several days in succession,
+the air transparently clear, and the breeze cool and
+invigorating. At daylight, on the 6th, a chain of blue hills, the
+Serra de Almeyrim, appeared in the distance on the north bank of
+the river. The sight was most exhilarating after so long a
+sojourn in a flat country. We kept to the southern shore, passing
+in the course of the day the mouths of the Urucuricaya and the
+Aquiqui, two channels which communicate with the Xingu. The whole
+of this southern coast hence to near Santarem, a distance of 130
+miles, is lowland and quite uninhabited. It is intersected by
+short arms or back waters of the Amazons, which are called in the
+Tupi language Paranamirims, or little rivers. By keeping to
+these, small canoes can travel a great part of the distance
+without being much exposed to the heavy seas of the main river.
+The coast throughout has a most desolate aspect; the forest is
+not so varied as on the higher land; and the water-frontage,
+which is destitute of the green mantle of climbing plants that
+form so rich a decoration in other parts, is encumbered at every
+step with piles of fallen trees; and peopled by white egrets,
+ghostly storks, and solitary herons.
+
+In the evening we passed Almeyrim. The hills, according to Von
+Martius, who landed here, are about 800 feet above the level of
+the river, and are thickly wooded to the summit. They commence on
+the east by a few low isolated and rounded elevations; but
+towards the west of the village, they assume the appearance of
+elongated ridges which seem as if they had been planed down to a
+uniform height by some external force. The next day we passed in
+succession a series of similar flat-topped hills, some isolated
+and of a truncated-pyramidal shape, others prolonged to a length
+of several miles. There is an interval of low country between
+these and the Almeyrim range, which has a total length of about
+twenty-five miles; then commences abruptly the Serra de
+Marauaqua, which is succeeded in a similar way by the Velha Pobre
+range, the Serras de Tapaiuna-quara, and Paraua-quara. All these
+form a striking contrast to the Serra de Almeyrim in being quite
+destitute of trees. They have steep rugged sides, apparently
+clothed with short herbage, but here and there exposing bare
+white patches. Their total length is about forty miles. In the
+Tear, towards the interior, they are succeeded by other ranges of
+hills communicating with the central mountain-chain of Guiana,
+which divides Brazil from Cayenne.
+
+As we sailed along the southern shore, during the 6th and two
+following days, the table-topped hills on the opposite side
+occupied most of our attention. The river is from four to five
+miles broad, and in some places long, low wooded islands
+intervene in mid-stream, whose light-green, vivid verdure formed
+a strangely beautiful foreground to the glorious landscape of
+broad stream and grey mountain. Ninety miles beyond Almeyrim
+stands the village of Monte Alegre, which is built near the
+summit of the last hill visible of this chain. At this point the
+river bends a little towards the south, and the hilly country
+recedes from its shores to reappear at Obydos, greatly decreased
+in height, about a hundred miles further west.
+
+We crossed the river three times between Monte Alegre and the
+next town, Santarem. In the middle the waves ran very high, and
+the vessel lurched fearfully, hurling everything that was not
+well secured from one side of the deck to the other. On the
+morning of the 9th of October, a gentle wind carried us along a
+"remanso," or still water, under the southern shore. These tracts
+of quiet water are frequent on the irregular sides of the stream,
+and are the effect of counter movements caused by the rapid
+current of its central parts. At 9 a.m. we passed the mouth of a
+Parana-mirim, called Mahica, and then found a sudden change in
+the colour of the water and aspect of the banks. Instead of the
+low and swampy water-frontage which had prevailed from the mouth
+of the Xingu, we saw before us a broad sloping beach of white
+sand. The forest, instead of being an entangled mass of irregular
+and rank vegetation as hitherto, presented a rounded outline, and
+created an impresssion of repose that was very pleasing. We now
+approached, in fact, the mouth of the Tapajos, whose clear olive-
+green waters here replaced the muddy current against which we had
+so long been sailing. Although this is a river of great extent--
+1000 miles in length, and, for the last eighty miles of its
+course, four to ten in breadth--its contribution to the Amazons
+is not perceptible in the middle of the stream. The white turbid
+current of the main river flows disdainfully by, occupying nearly
+the whole breadth of the channel, while the darker water of its
+tributary seems to creep along the shore, and is no longer
+distinguishable four or five miles from its mouth.
+
+We reached Santarem at 11 a.m. The town has a clean and cheerful
+appearance from the river. It consists of three long streets,
+with a few short ones crossing them at right angles, and contains
+about 2500 inhabitants. It lies just within the mouth of Tapajos,
+and is divided into two parts, the town and the aldeia or
+village. The houses of the white and trading classes are
+substantially built, many being of two and three stories, and all
+white-washed and tiled. The aldeia, which contains the Indian
+portion of the population, or did so formerly, consists mostly of
+mud huts, thatched with palm leaves. The situation of the town is
+very beautiful. The land, although but slightly elevated, does
+not form, strictly speaking, a portion of the alluvial river
+plains of the Amazons, but is rather a northern prolongation of
+the Brazilian continental land. It is scantily wooded, and
+towards the interior consists of undulating campos, which are
+connected with a series of hills extending southward as far as
+the eye can reach. I subsequently made this place my head-
+quarters for three years; an account of its neighbourhood is
+therefore, reserved for another chapter. At the first sight of
+Santarem, one cannot help being struck with the advantages of its
+situation. Although 400 miles from the sea, it is accessible to
+vessels of heavy tonnage coming straight from the Atlantic. The
+river has only two slight bends between this port and the sea,
+and for five or six months in the year the Amazonian trade wind
+blows with very little interruption, so that sailing ships coming
+from foreign countries could reach the place with little
+difficulty. We ourselves had accomplished 200 miles, or about
+half the distance from the sea, in an ill-rigged vessel, in three
+days and a half. Although the land in the immediate neighbourhood
+is perhaps ill adapted for agriculture, an immense tract of rich
+soil, with forest and meadowland, lies on the opposite banks of
+the river, and the Tapajos leads into the heart of the mining
+provinces of interior Brazil. But where is the population to come
+from to develop the resources of this fine country? At present,
+the district within a radius of twenty-five miles contains barely
+6500 inhabitants; behind the town, towards the interior, the
+country is uninhabited, and jaguars roam nightly, at least in the
+rainy season, close up to the ends of the suburban streets.
+
+From information obtained here, I fixed upon the next town,
+Obydos, as the best place to stay for a few weeks, in order to
+investigate the natural productions of the north side of the
+Lower Amazons. We started at sunrise on the 10th, and being still
+favoured by wind and weather, made a pleasant passage, reaching
+Obydos, which is nearly fifty miles distant from Santarem, by
+midnight. We sailed all day close to the southern shore, and
+found the banks here and there dotted with houses of settlers,
+each surrounded by its plantation of cacao, which is the staple
+product of the district. This coast has an evil reputation for
+storms and mosquitoes, but we fortunately escaped both. It was
+remarkable that we had been troubled by mosquitoes only on one
+night, and then to a small degree, during the whole of our
+voyage.
+
+I landed at Obydos the next morning, and then bid adieu to my
+kind friend Joao da Cunha, who, after landing my baggage, got up
+his anchor and continued on his way. The town contains about 1200
+inhabitants, and is airily situated on a high bluff, ninety or a
+hundred feet above the level of the river. The coast is
+precipitous for two or three miles hence to the west. The cliffs
+consist of the parti-coloured clay, or Tabatinga, which occurs so
+frequently throughout the Amazons region; the strong current of
+the river sets full against them in the season of high water, and
+annually carries away large portions. The clay in places is
+stratified alternately pink and yellow, the pink beds being the
+thickest and of much harder texture than the others.
+
+When I descended the river in 1859, a German Major of Engineers,
+in the employ of the Government, told me that he had found
+calcareous layers, thickly studded with marine shells
+interstratified with the clay. On the top of the Tabatinga lies a
+bed of sand, in some places several feet thick, and the whole
+formation rests on strata of sandstone, which are exposed only
+when the river reaches its lowest level. Behind the town rises a
+fine rounded hill, and a range of similar elevations extends six
+miles westward, terminating at the mouth of the Trombetas, a
+large river flowing through the interior of Guiana. Hills and
+lowlands alike are covered with a sombre rolling forest. The
+river here is contracted to a breadth of rather less than a mile
+(1738 yards), and the entire volume of its waters, the collective
+product of a score of mighty streams, is poured through the
+strait with tremendous velocity. It must be remarked, however,
+that the river valley itself is not contracted to this breadth,
+the opposite shore not being continental land, but a low alluvial
+tract, subject to inundation more or less in the rainy season.
+Behind it lies an extensive lake, called the Lago Grande da Villa
+Franca, which communicates with the Amazons, both above and below
+Obydos, and has therefore, the appearance of a by-water or an old
+channel of the river. This lake is about thirty-five miles in
+length, and from four to ten in width; but its waters are of
+little depth, and in the dry season its dimensions are much
+lessened. It has no perceptible current, and does not therefore,
+now divert any portion of the waters of the Amazons from their
+main course past Obydos.
+
+I remained at Obydos from the 11th of October to the 19th of
+November. I spent three weeks here, also, in 1859, when the place
+was much changed through the influx of Portuguese immigrants and
+the building of a fortress on the top of the bluff. It is one of
+the pleasantest towns on the river. The houses are all roofed
+with tiles, and are mostly of substantial architecture. The
+inhabitants, at least at the time of my first visit, were naive
+in their ways, kind and sociable. Scarcely any palm-thatched huts
+are to be seen, for very few Indians now reside here. It was one
+of the early settlements of the Portuguese, and the better class
+of the population consists of old-established white families, who
+exhibit however, in some cases, traces of cross with the Indian
+and negro. Obydos and Santarem have received, during the last
+eighty years, considerable importations of negro slaves; before
+that time, a cruel traffic was carried on in Indians for the same
+purpose of forced servitude, but their numbers have gradually
+dwindled away, and Indians now form an insignificant element in
+the population of the district.
+
+Most of the Obydos townsfolk are owners of cacao plantations,
+which are situated on the low lands in the vicinity. Some are
+large cattle proprietors, and possess estates of many square
+leagues' extent in the campo, or grass-land districts, which
+border the Lago Grande, and other similar inland lakes, near the
+villages of Faro and Alemquer. These campos bear a crop of
+nutritious grass; but in certain seasons, when the rising of the
+Amazons exceeds the average, they are apt to be flooded, and then
+the large herds of half wild cattle suffer great mortality from
+drowning, hunger, and alligators. Neither in cattle-keeping nor
+cacao-growing are any but the laziest and most primitive methods
+followed, and the consequence is that the proprietors are
+generally poor. A few, however, have become rich by applying a
+moderate amount of industry and skill to the management of their
+estates. People spoke of several heiresses in the neighbourhood
+whose wealth was reckoned in oxen and slaves; a dozen slaves and
+a few hundred head of cattle being considered a great fortune.
+Some of them I saw had already been appropriated by enterprising
+young men, who had come from Para and Maranham to seek their
+fortunes in this quarter.
+
+The few weeks I spent here passed away pleasantly. I generally
+spent the evenings in the society of the townspeople, who
+associated together (contrary to Brazilian custom) in European
+fashion; the different families meeting at one another's houses
+for social amusement, bachelor friends not being excluded, and
+the whole company, married and single, joining in simple games.
+The meetings used to take place in the sitting-rooms, and not in
+the open verandas--a fashion almost compulsory on account of the
+mosquitoes; but the evenings here are very cool, and the
+closeness of a room is not so much felt as it is in Para. Sunday
+was strictly observed at Obydos--at least all the shops were
+closed, and almost the whole population went to church. The
+Vicar, Padre Raimundo do Sanchez Brito, was an excellent old man,
+and I fancy the friendly manners of the people, and the general
+purity of morals at Obydos, were owing in great part to the good
+example he set to his parishioners.
+
+The forest at Obydos seemed to abound in monkeys, for I rarely
+passed a day without seeing several. I noticed four species: the
+Coaita (Ateles paniscus), the Chrysothrix sciureus, the
+Callithrix torquatus, and our old Para friend, Midas ursulus. The
+Coaita is a large black monkey, covered with coarse hair, and
+having the prominent parts of the face of a tawny flesh-coloured
+hue. It is the largest of the Amazonian monkeys in stature, but
+is excelled in bulk by the "Barrigudo" (Lagothrix Humboldtii) of
+the Upper Amazons. It occurs throughout the lowlands of the Lower
+and Upper Amazons, but does not range to the south beyond the
+limits of the river plains. At that point an allied species, the
+White-whiskered Coaita (Ateles marginatus) takes its place. The
+Coaitas are called by zoologists spider monkeys, on account of
+the length and slenderness of their body and limbs. In these apes
+the tail, as a prehensile organ, reaches its highest degree of
+perfection; and on this account it would, perhaps, be correct to
+consider the Coaitas as the extreme development of the American
+type of apes. As far as we know, from living and fossil species,
+the New World has progressed no farther than the Coaita towards
+the production of a higher form of the Quadrumanous order. The
+tendency of Nature here has been, to all appearance, simply to
+perfect those organs which adapt the species more and more
+completely to a purely arboreal life; and no nearer approach has
+been made towards the more advanced forms of anthropoid apes,
+which are the products of the Old World solely. The flesh of this
+monkey is much esteemed by the natives in this part of the
+country, and the Military Commandant of Obydos, Major Gama, every
+week sent a negro hunter to shoot one for his table. One day I
+went on a Coaita hunt, borrowing a negro slave of a friend to
+show me the way. When in the deepest part of a ravine we heard a
+rustling sound in the trees overheard, and Manoel soon pointed
+out a Coaita to me. There was something human-like in its
+appearance, as the lean, dark, shaggy creature moved deliberately
+amongst the branches at a great height. I fired, but
+unfortunately only wounded it in the belly. It fell with a crash
+headlong about twenty or thirty feet, and then caught a bough
+with its tail, which grasped it instantaneously, and then the
+animal remained suspended in mid-air. Before I could reload, it
+recovered itself and mounted nimbly to the topmost branches out
+of the reach of a fowling-piece, where we could perceive the poor
+thing apparently probing the wound with its fingers.
+
+Coaitas are more frequently kept in a tame state than any other
+kind of monkey. The Indians are very fond of them as pets, and
+the women often suckle them when young at their breasts. They
+become attached to their masters, and will sometimes follow them
+on the ground to considerable distances. I once saw a most
+ridiculously tame Coaita. It was an old female which accompanied
+its owner, a trader on the river, in all his voyages. By way of
+giving me a specimen of its intelligence and feeling, its master
+set to and rated it soundly, calling it scamp, heathen, thief,
+and so forth, all through the copious Portuguese vocabulary of
+vituperation. The poor monkey, quietly seated on the ground,
+seemed to be in sore trouble at this display of anger. It began
+by looking earnestly at him, then it whined, and lastly rocked
+its body to and fro with emotion, crying piteously, and passing
+its long gaunt arms continually over its forehead; for this was
+its habit when excited, and the front of the head was worn quite
+bald in consequence. At length its master altered his tone. "It's
+all a lie, my old woman; you're an angel, a flower, a good
+affectionate old creature," and so forth. Immediately the poor
+monkey ceased its wailing, and soon after came over to where the
+man sat. The disposition of the Coaita is mild in the extreme--
+it has none of the painful, restless vivacity of its kindred, the
+Cebi, and no trace of the surly, untameable temper of its still
+nearer relatives, the Mycetes, or howling monkeys. It is,
+however, an arrant thief, and shows considerable cunning in
+pilfering small articles of clothing, which it conceals in its
+sleeping place. The natives of the Upper Amazons procure the
+Coaita, when full grown, by shooting it with the blowpipe and
+poisoned darts, and restoring life by putting a little salt (the
+antidote to the Urari poison with which the darts are tipped) in
+its mouth. The animals thus caught become tame forthwith. Two
+females were once kept at the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, and
+Geoffroy St. Hilaire relates of them that they rarely quitted
+each other, remaining most of the time in close embrace, folding
+their tails around one another's bodies. They took their meals
+together; and it was remarked on such occasions, when the
+friendship of animals is put to a hard test, that they never
+quarrelled or disputed the possession of a favourite fruit with
+each other.
+
+The neighbourhood of Obydos was rich also in insects. In the
+broad alleys of the forest a magnificent butterfly of the genus
+Morpho, six to eight inches in expanse, the Morpho Hecuba, was
+seen daily gliding along at a height of twenty feet or more from
+the ground. Amongst the lower trees and bushes numerouskinds of
+Heliconii, a group of butterflies peculiar to tropical America,
+having long narrow wings, were very abundant. The prevailing
+ground colour of the wings of these insects is a deep black, and
+on this are depicted spots and streaks of crimson, white, and
+bright yellow, in different patterns according to the species.
+Their elegant shape, showy colours, and slow, sailing mode of
+flight, make them very attractive objects, and their numbers are
+so great that they form quite a feature in the physiognomy of the
+forest, compensating for the scarcity of flowers.
+
+Next to the Heliconii, the Catagrammas (C. astarte and C.
+peristera) were the most conspicuous. These have a very rapid and
+short flight, settling frequently and remaining stationary for a
+long time on the trunks of trees. The colours of their wings are
+vermilion and black, the surface having a rich velvety
+appearance. The genus owes its Greek name Catagramma (signifying
+"a letter beneath") to the curious markings of the underside of
+the wings, resembling Arabic numerals. The species and varieties
+are of almost endless diversity, but the majority inhabit the hot
+valleys of the eastern parts of the Andes. Another butterfly
+nearly allied to these, Callithea Leprieurii, was also very
+abundant here at the marshy head of the pool before mentioned.
+The wings are of a rich dark-blue colour, with a broad border of
+silvery green. These two groups of Callithea and Catagramma are
+found only in tropical America, chiefly near the equator, and are
+certainly amongst the most beautiful productions of a region
+where the animals and plants seem to have been fashioned in
+nature's choicest moulds.
+
+A great variety of other beautiful and curious insects adorned
+these pleasant woods. Others were seen only in the sunshine in
+open places. As the waters retreated from the beach, vast numbers
+of sulphur-yellow and orange coloured butterflies congregated on
+the moist sand. The greater portion of them belonged to the genus
+Callidryas. They assembled in densely-packed masses, sometimes
+two or three yards in circumference, their wings all held in an
+upright position, so that the beach looked as though variegated
+with beds of crocuses. These Callidryades seem to be migratory
+insects, and have large powers of dissemination. During the last
+two days of our voyage, the great numbers constantly passing over
+the river attracted the attention of every one on board. They all
+crossed in one direction, namely, from north to south, and the
+processions were uninterrupted from an early hour in the morning
+until sunset. All the individuals which resort to the margins of
+sandy beaches are of the male sex. The females are much more
+rare, and are seen only on the borders of the forest, wandering
+from tree to tree, and depositing their eggs on low mimosas which
+grow in the shade. The migrating hordes, as far as I could
+ascertain, are composed only of males, and on this account I
+believe their wanderings do not extend very far.
+
+A strange kind of wood-cricket is found in this neighbourhood,
+the males of which produce a very loud and not unmusical noise by
+rubbing together the overlapping edges of their wing-cases. The
+notes are certainly the loudest and most extraordinary that I
+ever heard produced by an orthopterous insect. The natives call
+it the Tanana, in allusion to its music, which is a sharp,
+resonant stridulation resembling the syllables ta-na-na, ta-na-
+na, succeeding each other with little intermission. It seems to
+be rare in the neighbourhood. When the natives capture one, they
+keep it in a wicker-work cage for the sake of hearing it sing. A
+friend of mine kept one six days. It was lively only for two or
+three, and then its loud note could be heard from one end of the
+village to the other. When it died he gave me the specimen, the
+only one I was able to procure. It is a member of the family
+Locustidae, a group intermediate between the Cricket (Achetidae)
+and the Grasshoppers (Acridiidae). The total length of the body
+is two inches and a quarter; when the wings are closed the insect
+has an inflated vesicular or bladder-like shape, owing to the
+great convexity of the thin but firm parchmenty wing-cases, and
+the colour is wholly pale-green. The instrument by which the
+Tanana produces its music is curiously contrived out of the
+ordinary nervures of the wing-cases. In each wing-case the inner
+edge, near its origin, has a horny expansion or lobe; on one wing
+(b) this lobe has sharp raised margins; on the other (a), the
+strong nervure which traverses the lobe on the under side is
+crossed by a number of fine sharp furrows like those of a file.
+When the insect rapidly moves its wings, the file of the one lobe
+is scraped sharply across the horny margin of the other, thus
+producing the sounds; the parchmenty wing-cases and the hollow
+drum-like space which they enclose assist in giving resonance to
+the tones. The projecting portions of both wing-cases are
+traversed by a similar strong nervure, but this is scored like a
+file only in one of them, in the other remaining perfectly
+smooth.
+
+Other species of the family to which the Tanana belongs have
+similar stridulating organs, but in none are these so highly
+developed as in this insect; they exist always in the males only,
+the other sex having the edges of the wing-cases quite straight
+and simple. The mode of producing the sounds and their object
+have been investigated by several authors with regard to certain
+European species. They are the call-notes of the males. In the
+common field-cricket of Europe the male has been observed to
+place itself, in the evening, at the entrance of its burrow, and
+stridulate until a female approaches, when the louder notes are
+succeeded by a more subdued tone, while the successful musician
+caresses with his antennae the mate he has won. Anyone who will
+take the trouble may observe a similar proceeding in the common
+house-cricket. The nature and object of this insect music are
+more uniform than the structure and situation of the instrument
+by which it is produced. This differs in each of the three allied
+families above mentioned. In the crickets the wing-cases are
+symmetrical; both have straight edges and sharply-scored nervures
+adapted to produce the stridulation. A distinct portion of their
+edges is not, therefore, set apart for the elaboration of a
+sound-producing instrument. In this family the wing-cases lie
+flat on the back of the insect, and overlap each other for a
+considerable portion of their extent. In the Locustidae the same
+members have a sloping position on each side of the body, and do
+not overlap, except to a small extent near their bases; it is out
+of this small portion that the stridulating organ is contrived.
+Greater resonance is given in most species by a thin transparent
+plate, covered by a membrane, in the centre of the overlapping
+lobes. In the Grasshoppers (Acridiidae) the wing-cases meet in a
+straight suture, and the friction of portions of their edges is
+no longer possible. But Nature exhibits the same fertility of
+resource here as elsewhere; and in contriving other methods of
+supplying the males with an instrument for the production of
+call-notes indicates the great importance which she attaches to
+this function. The music in the males of the Acridiidae is
+produced by the scraping of the long hind thighs against the
+horny nervures of the outer edges of the wing-cases; a drum-
+shaped organ placed in a cavity near the insertion of the thighs
+being adapted to give resonance to the tones.
+
+I obtained very few birds at Obydos. There was no scarcity of
+birds, but they were mostly common Cayenne species. In early
+morning, the woods near my house were quite animated with their
+songs--an unusual thing in this country. I heard here for the
+first time the pleasing wild notes of the Carashue, a species of
+thrush, probably the Mimus lividus of ornithologists. I found it
+afterwards to be a common bird in the scattered woods of the
+campo district near Santarem. It is a much smaller and plainer-
+coloured bird than our thrush, and its song is not so loud,
+varied, or so long sustained; but the tone is of a sweet and
+plaintive quality, which harmonises well with the wild and silent
+woodlands, where alone it is heard in the mornings and evenings
+of sultry tropical days. In course of time the song of this
+humble thrush stirred up pleasing associations in my mind, in the
+same way as those of its more highly endowed sisters formerly did
+at home. There are several allied species in Brazil; in the
+southern provinces they are called Sabiahs. The Brazilians are
+not insensible to the charms of this their best songster, for I
+often heard some pretty verses in praise of the Sabiah sung by
+young people to the accompaniment of the guitar.
+
+I found several times the nest of the Carashue, which is built of
+dried grass and slender twigs, and lined with mud; the eggs are
+coloured and spotted like those of our blackbird, but they are
+considerably smaller. I was much pleased with a brilliant little
+red-headed mannikin, which I shot here (Pipra cornuta). There
+were three males seated on a low branch, and hopping slowly
+backwards and forwards, near to one another, as though engaged in
+a kind of dance. In the pleasant airy woods surrounding the sandy
+shores of the pool behind the town, the yellow-bellied Trogon (T.
+viridis) was very common. Its back is of a brilliant metallic-
+green colour, and the breast steel blue. The natives call it the
+Suruqua do Ygapo, or Trogon of the flooded lands, in
+contradistinction to the red-breasted species, which are named
+Surtiquas da terra firma. I often saw small companies of half a
+dozen individuals quietly seated on the lower branches of trees.
+They remained almost motionless for an hour or two at a time,
+simply moving their heads, on the watch for passing insects; or,
+as seemed more generally to be the case, scanning the
+neighbouring trees for fruit, which they darted off now and then,
+at long intervals to secure, returning always to the same perch.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE LOWER AMAZONS--OBYDOS TO MANAOS, OR THE BARRA OF THE RIO
+NEGRO
+
+Departure from Obydos--River Banks and By-channels--Cacao
+Planters--Daily Life on Board Our Vessel--Great Storm--Sand-
+Island and Its Birds--Hill of Parentins--Negro Trader and Mauhes
+Indians--Villa Nova: Its Inhabitants, Forest, and Animal
+Productions--Cararaucu--A rustic Festival--Lake of Cararaucu--
+Motuca--Flies--Serpa--Christmas Holidays--River Madeira--A
+Mameluco Farmer--Mura Indians--Rio Negro--Description of Barra--
+Descent to Para--Yellow Fever
+
+A Trader of Obydos, named Penna, was proceeding about in a
+cuberta laden with merchandise to the Rio Negro, intending to
+stop frequently on the road, so I bargained with him for a
+passage. He gave up a part of the toldo, or fore-cabin as it may
+be called, and here I slung my hammock and arranged my boxes so
+as to be able to work as we went along. The stoppages I thought
+would be an advantage, as I could collect in the woods whilst he
+traded, and thus acquire a knowledge of the productions of many
+places on the river which on a direct voyage would be impossible
+to do. I provided a stock of groceries for two months'
+consumption; and, after the usual amount of unnecessary fuss and
+delay on the part of the owner, we started on the 19th of
+November. Penna took his family with him-- this comprised a
+smart, lively mameluco woman, named Catarina, whom we called
+Senora Katita, and two children. The crew consisted of three men:
+one a sturdy Indian, another a Cafuzo, godson of Penna, and the
+third, our best hand, a steady, good-natured mulatto, named
+Joaquim. My boy Luco was to assist in rowing and so forth. Penna
+was a timid middle-aged man, a white with a slight cross of
+Indian; when he was surly and obstinate, he used to ask me to
+excuse him on account of the Tapuyo blood in his veins. He tried
+to make me as comfortable as the circumstances admitted, and
+provided a large stock of eatables and drinkables; so that
+altogether the voyage promised to be a pleasant one.
+
+On leaving the port of Obydos, we crossed over to the right bank
+and sailed with a light wind all day, passing numerous houses,
+each surrounded by its grove of cacao trees. On the 20th we made
+slow progress. After passing the high land at the mouth of the
+Trombetas, the banks were low, clayey, or earthy on both sides.
+The breadth of the river varies hereabout from two and a half to
+three miles, but neither coast is the true terra firma. On the
+northern side a by-channel runs for a long distance inland,
+communicating with the extensive lake of Faro; on the south,
+three channels lead to the similar fresh-water sea of Villa
+Franca; these are in part arms of the river, so that the land
+they surround consists, properly speaking, of islands. When this
+description of land is not formed wholly of river deposit, as
+sometimes happens, or is raised above the level of the highest
+floods, it is called Ygapo alto, and is distinguished by the
+natives from the true islands of mid-river, as well as from the
+terra firma. We landed at one of the cacao plantations. The house
+was substantially built; the walls formed of strong upright
+posts, lathed across, plastered with mud and whitewashed, and the
+roof tiled. The family were mamelucos, and seemed to be an
+average sample of the poorer class of cacao growers. All were
+loosely dressed and bare-footed. A broad verandah extended along
+one side of the house, the floor of which was simply the well-
+trodden earth; and here hammocks were slung between the bare
+upright supports, a large rush mat being spread on the ground,
+upon which the stout matron-like mistress, with a tame parrot
+perched upon her shoulder, sat sewing with two pretty little
+mulatto girls. The master, coolly clad in shirt and drawers, the
+former loose about the neck, lay in his hammock smoking a long
+gaudily-painted wooden pipe. The household utensils, earthenware
+jars, water-pots and saucepans lay at one end, near which was a
+wood fire, with the ever-ready coffee-pot simmering on the top of
+a clay tripod. A large shed stood a short distance off, embowered
+in a grove of banana, papaw, and mango trees; and under it were
+the ovens, troughs, sieves, and all other apparatus for the
+preparation of mandioca. The cleared space around the house was
+only a few yards in extent; beyond it lay the cacao plantations,
+which stretched on each side parallel to the banks of the river.
+There was a path through the forest which led to the mandioca
+fields, and several miles beyond to other houses on the banks of
+an interior channel. We were kindly received, as is always the
+case when a stranger visits these out-of-the-way habitations--
+the people being invariably civil and hospitable. We had a long
+chat, took coffee, and upon departing, one of the daughters sent
+a basket full of oranges for our use down to the canoe.
+
+The cost of a cacao plantation in the Obydos district is after
+the rate of 240 reis or sixpence per tree, which is much higher
+than at Cameta, where I believe the yield is not so great. The
+forest here is cleared before planting, and the trees are grown
+in rows. The smaller cultivators are all very poor. Labour is
+scarce; one family generally manages its own small plantation of
+10,000 to 15,000 trees, but at the harvest time neighbours assist
+each other. It appeared to me to be an easy, pleasant life; the
+work is all done under shade, and occupies only a few weeks in
+the year. The incorrigible nonchalance and laziness of the people
+alone prevent them from surrounding themselves with all the
+luxuries of a tropical country. They might plant orchards of the
+choicest fruit trees around their houses, grow Indian corn, and
+rear cattle and hogs, as intelligent settlers from Europe would
+certainly do, instead of indolently relying solely on the produce
+of their small plantations, and living on a meagre diet of fish
+and farinha. In preparing the cacao they have not devised any
+means of separating the seeds well from the pulp, or drying it in
+a systematic way; the consequence is that, although naturally of
+good quality, it molds before reaching the merchants' stores, and
+does not fetch more than half the price of the same article grown
+in other parts of tropical America. The Amazons region is the
+original home of the principal species of chocolate tree, the
+Theobroma cacao; and it grows in abundance in the forests of the
+upper river. The cultivated crop appears to be a precarious one;
+little or no care, however, is bestowed on the trees, and even
+weeding is done very inefficiently. The plantations are generally
+old, and have been made on the low ground near the river, which
+renders them liable to inundation when this rises a few inches
+more than the average. There is plenty of higher land quite
+suitable to the tree, but it is uncleared, and the want of labour
+and enterprise prevents the establishment of new plantations.
+
+We passed the last houses in the Obydos district on the 20th, and
+the river scenery then resumed its usual wild and solitary
+character, which the scattered human habitations relieved,
+although in a small degree. We soon fell into a regular mode of
+life on board our little ark. Penna would not travel by night;
+indeed, our small crew, wearied by the day's labour, required
+rest, and we very rarely had wind in the night. We used to moor
+the vessel to a tree, giving out plenty of cable, so as to sleep
+at a distance from the banks and free of mosquitoes, which
+although swarming in the forest, rarely came many yards out into
+the river at this season of the year. The strong current at a
+distance of thirty or forty yards from the coast steadied the
+cuberta head to stream, and kept us from drifting ashore. We all
+slept in the open air, as the heat of the cabins was stifling in
+the early part of the night. Penna, Senhora Katita, and I slung
+our hammocks in triangle between the mainmast and two stout poles
+fixed in the raised deck. A sheet was the only covering required,
+besides our regular clothing, for the decrease of temperature at
+night on the Amazons is never so great as to be felt otherwise
+than as a delightful coolness after the sweltering heat of the
+afternoons.
+
+We used to rise when the first gleam of dawn showed itself above
+the long, dark line of forest. Our clothes and hammocks were then
+generally soaked with dew, but this was not felt to be an
+inconvenience. The Indian Manoel used to revive himself by a
+plunge in the river, under the bows of the vessel. It is the
+habit of all Indians, male and female, to bathe early in the
+morning; they do it sometimes for warmth's sake, the temperature
+of the water being often considerably higher than that of the
+air. Penna and I lolled in our hammocks, while Katita prepared
+the indispensable cup of strong coffee, which she did with
+wonderful celerity, smoking meanwhile her early morning pipe of
+tobacco. Liberal owners of river craft allow a cup of coffee
+sweetened with molasses, or a ration of cashaca, to each man of
+their crews; Penna gave them coffee. When all were served, the
+day's work began. There was seldom any wind at this early hour,
+so if there was still water along the shore, the men rowed, if
+not, there was no way of progressing but by espia.
+
+In some places the currents ran with great force close to the
+banks, especially where these receded to form long bays or
+enseadas, as they are called, and then we made very little
+headway. In such places the banks consist of loose earth, a rich
+crumbly vegetable mold supporting a growth of most luxuriant
+forest, of which the currents almost daily carry away large
+portions, so that the stream for several yards out is encumbered
+with fallen trees whose branches quiver in the current. When
+projecting points of land were encountered, it was impossible,
+with our weak crew, to pull the cuberta against the whirling
+torrents which set round them; and in such cases we had to cross
+the river, drifting often with the current, a mile or two lower
+down on the opposite shore. There generally sprung a light wind
+as the day advanced, and then we took down our hammocks, hoisted
+all sail, and bowled away merrily. Penna generally preferred to
+cook the dinner ashore, when there was little or no wind. About
+midday on these calm days, we used to look out for a nice shady
+nook in the forest with cleared space sufficient to make a fire
+upon. I then had an hour's hunting in the neighbouring
+wilderness, and was always rewarded by the discovery of some new
+species. During the greater part of our voyage, however, we
+stopped at the house of some settler, and made our fire in the
+port. Just before dinner it was our habit to take a bath in the
+river, and then, according to the universal custom on the
+Amazons, where it seems to be suitable on account of the weak
+fish diet, we each took half a tea-cup full of neat cashaca, the
+"abre" or " opening," as it is called, and set to on our mess of
+stewed pirarucu, beans, and bacon. Once or twice a week we had
+fowls and rice; at supper, after sunset, we often had fresh fish
+caught by our men in the evening. The mornings were cool and
+pleasant until towards midday; but in the afternoons, the heat
+became almost intolerable, especially in gleamy, squally weather,
+such as generally prevailed. We then crouched in the shade of the
+sails, or went down to our hammocks in the cabin, choosing to be
+half stifled rather than expose ourselves on deck to the
+sickening heat of the sun.
+
+We generally ceased travelling about nine o'clock, fixing upon a
+safe spot wherein to secure the vessel for the night. The cool
+evening hours were delicious; flocks of whistling ducks (Anas
+autumnalis), parrots, and hoarsely-screaming macaws, pair by
+pair, flew over from their feeding to their resting places, as
+the glowing sun plunged abruptly beneath the horizon. The brief
+evening chorus of animals then began, the chief performers being
+the howling monkeys, whose frightful unearthly roar deepened the
+feeling of solitude which crept up as darkness closed around us.
+Soon after, the fireflies in great diversity of species came
+forth and flitted about the trees. As night advanced, all became
+silent in the forest, save the occasional hooting of tree-frogs,
+or the monotonous chirping of wood-crickets and grasshoppers.
+
+We made but little progress on the 20th and two following days,
+on account of the unsteadiness of the wind. The dry season had
+been of very brief duration this year; it generally lasts in this
+part of the Amazons from July to January, with a short interval
+of showery weather in November. The river ought to sink thirty or
+thirty-five feet below its highest point; this year it had
+declined only about twenty-five feet, and the November rains
+threatened to be continuous. The drier the weather the stronger
+blows the east wind; it now failed us altogether, or blew gently
+for a few hours merely in the afternoons. I had hitherto seen the
+great river only in its sunniest aspect; I was now about to
+witness what it could furnish in the way of storms.
+
+On the night of the 22nd the moon appeared with a misty halo. As
+we went to rest, a fresh watery wind was blowing, and a dark pile
+of clouds gathered up river in a direction opposite to that of
+the wind. I thought this betokened nothing more than a heavy rain
+which would send us all in a hurry to our cabins. The men moored
+the vessel to a tree alongside a hard clayey bank, and after
+supper, all were soon fast asleep, scattered about the raised
+deck. About eleven o'clock I was awakened by a horrible uproar,
+as a hurricane of wind suddenly swept over from the opposite
+shore. The cuberta was hurled with force against the clayey bank;
+Penna shouted out, as he started to his legs, that a trovoada de
+cima, or a squall from up-river, was upon us. We took down our
+hammocks, and then all hands were required to save the vessel
+from being dashed to pieces. The moon set, and a black pall of
+clouds spread itself over the dark forests and river; a frightful
+crack of thunder now burst over our heads, and down fell the
+drenching rain. Joaquim leapt ashore through the drowning spray
+with a strong pole, and tried to pass the cuberta round a small
+projecting point, while we on deck aided in keeping her off and
+lengthened the cable. We succeeded in getting free, and the
+stout-built boat fell off into the strong current farther away
+from the shore, Joaquim swinging himself dexterously aboard by
+the bowsprit as it passed the point. It was fortunate for us that
+he happened to be on a sloping clayey bank where there was no
+fear of falling trees; a few yards farther on, where the shore
+was perpendicular and formed of crumbly earth, large portions of
+loose soil, with all their superincumbent mass of forest, were
+being washed away; the uproar thus occasioned adding to the
+horrors of the storm.
+
+The violence of the wind abated in the course of an hour, but the
+deluge of rain continued until about three o'clock in the
+morning; the sky was lighted up by almost incessant flashes of
+pallid lightning, and the thunder pealing from side to side
+without interruption. Our clothing, hammocks, and goods were
+thoroughly soaked by the streams of water which trickled through
+between the planks. In the morning all was quiet, but an opaque,
+leaden mass of clouds overspread the sky, throwing a gloom over
+the wild landscape that had a most dispiriting effect. These
+squalls from the west are always expected about the time of the
+breaking up of the dry season in these central parts of the Lower
+Amazons. They generally take place about the beginning of
+February, so that this year they had commenced much earlier than
+usual. The soil and climate are much drier in this part of the
+country than in the region lying farther to the west, where the
+denser forests and more clayey, humid soil produce a considerably
+cooler atmosphere. The storms may be, therefore, attributed to
+the rush of cold moist air from up river, when the regular trade-
+wind coming from the sea has slackened or ceased to blow.
+
+On the 26th we arrived at a large sand bank connected with an
+island in mid-river, in front of an inlet called Maraca-uassu.
+Here we anchored and spent half a day ashore. Penna's object in
+stopping was simply to enjoy a ramble on the sands with the
+children, and give Senora Katita an opportunity to wash the
+linen. The sandbank was now fast going under water with the rise
+of the river; in the middle of the dry season it is about a mile
+long and half a mile in width. The canoe-men delight in these
+open spaces, which are a great relief to the monotony of the
+forest that clothes the land in every other part of the river.
+Farther westward they are much more frequent, and of larger
+extent. They lie generally at the upper end of islands; in fact,
+the latter originate in accretions of vegetable matter formed by
+plants and trees growing on a shoal. The island was wooded
+chiefly with the trumpet tree (Cecropia peltata), which has a
+hollow stem and smooth pale bark. The leaves are similar in shape
+to those of the horse-chestnut, but immensely larger; beneath
+they are white, and when the welcome trade-wind blows they show
+their silvery undersides--a pleasant signal to the weary canoe
+traveller. The mode of growth of this tree is curious: the
+branches are emitted at nearly right angles with the stem, the
+branchlets in minor whorls around these, and so forth, the leaves
+growing at their extremities, so that the total appearance is
+that of a huge candelabrum. Cecropiae of different species are
+characteristic of Brazilian forest scenery; the kind of which I
+am speaking grows in great numbers everywhere on the banks of the
+Amazons where the land is low. In the same places the curious
+Monguba tree (Bombax ceiba) is also plentiful; the dark green
+bark of its huge tapering trunk, scored with grey, forming a
+conspicuous object. The principal palm tree on the lowlands is
+the Jauari (Astrvocaryum Jauari), whose stem, surrounded by
+whorls of spines, shoots up to a great height. On the borders of
+the island were large tracts of arrow-grass (Gynerium
+saccharoides), which bears elegant plumes of flowers, like those
+of the reed, and grows to a height of twenty feet, the leaves
+arranged in a fan-shaped figure near the middle of the stem. I
+was surprised to find on the higher parts of the sandbank the
+familiar foliage of a willow (Salix Humboldtiana). It is a dwarf
+species, and grows in patches resembling beds of osiers; as in
+the English willows, the leaves were peopled by small
+chrysomelideous beetles.
+
+In wandering about, many features reminded me of the seashore.
+Flocks of white gulls were flying overhead, uttering their well-
+known cry, and sandpipers coursed along the edge of the water.
+Here and there lonely wading-birds were stalking about; one of
+these, the Curiaca (Ibis melanopis), flew up with a low cackling
+noise, and was soon joined by a unicorn bird (Palamedea cornuta),
+which I startled up from amidst the bushes, whose harsh screams,
+resembling the bray of a jackass, but shriller, disturbed
+unpleasantly the solitude of the place. Amongst the willow bushes
+were flocks of a handsome bird belonging to the Icteridae or
+troupial family, adorned with a rich plumage of black and
+saffron-yellow. I spent some time watching an assemblage of a
+species of bird called by the natives Tumburi-para, on the
+Cecropia trees. It is the Monasa nigrifrons of ornithologists,
+and has a plain slate-coloured plumage with the beak of an orange
+hue. It belongs to the family of Barbets, most of whose members
+are remarkable for their dull, inactive temperament. Those
+species which are arranged by ornithologists under the genus
+Bucco are called by the Indians, in the Tupi language, Tai-assu
+uira, or pig-birds. They remain seated sometimes for hours
+together on low branches in the shade, and are stimulated to
+exertion only when attracted by passing insects. This flock of
+Tamburi-para were the reverse of dull; they were gambolling and
+chasing each other amongst the branches. As they sported about,
+each emitted a few short tuneful notes, which altogether produced
+a ringing, musical chorus that quite surprised me.
+
+On the 27th we reached an elevated wooded promontory, called
+Parentins, which now forms the boundary between the provinces of
+Para and the Amazons. Here we met a small canoe descending to
+Santarem. The owner was a free negro named Lima, who, with his
+wife, was going down the river to exchange his year's crop of
+tobacco for European merchandise. The long shallow canoe was
+laden nearly to the water level. He resided on the banks of the
+Abacaxi, a river which discharges its waters into the Canoma, a
+broad interior channel which extends from the river Madeira to
+the Parentins, a distance of 180 miles. Penna offered him
+advantageous terms, so a bargain was struck, and the man saved
+his long journey. The negro seemed a frank, straightforward
+fellow; he was a native of Pernambuco, but had settled many years
+ago in this part of the country. He had with him a little Indian
+girl belonging to the Mauhes tribe, whose native seat is the
+district of country lying in the rear of the Canoma, between the
+Madeira and the Tapajos. The Mauhes are considered, I think with
+truth, to be a branch of the great Mundurucu nation, having
+segregated from them at a remote period, and by long isolation
+acquired different customs and a totally different language, in a
+manner which seems to have been general with the Brazilian
+aborigines. The Mundurucus seem to have retained more of the
+general characteristics of the original Tupi stock than the
+Mauhes. Senor Lima told me, what I afterwards found to be
+correct, that there were scarcely two words alike in the
+languages of the two peoples, although there are words closely
+allied to Tupi in both.
+
+The little girl had not the slightest trace of the savage in her
+appearance. Her features were finely shaped, the cheekbones not
+at all prominent, the lips thin, and the expression of her
+countenance frank and smiling. She had been brought only a few
+weeks previously from a remote settlement of her tribe on the
+banks of the Abacaxi, and did not yet know five words of
+Portuguese. The Indians, as a general rule, are very manageable
+when they are young, but it is a general complaint that when they
+reach the age of puberty they become restless and discontented.
+The rooted impatience of all restraint then shows itself, and the
+kindest treatment will not prevent them running away from their
+masters; they do not return to the malocas of their tribes, but
+join parties who go out to collect the produce of the forests and
+rivers, and lead a wandering semi-savage kind of life.
+
+We remained under the Serra dos Parentins all night. Early the
+next morning a light mist hung about the tree-tops, and the
+forest resounded with the yelping of Whaiapu-sai monkeys. I went
+ashore with my gun and got a glimpse of the flock, but did not
+succeed in obtaining a specimen. They were of small size and
+covered with long fur of a uniform grey colour. I think the
+species was the Callithrix donacophilus. The rock composing the
+elevated ridge of the Parentins is the same coarse iron-cemented
+conglomerate which I have often spoken of as occurring near Para
+and in several other places. Many loose blocks were scattered
+about. The forest was extremely varied, and inextricable coils of
+woody climbers stretched from tree to tree. Throngs of cacti were
+spread over the rocks and tree-trunks. The variety of small,
+beautifully-shaped ferns, lichens, and boleti, made the place
+quite a museum of cryptogamic plants. I found here two exquisite
+species of Longicorn beetles, and a large kind of grasshopper
+(Pterochroza) whose broad fore-wings resembled the leaf of a
+plant, providing the insect with a perfect disguise when they
+were closed; while the hind wings were decorated with gaily-
+coloured eye-like spots.
+
+The negro left us and turned up a narrow channel, the Parana-
+mirim dos Ramos (the little river of the branches, i.e., having
+many ramifications), on the road to his home, 130 miles distant.
+We then continued our voyage, and in the evening arrived at Villa
+Nova, a straggling village containing about seventy houses, many
+of which scarcely deserve the name, being mere mud-huts roofed
+with palm-leaves. We stayed here four days. The village is built
+on a rocky bank, composed of the same coarse conglomerate as that
+already so often mentioned. In some places a bed of Tabatinga
+clay rests on the conglomerate. The soil in the neighbourhood is
+sandy, and the forest, most of which appears to be of second
+growth, is traversed by broad alleys which terminate to the south
+and east on the banks of pools and lakes, a chain of which
+extends through the interior of the land. As soon as we anchored
+I set off with Luco to explore the district. We walked about a
+mile along the marly shore, on which was a thick carpet of
+flowering shrubs, enlivened by a great variety of lovely little
+butterflies, and then entered the forest by a dry watercourse.
+
+About a furlong inland this opened on a broad placid pool, whose
+banks, clothed with grass of the softest green hue, sloped gently
+from the water's edge to the compact wall of forest which
+encompassed the whole. The pool swarmed with water-fowl; snowy
+egrets, dark-coloured striped herons, and storks of various
+species standing in rows around its margins. Small flocks of
+macaws were stirring about the topmost branches of the trees.
+Long-legged piosocas (Perra Jacana) stalked over the water plants
+on the surface of the pool, and in the bushes on its margin were
+great numbers of a kind of canary (Sycalis brasiliensis) of a
+greenish-yellow colour, which has a short and not very melodious
+song. We had advanced but a few steps when we startled a pair of
+the Jaburu-moleque (Mycteria americana), a powerful bird of the
+stork family, four and a half feet in height, which flew up and
+alarmed the rest, so that I got only one bird out of the
+tumultuous flocks which passed over our heads. Passing towards
+the farther end of the pool I saw, resting on the surface of the
+water, a number of large round leaves turned up at their edges;
+they belonged to the Victoria water-lily. The leaves were just
+beginning to expand (December 3rd), some were still under water,
+and the largest of those which had reached the surface measured
+not quite three feet in diameter. We found a montaria with a
+paddle in it, drawn up on the bank, which I took leave to borrow
+of the unknown owner, and Luco paddled me amongst the noble
+plants to search for flowers-- meeting, however, with no success.
+I learned afterwards that the plant is common in nearly all the
+lakes of this neighbourhood. The natives call it the furno do
+Piosoca, or oven of the Jacana, the shape of the leaves being
+like that of the ovens on which Mandioca meal is roasted.
+
+We saw many kinds of hawks and eagles, one of which, a black
+species, the Caracara-i (Milvago nudicollis), sat on the top of a
+tall naked stump, uttering its hypocritical whining notes. This
+eagle is considered a bird of ill omen by the Indians: it often
+perches on the tops of trees in the neighbourhood of their huts,
+and is then said to bring a warning of death to some member of
+the household. Others say that its whining cry is intended to
+attract other defenseless birds within its reach. The little
+courageous flycatcher Bemti-vi (Saurophagus sulphuratus)
+assembles in companies of four or five, and attacks it boldly,
+driving it from the perch where it would otherwise sit for hours.
+I shot three hawks of as many different species; and these, with
+a Magoary stork, two beautiful gilded-green jacamars (Galbula
+chalcocephala), and half-a-dozen leaves of the water-lily, made a
+heavy load, with which we trudged off back to the canoe.
+
+A few years after this visit, namely, in 1854-5, I passed eight
+months at Villa Nova. The district of which it is the chief town
+is very extensive, for it has about forty miles of linear extent
+along the banks of the river; but, the whole does not contain
+more than 4000 inhabitants. More than half of these are pureblood
+Indians who live in a semi-civilised condition on the banks of
+the numerous channels and lakes. The trade of the place is
+chiefly in India-rubber, balsam of Copaiba (which are collected
+on the banks of the Madeira and the numerous rivers that enter
+the Canoma channel), and salt fish, prepared in the dry season,
+nearer home. These articles are sent to Para in exchange for
+European goods. The few Indian and half-breed families who reside
+in the town are many shades inferior in personal qualities and
+social condition to those I lived amongst near Para and Cameta.
+They live in wretched dilapidated mud-hovels; the women cultivate
+small patches of mandioca; the men spend most of their time in
+fishing, selling what they do not require themselves and getting
+drunk with the most exemplary regularity on cashaca, purchased
+with the proceeds.
+
+I made, in this second visit to Villa Nova, an extensive
+collection of the natural productions of the neighbourhood. A few
+remarks on some of the more interesting of these must suffice.
+The forests are very different in their general character from
+those of Para, and in fact those of humid districts generally
+throughout the Amazons. The same scarcity of large-leaved
+Musaceous and Marantaceous plants was noticeable here as at
+Obydos. The low-lying areas of forest or Ygapos, which alternate
+everywhere with the more elevated districts, did not furnish the
+same luxuriant vegetation as they do in the Delta region of the
+Amazons. They are flooded during three or four months in the
+year, and when the waters retire, the soil--to which the very
+thin coating of alluvial deposit imparts little fertility--
+remains bare, or covered with a matted bed of dead leaves until
+the next flood season. These tracts have then a barren
+appearance; the trunks and lower branches of the trees are coated
+with dried slime, and disfigured by rounded masses of fresh-water
+sponges, whose long horny spiculae and dingy colours give them
+the appearance of hedgehogs.
+
+Dense bushes of a harsh, cutting grass, called Tiririca, form
+almost the only fresh vegetation in the dry season. Perhaps the
+dense shade, the long period during which the land remains under
+water, and the excessively rapid desiccation when the waters
+retire, all contribute to the barrenness of these Ygapos. The
+higher and drier land is everywhere sandy, and tall coarse
+grasses line the borders of the broad alleys which have been cut
+through the second-growth woods. These places swarm with
+carapatos, ugly ticks belonging to the genus Ixodes, which mount
+to the tips of blades of grass, and attach themselves to the
+clothes of passers-by. They are a great annoyance. It occupied me
+a full hour daily to pick them off my flesh after my diurnal
+ramble. There are two species; both are much flattened in shape,
+have four pairs of legs, a thick short proboscis and a horny
+integument. Their habit is to attach themselves to the skin by
+plunging their proboscides into it, and then suck the blood until
+their flat bodies are distended into a globular form. The whole
+proceeding, however, is very slow, and it takes them several days
+to pump their fill. No pain or itching is felt, but serious sores
+are caused if care is not taken in removing them, as the
+proboscis is liable to break off and remain in the wound. A
+little tobacco juice is generally applied to make them loosen
+their hold. They do not cling firmly to the skin by their legs,
+although each of these has a pair of sharp and fine claws
+connected with the tips of the member by means of a flexible
+pedicle. When they mount to the summits of slender blades of
+grass, or the tips of leaves, they hold on by their forelegs
+only, the other three pairs being stretched out so as to fasten
+onto any animal which comes their way. The smaller of the two
+species is of a yellowish colour; it is the most abundant, and
+sometimes falls upon one by scores. When distended, it is about
+the size of a No. 8 shot; the larger kind, which fortunately
+comes only singly to the work, swells to the size of a pea.
+
+In some parts of the interior, the soil is composed of very
+coarse sand and small fragments of quartz; in these places no
+trees grow. I visited, in company with the priest, Padre
+Torquato, one of these treeless spaces or campos, as they are
+called, situated five miles from the village. The road thither
+led through a varied and beautiful forest, containing many
+gigantic trees. I missed the Assai, Mirti, Paxiuba, and other
+palms which are all found only on rich moist soils, but the noble
+Bacaba was not uncommon, and there was a great diversity of dwarf
+species of Maraja palms (Bactris), one of which, called the
+Peuririma, was very elegant, growing to a height of twelve or
+fifteen feet, with a stem no thicker than a man's finger. On
+arriving at the campo, all this beautiful forest abruptly ceased,
+and we saw before us an oval tract of land three or four miles in
+circumference, destitute even of the smallest bush. The only
+vegetation was a crop of coarse hairy grass growing in patches.
+The forest formed a hedge all round the isolated field, and its
+borders were composed in great part of trees which do not grow in
+the dense virgin forest, such as a great variety of bushy
+Melastomas, low Byrsomina trees, myrtles, and Lacre-trees, whose
+berries exude globules of wax resembling gamboge. On the margins
+of the campo wild pineapples also grew in great quantity. The
+fruit was of the same shape as our cultivated kind, but much
+smaller, the size being that of a moderately large apple. We
+gathered several quite ripe ones; they were pleasant to the
+taste, of the true pineapple flavour, but had an abundance of
+fully developed seeds, and only a small quantity of eatable pulp.
+There was no path beyond this campo; in fact, all beyond is terra
+incognita to the inhabitants of Villa Nova.
+
+The only interesting Mammalian animal which I saw at Villa Nova
+was a monkey of a species new to me; it was not, however, a
+native of the district, having been brought by a trader from the
+river Madeira, a few miles above Borba. It was a howler, probably
+the Mycetes stramineus of Geoffroy St. Hilaire. The howlers are
+the only kinds of monkey which the natives have not succeeded in
+taming. They are often caught, but they do not survive captivity
+many weeks. The one of which I am speaking was not quite full
+grown. It measured sixteen inches in length, exclusive of the
+tail-- the whole body was covered with rather long and shining
+dingy-white hair, the whiskers and beard only being of a tawny
+hue. It was kept in a house, together with a Coaita and a
+Caiarara monkey (Cebus albifrons). Both these lively members of
+the monkey order seemed rather to court attention, but the
+Mycetes slunk away when anyone approached it. When it first
+arrived, it occasionally made a gruff subdued howling noise early
+in the morning. The deep volume of sound in the voice of the
+howling monkeys, as is well known, is produced by a drum-shaped
+expansion of the larynx. It was curious to watch the animal while
+venting its hollow cavernous roar, and observe how small was the
+muscular exertion employed. When howlers are seen in the forest,
+there are generally three or four of them mounted on the topmost
+branches of a tree. It does not appear that their harrowing roar
+is emitted from sudden alarm; at least, it was not so in captive
+individuals. It is probable, however, that the noise serves to
+intimidate their enemies. I did not meet with the Mycetes
+stramineus in any other part of the Amazons region; in the
+neighbourhood of Para a reddish-coloured species prevails (M.
+Belzebuth); in the narrow channels near Breves I shot a large,
+entirely black kind; another yellow-handed species, according to
+the report of the natives, inhabits the island of Macajo, which
+is probably the M. flavimanus of Kuhl; some distance up the
+Tapajos the only howler found is a brownish-black species; and on
+the Upper Amazons, the sole species seen was the Mycetes ursinus,
+whose fur is of a shining yellowish-red colour.
+
+In the dry forests of Villa Nova I saw a rattlesnake for the
+first time. I was returning home one day through a narrow alley,
+when I heard a pattering noise close to me. Hard by was a tall
+palm tree, whose head was heavily weighted with parasitic plants,
+and I thought the noise was a warning that it was about to fall.
+The wind lulled for a few moments, and then there was no doubt
+that the noise proceeded from the ground. On turning my head in
+that direction, a sudden plunge startled me, and a heavy gliding
+motion betrayed a large serpent making off almost from beneath my
+feet. The ground is always so encumbered with rotting leaves and
+branches that one only discovers snakes when they are in the act
+of moving away. The residents of Villa Nova would not believe
+that I had seen a rattlesnake in their neighbourhood; in fact, it
+is not known to occur in the forests at all, its place being the
+open campos, where, near Santarem, I killed several. On my second
+visit to Villa Nova I saw another. I had then a favourite little
+dog, named Diamante, who used to accompany me in my rambles. One
+day he rushed into the thicket, and made a dead set at a large
+snake, whose head I saw raised above the herbage. The foolish
+little brute approached quite close, and then the serpent reared
+its tail slightly in a horizontal position and shook its terrible
+rattle. It was many minutes before I could get the dog away; and
+this incident, as well as the one already related, shows how slow
+the reptile is to make the fatal spring.
+
+I was much annoyed, and at the same time amused, with the Urubu
+vultures. The Portuguese call them corvos or crows; in colour and
+general appearance they somewhat resemble rooks, but they are
+much larger, and have naked, black, wrinkled skin about their
+face and throat. They assemble in great numbers in the villages
+about the end of the wet season, and are then ravenous with
+hunger. My cook could not leave the kitchen open at the back of
+the house for a moment while the dinner was cooking, on account
+of their thievish propensities. Some of them were always
+loitering about, watching their opportunity, and the instant the
+kitchen was left unguarded, the bold marauders marched in and
+lifted the lids off the saucepans with their beaks to rob them of
+their contents. The boys of the village lie in wait, and shoot
+them with bow and arrow; and vultures have consequently acquired
+such a dread of these weapons, that they may be often kept off by
+hanging a bow from the rafters of the kitchen. As the dry season
+advances, the hosts of Urubus follow the fishermen to the lakes,
+where they gorge themselves with the offal of the fisheries.
+Towards February, they return to the villages, and are then not
+nearly so ravenous as before their summer trips.
+
+The insects of Villa Nova are, to a great extent, the same as
+those of Santarem and the Tapajos. A few species of all orders,
+however, are found here, which occurred nowhere else on the
+Amazons, besides several others which are properly considered
+local varieties or races of others found at Para, on the Northern
+shore of the Amazons, or in other parts of Tropical America. The
+Hymenoptera were especially numerous, as they always are in
+districts which possess a sandy soil; but the many interesting
+facts which I gleaned relative to their habits will be more
+conveniently introduced when I treat of the same or similar
+species found in the localities above-named.
+
+In the broad alleys of the forest several species of Morpho were
+common. One of these is a sister form to the Morpho Hecuba, which
+I have mentioned as occurring at Obydos. The Villa Nova kind
+differs from Hecuba sufficiently to be considered a distinct
+species, and has been described under the name of M. Cisseis; but
+it is clearly only a local variety of it, the range of the two
+being limited by the barrier of the broad Amazons. It is a grand
+sight to see these colossal butterflies by twos and threes
+floating at a great height in the still air of a tropical
+morning. They flap their wings only at long intervals, for I have
+noticed them to sail a very considerable distance without a
+stroke. Their wing-muscles and the thorax to which they are
+attached are very feeble in comparison with the wide extent and
+weight of the wings; but the large expanse of these members
+doubtless assists the insects in maintaining their aerial course.
+Morphos are among the most conspicuous of the insect denizens of
+Tropical American forests, and the broad glades of the Villa Nova
+woods seemed especially suited to them, for I noticed here six
+species. The largest specimens of Morpho Cisseis measure seven
+inches and a half in expanse. Another smaller kind, which I could
+not capture, was of a pale silvery-blue colour, and the polished
+surface of its wings flashed like a silver speculum as the insect
+flapped its wings at a great elevation in the sunlight.
+
+To resume our voyage-- We left Villa Nova on the 4th of December.
+A light wind on the 5th carried us across to the opposite shore
+and past the mouth of the Parana-mirim do arco, or the little
+river of the bow, so-called on account of its being a short arm
+of the main river, of a curved shape, and rejoining the Amazons a
+little below Villa Nova. On the 6th, after passing a large island
+in mid-river, we arrived at a place where a line of perpendicular
+clay cliffs, called the Barreiros de Cararaucu, diverts slightly
+the course of the main stream, as at Obydos. A little below these
+cliffs were a few settlers' houses; here Penna remained ten days
+to trade, a delay which I turned to good account in augmenting
+very considerably my collections.
+
+At the first house a festival was going forward. We anchored at
+some distance from the shore, on account of the water being
+shoaly, and early in the morning three canoes put off, laden with
+salt fish, oil of manatee, fowls and bananas-- wares which the
+owners wished to exchange for different articles required for the
+festa. Soon after I went ashore. The head man was a tall, well-
+made, civilised Tapuyo, named Marcellino, who, with his wife, a
+thin, active, wiry old squaw, did the honours of their house, I
+thought, admirably. The company consisted of fifty or sixty
+Indians and Mamelucos; some of them knew Portuguese, but the Tupi
+language was the only one used amongst themselves. The festival
+was in honour of our Lady of Conception; and, when the people
+learnt that Penna had on board an image of the saint handsomer
+than their own, they put off in their canoes to borrow it;
+Marcellino taking charge of the doll, covering it carefully with
+a neatly-bordered white towel. On landing with the image, a
+procession was formed from the port to the house, and salutes
+fired from a couple of lazarino guns, the saint being afterwards
+carefully deposited in the family oratorio. After a litany and
+hymn were sung in the evening, all assembled to supper around a
+large mat spread on a smooth terrace-like space in front of the
+house. The meal consisted of a large boiled Pirarucu, which had
+been harpooned for the purpose in the morning, stewed and roasted
+turtle, piles of mandioca-meal and bananas. The old lady, with
+two young girls, showed the greatest activity in waiting on the
+guests, Marcellino standing gravely by, observing what was wanted
+and giving the necessary orders to his wife. When all was done,
+hard drinking began, and soon after there was a dance, to which
+Penna and I were invited. The liquor served was chiefly a spirit
+distilled by the people themselves from mandioca cakes. The
+dances were all of the same class, namely, different varieties of
+the "Landum," an erotic dance similar to the fandango, originally
+learned from the Portuguese. The music was supplied by a couple
+of wire-stringed guitars, played alternately by the young men.
+All passed off very quietly considering the amount of strong
+liquor drunk, and the ball was kept up until sunrise the next
+morning.
+
+We visited all the houses one after the other. One of them was
+situated in a charming spot, with a broad sandy beach before it,
+at the entrance to the Parana-mirim do Mucambo, a channel leading
+to an interior lake, peopled by savages of the Mura tribe. This
+seemed to be the abode of an industrious family, but all the men
+were absent, salting Pirarucu on the lakes. The house, like its
+neighbours, was simply a framework of poles thatched with palm-
+leaves, the walls roughly latticed and plastered with mud; but it
+was larger, and much cleaner inside than the others. It was full
+of women and children, who were busy all day with their various
+employments; some weaving hammocks in a large clumsy frame, which
+held the warp while the shuttle was passed by the hand slowly
+across the six foot breadth of web; others were spinning cotton,
+and others again scraping, pressing, and roasting mandioca. The
+family had cleared and cultivated a large piece of ground; the
+soil was of extraordinary richness, the perpendicular banks of
+the river, near the house, revealing a depth of many feet of
+crumbling vegetable mould. There was a large plantation of
+tobacco, besides the usual patches of Indian-corn, sugar-cane,
+and mandioca; and a grove of cotton, cacao, coffee, and fruit-
+trees surrounded the house. We passed two nights at anchor in
+shoaly water off the beach. The weather was most beautiful, and
+scores of Dolphins rolled and snorted about the canoe all night.
+
+We crossed the river at this point, and entered a narrow channel
+which penetrates the interior of the island of Tupinambarana, and
+leads to a chain of lakes called the Lagos de Cararaucu. A
+furious current swept along the coast, eating into the crumbling
+earthy banks, and strewing the river with debris of the forest.
+The mouth of the channel lies about twenty-five miles from Villa
+Nova; the entrance is only about forty yards broad, but it
+expands, a short distance inland, into a large sheet of water. We
+suffered terribly from insect pests during the twenty-four hours
+we remained here. At night it was quite impossible to sleep for
+mosquitoes; they fell upon us by myriads, and without much piping
+came straight at our faces as thick as raindrops in a shower. The
+men crowded into the cabins, and then tried to expel the pests by
+the smoke from burnt rags, but it was of little avail, although
+we were half suffocated during the operation. In the daytime, the
+Motuca, a much larger and more formidable fly than the mosquito,
+insisted upon levying his tax of blood. We had been tormented by
+it for many days past, but this place seemed to be its
+metropolis. The species has been described by Perty, the author
+of the Entomological portion of Spix, and Martius' travels, under
+the name of Hadrus lepidotus. It is a member of the Tabanidae
+family, and indeed is closely related to the Haematopota
+pluvialis, a brown fly which haunts the borders of woods in
+summer time in England. The Motuca is of a bronzed-black colour;
+its proboscis is formed of a bundle of horny lancets, which are
+shorter and broader than is usually the case in the family to
+which it belongs. Its puncture does not produce much pain, but it
+makes such a large gash in the flesh that the blood trickles
+forth in little streams. Many scores of them were flying about
+the canoe all day, and sometimes eight or ten would settle on
+one's ankles at the same time. It is sluggish in its motions, and
+may be easily killed with the fingers when it settles. Penna went
+forward in the montaria to the Pirarucu fishing stations, on a
+lake lying further inland; but he did not succeed in reaching
+them on account of the length and intricacy of the channels; so
+after wasting a day, during which, however, I had a profitable
+ramble in the forest, we again crossed the river, and on the 16th
+continued our voyage along the northern shore.
+
+The clay cliffs of Cararaucu are several miles in length. The
+hard pink and red coloured beds are here extremely thick, and in
+some places present a compact, stony texture. The total height of
+the cliff is from thirty to sixty feet above the mean level of
+the river, and the clay rests on strata of the same coarse iron-
+cemented conglomerate which has already been so often mentioned.
+Large blocks of this latter have been detached and rolled by the
+force of currents up parts of the cliff where they are seen
+resting on terraces of the clay. On the top of all lies a bed of
+sand and vegetable mold, which supports a lofty forest, growing
+up to the very brink of the precipice. After passing these
+barreiros we continued our way along a low uninhabited coast,
+clothed, wherever it was elevated above high-water mark, with the
+usual vividly-coloured forests of the higher Ygapo lands, to
+which the broad and regular fronds of the Murumuru palm, here
+extremely abundant, served as a great decoration. Wherever the
+land was lower than the flood height of the Amazons, Cecropia
+trees prevailed, sometimes scattered over meadows of tall broad-
+leaved grasses, which surrounded shallow pools swarming with
+water-fowl. Alligators were common on most parts of the coast; in
+some places we also saw small herds of Capybaras (a large Rodent
+animal, like a colossal Guinea-pig) among the rank herbage on
+muddy banks, and now and then flocks of the graceful squirrel
+monkey (Chrysothrix sciureus), while the vivacious Caiarara
+(Cebus albifrons) were seen taking flying leaps from tree to
+tree. On the 22nd, we passed the mouth of the most easterly of
+the numerous channels which lead to the large interior lake of
+Saraca, and on the 23rd ,threaded a series of passages between
+islands, where we again saw human habitations, ninety miles
+distant from the last house at Cararaucu. On the 24th we arrived
+at Serpa.
+
+Serpa is a small village, consisting of about eighty houses,
+built on a bank elevated twenty-five feet above the level of the
+river. The beds of Tabatinga clay, which are here intermingled
+with scoria-looking conglomerate, are in some parts of the
+declivity prettily variegated in colour; the name of the town in
+the Tupi language, Ita-coatiara, takes its origin from this
+circumstance, signifying striped or painted rock. It is an old
+settlement, and was once the seat of the district government,
+which had authority over the Barra of the Rio Negro. It was in
+1849 a wretched-looking village, but it has since revived, on
+account of having been chosen by the Steamboat Company of the
+Amazons as a station for steam saw-mills and tile manufactories.
+We arrived on Christmas Eve, when the village presented an
+animated appearance from the number of people congregated for the
+holidays. The port was full of canoes, large and small, from the
+montaria, with its arched awning of woven lianas and Maranta
+leaves, to the two-masted cuberta of the peddling trader, who had
+resorted to the place in the hope of trafficking with settlers
+coming from remote sitios to attend the festival. We anchored
+close to an igarite, whose owner was an old Juri Indian,
+disfigured by a large black tatooed patch in the middle of his
+face, and by his hair being close cropped, except a fringe in
+front of the head.
+
+In the afternoon we went ashore. The population seemed to consist
+chiefly of semi-civilised Indians, living as usual in half-
+finished mud hovels. The streets were irregularly laid out, and
+overrun with weeds and bushes swarming with "mocuim," a very
+minute scarlet acarus, which sweeps off to one's clothes in
+passing, and attaching itself in great numbers to the skin causes
+a most disagreeable itching. The few whites and better class of
+mameluco residents live in more substantial dwellings, white-
+washed and tiled. All, both men and women, seemed to me much more
+cordial, and at the same time more brusque in their manners, than
+any Brazilians I had yet met with. One of them, Captain Manoel
+Joaquim, I knew for a long time afterwards; a lively,
+intelligent, and thoroughly good-hearted man, who had quite a
+reputation throughout the interior of the country for generosity,
+and for being a firm friend of foreign residents and stray
+travellers. Some of these excellent people were men of substance,
+being owners of trading vessels, slaves, and extensive
+plantations of cacao and tobacco.
+
+We stayed at Serpa five days. Some of the ceremonies observed at
+Christmas were interesting, inasmuch as they were the same, with
+little modification, as those taught by the Jesuit missionaries
+more than a century ago to the aboriginal tribes whom they had
+induced to settle on this spot. In the morning, all the women and
+girls, dressed in white gauze chemises and showy calico print
+petticoats, went in procession to church, first going the round
+of the town to take up the different "mordomos," or stewards,
+whose office is to assist the Juiz of the festa. These stewards
+carried each a long white reed, decorated with coloured ribbons;
+several children also accompanied, grotesquely decked with
+finery. Three old squaws went in front, holding the "saire," a
+large semi-circular frame, clothed with cotton and studded with
+ornaments, bits of looking-glass, and so forth. This they danced
+up and down, singing all the time a monotonous whining hymn in
+the Tupi language, and at frequent intervals turning round to
+face the followers, who then all stopped for a few moments. I was
+told that this saire was a device adopted by the Jesuits to
+attract the savages to church, for these everywhere followed the
+mirrors, in which they saw as it were magically reflected their
+own persons.
+
+In the evening good-humoured revelry prevailed on all sides. The
+negroes, who had a saint of their own colour--St. Benedito--had
+their holiday apart from the rest, and spent the whole night
+singing and dancing to the music of a long drum (gamba) and the
+caracasha. The drum was a hollow log, having one end covered with
+skin, and was played by the performer sitting astride upon it,
+and drumming with his knuckles. The caracasha is a notched bamboo
+tube, which produces a harsh rattling noise by passing a hard
+stick over the notches. Nothing could exceed in dreary monotony
+this music and the singing and dancing, which were kept up with
+unflagging vigour all night long. The Indians did not get up a
+dance--for the whites and mamelucos had monopolised all the
+pretty coloured girls for their own ball, and the older squaws
+preferred looking on to taking a part themselves. Some of their
+husbands joined the negroes, and got drunk very quickly. It was
+amusing to notice how voluble the usually taciturn redskins
+became under the influence of liquor. The negroes and Indians
+excused their own intemperance by saying the whites were getting
+drunk at the other end of the town, which was quite true.
+
+We left Serpa on the 29th of December, in company of an old
+planter named Senor Joao (John) Trinidade, at whose sitio,
+situated opposite the mouth of the Madeira, Penna intended to
+spend a few days. Our course on the 29th and 30th lay through
+narrow channels between islands. On the 31st we passed the last
+of these, and then beheld to the south a sea-like expanse of
+water, where the Madeira, the greatest tributary of the Amazons,
+after 2000 miles of course, blends its waters with those of the
+king of rivers. I was hardly prepared for a junction of waters on
+so vast a scale as this, now nearly 900 miles from the sea. While
+travelling week after week along the somewhat monotonous stream,
+often hemmed in between islands, and becoming thoroughly familiar
+with it, my sense of the magnitude of this vast water system had
+become gradually deadened; but this noble sight renewed the first
+feelings of wonder. One is inclined, in such places as these, to
+think the Paraenses do not exaggerate much when they call the
+Amazons the Mediterranean of South America. Beyond the mouth of
+the Madeira, the Amazons sweeps down in a majestic reach, to all
+appearance not a whit less in breadth before than after this
+enormous addition to its waters. The Madeira does not ebb and
+flow simultaneously with the Amazons; it rises and sinks about
+two months earlier, so that it was now fuller than the main
+river. Its current therefore, poured forth freely from its mouth,
+carrying with it a long line of floating trees and patches of
+grass which had been torn from its crumbly banks in the lower
+part of its course. The current, however, did not reach the
+middle of the main stream, but swept along nearer to the southern
+shore.
+
+A few items of information which I gleaned relative to this river
+may find a place here. The Madeira is navigable for about 480
+miles from its mouth; a series of cataracts and rapids then
+commences, which extends, with some intervals of quiet water,
+about 16o miles, beyond which is another long stretch of
+navigable stream. Canoes sometimes descend from Villa Bella, in
+the interior province of Matto Grosso, but not so frequently as
+formerly, and I could hear of very few persons who had attempted
+of late years to ascend the river to that point. It was explored
+by the Portuguese in the early part of the eighteenth century,
+the chief and now the only town on its banks, Borba, 150 miles
+from its mouth, being founded in 1756. Up to the year 1853, the
+lower part of the river, as far as about a hundred miles beyond
+Borba, was regularly visited by traders from Villa Nova, Serpa,
+and Barra, to collect sarsaparilla, copauba balsam, turtle-oil,
+and to trade with the Indians, with whom their relations were
+generally on a friendly footing. In that year many India-rubber
+collectors resorted to this region, stimulated by the high price
+(2s. 6d. a pound) which the article was at that time fetching at
+Para; and then the Araras, a fierce and intractable tribe of
+Indians, began to be troublesome. They attacked several canoes
+and massacred everyone on board, the Indian crews as well as the
+white traders. Their plan was to lurk in ambush near the sandy
+beaches where canoes stop for the night, and then fall upon the
+people while asleep. Sometimes they came under pretence of
+wishing to trade, and then as soon as they could get the trader
+at a disadvantage, shot him and his crew from behind trees. Their
+arms were clubs, bows, and Taquara arrows, the latter a
+formidable weapon tipped with a piece of flinty bamboo shaped
+like a spear-head; they could propel it with such force as to
+pierce a man completely through the body. The whites of Borba
+made reprisals, inducing the warlike Mundurucus, who had an old
+feud with the Araras, to assist them. This state of things lasted
+two or three years, and made a journey up the Madeira a risky
+undertaking, as the savages attacked all corners. Besides the
+Araras and the Mundurucus, the latter a tribe friendly to the
+whites, attached to agriculture, and inhabiting the interior of
+the country from the Madeira to beyond the Tapajos, two other
+tribes of Indians now inhabit the lower Madeira, namely, the
+Parentintins and the Muras. Of the former I did not hear much;
+the Muras lead a lazy quiet life on the banks of the labyrinths
+of lakes and channels which intersect the low country on both
+sides of the river below Borba. The Araras are one of those
+tribes which do not plant mandioca; and indeed have no settled
+habitations. They are very similar in stature and other physical
+features to the Mundurucus, although differing from them so
+widely in habits and social condition. They paint their chins red
+with Urucu (Anatto), and have usually a black tattooed streak on
+each side of the face, running from the corner of the mouth to
+the temple. They have not yet learned the use of firearms, have
+no canoes, and spend their lives roaming over the interior of the
+country, living on game and wild fruits. When they wish to cross
+a river, they make a temporary canoe with the thick bark of
+trees, which they secure in the required shape of a boat by means
+of lianas. I heard it stated by a trader of Santarem, who
+narrowly escaped being butchered by them in 1854, that the Araras
+numbered 2000 fighting men. The number I think must be
+exaggerated, as it generally is with regard to Brazilian tribes.
+When the Indians show a hostile disposition to the whites, I
+believe it is most frequently owing to some provocation they have
+received at their hands; for the first impulse of the Brazilian
+red-man is to respect Europeans; they have a strong dislike to be
+forced into their service, but if strangers visit them with a
+friendly intention they are well treated. It is related, however,
+that the Indians of the Madeira were hostile to the Portuguese
+from the first; it was then the tribes of Muras and Torazes who
+attacked travellers. In 1855 I met with an American, an odd
+character named Kemp, who had lived for many years amongst the
+Indians on the Madeira, near the abandoned settlement of Crato.
+He told me his neighbours were a kindly-disposed and cheerful
+people, and that the onslaught of the Araras was provoked by a
+trader from Bara, who wantonly fired into a family of them,
+killing the parents, and carrying off their children to be
+employed as domestic servants.
+
+We remained nine days at the sitio of Senor John Trinidade. It is
+situated on a tract of high Ygapo land, which is raised, however,
+only a few inches above high-water mark. This skirts the northern
+shore for a long distance; the soil consisting of alluvium and
+rich vegetable mould, and exhibiting the most exuberant
+fertility. Such districts are the first to be settled on in this
+country, and the whole coast for many miles was dotted with
+pleasant-looking sitios like that of our friend. The
+establishment was a large one, the house and out-buildings
+covering a large space of ground. The industrious proprietor
+seemed to be Jack-of-all-trades; he was planter, trader,
+fisherman, and canoe-builder, and a large igarite was now on the
+stocks under a large shed. There was great pleasure in
+contemplating this prosperous farm, from its being worked almost
+entirely by free labour; in fact, by one family, and its
+dependents. John Trinidade had only one female slave; his other
+workpeople were a brother and sister-in-law, two godsons, a free
+negro, one or two Indians, and a family of Muras. Both he and his
+wife were mamelucos; the negro children called them always father
+and mother. The order, abundance, and comfort about the place
+showed what industry and good management could effect in this
+country without slave-labour. But the surplus produce of such
+small plantations is very trifling. All we saw had been done
+since the disorders of 1835-6, during which John Trinidade was a
+great sufferer; he was obliged to fly, and the Mura Indians
+destroyed his house and plantations. There was a large, well-
+weeded grove of cacao along the banks of the river, comprising
+about 8000 trees, and further inland considerable plantations of
+tobacco, mandioca, Indian corn, fields of rice, melons, and
+watermelons. Near the house was a kitchen garden, in which grew
+cabbages and onions, introduced from Europe, besides a wonderful
+variety of tropical vegetables. It must not be supposed that
+these plantations and gardens were enclosed or neatly kept, such
+is never the case in this country where labour is so scarce; but
+it was an unusual thing to see vegetables grown at all, and the
+ground tolerably well weeded. The space around the house was
+plentifully planted with fruit-trees, some, belonging to the
+Anonaceous order, yielding delicious fruits large as a child's
+head, and full of custardy pulp which it is necessary to eat with
+a spoon--besides oranges, lemons, guavas, alligator pears, Abius
+(Achras cainito), Genipapas, and bananas. In the shade of these,
+coffee trees grew in great luxuriance.
+
+The table was always well supplied with fish, which the Mura who
+was attached to the household as fisherman caught every morning a
+few hundred yards from the port. The chief kinds were the
+Surubim, Pira-peeua, and Piramutaba, three species of Siluridae,
+belonging to the genus Pimelodus. To these we used a sauce in the
+form of a yellow paste, quite new to me, called Arube, which is
+made of the poisonous juice of the mandioca root, boiled down
+before the starch or tapioca is precipitated, and seasoned with
+capsicum peppers. It is kept in stone bottles several weeks
+before using, and is a most appetising relish to fish. Tucupi,
+another sauce made also from mandioca juice, is much more common
+in the interior of the country than Arube. This is made by
+boiling or heating the pure liquid, after the tapioca has been
+separated, daily for several days in succession, and seasoning it
+with peppers and small fishes; when old, it has the taste of
+essence of anchovies. It is generally made as a liquid, but the
+Juri and Miranha tribes on the Japura make it up in the form of a
+black paste by a mode of preparation I could not learn; it is
+then called Tucupi-pixuna, or black Tucupi-- I have seen the
+Indians on the Tapajos, where fish is scarce, season Tucupi with
+Sauba ants. It is there used chiefly as a sauce to Tacaca,
+another preparation from mandioca, consisting of the starch
+beaten up in boiling water.
+
+I thoroughly enjoyed the nine days we spent at this place. Our
+host and hostess took an interest in my pursuit; one of the best
+chambers in the house was given up to me, and the young men took
+me on long rambles in the neighbouring forests. I saw very little
+hard work going forward. Everyone rose with the daw, and went
+down to the river to bathe; then came the never-failing cup of
+rich and strong coffee, after which all proceeded to their
+avocations. At this time, nothing was being done at the
+plantations; the cacao and tobacco crops were not ripe; weeding
+time was over; and the only work on foot was the preparation of a
+little farinha by the women. The men dawdled about-- went
+shooting and fishing, or did trifling jobs about the house. The
+only laborious work done during the year in these establishments
+is the felling of timber for new clearings; this happens at the
+beginning of the dry season, namely, from July to September.
+Whatever employment the people were engaged in, they did not
+intermit it during the hot hours of the day. Those who went into
+the woods took their dinners with them--a small bag of farinha,
+and a slice of salt fish. About sunset all returned to the house;
+they then had their frugal suppers, and towards eight o'clock,
+after coming to ask a blessing of the patriarchal head of the
+household, went off to their hammocks to sleep.
+
+There was another visitor besides ourselves, a negro, whom John
+Trinidade introduced to me as his oldest and dearest friend, who
+had saved his life during the revolt of 1835. I have,
+unfortunately, forgotten his name; he was a freeman, and had a
+sitio of his own situated about a day's journey from this. There
+was the same manly bearing about him that I had noticed with
+pleasure in many other free negroes; but his quiet, earnest
+manner, and the thoughtful and benevolent expression of his
+countenance, showed him to be a superior man of his class. He
+told me he had been intimate with our host for thirty years, and
+that a wry word had never passed between them. At the
+commencement of the disorders of 1835, he got into the secret of
+a plot for assassinating his friend, hatched by some villains
+whose only cause of enmity was their owing him money and envying
+his prosperity. It was such as these who aroused the stupid and
+brutal animosity of the Muras against the whites. The negro, on
+obtaining this news, set off alone in a montaria on a six hour
+journey in the dead of night to warn his "compadre" of the fate
+in store for him, and thus gave him time to fly. It was a
+pleasing sight to notice the cordiality of feeling and respect
+for each other shown by these two old men; for they used to spend
+hours together enjoying the cool breeze, seated under a shed
+which overlooked the broad river, and talking of old times.
+
+John Trinidade was famous for his tobacco and cigarettes, as he
+took great pains in preparing the Tauari, or envelope, which is
+formed of the inner bark of a tree, separated into thin papery
+layers. Many trees yield it, among them the Courataria Guianensis
+and the Sapucaya nut-tree, both belonging to the same natural
+order. The bark is cut into long strips, of a breadth suitable
+for folding the tobacco; the inner portion is then separated,
+boiled, hammered with a wooden mallet, and exposed to the air for
+a few hours. Some kinds have a reddish colour and an astringent
+taste, but the sort prepared by our host was of a beautiful
+satiny-white hue, and perfectly tasteless. He obtained sixty,
+eighty, and sometimes a hundred layers from the same strip of
+bark. The best tobacco in Brazil is grown in the neighbourhood of
+Borba, on the Madeira, where the soil is a rich black loam; but
+tobacco of very good quality was grown by John Trinidade and his
+neighbours along this coast, on similar soil. It is made up into
+slender rolls, an inch and a half in diameter and six feet in
+length, tapering at each end. When the leaves are gathered and
+partially dried, layers of them, after the mid-ribs are plucked
+out, are placed on a mat and rolled up into the required shape.
+This is done by the women and children, who also manage the
+planting, weeding, and gathering of the tobacco. The process of
+tightening the rolls is a long and heavy task, and can be done
+only by men. The cords used for this purpose are of very great
+strength. They are made of the inner bark of a peculiar light-
+wooded and slender tree, called Uaissima, which yields, when
+beaten out, a great quantity of most beautiful silky fibre, many
+feet in length. I think this might be turned to some use by
+English manufacturers, if they could obtain it in large quantity.
+The tree is abundant on light soils on the southern side of the
+Lower Amazons, and grows very rapidly. When the rolls are
+sufficiently well pressed, they are bound round with narrow
+thongs of remarkable toughness, cut from the bark of the climbing
+Jacitara palm tree (Desmoncus macracanthus), and are then ready
+for sale or use.
+
+It was very pleasant to roam in our host's cacaoal. The ground
+was clear of underwood, the trees were about thirty feet in
+height, and formed a dense shade. Two species of monkey
+frequented the trees, and I was told committed great depredations
+when the fruit was ripe. One of these, the macaco prego (Cebus
+cirrhifer?), is a most impudent thief; it destroys more than it
+eats by its random, hasty way of plucking and breaking the
+fruits, and when about to return to the forest, carries away all
+it can in its hands or under its arms. The other species, the
+pretty little Chrysothrix sciureus, contents itself with
+devouring what it can on the spot. A variety of beautiful insects
+basked on the foliage where stray gleams of sunlight glanced
+through the canopy of broad soft-green leaves, and numbers of an
+elegant, long-legged tiger beetle (Odontocheila egregia) ran and
+flew about over the herbage.
+
+We left this place on the 8th of January, and on the afternoon of
+the 9th, arrived at Matari, a miserable little settlement of Mura
+Indians. Here we again anchored and went ashore. The place
+consisted of about twenty slightly-built mud-hovels, and had a
+most forlorn appearance, notwithstanding the luxuriant forest in
+its rear. A horde of these Indians settled here many years ago,
+on the site of an abandoned missionary station; and the
+government had lately placed a resident director over them, with
+the intention of bringing the hitherto intractable savages under
+authority. This, however, seemed to promise no other result than
+that of driving them to their old solitary haunts on the banks of
+the interior waters, for many families had already withdrawn
+themselves. The absence of the usual cultivated trees and plants
+gave the place a naked and poverty-stricken aspect. I entered one
+of the hovels where several women were employed cooking a meal.
+Portions of a large fish were roasting over a fire made in the
+middle of the low chamber, and the entrails were scattered about
+the floor, on which the women with their children were squatted.
+These had a timid, distrustful expression of countenance, and
+their bodies were begrimed with black mud, which is smeared over
+the skin as a protection against mosquitoes. The children were
+naked, the women wore petticoats of coarse cloth, ragged round
+the edges, and stained in blotches with murixi, a dye made from
+the bark of a tree. One of them wore a necklace of monkey's
+teeth. There were scarcely any household utensils; the place was
+bare with the exception of two dirty grass hammocks hung in the
+corners. I missed the usual mandioca sheds behind the house, with
+their surrounding cotton, cacao, coffee, and lemon trees. Two or
+three young men of the tribe were lounging about the low open
+doorway. They were stoutly-built fellows, but less well-
+proportioned than the semi-civilised Indians of the Lower Amazons
+generally are. Their breadth of chest was remarkable, and their
+arms were wonderfully thick and muscular. The legs appeared short
+in proportion to the trunk; the expression of their countenances
+was unmistakably more sullen and brutal, and the skin of a darker
+hue than is common in the Brazilian red man. Before we left the
+hut, an old couple came in; the husband carrying his paddle, bow,
+arrows, and harpoon, the woman bent beneath the weight of a large
+basket filled with palm fruits. The man was of low stature and
+had a wild appearance from the long coarse hair which hung over
+his forehead. Both his lips were pierced with holes, as is usual
+with the older Muras seen on the river. They used formerly to
+wear tusks of the wild hog in these holes whenever they went out
+to encounter strangers or their enemies in war. The gloomy
+savagery, filth, and poverty of the people in this place made me
+feel quite melancholy, and I was glad to return to the canoe.
+They offered us no civilities; they did not even pass the
+ordinary salutes, which all the semi-civilised and many savage
+Indians proffer on a first meeting. The men persecuted Penna for
+cashaca, which they seemed to consider the only good thing the
+white man brings with him. As they had nothing whatever to give
+in exchange, Penna declined to supply them. They followed us as
+we descended to the port, becoming very troublesome when about a
+dozen had collected together. They brought their empty bottles
+with them and promised fish and turtle, if we would only trust
+them first with the coveted aguardente, or cau-im, as they called
+it. Penna was inexorable; he ordered the crew to weigh anchor,
+and the disappointed savages remained hooting after us with all
+their might from the top of the bank as we glided away.
+
+The Muras have a bad reputation all over this part of the
+Amazons, the semi-civilised Indians being quite as severe upon
+them as the white settlers. Everyone spoke of them as lazy,
+thievish, untrustworthy, and cruel. They have a greater
+repugnance than any other class of Indians to settled habits,
+regular labour, and the service of the whites; their distaste, in
+fact, to any approximation towards civilised life is invincible.
+Yet most of these faults are only an exaggeration of the
+fundamental defects of character in the Brazilian red man. There
+is nothing, I think, to show that the Muras had a different
+origin from the nobler agricultural tribes belonging to the Tupi
+nation, to some of whom they are close neighbours, although the
+very striking contrast in their characters and habits would
+suggest the conclusion that their origin had been different, in
+the same way as the Semangs of Malacca, for instance, with regard
+to the Malays. They are merely an offshoot from them, a number of
+segregated hordes becoming degraded by a residence most likely of
+very many centuries in Ygapo lands, confined to a fish diet, and
+obliged to wander constantly in search of food. Those tribes
+which are supposed to be more nearly related to the Tupis are
+distinguished by their settled agricultural habits, their living
+in well-constructed houses, their practice of many arts, such as
+the manufacture of painted earthenware, weaving, and their
+general custom of tattooing, social organisation, obedience to
+chiefs, and so forth. The Muras have become a nation of nomade
+fishermen, ignorant of agriculture and all other arts practised
+by their neighbours. They do not build substantial and fixed
+dwellings, but live in separate families or small hordes,
+wandering from place to place along the margins of those rivers
+and lakes which most abound in fish and turtle. At each resting-
+place they construct temporary huts at the edge of the stream,
+shifting them higher or lower on the banks, as the waters advance
+or recede. Their canoes originally were made simply of the thick
+bark of trees, bound up into a semi-cylindrical shape by means of
+woody lianas; these are now rarely seen, as most families possess
+montarias, which they have contrived to steal from the settlers
+from time to time. Their food is chiefly fish and turtle, which
+they are very expert in capturing. It is said by their neighbours
+that they dive after turtles, and succeed in catching them by the
+legs, which I believe is true in the shallow lakes where turtles
+are imprisoned in the dry season. They shoot fish with bow and
+arrow, and have no notion of any other method of cooking it than
+by roasting.
+
+It is not quite clear whether the whole tribe were originally
+quite ignorant of agriculture; as some families on the banks of
+the streams behind Villa Nova, who could scarcely have acquired
+the art in recent times, plant mandioca, but, as a general rule,
+the only vegetable food used by the Muras is bananas and wild
+fruits. The original home of this tribe was the banks of the
+Lower Madeira. It appears they were hostile to the European
+settlers from the beginning-- plundering their sitios, waylaying
+their canoes, and massacring all who fell into their power. About
+fifty years ago, the Portuguese succeeded in turning the warlike
+propensities of the Mundurucus against them and these, in the
+course of many years' persecution, greatly weakened the power of
+the tribe, and drove a great part of them from their seats on the
+banks of the Madeira. The Muras are now scattered in single
+hordes and families over a wide extent of country bordering the
+main river from Villa Nova to Catua, near Ega, a distance of 800
+miles. Since the disorders of 1835-6, when they committed great
+havoc amongst the peaceable settlements from Santarem to the Rio
+Negro, and were pursued and slaughtered in great numbers by the
+Mundurucus in alliance with the Brazilians, they have given no
+serious trouble.
+
+There is one curious custom of the Muras which requires noticing
+before concluding this digression; this is the practice of snuff-
+taking with peculiar ceremonies. The snuff is called Parica, and
+is a highly stimulating powder made from the seeds of a species
+of Inga, belonging to the Leguminous order of plants. The seeds
+are dried in the sun, pounded in wooden mortars, and kept in
+bamboo tubes. When they are ripe, and the snuff-making season
+sets in, they have a fuddling-bout, lasting many days, which the
+Brazilians call a Quarentena, and which forms a kind of festival
+of a semi-religious character. They begin by drinking large
+quantities of caysuma and cashiri, fermented drinks made of
+various fruits and mandioca, but they prefer cashaca, or rum,
+when they can get it. In a short time they drink themselves into
+a soddened semi-intoxicated state, and then commence taking the
+Parica. For this purpose they pair off, and each of the partners,
+taking a reed containing a quantity of the snuff, after going
+through a deal of unintelligible mummery, blows the contents with
+all his force into the nostrils of his companion. The effect on
+the usually dull and taciturn savages is wonderful; they become
+exceedingly talkative, sing, shout, and leap about in the wildest
+excitement. A reaction soon follows; more drinking is then
+necessary to rouse them from their stupor, and thus they carry on
+for many days in succession.
+
+The Mauhes also use the Parica, although it is not known among
+their neighbours the Mundurucus. Their manner of taking it is
+very different from that of the swinish Muras, it being kept in
+the form of a paste, and employed chiefly as a preventive against
+ague in the months between the dry and wet seasons, when the
+disease prevails. When a dose is required, a small quantity of
+the paste is dried and pulverised on a flat shell, and the
+powder, then drawn up into both nostrils at once through two
+vulture quills secured together by cotton thread. The use of
+Parica was found by the early travellers amongst the Omaguas, a
+section of the Tupis who formerly lived on the Upper Amazons, a
+thousand miles distant from the homes of the Mauhes and Muras.
+This community of habits is one of those facts which support the
+view of the common origin and near relationship of the Amazonian
+Indians.
+
+After leaving Matari, we continued our voyage along the northern
+shore. The banks of the river were of moderate elevation during
+several days' journey; the terra firma lying far in the interior,
+and the coast being either lowland or masked with islands of
+alluvial formation. On the 14th we passed the upper mouth of the
+Parana-mirim de Eva, an arm of the river of small breadth, formed
+by a straggling island some ten miles in length, lying parallel
+to the northern bank. On passing the western end of this, the
+main land again appeared; a rather high rocky coast, clothed with
+a magnificent forest of rounded outline, which continues hence
+for twenty miles to the mouth of the Rio Negro, and forms the
+eastern shore of that river. Many houses of settlers, built at a
+considerable elevation on the wooded heights, now enlivened the
+riverbanks. One of the first objects which greeted us here was a
+beautiful bird we had not hitherto met with, namely, the scarlet
+and black tanager (Ramphoccelus nigrogularis), flocks of which
+were seen sporting about the trees on the edge of the water,
+their flame-coloured liveries lighting up the masses of dark-
+green foliage.
+
+The weather, from the 14th to the i8th, was wretched; it rained
+sometimes for twelve hours in succession, not heavily, but in a
+steady drizzle, such as we are familiar with in our English
+climate. We landed at several places on the coast, Penna to trade
+as usual, and I to ramble in the forest in search of birds and
+insects. In one spot the wooded slope enclosed a very picturesque
+scene: a brook, flowing through a ravine in the high bank, fell
+in many little cascades to the broad river beneath, its margins
+decked out with an infinite variety of beautiful plants. Wild
+bananas arched over the watercourse, and the trunks of the trees
+in its vicinity were clothed with ferns, large-leaved species
+belonging to the genus Lygodium, which, like Osmunda, have their
+spore-cases collected together on contracted leaves. On the 18th,
+we arrived at a large fazenda (plantation and cattle farm),
+called Jatuarana. A rocky point here projects into the stream,
+and as we found it impossible to stem the strong current which
+whirled around it, we crossed over to the southern shore. Canoes,
+in approaching the Rio Negro, generally prefer the southern side
+on account of the slackness of the current near the banks. Our
+progress, however, was most tediously slow, for the regular east
+wind had now entirely ceased, and the vento de cima or wind from
+up river, having taken its place, blew daily for a few hours dead
+against us. The weather was oppressively close, and every
+afternoon a squall arose, which, however, as it came from the
+right quarter and blew for an hour or two, was very welcome. We
+made acquaintance on this coast with a new insect pest, the Pium,
+a minute fly, two thirds of a line in length, which here
+commences its reign, and continues henceforward as a terrible
+scourge along the upper river, or Solimoens, to the end of the
+navigation on the Amazons. It comes forth only by day, relieving
+the mosquito at sunrise with the greatest punctuality, and occurs
+only near the muddy shores of the stream, not one ever being
+found in the shade of the forest. In places where it is abundant,
+it accompanies canoes in such dense swarms as to resemble thin
+clouds of smoke. It made its appearance in this way the first day
+after we crossed the river. Before I was aware of the presence of
+flies, I felt a slight itching on my neck, wrist, and ankles,
+and, on looking for the cause, saw a number of tiny objects
+having a disgusting resemblance to lice, adhering to the skin.
+This was my introduction to the much-talked-of Pium. On close
+examination, they are seen to be minute two-winged insects, with
+dark coloured body and pale legs and wings, the latter closed
+lengthwise over the back. They alight imperceptibly, and
+squatting close, fall at once to work; stretching forward their
+long front legs, which are in constant motion and seem to act as
+feelers, and then applying their short, broad snouts to the skin.
+Their abdomens soon become distended and red with blood, and
+then, their thirst satisfied, they slowly move off, sometimes so
+stupefied with their potations that they can scarcely fly. No
+pain is felt while they are at work, but they each leave a small
+circular raised spot on the skin and a disagreeable irritation.
+The latter may be avoided in great measure by pressing out the
+blood which remains in the spot; but this is a troublesome task
+when one has several hundred punctures in the course of a day. I
+took the trouble to dissect specimens to ascertain the way in
+which the little pests operate. The mouth consists of a pair of
+thick fleshy lips, and two triangular horny lancets, answering to
+the upper lip and tongue of other insects. This is applied
+closely to the skin, a puncture is made with the lancets, and the
+blood then sucked through between these into the oesophagus, the
+circular spot which results coinciding with the shape of the
+lips. In the course of a few days the red spots dry up, and the
+skin in time becomes blackened with the endless number of
+discoloured punctures that are crowded together. The irritation
+they produce is more acutely felt by some persons than others. I
+once travelled with a middle-aged Portuguese, who was laid up for
+three weeks from the attacks of Pium; his legs being swelled to
+an enormous size, and the punctures aggravated into spreading
+sores.
+
+A brisk wind from the east sprang tip early in the morning of the
+22nd-- we then hoisted all sail, and made for the mouth of the
+Rio Negro. This noble stream at its junction with the Amazons,
+seems, from its position, to be a direct continuation of the main
+river, while the Solimoens which joins at an angle and is
+somewhat narrower than its tributary, appears to be a branch
+instead of the main trunk of the vast water system. One sees at
+once,therefore,how the early explorers came to give a separate
+name to this upper part of the Amazons. The Brazilians have
+lately taken to applying the convenient term Alto Amazonas (High
+or Upper Amazons) to the Solimoens, and it is probable that this
+will gradually prevail over the old name. The Rio Negro broadens
+considerably from its mouth upwards, and presents the appearance
+of a great lake; its black-dyed waters having no current, and
+seeming to be dammed up by the impetuous flow of the yellow,
+turbid Solimoens, which here belches forth a continuous line of
+uprooted trees and patches of grass, and forms a striking
+contrast with its tributary. In crossing, we passed the line, a
+little more than halfway over, where the waters of the two rivers
+meet and are sharply demarcated from each other. On reaching the
+opposite shore, we found a remarkable change. All our insect
+pests had disappeared, as if by magic, even from the hold of the
+canoe; the turmoil of an agitated, swiftly flowing river, and its
+torn, perpendicular, earthy banks, had given place to tranquil
+water and a coast indented with snug little bays fringed with
+sloping, sandy beaches. The low shore and vivid light-green,
+endlessly-varied foliage, which prevailed on the south side of
+the Amazons, were exchanged for a hilly country, clothed with a
+sombre, rounded, and monotonous forest. Our tedious voyage now
+approached its termination; a light wind carried us gently along
+the coast to the city of Barra, which lies about seven or eight
+miles within the mouth of the river. We stopped for an hour in a
+clean little bay, to bathe and dress, before showing ourselves
+again among civilised people. The bottom was visible at a depth
+of six feet, the white sand taking a brownish tinge from the
+stained but clear water. In the evening I went ashore, and was
+kindly received by Senor Henriques Antony, a warm-hearted
+Italian, established here in a high position as merchant, who was
+the never-failing friend of stray travellers. He placed a couple
+of rooms at my disposal, and in a few hours I was comfortably
+settled in my new quarters, sixty-four days after leaving Obydos.
+
+The town of Barra is built on a tract of elevated, but very
+uneven land, on the left bank of the Rio Negro, and contained, in
+1850, about 3000 inhabitants. There was originally a small fort
+here, erected by the Portuguese, to protect their slave-hunting
+expeditions amongst the numerous tribes of Indians which peopled
+the banks of the river. The most distinguished and warlike of
+these were the Manaos, who were continually at war with the
+neighbouring tribes, and had the custom of enslaving the
+prisoners made during their predatory expeditions. The Portuguese
+disguised their slave-dealing motives under the pretext of
+ransoming (resgatando) these captives; indeed, the term resgatar
+(to ransom) is still applied by the traders on the Upper Amazons
+to the very general, but illegal, practice of purchasing Indian
+children of the wild tribes. The older inhabitants of the place
+remember the time when many hundreds of these captives were
+brought down by a single expedition. In 1809, Barra became the
+chief town of the Rio Negro district; many Portuguese and
+Brazilians from other provinces then settled here; spacious
+houses were built, and it grew, in the course of thirty or forty
+years, to be, next to Santarem, the principal settlement on the
+banks of the Amazons. At the time of my visit it was on the
+decline, in consequence of the growing distrust, or increased
+cunning, of the Indians, who once formed a numerous and the sole
+labouring class, but having got to know that the laws protected
+them against forced servitude, were rapidly withdrawing
+themselves from the place. When the new province of the Amazons
+was established, in 1852, Barra was chosen as the capital, and
+was then invested with the appropriate name of the city of
+Manaos.
+
+The situation of the town has many advantages; the climate is
+healthy; there are no insect pests; the soil is fertile and
+capable of growing all kinds of tropical produce (the coffee of
+the Rio Negro, especially, being of very superior quality), and
+it is near the fork of two great navigable rivers. The
+imagination becomes excited when one reflects on the possible
+future of this place, situated near the centre of the equatorial
+part of South America, in the midst of a region almost as large
+as Europe, every inch of whose soil is of the most exuberant
+fertility, and having water communication on one side with the
+Atlantic, and on the other with the Spanish republics of
+Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Barra is now
+the principal station for the lines of steamers which were
+established in 1853, and passengers and goods are transhipped
+here for the Solimoens and Peru. A steamer runs once a fortnight
+between Para and Barra, and a bi-monthly one plies between this
+place and Nauta in the Peruvian territory. The steam-boat company
+is supported by a large annual grant, about £50,000 sterling,
+from the imperial government. Barra was formerly a pleasant place
+of residence, but it is now in a most wretched plight, suffering
+from a chronic scarcity of the most necessary articles of food.
+The attention of the settlers was formerly devoted almost
+entirely to the collection of the spontaneous produce of the
+forests and rivers; agriculture was consequently neglected, and
+now the neighbourhood does not produce even mandioca-meal
+sufficient for its own consumption. Many of the most necessary
+articles of food, besides all luxuries, come from Portugal,
+England, and North America. A few bullocks are brought now and
+then from Obydos, 500 miles off, the nearest place where cattle
+are reared in any numbers, and these furnish at long intervals a
+supply of fresh beef, but this is generally monopolised by the
+families of government officials. Fowls, eggs, fresh fish,
+turtles, vegetables, and fruit were excessively scarce and dear
+in 1859, when I again visited the place; for instance, six or
+seven shillings were asked for a poor lean fowl, and eggs were
+twopence-halfpenny a piece. In fact, the neighbourhood produces
+scarcely anything; the provincial government is supplied with the
+greater part of its funds from the treasury of Para; its revenue,
+which amounts to about fifty contos of reis (£5600), derived from
+export taxes on the produce of the entire province, not sufficing
+for more than about one-fifth of its expenditure.
+
+The population of the province of the Amazons, according to a
+census taken in 1858, is 55,000 souls; the municipal district of
+Barra, which comprises a large area around the capital,
+containing only 4500 inhabitants. For the government, however, of
+this small number of people, an immense staff of officials is
+gathered together in the capital, and, notwithstanding the
+endless number of trivial formalities which Brazilians employ in
+every small detail of administration, these have nothing to do
+the greater part of their time. None of the people who flocked to
+Barra on the establishment of the new government seemed to care
+about the cultivation of the soil and the raising of food,
+although these would have been most profitable speculations. The
+class of Portuguese who emigrate to Brazil seem to prefer petty
+trading to the honourable pursuit of agriculture. If the English
+are a nation of shopkeepers, what are we to say of the
+Portuguese? I counted in Barra one store for every five dwelling-
+houses. These stores, or tavernas, have often not more than fifty
+pounds' worth of goods for their whole stock, and the Portuguese
+owners, big lusty fellows, stand all day behind their dirty
+counters for the sake of selling a few coppers' worth of liquors,
+or small wares. These men all give the same excuse for not
+applying themselves to agriculture, namely, that no hands can be
+obtained to work on the soil. Nothing can be done with Indians;
+indeed, they are fast leaving the neighbourhood altogether, and
+the importation of negro slaves, in the present praiseworthy
+temper of the Brazilian mind, is out of the question. The
+problem, how to obtain a labouring class for a new and tropical
+country, without slavery, has to be solved before this glorious
+region can become what its delightful climate and exuberant
+fertility fit it for--the abode of a numerous, civilised, and
+happy people.
+
+I found at Barra my companion, Mr. Wallace, who, since our joint
+Tocantins expedition, had been exploring, partly with his
+brother, lately arrived from England, the northeastern coast of
+Marajo, the river Capim (a branch of the Guama, near Para), Monte
+Alegre, and Santarem. He had passed us by night below Serpa, on
+his way to Barra, and so had arrived about three weeks before me.
+Besides ourselves, there were half-a-dozen other foreigners here
+congregated--Englishmen, Germans, and Americans; one of them a
+Natural History collector, the rest traders on the rivers. In the
+pleasant society of these, and of the family of Senor Henriques,
+we passed a delightful time; the miseries of our long river
+voyages were soon forgotten, and in two or three weeks we began
+to talk of further explorations.
+
+Meantime we had almost daily rambles in the neighbouring forest.
+The whole surface of the land down to the water's edge is covered
+by the uniform dark-green rolling forest, the caa-apoam (convex
+woods) of the Indians, characteristic of the Rio Negro. This
+clothes also the extensive areas of lowland, which are flooded by
+the river in the rainy season. The olive-brown tinge of the water
+seems to be derived from the saturation in it of the dark green
+foliage during these annual inundations. The great contrast in
+form and colour between the forest of the Rio Negro and those of
+the Amazons arises from the predominance in each of different
+families of plants. On the main river, palms of twenty or thirty
+different species form a great proportion of the mass of trees,
+while on the Rio Negro, they play a very subordinate part. The
+characteristic kind in the latter region is the Jara (Leopoldinia
+pulchra), a species not found on the margins of the Amazons,
+which has a scanty head of fronds with narrow leaflets of the
+same dark green hue as the rest of the forest. The stem is
+smooth, and about two inches in diameter; its height is not more
+than twelve to fifteen feet; it does not, therefore, rise amongst
+the masses of foliage of the exogenous trees, so as to form a
+feature in the landscape, like the broad-leaved Murumuru and
+Urucuri, the slender Assai, the tall Jauari, and the fan-leaved
+Muriti of the banks of the Amazons.
+
+On the shores of the main river the mass of the forest is
+composed, besides palms, of Leguminosae, or trees of the bean
+family, in endless variety as to height, shape of foliage,
+flowers, and fruit; of silk-cotton trees, colossal nut-trees
+(Lecythideae), and Cecropiae; the underwood and water-frontage
+consisting in great part of broad-leaved Musaceae, Marantaceae,
+and succulent grasses-- all of which are of light shades of
+green. The forests of the Rio Negro are almost destitute of these
+large-leaved plants and grasses, which give so rich an appearance
+to the vegetation wherever they grow; the margins of the stream
+being clothed with bushes or low trees, having the same gloomy
+monotonous aspect as the mangroves of the shores of creeks near
+the Atlantic. The uniformly small but elegantly-leaved exogenous
+trees, which constitute the mass of the forest, consist in great
+part of members of the Laurel, Myrtle, Bignoniaceous, and
+Rubiaceous orders. The soil is generally a stiff loam, whose
+chief component part is the Tabatinga clay, which also forms low
+cliffs on the coast in some places, where it overlies strata of
+coarse sandstone. This kind of soil and the same geological
+formation prevail, as we have seen, in many places on the banks
+of the Amazons, so that the great contrast in the forest-clothing
+of the two rivers cannot arise from this cause.
+
+The forest was very pleasant for rambling. In some directions
+broad pathways led down gentle slopes, through what one might
+fancy were interminable shrubberies of evergreens, to moist
+hollows where springs of water bubbled up, or shallowbrooks ran
+over their beds of clean white sand. But the most beautiful road
+was one that ran through the heart of the forest to a waterfall,
+which the citizens of Barra consider as the chief natural
+curiosity of their neighbourhood. The waters of one of the larger
+rivulets which traverse the gloomy wilderness, here fall over a
+ledge of rock about ten feet high. It is not the cascade itself,
+but the noiseless solitude, and the marvellous diversity and
+richness of trees, foliage, and flowers encircling the water
+basin that form the attraction of the place. Families make picnic
+excursions to this spot; and the gentlemen--it is said the ladies
+also--spend the sultry hours of midday bathing in the cold and
+bracing waters. The place is classic ground to the Naturalist
+from having been a favourite spot with the celebrated travellers
+Spix and Martius, during their stay at Barra in 1820. Von Martins
+was so much impressed by its magical beauty that he commemorated
+the visit by making a sketch of the scenery serve as background
+in one of the plates of his great work on the palms.
+
+Birds and insects, however, were scarce amidst these charming
+sylvan scenes. I have often traversed the whole distance from
+Barra to the waterfall, about two miles by the forest road,
+without seeing or hearing a bird, or meeting with so many as a
+score of Lepidopterous and Coleopterous insects. In the thinner
+woods near the borders of the forest many pretty little blue and
+green creepers of the Dacnidae group, were daily seen feeding on
+berries; and a few very handsome birds occurred in the forest.
+But the latter were so rare that we could obtain them only by
+employing a native hunter, who used to spend a whole day, and go
+a great distance to obtain two or three specimens. In this way I
+obtained, amongst others, specimens of the Trogon pavoninus (the
+Suruqua grande of the natives), a most beautiful creature, having
+soft golden green plumage, red breast, and an orange-coloured
+beak; also the Ampelis Pompadoura, a rich glossy-purple chatterer
+with wings of a snowy-white hue.
+
+After we had rested some weeks in Barra, we arranged our plans
+for further explorations in the interior of the country. Mr.
+Wallace chose the Rio Negro for his next trip, and I agreed to
+take the Solimoens. My colleague has already given to the world
+an account of his journey on the Rio Negro, and his adventurous
+ascent of its great tributary the Uapes. I left Barra for Ega,
+the first town of any importance on the Solimoens, on the 26th of
+March, 1850. The distance is nearly 400 miles, which we
+accomplished in a small cuberta, manned by ten stout Cucama
+Indians, in thirty-five days. On this occasion, I spent twelve
+months in the upper region of the Amazons; circumstances then
+compelled me to return to Para. I revisited the same country in
+1855, and devoted three years and a half to a fuller exploration
+of its natural productions. The results of both journeys will be
+given together in subsequent chapters of this work; in the
+meantime, I will proceed to give an account of Santarem and the
+river Tapajos, whose neighbourhoods I investigated in the years
+1851-4.
+
+A few words on my visit to Para in 1851 may be here introduced. I
+descended the river from Ega, to the capital, a distance of 1400
+miles, in a heavily-laden schooner belonging to a trader of the
+former place. The voyage occupied no less than twenty-nine days,
+although we were favoured by the powerful currents of the rainy
+season. The hold of the vessel was filled with turtle oil
+contained in large jars, the cabin was crammed with Brazil nuts,
+and a great pile of sarsaparilla, covered with a thatch of palm
+leaves, occupied the middle of the deck. We had, therefore, (the
+master and two passengers) but rough accommodation, having to
+sleep on deck, exposed to the wet and stormy weather, under
+little toldos or arched shelters, arranged with mats of woven
+lianas and maranta leaves. I awoke many a morning with clothes
+and bedding soaked through with the rain. With the exception,
+however, of a slight cold at the commencement, I never enjoyed
+better health than during this journey. When the wind blew from
+up river or off the land, we sped away at a great rate; but it
+was often squally from those quarters, and then it was not safe
+to hoist the sails. The weather was generally calm, a motionless
+mass of leaden clouds covering the sky, and the broad expanse of
+waters flowing smoothly down with no other motion than the ripple
+of the current. When the wind came from below, we tacked down the
+stream; sometimes it blew very strong, and then the schooner,
+having the wind abeam, laboured through the waves, shipping often
+heavy seas which washed everything that was loose from one side
+of the deck to the other.
+
+On arriving at Para, I found the once cheerful and healthy city
+desolated by two terrible epidemics. The yellow fever, which
+visited the place the previous year (1850) for the first time
+since the discovery of the country, still lingered after having
+carried off nearly 5 percent of the population. The number of
+persons who were attacked, namely, three-fourths of the entire
+population, showed how general the onslaught is of an epidemic on
+its first appearance in a place. At the heels of this plague came
+the smallpox. The yellow fever had fallen most severely on the
+whites and mamelucos, the negroes wholly escaping; but the
+smallpox attacked more especially the Indians, negroes, and
+people of mixed colour, sparing the whites almost entirely, and
+taking off about a twentieth part of the population in the course
+of the four months of its stay. I heard many strange accounts of
+the yellow fever. I believe Para was the second port in Brazil
+attacked by it. The news of its ravages in Bahia, where the
+epidemic first appeared, arrived some few days before the disease
+broke out. The government took all the sanitary precautions that
+could be thought of; amongst the rest was the singular one of
+firing cannon at the street corners, to purify the air. Mr.
+Norris, the American consul, told me the first cases of fever
+occurred near the port and that it spread rapidly and regularly
+from house to house, along the streets which run from the
+waterside to the suburbs, taking about twenty-four hours to reach
+the end. Some persons related that for several successive
+evenings before the fever broke out the atmosphere was thick, and
+that a body of murky vapour, accompanied by a strong stench,
+travelled from street to street. This moving vapour was called
+the "Mai da peste" ("the mother or spirit of the plague"); and it
+was useless to attempt to reason them out of the belief that this
+was the forerunner of the pestilence. The progress of the disease
+was very rapid. It commenced in April, in the middle of the wet
+season. In a few days, thousands of persons lay sick, dying or
+dead. The state of the city during the time the fever lasted may
+be easily imagined. Towards the end of June it abated, and very
+few cases occurred during the dry season from July to December.
+
+As I said before, the yellow fever still lingered in the place
+when I arrived from the interior in April. I was in hopes I
+should escape it, but was not so fortunate; it seemed to spare no
+newcomer. At the time I fell ill, every medical man in the place
+was worked to the utmost in attending the victims of the other
+epidemic; it was quite useless to think of obtaining their aid,
+so I was obliged to be my own doctor, as I had been in many
+former smart attacks of fever. I was seized with shivering and
+vomit at nine o'clock in the morning. While the people of the
+house went down to the town for the medicines I ordered, I
+wrapped myself in a blanket and walked sharply to and fro along
+the veranda, drinking at intervals a cup of warm tea, made of a
+bitter herb in use amongst the natives, called Pajemarioba, a
+leguminous plant growing in all waste places. About an hour
+afterwards, I took a good draught of a decoction of elder
+blossoms as a sudorific, and soon after fell insensible into my
+hammock. Mr. Philipps, an English resident with whom I was then
+lodging, came home in the afternoon and found me sound asleep and
+perspiring famously. I did not wake until almost midnight, when I
+felt very weak and aching in every bone of my body. I then took
+as a purgative, a small dose of Epsom salts and manna. In forty-
+eight hours the fever left me, and in eight days from the first
+attack, I was able to get about my work. Little else happened
+during my stay, which need be recorded here. I shipped off all my
+collections to England, and received thence a fresh supply of
+funds. It took me several weeks to prepare for my second and
+longest journey into the interior. My plan now was first to make
+Santarem headquarters for some time, and ascend from that place
+the river Tapajos as far as practicable. Afterwards I intended to
+revisit the marvellous country of the Upper Amazons, and work
+well its natural history at various stations I had fixed upon,
+from Ega to the foot of the Andes.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SANTAREM
+
+Situation of Santarem--Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants--
+Climate--Grassy Campos and Woods--Excursions to Mapiri, Mahica,
+and Irura, with Sketches of their Natural History-- Palms, Wild
+Fruit Trees, Mining Wasps, Mason Wasps, Bees, and Sloths
+
+I have already given a short account of the size, situation, and
+general appearance of Santarem. Although containing not more than
+2500 inhabitants, it is the most civilised and important
+settlement on the banks of the main river from Peru to the
+Atlantic. The pretty little town, or city as it is called, with
+its rows of tolerably uniform, white-washed and red-tiled houses
+surrounded by green gardens and woods, stands on gently sloping
+ground on the eastern side of the Tapajos, close to its point of
+junction with the Amazons. A small eminence on which a fort has
+been erected, but which is now in a dilapidated condition,
+overlooks the streets, and forms the eastern limit of the mouth
+of the tributary. The Tapajos at Santarem is contracted to a
+breadth of about a mile and a half by an accretion of low
+alluvial land, which forms a kind of delta on the western side;
+fifteen miles further up the river is seen at its full width of
+from ten to a dozen miles, and the magnificent hilly country,
+through which it flows from the south, is then visible on both
+shores. This high land, which appears to be a continuation of the
+central table-lands of Brazil, stretches almost without
+interruption on the eastern side of the river down to its mouth
+at Santarem. The scenery as well as the soil, vegetation, and
+animal tenants of this region, are widely different from those of
+the flat and uniform country which borders the Amazons along most
+part of its course. After travelling week after week on the main
+river, the aspect of Santarem with its broad white sandy beach,
+limpid dark-green waters, and line of picturesque hills rising
+behind over the fringe of green forest, affords an agreeable
+surprise. On the main Amazons, the prospect is monotonous unless
+the vessel runs near the shore, when the wonderful diversity and
+beauty of the vegetation afford constant entertainment.
+Otherwise, the unvaried, broad yellow stream, and the long low
+line of forest, which dwindles away in a broken line of trees on
+the sea-like horizon and is renewed, reach after reach, as the
+voyages advances, weary by their uniformity.
+
+I arrived at Santarem on my second journey into the interior, in
+November, 1851, and made it my headquarters for a period, as it
+turned out, of three years and a half. During this time I made,
+in pursuance of the plan I had framed, many excursions up the
+Tapajos, and to other places of interest in the surrounding
+region. On landing, I found no difficulty in hiring a suitable
+house on the outskirts of the place. It was pleasantly situated
+near the beach, going towards the aldeia or Indian part of the
+town. The ground sloped from the back premises down to the
+waterside and my little raised veranda overlooked a beautiful
+flower garden, a great rarity in this country, which belonged to
+the neighbours. The house contained only three rooms, one with
+brick and two with boarded floors.  It was substantially built,
+like all the better sort of houses in Santarem, and had a
+stuccoed front. The kitchen, as is usual, formed an outhouse
+placed a few yards distant from the other rooms. The rent was
+12,000 reis, or about twenty-seven shillings a month. In this
+country, a tenant has no extra payments to make; the owners of
+house property pay a dizimo or tithe, to the "collectoria
+general," or general treasury, but with this the occupier of
+course has nothing to do. In engaging servants, I had the good
+fortune to meet with a free mulatto, an industrious and
+trustworthy young fellow, named Jose, willing to arrange with me;
+the people of his family cooked for us, while he assisted me in
+collecting; he proved of the greatest service in the different
+excursions we subsequently made. Servants of any kind were almost
+impossible to be obtained at Santarem, free people being too
+proud to hire themselves, and slaves too few and valuable to
+their masters to be let out to others. These matters arranged,
+the house put in order, and a rude table, with a few chairs,
+bought or borrowed to furnish the house with, I was ready in
+three or four days to commence my Natural History explorations in
+the neighbourhood.
+
+I found Santarem quite a different sort of place from the other
+settlements on the Amazons. At Cameta, the lively, good-humoured,
+and plain-living Mamelucos formed the bulk of the population, the
+white immigrants there, as on the RioNegro and Upper Amazons,
+seeming to have fraternised well with the aborigines. In the
+neighbourhood of Santarem the Indians, I believe, were originally
+hostile to the Portuguese; at any rate, the blending of the two
+races has not been here on a large scale. I did not find the
+inhabitants the pleasant, easygoing, and blunt-spoken country
+folk that are met with in other small towns of the interior. The
+whites, Portuguese and Brazilians, are a relatively more numerous
+class here than in other settlements, and make great pretensions
+to civilisation; they are the merchants and shopkeepers of the
+place; owners of slaves, cattle estates, and cacao plantations.
+Amongst the principal residents must also be mentioned the civil
+and military authorities, who are generally well-bred and
+intelligent people from other provinces. Few Indians live in the
+place; it is too civilised for them, and the lower class is made
+up (besides the few slaves) of half-breeds, in whose composition
+negro blood predominates. Coloured people also exercise the
+different handicrafts; the town supports two goldsmiths, who are
+mulattoes, and have each several apprentices; the blacksmiths are
+chiefly Indians, as is the case generally throughout the
+province. The manners of the upper class (copied from those of
+Para) are very stiff and formal, and the absence of the hearty
+hospitality met with in other places, produces a disagreeable
+impression at first. Much ceremony is observed in the intercourse
+of the principal people with each other, and with strangers. The
+best room in each house is set apart for receptions, and visitors
+are expected to present themselves in black dress coats,
+regardless of the furious heat which rages in the sandy streets
+of Santarem towards midday, the hour when visits are generally
+made. In the room a cane-bottomed sofa and chairs, all lacquered
+and gilded, are arranged in quadrangular form, and here the
+visitors are invited to seat themselves, while the compliments
+are passed, or the business arranged. In taking leave, the host
+backs out his guests with repeated bows, finishing at the front
+door. Smoking is not in vogue amongst this class, but snuff-
+taking is largely indulged in, and great luxury is displayed in
+gold and silver snuff-boxes. All the gentlemen, and indeed most
+of the ladies also, wear gold watches and guard chains. Social
+parties are not very frequent; the principal men being fully
+occupied with their business and families, and the rest spending
+their leisure in billiard and gambling rooms, leaving wives and
+daughters shut up at home. Occasionally, however, one of the
+principal citizens gives a ball. In the first that I attended,
+the gentlemen were seated all the evening on one side of the
+room, and the ladies on the other, and partners were allotted by
+means of numbered cards, distributed by a master of the
+ceremonies. But the customs changed rapidly in these matters
+after steamers began to run on the Amazons (in 1853), bringing a
+flood of new ideas and fashions into the country. The old,
+bigoted, Portuguese system of treating women, which stifled
+social intercourse and wrought endless evils in the private life
+of the Brazilians, is now being gradually, although slowly,
+abandoned.
+
+The religious festivals were not so numerous here as in other
+towns, and when they did take place, were very poor and ill
+attended. There is a handsome church, but the vicar showed
+remarkably little zeal for religion, except for a few days now
+and then when the Bishop came from Para on his rounds through the
+diocese. The people are as fond of holiday-making here as in
+other parts of the province; but it seemed to be a growing
+fashion to substitute rational amusements for the processions and
+mummeries of the saints' days. The young folks are very musical,
+the principal instruments in use being the flute, violin, Spanish
+guitar, and a small four-stringed viola, called cavaquinho.
+During the early part of my stay at Santarem, a little party of
+instrumentalists, led by a tall, thin, ragged mulatto, who was
+quite an enthusiast in his art, used frequently to serenade their
+friends in the cool and brilliant moonlit evenings of the dry
+season, playing French and Italian marches and dance music with
+very good effect. The guitar was the favourite instrument with
+both sexes, as at Para; the piano, however, is now fast
+superseding it. The ballads sung to the accompaniment of the
+guitar were not learned from written or printed music, but
+communicated orally from one friend to another. They were never
+spoken of as songs, but modinas, or "little fashions," each of
+which had its day, giving way to the next favourite brought by
+some young fellow from the capital.
+
+At festival times there was a great deal of masquerading, in
+which all the people, old and young, white, negro, and Indian,
+took great delight. The best things of this kind used to come off
+during the Carnival, in Easter week, and on St. John's Eve; the
+negroes having a grand semi-dramatic display in the streets at
+Christmas time. The more select affairs were got up by the young
+whites, and coloured men associating with whites. A party of
+thirty or forty of these used to dress themselves in uniform
+style, and in very good taste, as cavaliers and dames, each
+disguised with a peculiar kind of light gauze mask. The troop,
+with a party of musicians, went the round of their friends'
+houses in the evening, and treated the large and gaily-dressed
+companies which were there assembled to a variety of dances. The
+principal citizens, in the large rooms of whose houses these
+entertainments were given, seemed quite to enjoy them; great
+preparations were made at each place; and, after the dance,
+guests and masqueraders were regaled with pale ale and
+sweetmeats. Once a year the Indians, with whom masked dances and
+acting are indigenous, had their turn, and on one occasion they
+gave us a great treat. They assembled from different parts of the
+neighbourhood at night, on the outskirts of the town, and then
+marched through the streets by torchlight towards the quarter
+inhabited by the whites, to perform their hunting and devil
+dances before the doors of the principal inhabitants. There were
+about a hundred men, women, and children in the procession. Many
+of the men were dressed in the magnificent feather crowns,
+tunics, and belts, manufactured by the Mundurucus, and worn by
+them on festive occasions, but the women were naked to the waist,
+and the children quite naked, and all were painted and smeared
+red with anatto. The ringleader enacted the part of the Tushaua,
+or chief, and carried a sceptre, richly decorated with the
+orange, red, and green feathers of toucans and parrots. The paje
+or medicine-man came along, puffing at a long tauari cigar, the
+instrument by which he professes to make his wonderful cures.
+Others blew harsh, jarring blasts with the ture, a horn made of
+long and thick bamboo, with a split reed in the mouthpiece. This
+is the war trumpet of many tribes of Indians, with which the
+sentinels of predatory hordes, mounted on a lofty tree, gave the
+signal for attack to their comrades. Those Brazilians who are old
+enough to remember the times of warfare between Indians and
+settlers, retain a great horror of the ture, its loud, harsh note
+heard in the dead of the night having been often the prelude to
+an onslaught of bloodthirsty Muras on the outlying settlements.
+The rest of the men in the procession carried bows and arrows,
+bunches of javelins, clubs, and paddles. The older children
+brought with them the household pets; some had monkeys or coatis
+on their shoulders, and others bore tortoises on their heads. The
+squaws carried their babies in aturas, or large baskets, slung on
+their backs, and secured with a broad belt of bast over their
+foreheads. The whole thing was accurate in its representation of
+Indian life, and showed more ingenuity than some people give the
+Brazilian red man credit for. It was got up spontaneously by the
+Indians, and simply to amuse the people of the place.
+
+The people seem to be thoroughly alive to the advantages of
+education for their children. Besides the usual primary schools,
+one for girls, and another for boys, there is a third of a higher
+class, where Latin and French, amongst other accomplishments, are
+taught by professors, who, like the common schoolmasters, are
+paid by the provincial government. This is used as a preparatory
+school to the Lyceum and Bishop's seminary, well-endowed
+institutions at Para, whither it is the ambition of traders and
+planters to send their sons to finish their studies. The
+rudiments of education only are taught in the primary schools,
+and it is surprising how quickly and well the little lads, both
+coloured and white, learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. But
+the simplicity of the Portuguese language, which is written as it
+is pronounced, or according to unvarying rules, and the use of
+the decimal system of accounts, make these acquirements much
+easier than they are with us. Students in the superior school
+have to pass an examination before they can be admitted at the
+colleges in Para, and the managers once did me the honour to make
+me one of the examiners for the year. The performances of the
+youths, most of whom were under fourteen years of age, were very
+creditable, especially in grammar; there was a quickness of
+apprehension displayed which would have gladdened the heart of a
+northern schoolmaster. The course of study followed at the
+colleges of Para must be very deficient; for it is rare to meet
+with an educated Paraense who has the slightest knowledge of the
+physical sciences, or even of geography, if he has not travelled
+out of the province. The young men all become smart rhetoricians
+and lawyers; any of them is ready to plead in a law case at an
+hour's notice; they are also great at statistics, for the
+gratification of which taste there is ample field in Brazil,
+where every public officer has to furnish volumes of dry reports
+annually to the government; but they are woefully ignorant on
+most other subjects.
+
+I do not recollect seeing a map of any kind at Santarem. The
+quick-witted people have a suspicion of their deficiencies in
+this respect, and it is difficult to draw them out on geography;
+but one day a man holding an important office betrayed himself by
+asking me, "On what side of the river was Paris situated? " This
+question did not arise, as might be supposed, from a desire for
+accurate topographical knowledge of the Seine, but from the idea,
+that all the world was a great river, and that the different
+places he had heard of must lie on one shore or the other. The
+fact of the Amazons being a limited stream, having its origin in
+narrow rivulets, its beginning and its ending, has never entered
+the heads of most of the people who have passed their whole lives
+on its banks.
+
+Santarem is a pleasant place to live in, irrespective of its
+society. There are no insect pests, mosquito, pium, sand-fly, or
+motuca. The climate is glorious; during six months of the year,
+from August to February, very little rain falls, and the sky is
+cloudless for weeks together, the fresh breezes from the sea,
+nearly 400 miles distant, moderating the great heat of the sun.
+The wind is sometimes so strong for days together, that it is
+difficult to make way against it in walking along the streets,
+and it enters the open windows and doors of houses, scattering
+loose clothing and papers in all directions. The place is
+considered healthy; but at the changes of season, severe colds
+and ophthalmia are prevalent. I found three Englishmen living
+here, who had resided many years in the town or its
+neighbourhood, and who still retained their florid complexions;
+the plump and fresh appearance of many of the middle-aged
+Santarem ladies also bore testimony to the healthfulness of the
+climate. The streets are always clean and dry, even in the height
+of the wet season; good order is always kept, and the place
+pretty well supplied with provisions. None but those who have
+suffered from the difficulty of obtaining the necessities of life
+at any price in most of the interior settlements of South
+America, can appreciate the advantages of Santarem in this
+respect.
+
+Everything, however, except meat, was dear, and becoming every
+year more so. Sugar, coffee, and rice, which ought to be produced
+in surplus in the neighbourhood, are imported from other
+provinces, and are high in price; sugar, indeed, is a little
+dearer here than in England. There were two or three butchers'
+shops, where excellent beef could be had daily at twopence or
+twopence-halfpenny per pound. The cattle have not to be brought
+from a long distance as at Para, being bred on the campos, which
+border the Lago Grande, only one or two days' journey from the
+town. Fresh fish could be bought in the port on most evenings,
+but as the supply did not equal the demand, there was always a
+race amongst purchasers to the waterside when the canoe of a
+fisherman hove in sight. Very good bread was hawked round the
+town every morning, with milk, and a great variety of fruits and
+vegetables. Amongst the fruits, there was a kind called atta,
+which I did not see in any other part of the country. It belongs
+to the Anonaceous order, and the tree which produces it grows
+apparently wild in the neighbourhood of Santarem. It is a little
+larger than a good-sized orange, and the rind, which encloses a
+mass of rich custardy pulp, is scaled like the pineapple, but
+green when ripe, and encrusted on the inside with sugar. To
+finish this account of the advantages of Santarem, the delicious
+bathing in the clear waters of the Tapajos may be mentioned.
+There is here no fear of alligators; when the cast wind blows, a
+long swell rolls in on the clean sandy beach, and the bath is
+most exhilarating.
+
+The country around Santarem is not clothed with dense and lofty
+forest like the rest of the great humid river plain of the
+Amazons. It is a campo region; a slightly elevated and undulating
+tract of land, wooded only in patches, or with single scattered
+trees. A good deal of the country on the borders of the Tapajos,
+which flows from the great campo area of interior Brazil, is of
+this description. It is on this account that I consider the
+eastern side of the river, towards its mouth,, to be a northern
+prolongation of the continental land, and not a portion of the
+alluvial flats of the Amazons. The soil is a coarse gritty sand;
+the substratum, which is visible in some places, consisting of
+sandstone conglomerate probably of the same formation as that
+which underlies the Tabatinga clay in other parts of the river
+valley. The surface is carpeted with slender hairy grasses, unfit
+for pasture, growing to a uniform height of about a foot. The
+patches of wood look like copses in the middle of green meadows;
+they are called by the natives "ilhas de mato," or islands of
+jungle; the name being, no doubt, suggested by their compactness
+of outline, neatly demarcated in insular form from the smooth
+carpet of grass, around them. They are composed of a great
+variety of trees loaded with succulent parasites, and lashed
+together by woody climbers like the forest in other parts. A
+narrow belt of dense wood, similar in character to these ilhas,
+and like them sharply limited along its borders, runs everywhere
+parallel and close to the river. In crossing the campo, the path
+from the town ascends a little for a mile or two, passing through
+this marginal strip of wood; the grassy land then slopes
+gradually to a broad valley, watered by rivulets, whose banks are
+clothed with lofty and luxuriant forest. Beyond this, a range of
+hills extends as far as the eye can reach towards the yet
+untrodden interior. Some of these hills are long ridges, wooded
+or bare; others are isolated conical peaks, rising abruptly from
+the valley. The highest are probably not more than a thousand
+feet above the level of the river. One remarkable hill, the Serra
+de Muruaru, about fifteen miles from Santarem, which terminates
+the prospect to the south, is of the same truncated pyramidal
+form as the range of hills near Almeyrim. Complete solitude
+reigns over the whole of this stretch of beautiful country. The
+inhabitants of Santarem know nothing of the interior, and seem to
+feel little curiosity concerning it. A few tracks from the town
+across the campo lead to some small clearings four or five miles
+off, belonging to the poorer inhabitants of the place; but,
+excepting these, there are no roads, or signs of the proximity of
+a civilised settlement.
+
+The appearance of the campos changes very much according to the
+season. There is not that grand uniformity of aspect throughout
+the year which is observed in the virgin forest, and which makes
+a deeper impression on the naturalist the longer he remains in
+this country. The seasons in this part of the Amazons region are
+sharply contrasted, but the difference is not so great as in some
+tropical countries, where, during the dry monsoon, insects and
+reptiles go into a summer sleep, and the trees simultaneously
+shed their leaves. As the dry season advances (August,
+September), the grass on the campos withers, and the shrubby
+vegetation near the town becomes a mass of parched yellow
+stubble. The period, however, is not one of general torpidity or
+repose for animal or vegetable life. Birds certainly are not so
+numerous as in the wet season, but some kinds remain and lay
+their eggs at this time--for instance, the ground doves
+(Chamaepelia). The trees retain their verdure throughout, and
+many of them flower in the dry months. Lizards do not become
+torpid, and insects are seen both in the larva and the perfect
+states, showing that the aridity of the climate has not a general
+influence on the development of the species. Some kinds of
+butterflies, especially the little hairstreaks (Theclae), whose
+caterpillars feed on the trees, make their appearance only when
+the dry season is at its height. The land molluscs of the
+district are the only animals which aestivate; they are found in
+clusters, Bulimi and Helices, concealed in hollow trees, the
+mouths of their shells closed by a film of mucus. The fine
+weather breaks up often with great suddenness about the beginning
+of February. Violent squalls from the west or the opposite
+direction to the trade-wind then occur. They give very little
+warning, and the first generally catches the people unprepared.
+They fall in the night, and blowing directly into the harbour,
+with the first gust sweep all vessels from their anchorage; in a
+few minutes a mass of canoes, large and small, including
+schooners of fifty tons burthen, are clashing together, pell-
+mell, on the beach. I have reason to remember these storms, for I
+was once caught in onemyself, while crossing the river in an
+undecked boat about a day's journey from Santarem. They are
+accompanied with terrific electric explosions, the sharp claps of
+thunder falling almost simultaneously with the blinding flashes
+of lightning. Torrents of rain follow the first outbreak; the
+wind then gradually abates, and the rain subsides into a steady
+drizzle, which continues often for the greater part of the
+succeeding day.
+
+After a week or two of showery weather, the aspect of the country
+is completely changed. The parched ground in the neighbourhood of
+Santarem breaks out, so to speak, in a rash of greenery; the
+dusty, languishing trees gain, without having shed their old
+leaves, a new clothing of tender green foliage; a wonderful
+variety of quick-growing leguminous plants springs up; and leafy
+creepers overrun the ground, the bushes, and the trunks of trees.
+One is reminded of the sudden advent of spring after a few warm
+showers in northern climates; I was the more struck by it as
+nothing similar is witnessed in the virgin forests amongst which
+I had passed the four years previous to my stay in this part. The
+grass on the campos is renewed, and many of the campo trees,
+especially the myrtles, which grow abundantly in one portion of
+the district, begin to flower, attracting by the fragrance of
+their blossoms a great number and variety of insects, more
+particularly Coleoptera. Many kinds of birds; parrots, toucans,
+and barbets, which live habitually in the forest, then visit the
+open places.
+
+A few weeks of comparatively dry weather generally intervene in
+March, after a month or two of rain. The heaviest rains fall in
+April, May, and June; they come in a succession of showers, with
+sunny, gleamy weather in the intervals. June and July are the
+months when the leafy luxuriance of the campos, and the activity
+of life, are at their highest. Most birds have then completed
+their moulting, which extends over the period from February to
+May. The flowering shrubs are then mostly in bloom, and
+numberless kinds of Dipterous and Hymenopterous insects appear
+simultaneously with the flowers. This season might be considered
+the equivalent of summer in temperate climates, as the bursting
+forth of the foliage in February represents the spring; but under
+the equator there is not that simultaneous march in the annual
+life of animals and plants, which we see in high latitudes; some
+species, it is true, are dependent upon others in their
+periodical acts of life, and go hand-in-hand with them, but they
+are not all simultaneously and similarly affected by the physical
+changes of the seasons.
+
+I will now give an account of some of my favourite collecting
+places in the neighbourhood of Santarem, incorporating with the
+description a few of the more interesting observations made on
+the Natural History of the localities. To the west of the town
+there was a pleasant path along the beach to a little bay, called
+Mapiri, about five miles within the mouth of the Tapajos. The
+road was practicable only in the dry season. The river at
+Santarem rises on the average about thirty feet, varying in
+different years about ten feet, so that in the four months from
+April to July, the water comes up to the edge of the marginal
+belt of wood already spoken of. This Mapiri excursion was most
+pleasant and profitable in the months from January to March,
+before the rains became too continuous. The sandy beach beyond
+the town is very irregular, in some places forming long spits on
+which, when the east wind is blowing, the waves break in a line
+of foam-- at others, receding to shape out quiet little bays and
+pools.
+
+On the outskirts of the town a few scattered huts of Indians and
+coloured people are passed, prettily situated on the margin of
+the white beach, with a background of glorious foliage; the cabin
+of the pureblood Indian being distinguished from the mud hovels
+of the free negroes and mulattoes by its light construction, half
+of it being an open shed where the dusky tenants are seen at all
+hours of the day lounging in their open-meshed grass hammocks.
+About two miles on the road we come to a series of shallow pools,
+called the Laguinhos, which are connected with the river in the
+wet season, but separated from it by a high bank of sand topped
+with bushes at other times. There is a break here in the fringe
+of wood, and a glimpse is obtained of the grassy campo. When the
+waters have risen to the level of the pools, this place is
+frequented by many kinds of wading birds. Snow-white egrets of
+two species stand about the margins of the water, and dusky-
+striped herons may be seen half hidden under the shade of the
+bushes. The pools are covered with a small kind of waterlily, and
+surrounded by a dense thicket. Amongst the birds which inhabit
+this spot is the rosy-breasted Troupial (Trupialis Gulanensis), a
+bird resembling our starling in size and habits, and not unlike
+it in colour, with the exception of the rich rosy vest. The water
+at this time of the year overflows a large level tract of campo
+bordering the pools, and the Troupials come to feed on the larvae
+of insects which then abound in the moist soil.
+
+Beyond the Laguinhos there succeeds a tract of level beach
+covered with trees which form a beautiful grove. About the month
+of April, when the water rises to this level, the trees are
+covered with blossom, and a handsome orchid, an Epidendron with
+large white flowers, which clothes thickly the trunks, is
+profusely in bloom. Several kinds of kingfisher resort to the
+place. Four species may be seen within a small space-- the
+largest as big as a crow, of a mottled-grey hue, and with an
+enormous beak; the smallest not larger than a sparrow. The large
+one makes its nest in clay cliffs, three or four miles distant
+from this place. None of the kingfishers are so brilliant in
+colour as our English species. The blossoms on the trees attract
+two or three species of hummingbirds, the most conspicuous of
+which is a large swallow-tailed kind (Eupetomena macroura), with
+a brilliant livery of emerald green and steel blue. I noticed
+that it did not remain so long poised in the air before the
+flowers as the other smaller species; it perched more frequently,
+and sometimes darted after small insects on the wing.
+
+Emerging from the grove there is a long stretch of sandy beach;
+the land is high and rocky, and the belt of wood which skirts the
+river banks is much broader than it is elsewhere. At length,
+after rounding a projecting bluff, the bay at Mapiri is reached.
+The river view is characteristic of the Tapajos; the shores are
+wooded, and on the opposite side is a line of clay cliffs with
+hills in the background clothed with a rolling forest. A long
+spit of sand extends into mid-river, beyond which is an immense
+expanse of dark water, the further shore of the Tapajos being
+barely visible as a thin grey line of trees on the horizon. The
+transparency of air and water in the dry season when the brisk
+east wind is blowing, and the sharpness of outline of hills,
+woods, and sandy beaches, give a great charm to this spot.
+
+While resting in the shade during the great heat of the early
+hours of afternoon, I used to find amusement in watching the
+proceedings of the sand wasps. A small pale green kind of Bembex
+(Bembex ciliata), was plentiful near the bay of Mapiri. When they
+are at work, a number of little jets of sand are seen shooting
+over the surface of the sloping bank. The little miners excavate
+with their forefeet, which are strongly built and furnished with
+a fringe of stiff bristles; they work with wonderful rapidity,
+and the sand thrown out beneath their bodies issues in continuous
+streams. They are solitary wasps, each female working on her own
+account. After making a gallery two or three inches in length in
+a slanting direction from the surface, the owner backs out and
+takes a few turns round the orifice apparently to see whether it
+is well made, but in reality, I believe, to take note of the
+locality, that she may find it again. This done, the busy
+workwoman flies away-- but returns, after an absence varying in
+different cases from a few minutes to an hour or more, with a fly
+in her grasp, with which she re-enters her mine. On again
+emerging, the entrance is carefully closed with sand. During this
+interval she has laid an egg on the body of the fly which she had
+previously benumbed with her sting, and which is to serve as food
+for the soft, footless grub soon to be hatched from the egg. From
+what I could make out, the Bembex makes a fresh excavation for
+every egg to be deposited; at least in two or three of the
+galleries which I opened there was only one fly enclosed.
+
+I have said that the Bembex on leaving her mine took note of the
+locality; this seemed to be the explanation of the short delay
+previous to her taking flight; on rising in the air also the
+insects generally flew round over the place before making
+straight off. Another nearly allied but much larger species, the
+Monedula signata, whose habits I observed on the banks of the
+Upper Amazons, sometimes excavates its mine solitarily on sand-
+banks recently laid bare in the middle of the river, and closes
+the orifice before going in search of prey. In these cases the
+insect has to make a journey of at least half a mile to procure
+the kind of fly, the Motuca (Hadrus lepidotus), with which it
+provisions its cell. I often noticed it to take a few turns in
+the air round the place before starting; on its return it made
+without hesitation straight for the closed mouth of the mine. I
+was convinced that the insects noted the bearings of their nests
+and the direction they took in flying from them. The proceeding
+in this and similar cases (I have read of something analogous
+having been noticed in hive bees) seems to be a mental act of the
+same nature as that which takes place in ourselves when
+recognising a locality. The senses, however, must be immeasurably
+more keen and the mental operation much more certain in them than
+it is in man, for to my eye there was absolutely no landmark on
+the even surface of sand which could serve as guide, and the
+borders of the forest were not nearer than half a mile. The
+action of the wasp would be said to be instinctive; but it seems
+plain that the instinct is no mysterious and unintelligible
+agent, but a mental process in each individual, differing from
+the same in man only by its unerring certainty. The mind of the
+insect appears to be so constituted that the impression of
+external objects or the want felt, causes it to act with a
+precision which seems to us like that of a machine constructed to
+move in a certain given way. I have noticed in Indian boys a
+sense of locality almost as keen as that possessed by the sand-
+wasp. An old Portuguese and myself, accompanied by a young lad
+about ten years of age, were once lost in the forest in a most
+solitary place on the banks of the main river. Our case seemed
+hopeless, and it did not for some time occur to us to consult our
+little companion, who had been playing with his bow and arrow all
+the way while we were hunting, apparently taking no note of the
+route. When asked, however, he pointed out, in a moment, the
+right direction of our canoe. He could not explain how he knew; I
+believe he had noted the course we had taken almost
+unconsciously; the sense of locality in his case seemed
+instinctive.
+
+The Monedula signata is a good friend to travellers in those
+parts of the Amazons which are infested by the blood-thirsty
+Motuca. I first noticed its habit of preying on this fly one day
+when we landed to make our fire and dine on the borders of the
+forest adjoining a sand-bank. The insect is as large as a hornet,
+and has a most waspish appearance. I was rather startled when one
+out of the flock which was hovering about us flew straight at my
+face-- it had espied a Motuca on my neck and was thus pouncing
+upon it. It seizes the fly not with its jaws, but with its fore
+and middle feet, and carries it off tightly held to its breast.
+Wherever the traveller lands on the Upper Amazons in the
+neighbourhood of a sand-bank he is sure to be attended by one or
+more of these useful vermin-killers.
+
+The bay of Mapiri was the limit of my day excursions by the
+river-side to the west of Santarem. A person may travel, however,
+on foot, as Indians frequently do, in the dry season for fifty or
+sixty miles along the broad clean sandy beaches of the Tapajos.
+The only obstacles are the rivulets, most of which are fordable
+when the waters are low. To the east my rambles extended to the
+banks of the Mahica inlet. This enters the Amazons about three
+miles below Santarem, where the clear stream of the Tapajos
+begins to be discoloured by the turbid waters of the main river.
+The Mahica has a broad margin of rich level pasture, limited on
+each side by the straight, tall hedge of forest. On the Santarem
+side it is skirted by high wooded ridges. A landscape of this
+description always produced in me an impression of sadness and
+loneliness which the luxuriant virgin forests that closely hedge
+in most of the by-waters of the Amazons never created. The
+pastures are destitute of flowers, and also of animal life, with
+the exception of a few small plain-coloured birds and solitary
+Caracara eagles whining from the topmost branches of dead trees
+on the forest borders. A few settlers have built their palm-
+thatched and mud-walled huts on the banks of the Mahica, and
+occupy themselves chiefly in tending small herds of cattle. They
+seemed to be all wretchedly poor. The oxen however, though small,
+were sleek and fat, and the district most promising for
+agricultural and pastoral employments. In the wet season the
+waters gradually rise and cover the meadows, but there is plenty
+of room for the removal of the cattle to higher ground. The lazy
+and ignorant people seem totally unable to profit by these
+advantages. The houses have no gardens or plantations near them.
+I was told it was useless to plant anything, because the cattle
+devoured the young shoots. In this country, grazing and planting
+are very rarely carried on together, for the people seem to have
+no notion of enclosing patches of ground for cultivation. They
+say it is too much trouble to make enclosures. The construction
+of a durable fence is certainly a difficult matter, for it is
+only two or three kinds of tree which will serve the purpose in
+being free from the attacks of insects, and these are scattered
+far and wide through the woods.
+
+Although the meadows were unproductive ground to a naturalist,
+the woods on their borders teemed with life; the number and
+variety of curious insects of all orders which occurred here was
+quite wonderful. The belt of forest was intersected by numerous
+pathways leading from one settler's house to another. The ground
+was moist, but the trees were not so lofty or their crowns so
+densely packed together as in other parts; the sun's light and
+heat, therefore, had freer access to the soil, and the underwood
+was much more diversified than in the virgin forest. I never saw
+so many kinds of dwarf palms together as here; pretty miniature
+species; some not more than five feet high, and bearing little
+clusters of round fruit not larger than a good bunch of currants.
+A few of the forest trees had the size and strongly-branched
+figures of our oaks, and a similar bark. One noble palm grew here
+in great abundance, and gave a distinctive character to the
+district. This was the Oenocarpus distichus, one of the kinds
+called Bacaba by the natives. It grows to a height of forty to
+fifty feet. The crown is of a lustrous dark-green colour, and of
+a singularly flattened or compressed shape, the leaves being
+arranged on each side in nearly the same plane. When I first saw
+this tree on the campos, where the east wind blows with great
+force night and day for several months, I thought the shape of
+the crown was due to the leaves being prevented from radiating
+equally by the constant action of the breezes. But the plane of
+growth is not always in the direction of the wind, and the crown
+has the same shape when the tree grows in the sheltered woods.
+The fruit of this fine palm ripens towards the end of the year,
+and is much esteemed by the natives, who manufacture a pleasant
+drink from it similar to the assai described in a former chapter,
+by rubbing off the coat of pulp from the nuts, and mixing it with
+water. A bunch of fruit weighs thirty or forty pounds. The
+beverage has a milky appearance, and an agreeable nutty flavour.
+The tree is very difficult to climb, on account of the smoothness
+of its stein; consequently the natives, whenever they want a
+bunch of fruit for a bowl of Bacaba, cut down and thus destroy a
+tree which has taken a score or two of years to grow, in order to
+get at it.
+
+In the lower part of the Mahica woods, towards the river, there
+is a bed of stiff white clay, which supplies the people of
+Santarem with material for the manufacture of coarse pottery and
+cooking utensils: all the kettles, saucepans, mandioca ovens,
+coffee-pots, washing-vessels, and so forth, of the poorer
+classes, throughout the country, are made of this same plastic
+clay, which occurs at short intervals over the whole surface of
+the, Amazons valley, from the neighbourhood of Para to within the
+Peruvian borders, and forms part of the great Tabatinga marl
+deposit. To enable the vessels to stand the fire, the bark of a
+certain tree, called Caraipe, is burned and mixed with the clay,
+which gives tenacity to the ware. Caraipe is an article of
+commerce-- being sold and packed in baskets at the shops in most
+of the towns. The shallow pits, excavated in the marly soil at
+Mahica, were very attractive to many kinds of mason bees and
+wasps, who made use of the clay to build their nests with--so we
+have here another example of the curious analogy that exists
+between the arts of insects and those of man. I spent many an
+hour watching their proceedings; a short account of the habits of
+some of these busy creatures may be interesting.
+
+The most conspicuous was a large yellow and black wasp, with a
+remarkably long and narrow waist, the Pelopaeus fistularis. This
+species collected the clay in little round pellets, which it
+carried off, after rolling them into a convenient shape, in its
+mouth. It came straight to the pit with a loud hum, and, on
+alighting, lost not a moment in beginning to work-- finishing the
+kneading of its little load in two or three minutes. The nest of
+this wasp is shaped like a pouch, two inches in length, and is
+attached to a branch or other projecting object. One of these
+restless artificers once began to build on the handle of a chest
+in the cabin of my canoe, when we were stationary at a place for
+several days. It was so intent on its work that it allowed me to
+inspect the movements of its mouth with a lens while it was
+laying on the mortar. Every fresh pellet was brought in with a
+triumphant song, which changed to a cheerful busy hum when it
+alighted and began to work. The little ball of moist clay was
+laid on the edge of the cell, and then spread out around the
+circular rim by means of the lower lip guided by the mandibles.
+The insect placed itself astride over the rim to work, and, on
+finishing each addition to the structure, took a turn round,
+patting the sides with its feet inside and out before flying off
+to gather a fresh pellet. It worked only in sunny weather, and
+the previous layer was sometimes not quite dry when the new
+coating was added. The whole structure takes about a week to
+complete. I left the place before the gay little builder had
+quite finished her task; she did not accompany the canoe,
+although we moved along the bank of the river very slowly. On
+opening closed nests of this species, which are common in the
+neighbourhood of Mahica, I always found them to be stocked with
+small spiders of the genus Gastracantha, in the usual half-dead
+state to which the mother wasps reduce the insects which are to
+serve as food for their progeny.
+
+Besides the Pelopaeus, there were three or four kinds of
+Trypoxylon, a genus also found in Europe, and which some
+naturalists have supposed to be parasitic, because the legs are
+not furnished with the usual row of strong bristles for digging,
+characteristic of the family to which it belongs. The species of
+Trypoxylon, however, are all building wasps; two of them which I
+observed (T. albitarse and an undescribed species) provision
+their nests with spiders, a third (T. aurifrons) with small
+caterpillars. Their habits are similar to those of the Pelopaeus-
+- namely, they carry off the clay in their mandibles, and have a
+different song when they hasten away with the burden to that
+which they sing whilst at work. Trypoxylon albitarse, which is a
+large black kind, three-quarters of an inch in length, makes a
+tremendous fuss while building its cell. It often chooses the
+walls or doors of chambers for this purpose, and when two or
+three are at work in the same place, their loud humming keeps the
+house in an uproar. The cell is a tubular structure about three
+inches in length. T. aurifrons, a much smaller species, makes a
+neat little nest shaped like a carafe, building rows of them
+together in the corners of verandahs.
+
+But the most numerous and interesting of the clay artificers are
+the workers of a species of social bee, the Melipona fasciculata.
+The Meliponae in tropical America take the place of the true
+Apides, to which the European hive-bee belongs, and which are
+here unknown; they are generally much smaller insects than the
+hive-bees and have no sting. The M. fasciculata is about a third
+shorter than the Apis mellifica: its colonies are composed of an
+immense number of individuals; the workers are generally seen
+collecting pollen in the same way as other bees, but great
+numbers are employed gathering clay. The rapidity and precision
+of their movements while thus engaged are wonderful. They first
+scrape the clay with their jaws; the small portions gathered are
+then cleared by the anterior paws and passed to the second pair
+of feet, which, in their turn, convey them to the large foliated
+expansions of the hind shanks which are adapted normally in bees,
+as every one knows, for the collection of pollen. The middle feet
+pat the growing pellets of mortar on the hind legs to keep them
+in a compact shape as the particles are successively added. The
+little hodsmen soon have as much as they can carry, and they then
+fly off. I was for some time puzzled to know what the bees did
+with the clay; but I had afterwards plenty of opportunity for
+ascertaining. They construct their combs in any suitable crevice
+in trunks of trees or perpendicular banks, and the clay is
+required to build up a wall so as to close the gap, with the
+exception of a small orifice for their own entrance and exit.
+Most kinds of Meliponae are in this way masons as well as workers
+in wax, and pollen-gatherers. One little species (undescribed)
+not more than two lines long, builds a neat tubular gallery of
+clay, kneaded with some viscid substance, outside the entrance to
+its hive, besides blocking up the crevice in the tree within
+which it is situated. The mouth of the tube is trumpet-shaped,
+and at the entrance a number of pigmy bees are always stationed,
+apparently acting as the sentinels.
+
+A hive of the Melipona fasciculata, which I saw opened, contained
+about two quarts of pleasant-tasting liquid honey. The bees, as
+already remarked, have no sting, but they bite furiously when
+their colonies are disturbed. The Indian who plundered the hive
+was completely covered by them; they took a particular fancy to
+the hair of his head, and fastened on it by hundreds. I found
+forty-five species of these bees in different parts of the
+country; the largest was half an inch in length; the smallest
+were extremely minute, some kinds being not more than one-twelfth
+of an inch in size. These tiny fellows are often very troublesome
+in the woods, on account of their familiarity, for they settle on
+one's face and hands, and, in crawling about, get into the eyes
+and mouth, or up the nostrils.
+
+The broad expansion of the hind shanks of bees is applied in some
+species to other uses besides the conveyance of clay and pollen.
+The female of the handsome golden and black Euglossa Surinamensis
+has this palette of very large size. This species builds its
+solitary nest also in crevices of walls or trees-- but it closes
+up the chink with fragments of dried leaves and sticks cemented
+together, instead of clay. It visits the caju trees, and gathers
+with its hind legs a small quantity of the gum which exudes from
+their trunks. To this it adds the other materials required from
+the neighbouring bushes, and when laden flies off to its nest.
+
+To the south my rambles never extended further than the banks of
+the Irura, a stream which rises amongst the hills already spoken
+of, and running through a broad valley, wooded along the margins
+of the watercourses, falls into the Tapajos, at the head of the
+bay of Mapiri. All beyond, as before remarked, is terra incognita
+to the inhabitants of Santarem. The Brazilian settlers on the
+banks of the Amazons seem to have no taste for explorations by
+land, and I could find no person willing to accompany me on an
+excursion further towards the interior. Such a journey would be
+exceedingly difficult in this country, even if men could be
+obtained willing to undertake it. Besides, there were reports of
+a settlement of fierce runaway negroes on the Serra de Mururaru,
+and it was considered unsafe to go far in that direction, except
+with a large armed party.
+
+I visited the banks of the Irura and the rich woods accompanying
+it, and two other streams in the same neighbourhood, one called
+the Panema, and the other the Urumari, once or twice a week
+during the whole time of my residence in Santarem, and made large
+collections of their natural productions. These forest brooks,
+with their clear, cold waters brawling over their sandy or pebbly
+beds through wild tropical glens, always had a great charm for
+me. The beauty of the moist, cool, and luxuriant glades was
+heightened by the contrast they afforded to the sterile country
+around them. The bare or scantily wooded hills which surround the
+valley are parched by the rays of the vertical sun. One of them,
+the Pico do Irura, forms a nearly perfect cone, rising from a
+small grassy plain to a height of 500 or 600 feet, and its ascent
+is excessively fatiguing after the long walk from Santarem over
+the campos. I tried it one day, but did not reach the summit. A
+dense growth of coarse grasses clothed the steep sides of the
+hill, with here and there a stunted tree of kinds found in the
+plain beneath. In bared places, a red crumbly soil is exposed;
+and in one part a mass of rock, which appeared to me, from its
+compact texture and the absence of stratification, to be
+porphyritic; but I am not geologically sufficient to pronounce on
+such questions. Mr. Wallace states that he found fragments of
+scoriae, and believes the hill to be a volcanic cone. To the
+south and east of this isolated peak, the elongated ridges or
+table-topped hills attain a somewhat greater elevation.
+
+The forest in the valley is limited to a tract a few hundred
+yards in width on each side the different streams; in places
+where these run along the bases of the hills, the hillsides
+facing the water are also richly wooded, although their opposite
+declivities are bare or nearly so. The trees are lofty and of
+great variety; amongst them are colossal examples of the Brazil
+nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), and the Pikia. This latter bears
+a large eatable fruit, curious in having a hollow chamber between
+the pulp and the kernel, beset with hard spines which produce
+serious wounds if they enter the skin. The eatable part appeared
+to me not much more palatable than a raw potato; but the
+inhabitants of Santarem are very fond of it, and undertake the
+most toilsome journeys on foot to gather a basketful. The tree
+which yields the tonka bean (Dipteryx odorata), used in Europe
+for scenting snuff, is also of frequent occurrence here. It grows
+to an immense height, and the fruit, which, although a legume, is
+of a rounded shape, and has but one seed, can be gathered only
+when it falls to the ground. A considerable quantity (from 1000
+to 3000 pounds) is exported annually from Santarem, the produce
+of the whole region of the Tapajos. An endless diversity of trees
+and shrubs, some beautiful in flower and foliage, others bearing
+curious fruits, grow in this matted wilderness. It would be
+tedious to enumerate many of them. I was much struck with the
+variety of trees with large and diversely-shaped fruits growing
+out of the trunk and branches, some within a few inches of the
+ground, like the cacao. Most of them are called by the natives
+Cupu, and the trees are of inconsiderable height. One of them
+called Cupu-ai bears a fruit of elliptical shape and of a dingy
+earthen colour six or seven inches long, the shell of which is
+woody and thin, and contains a small number of seeds loosely
+enveloped in a juicy pulp of very pleasant flavour. The fruits
+hang like clayey ants'-nests from the branches. Another kind more
+nearly resembles the cacao; this is shaped something like the
+cucumber, and has a green ribbed husk. It bears the name of Cacao
+de macaco, or monkey's chocolate, but the seeds are smaller than
+those of the common cacao. I tried once or twice to make
+chocolate from them. They contain plenty of oil of similar
+fragrance to that of the ordinary cacao-nut, and make up very
+well into paste; but the beverage has a repulsive clayey colour
+and an inferior flavour.
+
+My excursions to the Irura had always a picnic character. A few
+rude huts are scattered through the valley, but they are tenanted
+only for a few days in the year, when their owners come to gather
+and roast the mandioca of their small clearings. We used
+generally to take with us two boys--one negro, the other Indian--
+to carry our provisions for the day; a few pounds of beef or
+dried fish, farinha and bananas, with plates, and a kettle for
+cooking. Jose carried the guns, ammunition and game-bags, and I
+the apparatus for entomologising--the insect net, a large
+leathern bag with compartments for corked boxes, phials, glass
+tubes, and so forth. It was our custom to start soon after
+sunrise, when the walk over the campos was cool and pleasant, the
+sky without a cloud, and the grass wet with dew. The paths are
+mere faint tracks; in our early excursions it was difficult to
+avoid missing our way. We were once completely lost, and wandered
+about for several hours over the scorching soil without
+recovering the road. A fine view is obtained of the country from
+the rising ground about half way across the waste. Thence to the
+bottom of the valley is a long, gentle, grassy slope, bare of
+trees. The strangely-shaped hills; the forest at their feet,
+richly varied with palms; the bay of Mapiri on the right, with
+the dark waters of the Tapajos and its white glistening shores,
+are all spread out before one, as if depicted on canvas. The
+extreme transparency of the atmosphere gives to all parts of the
+landscape such clearness of outline that the idea of distance is
+destroyed, and one fancies the whole to be almost within reach of
+the hand. Descending into the valley, a small brook has to be
+crossed, and then half a mile of sandy plain, whose vegetation
+wears a peculiar aspect, owing to the predominance of a stemless
+palm, the Curua (Attalea spectabilis), whose large, beautifully
+pinnated, rigid leaves rise directly from the soil. The fruit of
+this species is similar to the coconut, containing milk in the
+interior of the kernel, but it is much inferior to it in size.
+Here, and indeed all along the road, we saw, on most days in the
+wet season, tracks of the jaguar. We never, however, met with the
+animal, although we sometimes heard his loud "hough" in the night
+while lying in our hammocks at home, in Santarem, and knew he
+must he lurking somewhere near us.
+
+My best hunting ground was a part of the valley sheltered on one
+side by a steep hill whose declivity, like the swampy valley
+beneath, was clothed with magnificent forest. We used to make our
+halt in a small cleared place, tolerably free from ants and close
+to the water. Here we assembled after our toilsome morning's hunt
+in different directions through the woods, took our well-earned
+meal on the ground--two broad leaves of the wild banana serving
+us for a tablecloth--and rested for a couple of hours during the
+great heat of the afternoon. The diversity of animal productions
+was as wonderful as that of the vegetable forms in this rich
+locality. It was pleasant to lie down during the hottest part of
+the day, when my people lay asleep, and watch the movements of
+animals. Sometimes a troop of Anus (Crotophaga), a glossy black-
+plumaged bird, which lives in small societies in grassy places,
+would come in from the campos, one by one, calling to each other
+as they moved from tree to tree. Or a Toucan (Rhamphastos ariel)
+silently hopped or ran along and up the branches, peeping into
+chinks and crevices. Notes of solitary birds resounded from a
+distance through the wilderness. Occasionally a sulky Trogon
+would be seen, with its brilliant green back and rose-coloured
+breast, perched for an hour without moving on a low branch. A
+number of large, fat lizards two feet long, of a kind called by
+the natives Jacuaru (Teius teguexim) were always observed in the
+still hours of midday scampering with great clatter over the dead
+leaves, apparently in chase of each other. The fat of this bulky
+lizard is much prized by the natives, who apply it as a poultice
+to draw palm spines or even grains of shot from the flesh. Other
+lizards of repulsive aspect, about three feet in length when full
+grown, splashed about and swam in the water, sometimes emerging
+to crawl into hollow trees on the banks of the stream, where I
+once found a female and a nest of eggs. The lazy flapping flight
+of large blue and black morpho butterflies high in the air, the
+hum of insects, and many inanimate sounds, contributed their
+share to the total impression this strange solitude produced.
+Heavy fruits from the crowns of trees which were mingled together
+at a giddy height overhead, fell now and then with a startling
+"plop" into the water. The breeze, not felt below, stirred in the
+topmost branches, setting the twisted and looped sipos in motion,
+which creaked and groaned in a great variety of notes. To these
+noises were added the monotonous ripple of the brook, which had
+its little cascade at every score or two yards of its course.
+
+We frequently fell in with an old Indian woman, named Cecilia,
+who had a small clearing in the woods. She had the reputation of
+being a witch (feiticeira), and I found, on talking with her,
+that she prided herself on her knowledge of the black art. Her
+slightly curled hair showed that she was not a pureblood Indian--
+I was told her father was a dark mulatto. She was always very
+civil to our party, showing us the best paths, explaining the
+virtues and uses of different plants, and so forth. I was much
+amused at the accounts she gave of the place. Her solitary life
+and the gloom of the woods seemed to have filled her with
+superstitious fancies. She said gold was contained in the bed of
+the brook, and that the murmur of the water over the little
+cascades was the voice of the "water-mother" revealing the hidden
+treasure. A narrow pass between two hillsides was the portao or
+gate, and all within, along the wooded banks of the stream, was
+enchanted ground. The hill underneath which we were encamped was
+the enchanter's abode, and she gravely told us she often had long
+conversations with him. These myths were of her own invention,
+and in the same way an endless number of other similar ones have
+originated in the childish imaginations of the poor Indian and
+half-breed inhabitants of different parts of the country. It is
+to be remarked, however, that the Indian men all become sceptics
+after a little intercourse with the whites. The witchcraft of
+poor Cecilia was of a very weak quality. It consisted of throwing
+pinches of powdered bark of a certain tree, and other substances,
+into the fire while muttering a spell--a prayer repeated
+backwards--and adding the name of the person on whom she wished
+the incantation to operate. Some of the feiticeiras, however,
+play more dangerous tricks than this harmless mummery. They are
+acquainted with many poisonous plants, and although they seldom
+have the courage to administer a fatal dose, sometimes contrive
+to convey to their victim sufficient to cause serious illness.
+The motive by which they are actuated is usually jealousy of
+other women in love matters. While I resided in Santarem, a case
+of what was called witchcraft was tried by the sub-delegado, in
+which a highly respectable white lady was the complainant. It
+appeared that some feiticeira had sprinkled a quantity of the
+acrid juice of a large arum on her linen as it was hanging out to
+dry, and it was thought this had caused a serious eruption under
+which the lady suffered.
+
+I seldom met with any of the larger animals in these excursions.
+We never saw a mammal of any kind on the campos; but tracks of
+three species were seen occasionally besides those of the jaguar;
+these belonged to a small tiger cat, a deer, and an opossum, all
+of which animals must have been very rare, and probably nocturnal
+in their habits, with the exception of the deer. I saw in the
+woods, on one occasion, a small flock of monkeys, and once had an
+opportunity of watching the movements of a sloth. The latter was
+of the kind called by Cuvier Bradypus tridactylus, which is
+clothed with shaggy grey hair. The natives call it, in the Tupi
+language, Al ybyrete (in Portuguese, Preguica da terra firme), or
+sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the Bradypus
+infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny stripe between the
+shoulders, and is called Al Ygapo (Preguica das vargens), or
+sloth of the flooded lands. Some travellers in South America have
+described the sloth as very nimble in its native woods, and have
+disputed the justness of the name which has been bestowed upon
+it. The inhabitants of the Amazons region, however, both Indians
+and descendants of the Portuguese, hold to the common opinion,
+and consider the sloth as the type of laziness. It is very common
+for one native to call another, in reproaching him for idleness,
+"bicho do Embauba" (beast of the Cecropia tree); the leaves of
+the Cecropia being the food of the sloth. It is a strange sight
+to watch the uncouth creature, fit production of these silent
+shades, lazily moving from branch to branch. Every movement
+betrays, not indolence exactly, but extreme caution. He never
+looses his hold from one branch without first securing himself to
+the next, and when he does not immediately find a bough to grasp
+with the rigid hooks into which his paws are so curiously
+transformed, he raises his body, supported on his hind legs, and
+claws around in search of a fresh foothold. After watching the
+animal for about half an hour I gave him a charge of shot. He
+fell with a terrific crash, but caught a bough, in his descent,
+with his powerful claws, and remained suspended. Our Indian lad
+tried to climb the tree, but was driven back by swarms of
+stinging ants; the poor little fellow slid down in a sad
+predicament, and plunged into the brook to free himself. Two days
+afterwards I found the body of the sloth on the ground, the
+animal having dropped on the relaxation of the muscles a few
+hours after death. In one of our voyages, Mr. Wallace and I saw a
+sloth (B. infuscatus) swimming across a river, at a place where
+it was probably 300 yards broad. I believe it is not generally
+known that this animal takes to the water. Our men caught the
+beast, cooked, and ate him.
+
+In returning from these trips we were sometimes benighted on the
+campos. We did not care for this on moonlit nights, when there
+was no danger of losing the path. The great heat felt in the
+middle hours of the day is much mitigated by four o'clock in the
+afternoon; a few birds then make their appearance; small flocks
+of ground doves run about the stony hillocks parrots pass over
+and sometimes settle in the ilhas; pretty little finches of
+several species, especially one kind, streaked with olive-brown
+and yellow, and somewhat resembling our yellowhammer, but I
+believe not belonging to the same genus, hop about the grass,
+enlivening the place with a few musical notes. The Carashue
+(Mimus) also then resumes its mellow, blackbird-like song; and
+two or three species of hummingbird, none of which, however, are
+peculiar to the district, flit about from tree to tree. On the
+other hand, the little blue and yellow-striped lizards, which
+abound amongst the herbage during the scorching heats of midday,
+retreat towards this hour to their hiding-places, together with
+the day-flying insects and the numerous campo butterflies. Some
+of these latter resemble greatly our English species found in
+heathy places, namely, a fritillary, Argynnis (Euptoieta)
+Hegesia, and two smaller kinds, which are deceptively like the
+little Nemeobius Lucina. After sunset, the air becomes
+delightfully cool and fragrant with the aroma of fruits and
+flowers. The nocturnal animals then come forth. A monstrous hairy
+spider, five inches in expanse, of a brown colour with yellowish
+lines along its stout legs--which is very common here, inhabiting
+broad tubular galleries smoothly lined with silken web--may be
+then caught on the watch at the mouth of its burrow. It is only
+seen at night, and I think does not wander far from its den; the
+gallery is about two inches in diameter and runs in a slanting
+direction, about two feet from the surface of the soil.
+
+As soon as it is night, swarms of goatsuckers suddenly make their
+appearance, wheeling about in a noiseless, ghostly manner, in
+chase of night-flying insects. They sometimes descend and settle
+on a low branch, or even on the pathway close to where one is
+walking, and then squatting down on their heels, are difficult to
+distinguish from the surrounding soil. One kind has a long forked
+tail. In the daytime they are concealed in the wooded ilhas,
+where I very often saw them crouched and sleeping on the ground
+in the dense shade. They make no nest, but lay their eggs on the
+bare ground. Their breeding time is in the rainy season, and
+fresh eggs are found from December to June. Later in the evening,
+the singular notes of the goatsuckers are heard, one species
+crying Quao, Quao, another Chuck-cococao; and these are repeated
+at intervals far into the night in the most monotonous manner. A
+great number of toads are seen on the bare sandy pathways soon
+after sunset. One of them was quite a colossus, about seven
+inches in length and three in height. This big fellow would never
+move out of the way until we were close to him. If we jerked him
+out of the path with a stick, he would slowly recover himself,
+and then turn round to have a good impudent stare. I have counted
+as many as thirty of these monsters within a distance of half a
+mile.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS
+
+Preparations for Voyage-First Day's Sail--Loss of Boat--Altar de
+Chao--Modes of Obtaining Fish--Difficulties with Crew--Arrival at
+Aveyros--Excursions in the Neighbourhood--White Cebus, and Habits
+and Dispositions of Cebi Monkeys--Tame Parrot--Missionary
+Settlement--Entering the River Cupari--Adventure with Anaconda--
+Smoke-dried Monkey--Boa-constrictor--Village of Mundurucu
+Indians, and Incursion of a Wild Tribe--Falls of the Cupari--
+Hyacinthine Macaw--Re-emerge into the broad Tapajos--Descent of
+River to Santarem
+
+June, 1852--I will now proceed to relate the incidents of my
+principal excursion up the Tapajos, which I began to prepare for,
+after residing about six months at Santarem.
+
+I was obliged, this time, to travel in a vessel of my own; partly
+because trading canoes large enough to accommodate a Naturalist
+very seldom pass between Santarem and the thinly-peopled
+settlements on the river, and partly because I wished to explore
+districts at my ease, far out of the ordinary track of traders. I
+soon found a suitable canoe; a two-masted cuberta, of about six
+tons' burthen, strongly built of Itauba or stonewood, a timber of
+which all the best vessels in the Amazons country are
+constructed, and said to be more durable than teak. This I hired
+of a merchant at the cheap rate of 500 reis, or about one
+shilling and twopence per day. I fitted up the cabin, which, as
+usual in canoes of this class, was a square structure with its
+floor above the waterline, as my sleeping and working apartment.
+My chests, filled with store-boxes and trays for specimens, were
+arranged on each side, and above them were shelves and pegs to
+hold my little stock of useful books, guns, and game bags, boards
+and materials for skinning and preserving animals, botanical
+press and papers, drying cages for insects. and birds and so
+forth. A rush mat was spread on the floor, and my rolled-up
+hammock, to be used only when sleeping ashore, served for a
+pillow. The arched covering over the hold in the fore part of the
+vessel contained, besides a sleeping place for the crew, my heavy
+chests, stock of salt provisions and groceries, and an assortment
+of goods wherewith to pay my way amongst the half-civilised or
+savage inhabitants of the interior. The goods consisted of
+cashaca, powder and shot, a few pieces of coarse, checked cotton
+cloth and prints, fish-hooks, axes, large knives, harpoons,
+arrowheads, looking-glasses, beads, and other small wares. Jose
+and myself were busy for many days arranging these matters. We
+had to salt the meat and grind a supply of coffee ourselves.
+Cooking utensils, crockery, water-jars, a set of useful
+carpenter's tools, and many other things had to be provided. We
+put all the groceries and other perishable articles in tin
+canisters and boxes, having found that this was the only way of
+preserving them from dampness and insects in this climate. When
+all was done, our canoe looked like a little floating workshop.
+
+I could get little information about the river, except vague
+accounts of the difficulty of the navigation, and the famito or
+hunger which reigned on its banks. As I have before mentioned, it
+is about 1000 miles in length, and flows from south to north; in
+magnitude it stands the sixth amongst the tributaries of the
+Amazons. It is navigable, however, by sailing vessels only for
+about 160 miles above Santarem. The hiring of men to navigate the
+vessel was our greatest trouble. Jose was to be my helmsman, and
+we thought three other hands would be the fewest with which we
+could venture. But all our endeavours to procure these were
+fruitless. Santarem is worse provided with Indian canoemen than
+any other town on the river. I found on applying to the tradesmen
+to whom I had brought letters of introduction and to the
+Brazilian authorities, that almost any favour would be sooner
+granted than the loan of hands. A stranger, however, is obliged
+to depend on them; for it is impossible to find an Indian or
+half-caste whom someone or other of the head-men do not claim as
+owing him money or labour. I was afraid at one time I should have
+been forced to abandon my project on this account. At length,
+after many rebuffs and disappointments, Jose contrived to engage
+one man, a mulatto, named Pinto, a native of the mining country
+of Interior Brazil, who knew the river well; and with these two I
+resolved to start, hoping to meet with others at the first
+village on the road.
+
+We left Santarem on the 8th of June. The waters were then at
+their highest point, and my canoe had been anchored close to the
+back door of our house. The morning was cool and a brisk wind
+blew, with which we sped rapidly past the white-washed houses and
+thatched Indian huts of the suburbs. The charming little bay of
+Mapiri was soon left behind; we then doubled Point Maria Josepha,
+a headland formed of high cliffs of Tabatinga clay, capped with
+forest. This forms the limit of the river view from Santarem, and
+here we had our last glimpse, at a distance of seven or eight
+miles, of the city, a bright line of tiny white buildings resting
+on the dark water. A stretch of wild, rocky, uninhabited coast
+was before us, and we were fairly within the Tapajos.
+
+Our course lay due west for about twenty miles. The wind
+increased as we neared Point Cururu, where the river bends from
+its northern course. A vast expanse of water here stretches to
+the west and south, and the waves, with a strong breeze, run very
+high. As we were doubling the Point, the cable which held our
+montaria in tow astern, parted, and in endeavouring to recover
+the boat, without which we knew it would be difficult to get
+ashore on many parts of the coast, we were very near capsizing.
+We tried to tack down the river; a vain attempt with a strong
+breeze and no current. Our ropes snapped, the sails flew to rags,
+and the vessel, which we now found was deficient in ballast,
+heeled over frightfully. Contrary to Jose's advice, I ran the
+cuberta into a little bay, thinking to cast anchor there and wait
+for the boat coming up with the wind; but the anchor dragged on
+the smooth sandy bottom, and the vessel went broadside on to the
+rocky beach. With a little dexterous management, but not until
+after we had sustained some severe bumps, we managed to get out
+of this difficulty, clearing the rocky point at a close shave
+with our jib-sail. Soon after, we drifted into the smooth water
+of a sheltered bay which leads to the charmingly situated village
+of Altar do Chao; and we were obliged to give up our attempt to
+recover the montaria.
+
+The little settlement, Altar de Chao (altar of the ground, or
+Earth altar), owes its singular name to the existence at the
+entrance to the harbour of one of those strange flat-topped hills
+which are so common in this part of the Amazons country, shaped
+like the high altar in Roman Catholic churches. It is an isolated
+one, and much lower in height than the similarly truncated hills
+and ridges near Almeyrim, being elevated probably not more than
+300 feet above the level of the river. It is bare of trees, but
+covered in places with a species of fern. At the head of the bay
+is an inner harbour, which communicates by a channel with a
+series of lakes lying in the valleys between hills, and
+stretching far into the interior of the land. The village is
+peopled almost entirely by semi-civilised Indians, to the number
+of sixty or seventy families; and the scattered houses are
+arranged in broad streets on a strip of greensward, at the foot
+of a high, gloriously-wooded ridge.
+
+I was so much pleased with the situation of this settlement, and
+the number of rare birds and insects which tenanted the forest,
+that I revisited it in the following year, and spent four months
+making collections. The village itself is a neglected, poverty-
+stricken place-- the governor (Captain of Trabalhadores, or
+Indian workmen) being an old, apathetic, half-breed, who had
+spent all his life here. The priest was a most profligate
+character; I seldom saw him sober; he was a white, however, and a
+man of good ability. I may as well mention here, that a moral and
+zealous priest is a great rarity in this province-- the only
+ministers of religion in the whole country who appeared sincere
+in their calling being the Bishop of Para and the Vicars of Ega
+on the Upper Amazons and Obydos. The houses in the village
+swarmed with vermin; bats in the thatch, fire-ants (formiga de
+fogo) under the floors; cockroaches and spiders on the walls.
+Very few of them had wooden doors and locks.
+
+Altar de Chao was originally a settlement of the aborigines, and
+was called Burari. The Indians were always hostile to the
+Portuguese, and during the disorders of 1835-6 joined the rebels
+in their attack on Santarem. Few of them escaped the subsequent
+slaughter, and for this reason there is now scarcely an old or
+middle-aged man in the place. As in all the semi-civilised
+villages, where the original orderly and industrious habits of
+the Indian have been lost without anything being learned from the
+whites to make amends, the inhabitants live in the greatest
+poverty. The scarcity of fish in the clear waters and rocky bays
+of the neighbourhood is no doubt partly the cause of the poverty
+and perennial hunger which reign here. When we arrived in the
+port, our canoe was crowded with the half-naked villagers--men,
+women, and children-- who came to beg each a piece of salt
+pirarucu "for the love of God." They are not quite so badly off
+in the dry season. The shallow lakes and bays then contain plenty
+of fish, and the boys and women go out at night to spear them by
+torchlight-- the torches being made of thin strips of green bark
+from the leaf-stalks of palms, tied in bundles. Many excellent
+kinds of fish are thus obtained; amongst them the Pescada, whose
+white and flaky flesh, when boiled, has the appearance and
+flavour of cod-fish; and the Tucunare (Cichla temensis), a
+handsome species, with a large prettily-coloured, eye-like spot
+on its tail. Many small Salmonidae are also met with, and a kind
+of sole, called Aramassa, which moves along the clear sandy
+bottom of the bay. At these times a species of sting-ray is
+common on the sloping beach, and bathers are frequently stung
+most severely by it. The weapon of this fish is a strong blade
+with jagged edges, about three inches long, growing from the side
+of the long fleshy tail. I once saw a woman wounded by it whilse
+bathing; she shrieked frightfully, and was obliged to be carried
+to her hammock, where she lay for a week in great pain; I have
+known strong men to be lamed for many months by the sting.
+
+There was a mode of taking fish here which I had not before seen
+employed, but found afterwards to be very common on the Tapajos.
+This is by using a poisonous liana called Timbo (Paullinia
+pinnata). It will act only in the still waters of creeks and
+pools. A few rods, a yard in length, are mashed and soaked in the
+water, which quickly becomes discoloured with the milky
+deleterious juice of the plant. In about half an hour all the
+smaller fishes over a rather wide space around the spot, rise to
+the surface floating on their sides, and with the gills wide
+open. Evidently,the poison acts  by suffocating the fishes--it
+spreads slowly in the water, and a very slight mixture seems
+sufficient to stupefy them. I was surprised, upon beating the
+water in places where no fishes were visible in the clear depths
+for many yards round, to find, sooner or later, sometimes twenty-
+four hours afterwards, a considerable number floating dead on the
+surface.
+
+The people occupy themselves the greater part of the year with
+their small plantations of mandioca. All the heavy work, such as
+felling and burning the timber, planting and weeding, is done in
+the plantation of each family by a congregation of neighbours,
+which they call a "pucherum"--a similar custom to the "bee" in
+the backwood settlements of North America. They make quite a
+holiday of each pucherum. When the invitation is issued, the
+family prepares a great quantity of fermented drink, called in
+this part Taroba, made from soaked mandioca cakes, and porridge
+of Manicueira. This latter is a kind of sweet mandioca, very
+different from the Yuca of the Peruvians and Macasheira of the
+Brazilians (Manihot Aypi), having oblong juicy roots, which
+become very sweet a few days after they are gathered. With these
+simple provisions they regale their helpers. The work is
+certainly done, but after a very rude fashion; all become
+soddened with Taroba, and the day finishes often in a drunken
+brawl.
+
+The climate is rather more humid than that of Santarem. I suppose
+this is to be attributed to the neighbouring country being
+densely wooded instead of an open campo. In no part of the
+country did I enjoy more the moonlit nights than here, in the dry
+season. After the day's work was done, I used to go down to the
+shores of the bay, and lie at full length on the cool sand for
+two or three hours before bedtime. The soft pale light, resting
+on broad sandy beaches and palm-thatched huts, reproduced the
+effect of a mid-winter scene in the cold north when a coating of
+snow lies on the landscape. A heavy shower falls about once a
+week, and the shrubby vegetation never becomes parched as at
+Santarem. Between the rains, the heat and dryness increase from
+day to day-- the weather on the first day after the rain is
+gleamy, with intervals of melting sunshine and passing clouds;
+the next day is rather drier, and the east wind begins to blow;
+then follow days of cloudless sky, with gradually increasing
+strength of breeze. When this has continued about a week, a light
+mistiness begins to gather about the horizon; clouds are formed;
+grumbling thunder is heard; and then, generally in the night-
+time, down falls the refreshing rain. The sudden chill caused by
+the rains produces colds, which are accompanied by the same
+symptoms as in our own climate; with this exception, the place is
+very healthy.
+
+June 17th--The two young men returned without meeting with my
+montaria, and I found it impossible here to buy a new one.
+Captain Thomas could find me only one hand. This was a blunt-
+spoken but willing young Indian, named Manoel. He came on board
+this morning at eight o'clock, and we then got up our anchor and
+resumed our voyage.
+
+The wind was light and variable all day, and we made only about
+fifteen miles by seven o'clock in the evening. The coast formed a
+succession of long, shallow bays with sandy beaches, upon which
+the waves broke in a long line of surf. Ten miles above Altar de
+Chao is a conspicuous headland, called Point Cajetuba. During a
+lull of the wind, towards midday, we ran the cuberta aground in
+shallow water and waded ashore; but the woods were scarcely
+penetrable, and not a bird was to be seen. The only thing
+observed worthy of note was the quantity of drowned winged ants
+along the beach; they were all of one species, the terrible
+formiga de fogo (Myrmica saevis sima); the dead, or half-dead
+bodies of which were heaped up in a line an inch or two in height
+and breadth, the line continuing without interruption for miles
+at the edge of the water. The countless thousands had been
+doubtless cast into the river while flying during a sudden squall
+the night before, and afterwards, cast ashore by the waves. We
+found ourselves at seven o'clock near the mouth of a creek
+leading to a small lake, called Aramana-i, and the wind having
+died away, we anchored, guided by the lights ashore, near the
+house of a settler named Jeronymo, whom I knew, and who, soon
+after, showed us a snug little harbour where we could remain in
+safety for the night. The river here cannot be less than ten
+miles broad; it is quite clear of islands and free from shoals at
+this season of the year. The opposite coast appeared in the
+daytime as a long thin line of forest, with dim grey hills in the
+background.
+
+Today (19th) we had a good wind, which carried us to the mouth of
+a creek, culled Paquiatuba, where the "inspector" of the district
+lived, Senor Cypriano, for whom I had brought an order from
+Captain Thomas to supply me with another hand. We had great
+difficulty in finding a place to land. The coast in this part was
+a tract of level, densely-wooded country, through which flowed
+the winding rivulet, or creek, which gives its name to a small
+scattered settlement hidden in the wilderness; the hills here
+receding two or three miles towards the interior. A large portion
+of the forest was flooded, the trunks of the very high trees near
+the mouth of the creek standing eighteen feet deep in water. We
+lost two hours working our way with poles through the inundated
+woods in search of the port. Every inlet we tried ended in a
+labyrinth choked up with bushes, but we were at length guided to
+the right place by the crowing of cocks. On shouting for a
+montaria, an Indian boy made his appearance, guiding one through
+the gloomy thickets; but he was so alarmed, I suppose at the
+apparition of a strange-looking white man in spectacles bawling
+from the brow of the vessel, that he shot back quickly into the
+bushes. He returned when Manoel spoke, and we went ashore, the
+montaria winding along a gloomy overshadowed water-path made by
+cutting away the lower branches and underwood. The foot-road to
+the houses was a narrow, sandy alley, bordered by trees of
+stupendous height, overrun with creepers, and having an unusual
+number of long air-roots dangling from the epiphytes on their
+branches.
+
+After passing one low smoky little hut half-buried in foliage,
+the path branched off in various directions, and the boy having
+left us, we took the wrong turn. We were brought to a stand soon
+after by the barking of dogs; and on shouting, as is customary on
+approaching a dwelling, "O da casa!" (Oh of the house!) a dark-
+skinned native, a Cafuzo, with a most unpleasant expression of
+countenance, came forth through the tangled maze of bushes, armed
+with a long knife, with which he pretended to be whittling a
+stick. He directed us to the house of Cypriano, which was about a
+mile distant along another forest road. The circumstance of the
+Cafuzo coming out armed to receive visitors very much astonished
+my companions, who talked it over at every place we visited for
+several days afterwards, the freest and most unsuspecting welcome
+in these retired places being always counted upon by strangers.
+But, as Manoel remarked, the fellow may have been one of the
+unpardoned rebel leaders who had settled here after the recapture
+of Santarem in 1836, and lived in fear of being inquired for by
+the authorities of Santarem. After all our troubles we found
+Cypriano absent from home. His house was a large one, and full of
+people, old and young, women and children, all of whom were
+Indians or mamelucos. Several smaller huts surrounded the large
+dwelling, besides extensive open sheds containing mandioca ovens
+and rude wooden mills for grinding sugar-cane to make molasses.
+All the buildings were embosomed in trees: it would be scarcely
+possible to find a more retired nook, and an air of contentment
+was spread over the whole establishment. Cypriano's wife, a good-
+looking mameluco girl, was superintending the packing of farina.
+Two or three old women, seated on mats, were making baskets with
+narrow strips of bark from the leafstalks of palms, while others
+were occupied lining them with the broad leaves of a species of
+maranta, and filling them afterwards with farina, which was
+previously measured in a rude square vessel. It appeared that
+Senor Cypriano was a large producer of the article, selling 300
+baskets (sixty pounds' weight each) annually to Santarem traders.
+I was sorry we were unable to see him, but it was useless
+waiting, as we were told all the men were at present occupied in
+"pucherums," and he would be unable to give me the assistance I
+required. We returned to the canoe in the evening, and, after
+moving out into the river, anchored and slept.
+
+June 20th.--We had a light, baffling wind off shore all day on
+the 20th, and made but fourteen or fifteen miles by six p.m.
+when, the wind failing us, we anchored at the mouth of a narrow
+channel, called Tapaiuna, which runs between a large island and
+the mainland. About three o'clock we passed in front of Boim, a
+village on the opposite (western) coast. The breadth of the river
+here is six or seven miles-- a confused patch of white on the
+high land opposite was all we saw of the village, the separate
+houses being undistinguishable on account of the distance. The
+coast along which we sailed today is a continuation of the low
+and flooded land of Paquiatuba.
+
+June 21st-The next morning we sailed along the Tapaiuna channel,
+which is from 400 to 600 yards in breadth. We advanced but
+slowly, as the wind was generally dead against us, and stopped
+frequently to ramble ashore. Wherever the landing-place was
+sandy, it was impossible to walk about on account of the swarms
+of the terrible fire-ant, whose sting is likened by the
+Brazilians to the puncture of a red-hot needle. There was
+scarcely a square inch of ground free from them. About three p.m.
+we glided into a quiet, shady creek, on whose banks an
+industrious white settler had located himself. I resolved to pass
+the rest of the day and night here, and endeavour to obtain a
+fresh supply of provisions, our stock of salt beef being now
+nearly exhausted. The situation of the house was beautiful; the
+little harbour being gay with water plants, Pontederiae, now full
+of purple blossom, from which flocks of stilt-legged water-fowl
+started up screaming as we entered. The owner sent a boy with my
+men to show them the best place for fish up the creek, and in the
+course of the evening sold me a number of fowls, besides baskets
+of beans and farina. The result of the fishing was a good supply
+of Jandia, a handsome spotted Siluride fish, and Piranha, a kind
+of Salmon. Piranhas are of several kinds, many of which abound in
+the waters of the Tapajos. They are caught with almost any kind
+of bait, for their taste is indiscriminate and their appetite
+most ravenous. They often attack the legs of bathers near the
+shore, inflicting severe wounds with their strong triangular
+teeth. At Paquiatuba and this place, I added about twenty species
+of small fishes to my collection-- caught by hook and line, or
+with the hand in shallow pools under the shade of the forest.
+
+My men slept ashore, and upon the coming aboard in the morning,
+Pinto was drunk and insolent. According to Jose, who had kept
+himself sober, and was alarmed at the other's violent conduct,
+the owner of the house and Pinto had spent the greater part of
+the night together, drinking aguardente de beiju,--a spirit
+distilled from the mandioca root. We knew nothing of the
+antecedents of this man, who was a tall, strong, self-willed
+fellow, and it began to dawn on us that this was not a very safe
+travelling companion in a wild country like this. I thought it
+better now to make the best of our way to the next settlement,
+Aveyros, and get rid of him.
+
+Our course today lay along a high rocky coast, which extended
+without a break for about eight miles. The height of the
+perpendicular rocks was from 100 to 150 feet; ferns and flowering
+shrubs grew in the crevices, and the summit supported a luxuriant
+growth of forest, like the rest of the river banks. The waves
+beat with a loud roar at the foot of these inhospitable barriers.
+At two p.m. we passed the mouth of a small picturesque harbour,
+formed by a gap in the precipitous coast. Several families have
+here settled; the place is called Ita-puama, or "standing rock,"
+from a remarkable isolated cliff, which stands erect at the
+entrance to the little haven. A short distance beyond Itapuama we
+found ourselves opposite to the village of Pinhel, which is
+perched, like Boim, on high ground, on the western side of the
+river. The stream is here from six to seven miles wide. A line of
+low islets extends in front of Pinhel, and a little further to
+the south is a larger island, called Capitari, which lies nearly
+in the middle of the river.
+
+June 23rd.--The wind freshened at ten o'clock in the morning of
+the 23rd. A thick black cloud then began to spread itself over
+the sky a long way down the river; the storm which it portended,
+however, did not reach us, as the dark threatening mass crossed
+from east to west, and the only effect it had was to impel a
+column of cold air up river, creating a breeze with which we
+bounded rapidly forward. The wind in the afternoon strengthened
+to a gale. We carried on with one foresail only, two of the men
+holding on to the boom to prevent the whole thing from flying to
+pieces. The rocky coast continued for about twelve miles above
+Ita-puama, then succeeded a tract of low marshy land, which had
+evidently been once an island whose channel of separation from
+the mainland had become silted up. The island of Capitari and
+another group of islets succeeding it, called Jacare, on the
+opposite side, helped also to contract at this point the breadth
+of the river, which was now not more than about three miles. The
+little cuberta almost flew along this coast, there being no
+perceptible current, past extensive swamps, margined with thick
+floating grasses. At length, on rounding a low point, higher land
+again appeared on the right bank of the river, and the village of
+Aveyros hove in sight, in the port of which we cast anchor late
+in the afternoon.
+
+Aveyros is a small settlement, containing only fourteen or
+fifteen houses besides the church; but it is the place of
+residence of the authorities of a large district-- the priest,
+Juiz de Paz, the subdelegado of police, and the Captain of the
+Trabalhadores. The district includes Pinhel, which we passed
+about twenty miles lower down on the left bank of the river. Five
+miles beyond Aveyros, and also on the left bank, is the
+missionary village of Santa Cruz, comprising thirty or forty
+families of baptised Mundurucu Indians, who are at present under
+the management of a Capuchin Friar, and are independent of the
+Captain of Trabalhadores of Aveyros. The river view from this
+point towards the south was very grand; the stream is from two to
+three miles broad, with green islets resting on its surface, and
+on each side a chain of hills stretches away in long perspective.
+I resolved to stay here for a few weeks to make collections. On
+landing, my first care was to obtain a house or room, that I
+might live ashore. This was soon arranged; the head man of the
+place, Captain Antonio, having received notice of my coming, so
+that before night all the chests and apparatus I required were
+housed and put in order for working.
+
+I here dismissed Pinto, who again got drunk and quarrelsome a few
+hours after he came ashore. He left the next day, to my great
+relief, in a small trading canoe that touched at the place on its
+way to Santarem. The Indian Manoel took his leave at the same
+time, having engaged to accompany me only as far as Aveyros; I
+was then dependent on Captain Antonio for fresh hands. The
+captains of Trabalhadores are appointed by the Brazilian
+Government to embody the scattered Indian labourers and canoe-men
+of their respective districts, to the end that they may supply
+passing travellers with men when required. A semi-military
+organisation is given to the bodies--some of the steadiest
+amongst the Indians themselves being nominated as sergeants, and
+all the members mustered at the principal village of their
+district twice each year. The captains, however, universally
+abuse their authority, monopolising the service of the men for
+their own purposes, so that it is only by favour that the loan of
+a canoe-hand can be wrung from them. I was treated by Captain
+Antonio with great consideration, and promised two good Indians
+when I should be ready to continue my voyage.
+
+Little happened worth narrating during my forty days' stay at
+Aveyros. The time was spent in the quiet, regular pursuit of
+Natural History: every morning I had my long ramble in the
+forest, which extended to the back-doors of the houses, and the
+afternoons were occupied in preserving and studying the objects
+collected. The priest was a lively old man, but rather a bore
+from being able to talk of scarcely anything except homoeopathy,
+having been smitten with the mania during a recent visit to
+Santarem. He had a Portuguese Homoeopathic Dictionary, and a
+little leather case containing glass tubes filled with globules,
+with which he was doctoring the whole village.
+
+A bitter enmity seemed to exist between the female members of the
+priest's family, and those of the captain's-- the only white
+women in the settlement. It was amusing to notice how they
+flaunted past each other, when going to church on Sundays, in
+their starched muslin dresses. I found an intelligent young man
+living here, a native of the province of Goyaz, who was exploring
+the neighbourhood for gold and diamonds. He had made one journey
+up a branch river, and declared to me that he had found one
+diamond, but was unable to continue his researches, because the
+Indians who accompanied him refused to remain any longer; he was
+now waiting for Captain Antonio to assist him with fresh men,
+having offered him in return a share in the results of the
+enterprise. There appeared to be no doubt that gold is
+occasionally found within two or three days' journey of Aveyros;
+but all lengthened search is made impossible by the scarcity of
+food and the impatience of the Indians, who see no value in the
+precious metal, and abhor the tediousness of the gold-searcher's
+occupation. It is impossible to do without them, as they are
+required to paddle the canoes.
+
+The weather, during the month of July, was uninterruptedly fine;
+not a drop of rain fell, and the river sank rapidly. The
+mornings, for two hours after sunrise, were very cold; we were
+glad to wrap ourselves in blankets on turning out of our
+hammocks, and walk about at a quick pace in the early sunshine.
+But in the afternoons, the heat was sickening, for the glowing
+sun then shone full on the front of the row of whitewashed
+houses, and there was seldom any wind to moderate its effects. I
+began now to understand why the branch rivers of the Amazons were
+so unhealthy, while the main stream was pretty nearly free from
+diseases arising from malaria. The cause lies, without doubt, in
+the slack currents of the tributaries in the dry season, and the
+absence of the cooling Amazonian trade wind, which purifies the
+air along the banks of the main river. The trade wind does not
+deviate from its nearly straight westerly course, so that the
+branch streams, which run generally at right angles to the
+Amazons, and, have a slack current for a long distance from their
+mouths, are left to the horrors of nearly stagnant air and water.
+
+Aveyros may be called the headquarters of the fire-ant, which
+might be fittingly termed the scourge of this fine river. The
+Tapajos is nearly free from the insect pests of other parts,
+mosquitoes, sand-flies, Motucas and piums; but the formiga de
+fogo is perhaps a greater plague than all the others put
+together. It is found only on sandy soils in open places, and
+seems to thrive most in the neighbourhood of houses and weedy
+villages, such as Aveyros; it does not occur at all in the shades
+of the forest. I noticed it in most places on the banks of the
+Amazons but the species is not very common on the main river, and
+its presence is there scarcely noticed, because it does not
+attack man, and the sting is not so virulent as it is in the same
+species on the banks of the Tapajos. Aveyros was deserted a few
+years before my visit on account of this little tormentor, and
+the inhabitants had only recently returned to their houses,
+thinking its numbers had decreased. It is a small species, of a
+shining reddish colour not greatly differing from the common red
+stinging ant of our own country (Myrmica rubra), except that the
+pain and irritation caused by its sting are much greater. The
+soil of the whole village is undermined by it; the ground is
+perforated with the entrances to their subterranean galleries,
+and a little sandy dome occurs here and there, where the insects
+bring their young to receive warmth near the surface. The houses
+are overrun with them; they dispute every fragment of food with
+the inhabitants, and destroy clothing for the sake of the starch.
+All eatables are obliged to be suspended in baskets from the
+rafters, and the cords well soaked with copauba balsam, which is
+the only means known of preventing them from climbing. They seem
+to attack persons out of sheer malice; if we stood for a few
+moments in the street, even at a distance from their nests, we
+were sure to be overrun and severely punished, for the moment an
+ant touched the flesh, he secured himself with his jaws, doubled
+in his tail, and stung with all his might. When we were seated on
+chairs in the evenings in front of the house to enjoy a chat with
+our neighbours, we had stools to support our feet, the legs of
+which, as well as those of the chairs, were well anointed with
+the balsam. The cords of hammocks are obliged to be smeared in
+the same way to prevent the ants from paying sleepers a visit.
+
+The inhabitants declare that the fire-ant was unknown on the
+Tapajos before the disorders of 1835-6, and believe that the
+hosts sprang up from the blood of the slaughtered Cabanas or
+rebels. They have doubtless increased since that time, but the
+cause lies in the depopulation of the villages and the rank
+growth of weeds in the previously cleared, well-kept spaces. I
+have already described the line of sediment formed on the sandy
+shores lower down the river by the dead bodies of the winged
+individuals of this species. The exodus from their nests of the
+males and females takes place at the end of the rainy season
+(June), when the swarms are blown into the river by squalls of
+wind, and subsequently cast ashore by the waves; I was told that
+this wholesale destruction of ant-life takes place annually, and
+that the same compact heap of dead bodies which I saw only in
+part, extends along the banks of the river for twelve or fifteen
+miles.
+
+The forest behind Aveyros yielded me little except insects, but
+in these it was very rich. It is not too dense, and broad sunny
+paths skirted by luxuriant beds of Lycopodiums, which form
+attractive sporting places for insects, extend from the village
+to a swampy hollow or ygapo, which lies about a mile inland. Of
+butterflies alone I enumerated fully 300 species, captured or
+seen in the course of forty days within a half-hour's walk of the
+village. This is a greater number than is found in the whole of
+Europe. The only monkey I observed was the Callithrix moloch--one
+of the kinds called by the Indians "Whaiapu-sai". It is a
+moderate-sized species, clothed with long brown hair, and having
+hands of a whitish hue. Although nearly allied to the Cebi, it
+has none of their restless vivacity, but is a dull listless
+animal. It goes in small flocks of five or six individuals,
+running along the main boughs of the trees. One of the specimens
+which I obtained here was caught on a low fruit-tree at the back
+of our house at sunrise one morning. This was the only instance
+of a monkey being captured in such a position that I ever heard
+of. As the tree was isolated, it must have descended to the
+ground from the neighbouring forest and walked some distance to
+get at it. The species is sometimes kept in a tame state by the
+natives-- it does not make a very amusing pet, and survives
+captivity only a short time.
+
+I heard that the white Cebus, the Caiarara branca, a kind of
+monkey I had not yet seen, and wished very much to obtain,
+inhabited the forests on the opposite side of the river; so one
+day, on an opportunity being afforded by our host going over in a
+large boat, I crossed to go in search of it. We were about twenty
+persons in all, and the boat was an old rickety affair with the
+gaping seams rudely stuffed with tow and pitch. In addition to
+the human freight we took three sheep with us, which Captain
+Antonio had just received from Santarem and was going to add to
+his new cattle farm on the other side. Ten Indian paddlers
+carried us quickly across. The breadth of the river could not be
+less than three miles, and the current was scarcely perceptible.
+When a boat has to cross the main Amazons, it is obliged to
+ascend along the banks for half a mile or more to allow for
+drifting by the current; in this lower part of the Tapajos this
+is not necessary. When about halfway, the sheep, in moving about,
+kicked a hole in the bottom of the boat. The passengers took the
+matter very coolly, although the water spouted up alarmingly, and
+I thought we should inevitably be swamped. Captain Antonio took
+off his socks to stop the leak, inviting me and the Juiz de Paz,
+who was one of the party, to do the same, while two Indians baled
+out the water with large cuyas. We thus managed to keep afloat
+until we reached our destination, when the men patched up the
+leak for our return journey.
+
+The landing-place lay a short distance within the mouth of a
+shady inlet,up on whose banks, hidden amongst the dense woods,
+were the houses of a few Indian and mameluco settlers. The path
+to the cattle farm led first through a tract of swampy forest; it
+then ascended a slope and emerged on a fine sweep of prairie,
+varied with patches of timber. The wooded portion occupied the
+hollows where the soil was of a rich chocolate-brown colour, and
+of a peaty nature. The higher grassy, undulating parts of the
+campo had a lighter and more sandy soil. Leaving our friends,
+Jose and I took our guns and dived into the woods in search of
+the monkeys. As we walked rapidly along I was very near treading
+on a rattlesnake, which lay stretched out nearly in a straight
+line on the bare sandy pathway. It made no movement to get out of
+the way, and I escaped the danger by a timely and sudden leap,
+being unable to check my steps in the hurried walk. We tried to
+excite the sluggish reptile by throwing handfulls of sand and
+sticks at it, but the only notice it took was to raise its ugly
+horny tail and shake its rattle. At length it began to move
+rather nimbly,when we despatched it by a blow on the head with a
+pole, not wishing to fire on account of alarming our game.
+
+We saw nothing of the white Caiarara; we met, however, with a
+flock of the common light-brown allied species (Cebus
+albifrons?), and killed one as a specimen. A resident on this
+side of the river told us that the white kind was found further
+to the south, beyond Santa Cruz. The light-brown Caiarara is
+pretty generally distributed over the forests of the level
+country. I saw it very frequently on the banks of the Upper
+Amazons, where it was always a treat to watch a flock leaping
+amongst the trees, for it is the most wonderful performer in this
+line of the whole tribe. The troops consist of thirty or more
+individuals, which travel in single file. When the foremost of
+the flock reaches the outermost branch of an unusually lofty
+tree, he springs forth into the air without a moment's hesitation
+and alights on the dome of yielding foliage belonging to the
+neighbouring tree, maybe fifty feet beneath-- all the rest
+following the example. They grasp, upon falling, with hands and
+tail, right themselves in a moment, and then away they go along
+branch and bough to the next tree.
+
+The Caiarara owes its name in the Tupi language, macaw or large-
+headed (Acain, head and Arara macaw), to the disproportionate
+size of the head compared with the rest of the body. It is very
+frequently kept as a pet in houses of natives. I kept one myself
+for about a year, which accompanied me in my voyages and became
+very familiar, coming to me always on wet nights to share my
+blanket. It is a most restless creature, but is not playful like
+most of the American monkeys; the restlessness of its disposition
+seeming to arise from great nervous irritability and discontent.
+The anxious, painful, and changeable expression of its
+countenance, and the want of purpose in its movements, betray
+this. Its actions are like those of a wayward child; it does not
+seem happy even when it has plenty of its favourite food,
+bananas; but will leave its own meal to snatch the morsels out of
+the hands of its companions. It differs in these mental traits
+from its nearest kindred, for another common Cebus, found in the
+same parts of the forest, the Prego monkey (Cebus cirrhifer?), is
+a much quieter and better-tempered animal; it is full of tricks,
+but these are generally of a playful character.
+
+The Caiarara keeps the house in a perpetual uproar where it is
+kept-- when alarmed, or hungry, or excited by envy, it screams
+piteously; it is always, however, making some noise or other,
+often screwing up its mouth and uttering a succession of loud
+notes resembling a whistle. My little pet, when loose, used to
+run after me, supporting itself for some distance on its hind
+legs, without, however, having been taught to do it. He offended
+me greatly one day, by killing, in one of his jealous fits,
+another and much choicer pet--the nocturnal owl-faced monkey
+(Nyctipithecus trivirgatus). Someone had given this a fruit,
+which the other coveted, so the two got to quarrelling. The
+Nyctipithecus fought only with its paws, clawing out and hissing
+like a cat; the other soon obtained the mastery, and before I
+could interfere, finished his rival by cracking its skull with
+his teeth. Upon this, I got rid of him.
+
+On recrossing the river to Aveyros in the evening, a pretty
+little parrot fell from a great height headlong into the water
+near the boat, having dropped from a flock which seemed to be
+fighting in the air. One of the Indians secured it for me, and I
+was surprised to find the bird uninjured. There had probably been
+a quarrel about mates, resulting in our little stranger being
+temporarily stunned by a blow on the head from the beak of a
+jealous comrade. The species was the Conurus guianensis, called
+by the natives Maracana-- the plumage green, with a patch of
+scarlet under the wings. I wished to keep the bird alive and tame
+it, but all our efforts to reconcile it to captivity were vain;
+it refused food, bit everyone who went near it, and damaged its
+plumage in its exertions to free itself. My friends in Aveyros
+said that this kind of parrot never became domesticated. After
+trying nearly a week I was recommended to lend the intractable
+creature to an old Indian woman, living in the village, who was
+said to be a skillful bird-tamer. In two days she brought it back
+almost as tame as the familiar love-birds of our aviaries. I kept
+my little pet for upwards of two years; it learned to talk pretty
+well, and was considered quite a wonder as being a bird usually
+so difficult of domestication. I do not know what arts the old
+woman used-- Captain Antonio said she fed it with her saliva. The
+chief reason why almost all animals become so wonderfully tame in
+the houses of the natives is, I believe, their being treated with
+uniform gentleness, and allowed to run at large about the rooms.
+Our Maracana used to accompany us sometimes in our rambles, one
+of the lads carrying it on his head. One day, in the middle of a
+long forest road, it was missed, having clung probably to an
+overhanging bough and escaped into the thicket without the boy
+perceiving it. Three hours afterwards, on our return by the same
+path, a voice greeted using a colloquial tone as we passed--
+"Maracana!" We looked about for some time, but could not see
+anything, until the word was repeated with emphasis-- "Maracana-
+a!" When we espied the little truant half concealed in the
+foliage of a tree, he came down and delivered himself up,
+evidently as much rejoiced at the meeting as we were.
+
+After I had obtained the two men promised, stout young Indians,
+seventeen or eighteen years of age, one named Ricardo and the
+other Alberto, I paid a second visit to the western side of the
+river in my own canoe; being determined, if possible, to obtain
+specimens of the White Cebus. We crossed over first to the
+mission village, Santa Cruz, which consists of thirty or forty
+wretched-looking mud huts, closely built together in three
+straight ugly rows on a high gravelly bank. The place was
+deserted, with the exception of two or three old men and women
+and a few children. A narrow belt of wood runs behind the
+village; beyond this is an elevated, barren campo with a clayey
+and gravelly soil. To the south, the coast country is of a
+similar description; a succession of scantily-wooded hills, bare
+grassy spaces, and richly-timbered hollows. We traversed forest
+and campo in various directions during three days without meeting
+with monkeys, or indeed with anything that repaid us the time and
+trouble. The soil of the district appeared too dry; at this
+season of the year I had noticed, in other parts of the country,
+that mammals and birds resorted to the more humid areas of
+forest; we therefore proceeded to explore carefully the low and
+partly swampy tract along the coast to the north of Santa Cruz.
+
+We spent two days in this way landing at many places, and
+penetrating a good distance in the interior. Although
+unsuccessful with regard to the White Cebus, the time was not
+wholly lost, as I added several small birds of species new to my
+collection. On the second evening we surprised a large flock,
+composed of about fifty individuals, of a curious eagle with a
+very long and slender hooked beak, the Rostrhamus hamatus. They
+were perched on the bushes which surrounded a shallow lagoon,
+separated from the river by a belt of floating grass; my men said
+they fed on toads and lizards found at the margins of pools. They
+formed a beautiful sight as they flew up and wheeled about at a
+great height in the air. We obtained only one specimen.
+
+Before returning to Aveyros, we paid another visit to the Jacare
+inlet-- leading to Captain Antonio's cattle farm, for the sake of
+securing further specimens of the many rare and handsome insects
+found there-- landing at the port of one of the settlers. The
+owner of the house was not at home, and the wife, a buxom young
+woman, a dark mameluca, with clear though dark complexion and
+fine rosy cheeks, was preparing, in company with another stout-
+built Amazon, her rod and lines to go out fishing for the day's
+dinner. It was now the season for Tucunares, and Senora Joaquina
+showed us the fly baits used to take this kind of fish, which she
+had made with her own hands of parrots' feathers. The rods used
+are slender bamboos, and the lines made from the fibres of pine-
+apple leaves. It is not very common for the Indian and half-caste
+women to provide for themselves in the way these spirited dames
+were doing, although they are all expert paddlers, and very
+frequently cross wide rivers in their frail boats without the aid
+of men. It is possible that parties of Indian women, seen
+travelling alone in this manner, may have given rise to the fable
+of a nation of Amazons, invented by the first Spanish explorers
+of the country.
+
+Senora Joaquina invited me and Jose to a Tucunare dinner for the
+afternoon, and then shouldering their paddles and tucking up
+their skirts, the two dusky fisherwomen marched down to their
+canoe. We sent the two Indians into the woods to cut palm-leaves
+to mend the thatch of our cuberta, while Jose and I rambled
+through the woods which skirted the campo. On our return, we
+found a most bountiful spread in the house of our hostess. A
+spotless white cloth was laid on the mat, with a plate for each
+guest and a pile of fragrant, newly-made farinha by the side of
+it. The boiled Tucunares were soon taken from the kettles and set
+before us. I thought the men must be happy husbands who owned
+such wives as these. The Indian and mameluco women certainly do
+make excellent managers; they are more industrious than the men,
+and most of them manufacture farinha for sale on their own
+account, their credit always standing higher with the traders on
+the river than that of their male connections. I was quite
+surprised at the quantity of fish they had taken there being
+sufficient for the whole party-- which included several children,
+two old men from a neighbouring hut, and my Indians. I made our
+good-natured entertainers a small present of needles and sewing-
+cotton, articles very much prized, and soon after we reembarked,
+and again crossed the river to Aveyros.
+
+August 2nd--Left Aveyros, having resolved to ascend a branch
+river, the Cupari, which enters the Tapajos about eight miles
+above this village, instead of going forward along the main
+stream. I should have liked to visit the settlements of the
+Mundurucu tribe which lie beyond the first cataract of the
+Tapajos, if it had been compatible with the other objects I had
+in view. But to perform this journey a lighter canoe than mine
+would have been necessary, and six or eight Indian paddlers,
+which in my case it was utterly impossible to obtain. There would
+be, however, an opportunity of seeing this fine race of people on
+the Cupari, as a horde was located towards the head waters of
+this stream. The distance from Aveyros to the last civilised
+settlement on the Tapajos, Itaituba, is about forty miles. The
+falls commence a short distance beyond this place. Ten formidable
+cataracts or rapids then succeed each other at intervals of a few
+miles, the chief of which are the Coaita, the Bubure, the Salto
+Grande (about thirty feet high), and the Montanha. The canoes of
+Cuyaba tradesmen which descend annually to Santarem are obliged
+to be unloaded at each of these, and the cargoes carried by land
+on the backs of Indians, while the empty vessels are dragged by
+ropes over the obstruction. The Cupari was described to me as
+flowing through a rich, moist clayey valley covered with forests
+and abounding in game; while the banks of the Tapajos beyond
+Aveyros were barren sandy campos, with ranges of naked or
+scantily-wooded hills, forming a kind of country which I had
+always found very unproductive in Natural History objects in the
+dry season, which had now set in.
+
+We entered the mouth of the Cupari on the evening of the
+following day (August 3rd). It was not more than a hundred yards
+wide, but very deep: we found no bottom in the middle with a line
+of eight fathoms. The banks were gloriously wooded, the familiar
+foliage of the cacao growing abundantly amongst the mass of other
+trees, reminding me of the forests of the main Amazons. We rowed
+for five or six miles, generally in a south-easterly direction,
+although the river had many abrupt bends, and stopped for the
+night at a settler's house, situated on a high bank, accessible
+only by a flight of rude wooden steps fixed in the clayey slope.
+The owners were two brothers, half-breeds, who, with their
+families, shared the large roomy dwelling; one of them was a
+blacksmith, and we found him working with two Indian lads at his
+forge in an open shed under the shade of mango trees. They were
+the sons of a Portuguese immigrant who had settled here forty
+years previously, and married a Mundurucu woman. He must have
+been a far more industrious man than the majority of his
+countrymen who emigrate to Brazil nowadays, for there were signs
+of former extensive cultivation at the back of the house in
+groves of orange, lemon, and coffee trees, and a large plantation
+of cacao occupied the lower grounds.
+
+The next morning one of the brothers brought me a beautiful
+opossum, which had been caught in the fowl-house a little before
+sunrise. It was not so large as a rat, and had soft brown fur,
+paler beneath and on the face, with a black stripe on each cheek.
+This made the third species of marsupial rat I had so far
+obtained-- but the number of these animals is very considerable
+in Brazil, where they take the place of the shrews of Europe;
+shrew mice and, indeed, the whole of the insectivorous order of
+mammals, being entirely absent from Tropical America. One kind of
+these rat-like opossums is aquatic, and has webbed feet. The
+terrestrial species are nocturnal in their habits, sleeping
+during the day in hollow trees, and coming forth at night to prey
+on birds in their roosting places. It is very difficult to rear
+poultry in this country on account of these small opossums,
+scarcely a night passing, in some parts, in which the fowls are
+not attacked by them.
+
+August 5th.--The river reminds me of some parts of the Jaburu
+channel, being hemmed in by two walls of forest rising to the
+height of at least a hundred feet, and the outlines of the trees
+being concealed throughout by a dense curtain of leafy creepers.
+The impression of vegetable profusion and overwhelming luxuriance
+increases at every step. The deep and narrow valley of the Cupari
+has a moister climate than the banks of the Tapajos. We have now
+frequent showers, whereas we left everything parched up by the
+sun at Aveyros.
+
+After leaving the last sitio we advanced about eight miles, and
+then stopped at the house of Senor Antonio Malagueita, a mameluco
+settler, whom we had been recommended to visit. His house and
+outbuildings were extensive, the grounds well weeded, and the
+whole wore an air of comfort and well-being which is very
+uncommon in this country. A bank of indurated white clay sloped
+gently up from the tree-shaded port to the house, and beds of
+kitchen herbs extended on each side, with (rare sight!) rose and
+jasmine trees in full bloom. Senor Antonio, a rather tall middle-
+aged man, with a countenance beaming with good nature, came down
+to the port as soon as we anchored. I was quite a stranger to
+him, but he had heard of my coming, and seemed to have made
+preparations. I never met with a heartier welcome. On entering
+the house, the wife, who had more of the Indian tint and features
+than her husband, was equally warm and frank in her greeting.
+Senor Antonio had spent his younger days at Para, and had
+acquired a profound respect for Englishmen. I stayed here two
+days. My host accompanied me in my excursions; in fact, his
+attentions, with those of his wife, and the host of relatives of
+all degrees who constituted his household, were quite
+troublesome, as they left me not a moment's privacy from morning
+till night.
+
+We had, together, several long and successful rambles along a
+narrow pathway which extended several miles into the forest. I
+here met with a new insect pest, one which the natives may be
+thankful is not spread more widely over the country: it was a
+large brown fly of the Tabanidae family (genus Pangonia), with a
+proboscis half an inch long and sharper than the finest needle.
+It settled on our backs by twos and threes at a time, and pricked
+us through our thick cotton shirts, making us start and cry out
+with the sudden pain. I secured a dozen or two as specimens. As
+an instance of the extremely confined ranges of certain species,
+it may be mentioned that I did not find this insect in any other
+part of the country except along half a mile or so of this gloomy
+forest road.
+
+We were amused at the excessive and almost absurd tameness of a
+fine Mutum or Curassow turkey, that ran about the house. It was a
+large glossy-black species (the Mitu tuberosa), having an orange-
+coloured beak, surmounted by a bean-shaped excrescence of the
+same hue. It seemed to consider itself as one of the family:
+attending all the meals, passing from one person to another round
+the mat to be fed, and rubbing the sides of its head in a coaxing
+way against their cheeks or shoulders. At night it went to roost
+on a chest in a sleeping-room beside the hammock of one of the
+little girls to whom it seemed particularly attached
+(regularlyfollowing her wherever she went about the grounds). I
+found this kind of Curassow bird was very common in the forest of
+the Cupari; but it is rare on the Upper Amazons, where an allied
+species, which has a round instead of a bean-shaped waxen
+excrescence on the beak (Crax globicera), is the prevailing kind.
+These birds in their natural state never descend from the tops of
+the loftiest trees, where they live in small flocks and build
+their nests. The Mitu tuberosa lays two rough-shelled, white
+eggs; it is fully as large a bird as the common turkey, but the
+flesh when cooked is drier and not so well flavoured. It is
+difficult to find the reason why these superb birds have not been
+reduced to domestication by the Indians, seeing that they so
+readily become tame. The obstacle offered by their not breeding
+in confinement, which is probably owing to their arboreal habits,
+might perhaps be overcome by repeated experiment; but for this
+the Indians probably had not sufficient patience or intelligence.
+The reason cannot lie in their insensibility to the value of such
+birds, for the common turkey, which has been introduced into the
+country, is much prized by them.
+
+We had an unwelcome visitor while at anchor in the port of
+Antonio Malagueita. I was awakened a little after midnight, as I
+lay in my little cabin, by a heavy blow struck at the sides of
+the canoe close to my head, which was succeeded by the sound of a
+weighty body plunging into the water. I got up; but all was again
+quiet, except the cackle of fowls in our hen-coop, which hung
+over the side of the vessel about three feet from the cabin door.
+I could find no explanation of the circumstance, and, my men
+being all ashore, I turned in again and slept until morning. I
+then found my poultry loose about the canoe, and a large rent in
+the bottom of the hen-coop, which was about two feet from the
+surface of the water-- a couple of fowls were missing. Senor
+Antonio said the depredator was a Sucuruju (the Indian name for
+the Anaconda, or great water serpent--Eunectes murinus), which
+had for months past been haunting this part of the river, and had
+carried off many ducks and fowls from the ports of various
+houses. I was inclined to doubt the fact of a serpent striking at
+its prey from the water, and thought an alligator more likely to
+be the culprit, although we had not yet met with alligators in
+the river.
+
+Some days afterwards, the young men belonging to the different
+sitios agreed together to go in search of the serpent. They began
+in a systematicmanner, forming two parties, each embarked in
+three or four canoes, and starting from points several miles
+apart, whence they gradually approximated, searching all the
+little inlets on both sides the river. The reptile was found at
+last, sunning itself on a log at the mouth of a muddy rivulet,
+and despatched with harpoons. I saw it the day after it was
+killed; it was not a very large specimen, measuring only eighteen
+feet nine inches in length, and sixteen inches in circumference
+at the widest part of the body. I measured skins of the Anaconda
+afterwards, twenty-one feet in length and two feet in girth. The
+reptile has a most hideous appearance, owing to its being very
+broad in the middle and tapering abruptly at both ends. It is
+very abundant in some parts of the country; nowhere more so than
+in the Lago Grande, near Santarem, where it is often seen coiled
+up in the corners of farmyards, and is detested for its habit of
+carrying off poultry, young calves, or whatever animal it can get
+within reach of.
+
+At Ega, a large Anaconda was once near making a meal of a young
+lad about ten years of age, belonging to one of my neighbours.
+The father and his son went, as was their custom, a few miles up
+the Teffe to gather wild fruit, landing on a sloping sandy shore,
+where the boy was left to mind the canoe while the man entered
+the forest. The beaches of the Teffe form groves of wild guava
+and myrtle trees, and during most months of the year are partly
+overflown by the river. While the boy was playing in the water
+under the shade of these trees, a huge reptile of this species
+stealthily wound its coils around him, unperceived until it was
+too late to escape. His cries brought the father quickly to the
+rescue, who rushed forward, and seizing the Anaconda boldly by
+the head, tore his jaws asunder. There appears to be no doubt
+that this formidable serpent grows to an enormous bulk, and lives
+to a great age, for I heard of specimens having been killed which
+measured forty-two feet in length, or double the size of the
+largest I had an opportunity to examine. The natives of the
+Amazons country universally believe in the existence of a monster
+water-serpent, said to be many score fathoms in length and which
+appears successively in different parts of the river. They call
+it the Mai d'agoa--the mother, or spirit, of the water. This
+fable, which was doubtless suggested by the occasional appearance
+of Sucurujus of unusually large size, takes a great variety of
+forms, and the wild legends form the subject of conversation
+amongst old and young, over the wood fires in lonely settlements.
+
+August 6th and 7th--On leaving the sitio of Antonio Malagueita we
+continued our way along the windings of the river, generally in a
+southeast and south-southeast direction, but sometimes due north,
+for about fifteen miles, when we stopped at the house of one
+Paulo Christo, a mameluco whose acquaintance I had made at
+Aveyros. Here we spent the night and part of the next day, doing
+in the morning a good five hours' work in the forest, accompanied
+by the owner of the place. In the afternoon of the 7th, we were
+again under way; the river makes a bend to the east-northeast for
+a short distance above Paulo Christo's establishment, and then
+turns abruptly to the southwest, running from that direction
+about four miles. The hilly country of the interior then
+commences, the first token of it being a magnificently-wooded
+bluff, rising nearly straight from the water to a height of about
+250 feet. The breadth of the stream hereabout was not more than
+sixty yards, and the forest assumed a new appearance from the
+abundance of the Urucuri palm, a species which has a noble crown
+of broad fronds with symmetrical rigid leaflets.
+
+We reached, in the evening, the house of the last civilised
+settler on the river, Senor Joao (John) Aracu, a wiry, active
+fellow and capital hunter, whom I wished to make a friend of and
+persuade to accompany me to the Mundurucu village and the falls
+of the Cupari, some forty miles further up the river.I stayed at
+the sitio of John Aracu until the 19th, and again, in descending,
+spent fourteen days at the same place. The situation was most
+favourable for collecting the natural products of the district.
+The forest was not crowded with underwood, and pathways led
+through it for many miles and in various directions. I could make
+no use here of our two men as hunters, so, to keep them employed
+while Jose and I worked daily in the woods, I set them to make a
+montaria under John Aracu's directions. The first day a suitable
+tree was found for the shell of the boat, of the kind called
+Itauba amarello, the yellow variety of the stonewood. They felled
+it, and shaped out of the trunk a log nineteen feet in length;
+this they dragged from the forest, with the help of my host's
+men, over a road they had previously made with cylindrical pieces
+of wood acting as rollers. The distance was about half a mile,
+and the ropes used for drawing the heavy load were tough lianas
+cut from the surrounding trees. This part of the work occupied
+about a week: the log had then to be hollowed out, which was done
+with strong chisels through a slit made down the whole length.
+The heavy portion of the task being then completed, nothing
+remained but to widen the opening, fit two planks for the sides
+and the same number of semicircular boards for the ends, make the
+benches, and caulk the seams.
+
+The expanding of the log thus hollowed out is a critical
+operation, and not always successful, many a good shell being
+spoiled from splitting or expanding irregularly. It is first
+reared on tressels, with the slit downwards, over a large fire,
+which is kept up for seven or eight hours, the process
+requiringunremitting attention to avoid cracks and make the plank
+bend with the proper dip at the two ends. Wooden straddlers, made
+by cleaving pieces of tough elastic wood and fixing them with
+wedges, are inserted into the opening, their compass being
+altered gradually as the work goes on, but in different degrees
+according to the part of the boat operated upon. Our casca turned
+out a good one-- it took a long time to cool, and was kept in
+shape whilst it did so by means of wooden cross-pieces. When the
+boat was finished, it was launched with great merriment by the
+men, who hoisted coloured handkerchiefs for flags, and paddled it
+up and down the stream to try its capabilities. My people had
+suffered as much inconvenience from the want of a montaria as
+myself, so this was a day of rejoicing to all of us.
+
+I was very successful at this place with regard to the objects of
+my journey. About twenty new species of fishes and a considerable
+number of small reptiles were added to my collection; but very
+few birds were met with worth preserving. A great number of the
+most conspicuous insects of the locality were new to me, and
+turned out to be species peculiar to this part of the Amazons
+valley. The most interesting acquisition was a large and handsome
+monkey, of a species I had not before met with--the, white-
+whiskered Coaita, or spider-monkey (Ateles marginatus). I saw a
+pair one day in the forest moving slowly along the branches of a
+lofty tree, and shot one of them; the next day John Aracu brought
+down another, possibly the companion. The species is of about the
+same size as the common black kind, of which I have given an
+account in a former chapter, and has a similar lean body, with
+limbs clothed with coarse black hair; but it differs in having
+the whiskers and a triangular patch on the crown of the head of a
+white colour. I thought the meat the best flavoured I had ever
+tasted. It resembled beef, but had a richer and sweeter taste.
+During the time of our stay in this part of the Cupari, we could
+get scarcely anything but fish to eat, and as this diet disagreed
+with me, three successive days of it reducing me to a state of
+great weakness. I was obliged to make the most of our Coaita
+meat. We smoke-dried the joints instead of salting them, placing
+them for several hours upon a framework of sticks arranged over a
+fire, a plan adopted by the natives to preserve fish when they
+have no salt, and which they call "muquiar." Meat putrefies in
+this climate in less than twenty-four hours, and salting is of no
+use, unless the pieces are cut in thin slices anddried
+immediately in the sun.
+
+My monkeys lasted me about: a fortnight, the last joint being an
+arm with the clenched fist, which I used with great economy,
+hanging it in the intervals, between my frugal meals, on a nail
+in the cabin. Nothing but the hardest necessity could have driven
+me so near to cannibalism as this, but we had the greatest
+difficulty in obtaining here a sufficient supply of animal food.
+About every three days the work on the montaria had to be
+suspended, and all hands turned out for the day to hunt and fish,
+in which they were often unsuccessful, for although there was
+plenty of game in the forest, it was too widely scattered to be
+available. Ricardo, and Alberto occasionally brought in a
+tortoise or anteater, which served us for one day's consumption.
+We made acquaintance here with many strange dishes, amongst them
+Iguana eggs; these are of oblong form, about an inch in length,
+and covered with a flexible shell. The lizard lays about two
+score of them in the hollows of trees. They have an oily taste;
+the men ate them raw, beaten up with farinha, mixing a pinch of
+salt in the mess; I could only do with them when mixed with
+Tucupi sauce, of which we had a large jar full always ready to
+temper unsavoury morsels.
+
+One day as I was entomologising alone and unarmed, in a dry
+Ygapo, where the trees were rather wide apart and the ground
+coated to the depth of eight or ten inches with dead leaves, I
+was near coming into collision with a boa constrictor. I had just
+entered a little thicket to capture an insect, and while pinning
+it was rather startled by a rushing noise in the vicinity. I
+looked up to the sky, thinking a squall was coming on, but not a
+breath of wind stirred in the tree-tops. On stepping out of the
+bushes I met face to face a huge serpent coming down a slope,
+making the dry twigs crack and fly with his weight as he moved
+over them. I had very frequently met with a smaller boa, the
+Cutim-boia, in a similar way, and knew from the habits of the
+family that there was no danger, so I stood my ground. On seeing
+me the reptile suddenly turned and glided at an accelerated pace
+down the path. Wishing to take a note of his probable size and
+the colours and markings of his skin, I set off after him; but he
+increased his speed, and I was unable to get near enough for the
+purpose. There was very little of the serpentine movement in his
+course. The rapidly moving and shining body looked like a stream
+of brown liquid flowing over the thick bed of fallen leaves,
+rather than a serpent with skin of varied colours. He descended
+towards the lower and moister parts of the Ygapo. The huge trunk
+of an uprooted tree here lay across the road; this he glided over
+in his undeviating course and soon after penetrated a dense
+swampy thicket, where of course I did not choose to follow him.
+
+I suffered terribly from heat and mosquitoes as the river sank
+with the increasing dryness of the season, although I made an
+awning of the sails to work under, and slept at night in the open
+air with my hammock slung between the masts. But there was no
+rest in any part; the canoe descended deeper and deeper into the
+gulley through which the river flows between high clayey banks;
+as the water subsided, and with the glowing sun overhead we felt
+at midday as if in a furnace. I could bear scarcely any clothes
+in the daytime between eleven in the morning and five in the
+afternoon, wearing nothing but loose and thin cotton trousers and
+a light straw hat, and could not be accommodated in John Aracu's
+house, as it was a small one and full of noisy children. One
+night we had a terrific storm. The heat in the afternoon had been
+greater than ever, and at sunset the sky had a brassy glare, the
+black patches of cloud which floated in it being lighted up now
+and then by flashes of sheet lightning. The mosquitoes at night
+were more than usually troublesome, and I had just sunk exhausted
+into a doze towards the early hours of morning when the storm
+began-- a complete deluge of rain, with incessant lightning and
+rattling explosions of thunder. It lasted for eight hours, the
+grey dawn opening amidst the crash of the tempest. The rain
+trickled through the seams of the cabin roof on to my
+collections, the late hot weather having warped the boards, and
+it gave me immense trouble to secure them in the midst of the
+confusion. Altogether I had a bad night of it; but what with
+storms, heat, mosquitoes, hunger, and, towards the last, ill
+health, I seldom had a good night's rest on the Cupari.
+
+A small creek traversed the forest behind John Aracu's house, and
+entered the river a few yards from our anchoring place; I used to
+cross it twice a day, on going and returning from my hunting
+ground. One day early in September, I noticed that the water was
+two or three inches higher in the afternoon than it had been in
+the morning. This phenomenon was repeated the next day, and in
+fact daily, until the creek became dry with the continued
+subsidence of the Cupari, the time of rising shifting a little
+from day to day. I pointed out the circumstance to John Aracu,
+who had not noticed it before (it was only his second year of
+residence in the locality), but agreed with me that it must be
+the "mare"; yes, the tide!-- the throb of the great oceanic pulse
+felt in this remote corner, 530 miles distant from the place
+where it first strikes the body of fresh water at the mouth of
+the Amazons. I hesitated at first at this conclusion, but in
+reflecting that the tide was known to be perceptible at Obydos,
+more than 400 miles from the sea, that at high water in the dry
+season a large flood from the Amazons enters the mouth of the
+Tapajos, and that there is but a very small difference of level
+between that point and the Cupari, a fact shown by the absence of
+current in the dry season. I could have no doubt that this
+conclusion was a correct one.
+
+The fact of the tide being felt 530 miles up the Amazons, passing
+from the main stream to one of its affluents 380 miles from its
+mouth, and thence to a branch in the third degree, is a proof of
+the extreme flatness of the land which forms the lower part of
+the Amazonian valley. This uniformity of level is shown also in
+the broad lake-like expanses of water formed near their mouths by
+the principal affluents which cross the valley to join the main
+river.
+
+August 21st.--John Aracu consented to accompany me to the falls
+with one of his men to hunt and fish for me. One of my objects
+was to obtain specimens of the hyacinthine macaw, whose range
+commences on all the branch rivers of the Amazons which flow from
+the south through the interior of Brazil, with the first
+cataracts. We started on the 19th; our direction on that day
+being generally southwest. On the 20th, our course was southerly
+and southeasterly. This morning (August 21st) we arrived at the
+Indian settlement, the first house of which lies about thirty-one
+miles above the sitio of John Aracu. The river at this place is
+from sixty to seventy yards wide, and runs in a zigzag course
+between steep clayey banks, twenty to fifty feet in height. The
+houses of the Mundurucus, to the number of about thirty, are
+scattered along the banks for a distance of six or seven miles.
+The owners appear to have chosen all the most picturesque sites--
+tracts of level ground at the foot of wooded heights, or little
+havens with bits of white sandy beach--as if they had an
+appreciation of natural beauty. Most of the dwellings are conical
+huts, with walls of framework filled in with mud and thatched
+with palm leaves, the broad eaves reaching halfway to the ground.
+Some are quadrangular, and do not differ in structure from those
+of the semi-civilised settlers in other parts; others are open
+sheds or ranchos. They seem generally to contain not more than
+one or two families each.
+
+At the first house, we learned that all the fighting men had this
+morning returned from a two days' pursuit of a wandering horde of
+savages of the Pararauate tribe, who had strayed this way from
+the interior lands and robbed the plantations. A little further
+on we came to the house of the Tushaua, or chief, situated on the
+top of a high bank, which we had to ascend by wooden steps. There
+were four other houses in the neighbourhood, all filled with
+people. A fine old fellow, with face, shoulders, and breast
+tattooed all over in a cross-bar pattern, was the first strange
+object that caught my eye. Most of the men lay lounging or
+sleeping in their hammocks. The women were employed in an
+adjoining shed making farinha, many of them being quite naked,
+and rushing off to the huts to slip on their petticoats when they
+caught sight of us. Our entrance aroused the Tushaua from a nap;
+after rubbing his eyes he came forward and bade us welcome with
+the most formal politeness, and in very good Portuguese. He was a
+tall, broad-shouldered, well-made man, apparently about thirty
+years of age, with handsome regular features, not tattooed, and a
+quiet good-humoured expression of countenance. He had been
+several times to Santarem and once to Para, learning the
+Portuguese language during these journeys. He was dressed in
+shirt and trousers made of blue-checked cotton cloth, and there
+was not the slightest trace of the savage in his appearance or
+demeanour. I was told that he had come into the chieftainship by
+inheritance, and that the Cupari horde of Mundurucus, over which
+his fathers had ruled before him, was formerly much more
+numerous, furnishing 300 bows in time of war. They could now
+scarcely muster forty; but the horde has no longer a close
+political connection with the main body of the tribe, which
+inhabits the banks of the Tapajos, six days' journey from the
+Cupari settlement.
+
+I spent the remainder of the day here, sending Aracu and the men
+to fish, while I amused myself with the Tushaua and his people. A
+few words served to explain my errand on the river; he
+comprehended at once why white men should admire and travel to
+collect the beautiful birds and animals of his country, and
+neither he nor his people spoke a single word about trading, or
+gave us any trouble by coveting the things we had brought. He
+related to me the events of the preceding three days. The
+Pararauates were a tribe of intractable savages, with whom the
+Mundurucus have been always at war. They had no fixed abode, and
+of course made no plantations, but passed their lives like the
+wild beasts, roaming through the forest, guided by the sun;
+wherever they found themselves at night-time there they slept,
+slinging their bast hammocks, which are carried by the women, to
+the trees. They cross the streams which lie in their course in
+bark canoes, which they make on reaching the water, and cast away
+after landing on the opposite side. The tribe is very numerous,
+but the different hordes obey only their own chieftains. The
+Mundurucus of the upper Tapajos have an expedition on foot
+against them at the present time, and the Tushaua supposed that
+the horde which had just been chased from his maloca were
+fugitives from that direction. There were about a hundred of
+them--including men, women, and children. Before they were
+discovered, the hungry savages had uprooted all the macasheira,
+sweet potatoes, and sugarcane, which the industrious Mundurucus
+had planted for the season, on the east side of the river. As
+soon as they were seen they made off, but the Tushaua quickly got
+together all the young men of the settlement, about thirty in
+number, who armed themselves with guns, bows and arrows, and
+javelins, and started in pursuit. They tracked them, as before
+related, for two days through the forest, but lost their traces
+on the further bank of the Cuparitinga, a branch stream flowing
+from the northeast. The pursuers thought, at one time, they were
+close upon them, having found the inextinguished fire of their
+last encampment. The footmarks of the chief could be
+distinguished from the rest by their great size and the length of
+the stride. A small necklace made of scarlet beans was the only
+trophy of the expedition, and this the Tushaua gave to me.
+
+I saw very little of the other male Indians, as they were asleep
+in their huts all the afternoon. There were two other tattooed
+men lying under an open shed, besides the old man already
+mentioned. One of them presented a strange appearance, having a
+semicircular black patch in the middle of his face, covering the
+bottom of the nose and mouth, crossed lines on his back and
+breast, and stripes down his arms and legs. It is singular that
+the graceful curved patterns used by the South Sea Islanders are
+quite unknown among the Brazilian red men; they being all
+tattooed either in simple lines or patches.  The nearest approach
+to elegance of design which I saw was amongst the Tucunas of the
+Upper Amazons, some of whom have a scroll-like mark on each
+cheek, proceeding from the corner of the mouth. The taste, as far
+as form is concerned, of the American Indian, would seem to be
+far less refined than that of the Tahitian and New Zealander.
+
+To amuse the Tushaua, I fetched from the canoe the two volumes of
+Knight's Pictorial Museum of Animated Nature. The engravings
+quite took his fancy, and he called his wives, of whom, as I
+afterwards learned from Aracu, he had three or four, to look at
+them; one of them was a handsome girl, decorated with necklace
+and bracelets of blue beads. In a short time, others left their
+work, and I then had a crowd of women and children around me, who
+all displayed unusual curiosity for Indians. It was no light task
+to go through the whole of the illustrations, but they would not
+allow me to miss a page, making me turn back when I tried to
+skip. The pictures of the elephant, camels, orangutangs, and
+tigers, seemed most to astonish them; but they were interested in
+almost everything, down even to the shells and insects. They
+recognised the portraits of the most striking birds and mammals
+which are found in their own country-- the jaguar, howling
+monkeys, parrots, trogons, and toucans. The elephant was settled
+to be a large kind of Tapir; but they made but few remarks, and
+those in the Mundurucu language, of which I understood only two
+or three words. Their way of expressing surprise was a clicking
+sound made with the teeth, similar to the one we ourselves use,
+or a subdued exclamation, Hm! hm! Before I finished, from fifty
+to sixty had assembled; there was no pushing or rudeness, the
+grown-up women letting the young girls and children stand before
+them, and all behaved in the most quiet and orderly manner
+possible.
+
+The Mundurucus are perhaps the most numerous and formidable tribe
+of Indians now surviving in the Amazons region. They inhabit the
+shores of the Tapajos (chiefly the right bank), from 3 to 7 south
+latitude, and the interior of the country between that part of
+the river and the Madeira. On the Tapajos alone they can muster,
+I was told, 2000 fighting men; the total population of the tribe
+may be about 20,000. They were not heard of until about ninety
+years ago, when they made war on the Portuguese settlements,
+their hosts crossing the interior of the country eastward of the
+Tapajos, and attacking the establishments of the whites in the
+province of Maranham. The Portuguese made peace with them in the
+beginning of the present century, the event being brought about
+by the common cause of quarrel entertained by the two peoples
+against the hated Muras. They have ever since been firm friends
+of the whites. It is remarkable how faithfully this friendly
+feeling has been handed down amongst the Mundurucus, and spread
+to the remotest of the scattered hordes. Wherever a white man
+meets a family, or even an individual of the tribe, he is almost
+sure to be reminded of this alliance. They are the most warlike
+of the Brazilian tribes, and are considered also the most settled
+and industrious; they are not, however, superior in this latter
+respect to the Juris and Passes on the Upper Amazons, or the
+Uapes Indians near the headwaters of the Rio Negro. They make
+very large plantations of mandioca, and sell the surplus produce,
+which amounts to, on the Tapajos, from 3000 to 5000 baskets (60
+lbs. each) annually, to traders who ascend the river from
+Santarem between the months of August and January. They also
+gather large quantities of sarsaparilla, India-rubber, and Tonka
+beans, in the forests. The traders, on their arrival at the
+Campinas (the scantily wooded region inhabited by the main body
+of Mundurucus beyond the cataracts) have first to distribute
+their wares--cheap cotton cloths, iron hatchets, cutlery, small
+wares, and cashaca--amongst the minor chiefs, and then wait three
+or four months for repayment in produce.
+
+A rapid change is taking place in the habits of these Indians
+through frequent intercourse with the whites, and those who dwell
+on the banks of the Tapajos now seldom tattoo their children. The
+principal Tushaua of the whole tribe or nation, named Joaquim,
+was rewarded with a commission in the Brazilian army, in
+acknowledgment of the assistance he gave to the legal authorities
+during the rebellion of 1835-6. It would be a misnomer to call
+the Mundurucus of the Cupari and many parts of the Tapajos
+savages; their regular mode of life, agricultural habits, loyalty
+to their chiefs, fidelity to treaties, and gentleness of
+demeanour, give them a right to a better title. Yet they show no
+aptitude for the civilised life of towns, and, like the rest of
+the Brazilian tribes, seem incapable of any further advance in
+culture.
+
+In their former wars they exterminated two of the neighbouring
+peoples, the Jumas and the Jacares, and make now an annual
+expedition against the Pararauates, and one or two other similar
+wild tribes who inhabit the interior of the land. Additionally
+they are sometimes driven by hunger towards the banks of the
+great rivers to rob the plantations of the agricultural Indians.
+These campaigns begin in July, and last throughout the dry
+months; the women generally accompanying the warriors to carry
+their arrows and javelins. They had the diabolical custom, in
+former days, of cutting off the heads of their slain enemies, and
+preserving them as trophies around their houses. I believe this,
+together with other savage practices, has been relinquished in
+those parts where they have had long intercourse with the
+Brazilians, for I could neither see nor hear anything of these
+preserved heads. They used to sever the head with knives made of
+broad bamboo, and then, after taking out the brain and fleshy
+parts, soak it in bitter vegetable oil (andiroba), and expose it
+for several days over the smoke of a fire or in the sun. In the
+tract of country between the Tapajos and the Madeira, a deadly
+war has been for many years carried on between the Mundurucus and
+the Araras. I was told by a Frenchman at Santarem, who had
+visited that part, that all the settlements there have a military
+organisation. A separate shed is built outside each village,
+where the fighting men sleep at night, sentinels being stationed
+to give the alarm with blasts of the Ture on the approach of the
+Araras, who choose the night for their onslaughts.
+
+Each horde of Mundurucus has its paje or medicine man, who is the
+priest and doctor; he fixes upon the time most propitious for
+attacking the enemy; exorcises evil spirits, and professes to
+cure the sick. All illness whose origin is not very apparent is
+supposed to be caused by a worm in the part affected. This the
+paje pretends to extract; he blows on the seat of pain the smoke
+from a large cigar, made with an air of great mystery by rolling
+tobacco in folds of Tauari, and then sucks the place, drawing
+from his mouth, when he has finished, what he pretends to be the
+worm. It is a piece of very clumsy conjuring. One of these pajes
+was sent for by a woman in John Aracu's family, to operate on a
+child who suffered much from pains in the head. Senor John
+contrived to get possession of the supposed worm after the trick
+was performed in our presence, and it turned out to be a long
+white airroot of some plant. The paje was with difficulty
+persuaded to operate while Senor John and I were present. I
+cannot help thinking that he, as well as all others of the same
+profession, are conscious impostors, handing down the shallow
+secret of their divinations and tricks from generation to
+generation. The institution seems to be common to all tribes of
+Indians, and to be held to more tenaciously than any other.
+
+I bought of the Tushaua two beautiful feather sceptres, with
+their bamboo cases. These are of cylindrical shape, about three
+feet in length and three inches in diameter, and are made by
+gluing with wax the fine white and yellow feathers from the
+breast of the toucan on stout rods, the tops being ornamented
+with long plumes from the tails of parrots, trogons, and other
+birds. The Mundurucus are considered to be the most expert
+workers in feathers of all the South American tribes. It is very
+difficult, however, to get them to part with the articles, as
+they seem to have a sort of superstitious regard for them. They
+manufacture headdresses, sashes, and tunics, besides sceptres;
+the feathers being assorted with a good eye to the proper
+contrast of colours, and the quills worked into strong cotton
+webs, woven with knitting sticks in the required shape. The
+dresses are worn only during their festivals, which are
+celebrated, not at stated times, but whenever the Tushaua thinks
+fit. Dancing, singing, sports, and drinking, appear to be the
+sole objects of these occasional holidays. When a day is fixed
+upon, the women prepare a great quantity of taroba, and the
+monotonous jingle is kept up, with little intermission, night and
+day, until the stimulating beverage is finished.
+
+We left the Tushaua's house early the next morning. The
+impression made upon me by the glimpse of Indian life in its
+natural state obtained here, and at another cluster of houses
+visited higher up, was a pleasant one, notwithstanding the
+disagreeable incident of the Pararauate visit. The Indians are
+here seen to the best advantage; having relinquished many of
+their most barbarous practices, without being corrupted by too
+close contact with the inferior whites and half-breeds of the
+civilised settlements. The manners are simpler, the demeanour
+more gentle, cheerful, and frank, than amongst the Indians who
+live near the towns. I could not help contrasting their well-fed
+condition, and the signs of orderly, industrious habits, with the
+poverty and laziness of the semi-civilised people of Altar do
+Chao. I do not think that the introduction of liquors has been
+the cause of much harm to the Brazilian Indian. He has his
+drinking bout now and then, like the common working people of
+other countries. It was his habit in his original state, before
+Europeans visited his country, but he is always ashamed of it
+afterwards, and remains sober during the pretty long intervals.
+The harsh, slave-driving practices of the Portuguese and their
+descendants have been the greatest curses to the Indians; the
+Mundurucus of the Cupari, however, have been now for many years
+protected against ill-treatment. This is one of the good services
+rendered by the missionaries, who take care that the Brazilian
+laws in favour of the aborigines shall be respected by the brutal
+and unprincipled traders who go amongst them. I think no Indians
+could be in a happier position than these simple, peaceful, and
+friendly people on the banks of the Cupari. The members of each
+family live together, and seem to be much attached to each other;
+and the authority of the chief is exercised in the mildest
+manner. Perpetual summer reigns around them; the land is of the
+highest fertility, and a moderate amount of light work produces
+them all the necessessities of their simple life.
+
+It is difficult to get at their notions on subjects that require
+a little abstract thought; but, the mind of the Indian is in a
+very primitive condition. I believe he thinks of nothing except
+the matters that immediately concern his daily material wants.
+There is an almost total absence of curiosity in his mental
+disposition, consequently, he troubles himself very little
+concerning the causes of the natural phenomena around him. He has
+no idea of a Supreme Being; but, at the same time, he is free
+from revolting superstitions--his religious notions going no
+farther than the belief in an evil spirit, regarded merely as a
+kind of hobgoblin, who is at the bottom of all his little
+failures, troubles in fishing, hunting, and so forth. With so
+little mental activity, and with feelings and passions slow of
+excitement, the life of these people is naturally monotonous and
+dull, and their virtues are, properly speaking, only negative;
+but the picture of harmless, homely contentment they exhibit is
+very pleasing, compared with the state of savage races in many
+other parts of the world.
+
+The men awoke me at four o'clock with the sound of their oars on
+leaving the port of the Tushaua. I was surprised to find a dense
+fog veiling all surrounding objects, and the air quite cold. The
+lofty wall of forest, with the beautiful crowns of Assai palms
+standing out from it on their slender, arching stems, looked dim
+and strange through the misty curtain. The sudden change a little
+after sunrise had quite a magical effect, for the mist rose up
+like the gauze veil before the transformation scene at a
+pantomime, and showed the glorious foliage in the bright glow of
+morning, glittering with dew drops. We arrived at the falls about
+ten o'clock. The river here is not more than forty yards broad,
+and falls over a low ledge of rock stretching in a nearly
+straight line across.
+
+We had now arrived at the end of the navigation for large
+vessels--a distance from the mouth of the river, according to our
+rough calculation, of a little over seventy miles. I found it the
+better course now to send Jose and one of the men forward in the
+montaria with John Aracu, and remain myself with the cuberta and
+our other man to collect in the neighbouring forest. We stayed
+here four days, one of the boats returning each evening from the
+upper river with the produce of the day's chase of my huntsmen. I
+obtained six good specimens of the hyacinthine macaw, besides a
+number of smaller birds, a species new to me of Guariba, or
+howling monkey, and two large lizards. The Guariba was an old
+male, with the hair much worn from his rump and breast, and his
+body disfigured with large tumours made by the grubs of a gad-fly
+(Oestrus). The back and tail were of a ruddy-brown colour, the
+limbs, and underside of the body, black. The men ascended to the
+second falls, which form a cataract several feet in height, about
+fifteen miles beyond our anchorage. The macaws were found feeding
+in small flocks on the fruit of the Tucuma palm (Astryocaryum
+Tucuma), the excessively hard nut of which is crushed into pulp
+by the powerful beak of the bird. I found the craws of all the
+specimens filled with the sour paste to which the stone-like
+fruit had been reduced. Each bird took me three hours to skin,
+and I was occupied with these and my other specimens every
+evening until midnight, after my own laborious day's hunt--
+working on the roof of my cabin by the light of a lamp.
+
+The place where the cuberta was anchored formed a little rocky
+haven, with a sandy beach sloping to the forest, within which
+were the ruins of an Indian Maloca, and a large weed-grown
+plantation. The port swarmed with fishes, whose movements it was
+amusing to watch in the deep, clear water. The most abundant were
+the Piranhas. One species, which varied in length, according to
+age, from two to six inches, but was recognisable by a black spot
+at the root of the tail, was always the quickest to seize any
+fragment of meat thrown into the water. When nothing was being
+given to them, a few only were seen scattered about, their heads
+all turned one way in an attitude of expectation; but as soon as
+any offal fell from the canoe, the water was blackened with the
+shoals that rushed instantaneously to the spot. Those who did not
+succeed in securing a fragment, fought with those who had been
+more successful, and many contrived to steal the coveted morsels
+from their mouths. When a bee or fly passed through the air near
+the water, they all simultaneously darted towards it as if roused
+by an electric shock. Sometimes a larger fish approached, and
+then the host of Piranhas took the alarm and flashed out of
+sight.
+
+The population of the water varied from day to day. Once a small
+shoal of a handsome black-banded fish, called by the natives
+Acara bandeira (Mesonauta insignis, of Gunther), came gliding
+through at a slow pace, forming a very pretty sight. At another
+time, little troops of needle-fish, eel-like animals with
+excessively long and slender toothed jaws, sailed through the
+field, scattering before them the hosts of smaller fry; and at
+the rear of the needle-fishes, a strangely-shaped kind called
+Sarapo came wriggling along, one by one, with a slow movement. We
+caught with hook and line, baited with pieces of banana, several
+Curimata (Anodus Amazonum), a most delicious fish, which, next to
+the Tucunare and the Pescada, is most esteemed by the natives.
+The Curimata seemed to prefer the middle of the stream, where the
+waters were agitated beneath the little cascade.
+
+The weather was now settled and dry, and the river sank rapidly--
+six inches in twenty-four hours. In this remote and solitary spot
+I can say that I heard for the first and almost the only time the
+uproar of life at sunset, which Humboldt describes as having
+witnessed towards the sources of the Orinoco, but which is
+unknown on the banks of the larger rivers. The noises of animals
+began just as the sun sank behind the trees after a sweltering
+afternoon, leaving the sky above of the intensest shade of blue.
+Two flocks of howling monkeys, one close to our canoe, the other
+about a furlong distant, filled the echoing forests with their
+dismal roaring. Troops of parrots, including the hyacinthine
+macaw we were in search of, began then to pass over; the
+different styles of cawing and screaming of the various species
+making a terrible discord. Added to these noises were the songs
+of strange Cicadas, one large kind perched high on the trees
+around our little haven setting up a most piercing chirp. it
+began with the usual harsh jarring tone of its tribe, but this
+gradually and rapidly became shriller, until it ended in a long
+and loud note resembling the steam-whistle of a locomotive
+engine. Half-a-dozen of these wonderful performers made a
+considerable item in the evening concert. I had heard the same
+species before at Para, but it was there very uncommon; we
+obtained one of them here for my collection by a lucky blow with
+a stone. The uproar of beasts, birds, and insects lasted but a
+short time: the sky quickly lost its intense hue, and the night
+set in. Then began the tree-frogs--quack-quack, drum-drum, hoo-
+hoo; these, accompanied by a melancholy night-jar, kept up their
+monotonous cries until very late.
+
+My men encountered on the banks of the stream a Jaguar and a
+black Tiger, and were very much afraid of falling in with the
+Pararauates, so that I could not, after their return on the
+fourth day, induce them to undertake another journey. We began
+our descent of the river in the evening of the 26th of August. At
+night forest and river were again enveloped in mist, and the air
+before sunrise was quite cold. There is a considerable current
+from the falls to the house of John Aracu, and we accomplished
+the distance, with its aid and by rowing, in seventeen hours.
+
+September 21st.-At five o'clock in the afternoon we emerged from
+the confined and stifling gully through which the Cupari flows,
+into the broad Tapajos, and breathed freely again. How I enjoyed
+the extensive view after being so long pent up: the mountainous
+coasts, the grey distance, the dark waters tossed by a refreshing
+breeze! Heat, mosquitoes, insufficient and bad food, hard work
+and anxiety, had brought me to a very low state of health; and I
+was now anxious to make all speed back to Santarem.
+
+We touched at Aveyros, to embark some chests I had left there and
+to settle accounts with Captain Antonio, and found nearly all the
+people sick with fever and vomit, against which the Padre's
+homoeopathic globules were of no avail. The Tapajos had been
+pretty free from epidemics for some years past, although it was
+formerly a very unhealthy river. A sickly time appeared to be now
+returning; in fact, the year following my visit (1853) was the
+most fatal one ever experienced in this part of the country. A
+kind of putrid fever broke out, which attacked people of all
+races alike. The accounts we received at Santarem were most
+distressing-- my Cupari friends especially suffered very
+severely. John Aracu and his family all fell victims, with the
+exception of his wife; my kind friend Antonio Malagueita also
+died, and a great number of people in the Mundurucu village.
+
+The descent of the Tapajos in the height of the dry season, which
+was now close at hand, is very hazardous on account of the strong
+winds, absence of current, and shoaly water far away from the
+coasts. The river towards the end of September is about thirty
+feet shallower than in June; and in many places, ledges of rock
+are laid bare, or covered with only a small depth of water. I had
+been warned of these circumstances by my Cupari friends, but did
+not form an adequate idea of what we should have to undergo.
+Canoes, in descending, only travel at night, when the terral, or
+light land-breeze, blows off the eastern shore. In the daytime a
+strong wind rages from down river, against which it is impossible
+to contend as there is no current, and the swell raised by its
+sweeping over scores of miles of shallow water is dangerous to
+small vessels. The coast for the greater part of the distance
+affords no shelter; there are, however, a number of little
+harbours, called esperas, which the canoemen calculate upon,
+carefully arranging each night-voyage so as to reach one of them
+before the wind begins the next morning.
+
+We left Aveyros in the evening of the 21st, and sailed gently
+down with the soft land-breeze, keeping about a mile from the
+eastern shore. It was a brilliant moonlit night, and the men
+worked cheerfully at the oars when the wind was slack, the terral
+wafting from the forest a pleasant perfume like that of
+mignonette. At midnight we made a fire and got a cup of coffee,
+and at three o'clock in the morning reached the sitio of
+Ricardo's father, an Indian named Andre, where we anchored and
+slept.
+
+September 22nd--Old Andre with his squaw came aboard this
+morning. They brought three Tracajas, a turtle, and a basketful
+of Tracaja eggs, to exchange with me for cotton cloth and
+cashaca. Ricardo, who had been for some time very discontented,
+having now satisfied his longing to see his parents, cheerfully
+agreed to accompany me to Santarem. The loss of a man at this
+juncture would have been very annoying, with Captain Antonio ill
+at Aveyros, and not a hand to be had anywhere in the
+neighbourhood; but, if we had not called at Andre's sitio, we
+should not have been able to have kept Ricardo from running away
+at the first landing-place. He was a lively, restless lad, and
+although impudent and troublesome at first, had made a very good
+servant. His companion, Alberto, was of quite a different
+disposition, being extremely taciturn, and going through all his
+duties with the quietest regularity.
+
+We left at 11 a.m., and progressed a little before the wind began
+to blow from down river, when we were obliged again to cast
+anchor. The terral began at six o'clock in the evening, and we
+sailed with it past the long line of rock-bound coast near
+Itapuama. At ten o'clock a furious blast of wind came from a
+cleft between the hills, catching us with the sails close-hauled,
+and throwing the canoe nearly on its beam-ends, when we were
+about a mile from the shore. Jose had the presence of mind to
+slacken the sheet of the mainsail, while I leapt forward and
+lowered the sprit of the foresail, the two Indians standing
+stupefied in the prow. It was what the canoe-men call a trovoada
+secca or white squall. The river in a few minutes became a sheet
+of foam; the wind ceased in about half an hour, but the terral
+was over for the night, so we pulled towards the shore to find an
+anchoring place.
+
+We reached Tapaiuna by midnight on the 23rd, and on the morning
+of the 24th arrived at the Retiro, where we met a shrewd Santarem
+trader, whom I knew, Senor Chico Honorio, who had a larger and
+much better provided canoe than our own. The wind was strong from
+below all day, so we remained at this place in his company. He
+had his wife with him, and a number of Indians, male and female.
+We slung our hammocks under the trees, and breakfasted and dined
+together, our cloth being spread on the sandy beach in the shade
+after killing a large quantity of fish with timbo, of which we
+had obtained a supply at Itapuama. At night we were again under
+way with the land breeze. The water was shoaly to a great
+distance off the coast, and our canoe having the lighter draught
+went ahead, our leadsman crying out the soundings to our
+companion-- the depth was only one fathom, half a mile from the
+coast. We spent the next day (25th) at the mouth of a creek
+called Pini, which is exactly opposite the village of Boim, and
+on the following night advanced about twelve miles. Every point
+of land had a long spit of sand stretching one or two miles
+towards the middle of the river, which it was necessary to double
+by a wide circuit. The terral failed us at midnight when we were
+near an espera, called Marai, the mouth of a shallow creek.
+
+September 26th.--I did not like the prospect of spending the
+whole dreary day at Marai, where it was impossible to ramble
+ashore, the forest being utterly impervious, and the land still
+partly under water. Besides, we had used up our last stick of
+firewood to boil our coffee at sunrise, and could not get a fresh
+supply at this place. So there being a dead calm on the river in
+the morning, I gave orders at ten o'clock to move out of the
+harbour, and try with the oars to reach Paquiatuba, which was
+only five miles distant. We had doubled the shoaly point which
+stretches from the mouth of the creek, and were making way
+merrily across the bay, at the head of which was the port of the
+little settlement, when we beheld to our dismay, a few miles down
+the river, the signs of the violent day breeze coming down upon
+us--a long, rapidly advancing line of foam with the darkened
+water behind it. Our men strove in vain to gain the harbour; the
+wind overtook us, and we cast anchor in three fathoms, with two
+miles of shoaly water between us and the land on our lee. It came
+with the force of a squall: the heavy billows washing over the
+vessel and drenching us with the spray. I did not expect that our
+anchor would hold; I gave out, however, plenty of cable and
+watched the result at the prow, Jose placing himself at the helm,
+and the men standing by the jib and foresail, so as to be ready
+if we dragged to attempt the passage of the Marai spit, which was
+now almost dead to leeward. Our little bit of iron, however, held
+its place; the bottom being fortunately not so sandy as in most
+other parts of the coast; but our weak cable then began to cause
+us anxiety.
+
+We remained in this position all day without food, for everything
+was tossing about in the hold; provision-chests, baskets,
+kettles, and crockery. The breeze increased in strength towards
+the evening, when the sun set fiery red behind the misty hills on
+the western shore, and the gloom of the scene was heightened by
+the strange contrasts of colour; the inky water and the lurid
+gleam of the sky. Heavy seas beat now and then against the prow
+of our vessel with a force that made her shiver. If we had gone
+ashore in this place, all my precious collections would have been
+inevitably lost; but we ourselves could have scrambled easily to
+land, and re-embarked with Senor Honorio, who had remained behind
+in the Pini, and would pass in the course of two or three days.
+When night came I lay down exhausted with watching and fatigue,
+and fell asleep, as my men had done sometime before. About nine
+o'clock, I was awakened by the montaria bumping against the sides
+of the vessel, which had veered suddenly round, and the full
+moon, previously astern, then shone full in the cabin. The wind
+had abruptly ceased, giving place to light puffs from the eastern
+shore, and leaving a long swell rolling into the shoaly bay.
+
+After this, I resolved not to move a step beyond Paquiatuba
+without an additional man, and one who understood the navigation
+of the river at this season. We reached the landing-place at ten
+o'clock, and anchored within the mouth of the creek. In the
+morning I walked through the beautiful shady alleys of the
+forest, which were waterpaths in June when we touched here in
+ascending the river to the house of Inspector Cypriano. After an
+infinite deal of trouble, I succeeded in persuading him to
+furnish me with another Indian. There are about thirty families
+established in this place, but the able-bodied men had been
+nearly all drafted off within the last few weeks by the
+Government, to accompany a military expedition against runaway
+negroes, settled in villages in the interior. Senor Cypriano was
+a pleasant-looking and extremely civil young Mameluco. He
+accompanied us, on the night of the 28th, five miles down the
+river to Point Jaguarari, where the man lived whom he intended to
+send with me. I was glad to find my new hand a steady, middle-
+aged and married Indian; his name was of very good promise,
+Angelo Custodio (Guardian Angel).
+
+Point Jaguarari forms at this season of the year a high sandbank,
+which is prolonged as a narrow spit, stretching about three miles
+towards the middle of the river. We rounded this with great
+difficulty on the night of the 29th, reaching before daylight a
+good shelter behind a similar sandbank at Point Acaratingari, a
+headland situated not more than five miles in a straight line
+from our last anchoring place. We remained here all day; the men
+beating timbo in a quiet pool between the sandbank and the
+mainland, and obtaining a great quantity of fish, from which I
+selected six species new to my collection. We made rather better
+progress the two following nights, but the terral now always blew
+strongly from the north-northeast after midnight, and thus
+limited the hours during which we could navigate, forcing us to
+seek the nearest shelter to avoid being driven back faster than
+we came.
+
+On the 2nd of October, we reached Point Cajetuba and had a
+pleasant day ashore. The river scenery in this neighbourhood is
+of the greatest beauty. A few houses of settlers are seen at the
+bottom of the broad bay of Aramhna-i at the foot of a range of
+richly-timbered hills, the high beach of snow-white sand
+stretching in a bold curve from point to point. The opposite
+shores of the river are ten or eleven miles distant, but towards
+the north is a clear horizon of water and sky. The country near
+Point Cajetuba is similar to the neighbourhood of Santarem--
+namely, campos with scattered trees. We gathered a large quantity
+of wild fruit: Caju, Umiri, and Aapiranga. The Umiri berry
+(Humirium floribundum) is a black drupe similar in appearance to
+the Damascene plum, and not greatly unlike it in taste. The
+Aapiranga is a bright vermilion-coloured berry, with a hard skin
+and a sweet viscid pulp enclosing the seeds.
+
+Between the point and Altar do Chao was a long stretch of sandy
+beach with moderately deep water; our men, therefore, took a rope
+ashore and towed the cuberta at merry speed until we reached the
+village. A long, deeply laden canoe with miners from the interior
+provinces passed us here. It was manned by ten Indians, who
+propelled the boat by poles; the men, five on each side, trotting
+one after the other along a plank arranged for the purpose from
+stem to stern. It took us two nights to double Point Cururu,
+where, as already mentioned, the river bends from its northerly
+course beyond Altar do Chao. A confused pile of rocks, on which
+many a vessel heavily laden with farinha has been wrecked,
+extends at the season of low water from the foot of a high bluff
+far into the stream. We were driven back on the first night
+(October 3rd) by a squall. The light terral was carrying us
+pleasantly round the spit, when a small black cloud which lay
+near the rising moon suddenly spread over the sky to the
+northward; the land breeze then ceased, and furious blasts began
+to blow across the river. We regained, with great difficulty, the
+shelter of the point. It blew almost a hurricane for two hours,
+during the whole of which time the sky over our heads was
+beautifully clear and starlit. Our shelter at first was not very
+secure, for the wind blew away the lashings of our sails, and
+caused our anchor to drag. Angelo Custodio, however, seized a
+rope which was attached to the foremast, and leapt ashore; had he
+not done so, we should probably have been driven many miles
+backwards up the storm-tossed river. After the cloud had passed,
+the regular east wind began to blow, and our further progress was
+effectually stopped for the night. The next day we all went
+ashore, after securing well the canoe, and slept from eleven
+o'clock till five under the shade of trees.
+
+The distance between Point Cururu and Santarem was accomplished
+in three days, against the same difficulties of contrary and
+furious winds, shoaly water, and rocky coasts. I was thankful at
+length to be safely housed, with the whole of my collections,
+made under so many privations and perils, landed without the loss
+or damage of a specimen. The men, after unloading the canoe and
+delivering it to its owner, came to receive their payment. They
+took part in goods and part in money, and after a good supper, on
+the night of the 7th October, shouldered their bundles and set
+off to walk by land some eighty miles to their homes. I was
+rather surprised at the good feeling exhibited by these poor
+Indians at parting. Angelo Custodio said that whenever I should
+wish to make another voyage up the Tapajos, he would be always
+ready to serve me as pilot. Alberto was undemonstrative as usual;
+but Ricardo, with whom I had had many sharp quarrels, actually
+shed tears when he shook hands and bid me the final "adios."
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE UPPER AMAZONS--VOYAGE TO EGA
+
+Departure from Barra--First Day and Night on the Upper Amazons--
+Desolate Appearance of River in the Flood Season--Cucama Indians-
+-Mental Condition of Indians--Squalls--Manatee--Forest--Floating
+Pumice Stones from the Andes--Falling Banks--Ega and its
+Inhabitants--Daily Life of a Naturalist at Ega--The Four Seasons
+of the Upper Amazons
+
+I must now take the reader from the picturesque, hilly country of
+the Tapajos, and its dark, streamless waters, to the boundless
+wooded plains, and yellow turbid current of the Upper Amazons or
+Solimoens. I will resume the narrative of my first voyage up the
+river, which was interrupted at the Barra of the Rio Negro in the
+seventh chapter, to make way for the description of Santarem and
+its neighbourhood.
+
+I embarked at Barra on the 26th of March, 1850, three years
+before steamers were introduced on the upper river, in a cuberta
+which was returning to Ega, the first and only town of any
+importance in the vast solitudes of the Solimoens, from Santarem,
+whither it had been sent, with a cargo of turtle oil in
+earthenware jars. The owner, an old white-haired Portuguese
+trader of Ega named Daniel Cardozo, was then at Barra attending
+the assizes as juryman, a public duty performed without
+remuneration, which took him six weeks away from his business. He
+was about to leave Barra himself, in a small boat, and
+recommended me to send forward my heavy baggage in the cuberta
+and make the journey with him. He would reach Ega, 370 miles
+distant from Barra, in twelve or fourteen days; while the large
+vessel would be thirty or forty days on the road. I preferred,
+however, to go in company with my luggage, looking forward to the
+many opportunities I should have of landing and making
+collections on the banks of the river.
+
+I shipped the collections made between Para and the Rio Negro in
+a large cutter which was about descending to the capital, and
+after a heavy day's work got all my chests aboard the Ega canoe
+by eight o'clock at night. The Indians were then all embarked,
+one of them being brought dead drunk by his companions, and laid
+to sober himself all night on the wet boards of the tombadilha.
+The cabo, a spirited young white, named Estulano Alves Carneiro,
+who has since risen to be a distinguished citizen of the new
+province of the Upper Amazons, soon after gave orders to get up
+the anchor. The men took to the oars, and in a few hours we
+crossed the broad mouth of the Rio Negro; the night being clear,
+calm, and starlit, and the surface of the inky waters smooth as a
+lake.
+
+When I awoke the next morning, we were progressing by espia along
+the left bank of the Solimoens. The rainy season had now set in
+over the region through which the great river flows; the sand-
+banks and all the lower lands were already under water, and the
+tearing current, two or three miles in breadth, bore along a
+continuous line of uprooted trees and islets of floating plants.
+The prospect was most melancholy; no sound was heard but the dull
+murmur of the waters -- the coast along which we travelled all
+day was encumbered every step of the way with fallen trees, some
+of which quivered in the currents which set around projecting
+points of land. Our old pest, the Motuca, began to torment us as
+soon as the sun gained power in the morning. White egrets were
+plentiful at the edge of the water, and hummingbirds, in some
+places, were whirring about the flowers overhead. The desolate
+appearance of the landscape increased after sunset, when the moon
+rose in mist.
+
+This upper river, the Alto-Amazonas, or Solimoens, is always
+spoken of by the Brazilians as a distinct stream. This is partly
+owing, as before remarked, to the direction it seems to take at
+the fork of the Rio Negro; the inhabitants of the country, from
+their partial knowledge, not being able to comprehend the whole
+river system in one view. It has, however, many peculiarities to
+distinguish it from the lower course of the river. The trade-
+wind, or sea-breeze, which reaches, in the height of the dry
+season, as far as the mouth of the Rio Negro, 900 or 1000 miles
+from the Atlantic, never blows on the upper river. The atmosphere
+is therefore more stagnant and sultry, and the winds that do
+prevail are of irregular direction and short duration. A great
+part of the land on the borders of the Lower Amazons is hilly;
+there are extensive campos, or open plains, and long stretches of
+sandy soil clothed with thinner forests. The climate, in
+consequence, is comparatively dry many months in succession
+during the fine season passing without rain. All this is changed
+on the Solimoens. A fortnight of clear sunny weather is a rarity:
+the whole region through which the river and its affluents flow,
+after leaving the easternmost ridges of the Andes, which Poppig
+describes as rising like a wall from the level country, 240 miles
+from the Pacific, is a vast plain, about 1000 miles in length,
+and 500 or 600 in breadth, covered with one uniform, lofty,
+impervious, and humid forest. The soil is nowhere sandy, but
+always either a stiff clay, alluvium, or vegetable mold, which
+thelatter, in many places, is seen in water-worn sections of the
+river banks to be twenty or thirty feet in depth. With such a
+soil and climate, the luxuriance of vegetation, and the abundance
+and beauty of animal forms which are already so great in the
+region nearer the Atlantic, increase on the upper river. The
+fruits, both wild and cultivated, common to the two sections of
+the country, reach a progressively larger size in advancing
+westward, and some trees, which blossom only once a year at Para
+and Santarem, yield flower and fruit all the year round at Ega.
+The climate is healthy, although one lives here as in a permanent
+vapour bath. I must not, however, give here a lengthy description
+of the region while we are yet on its threshold. I resided and
+travelled on the Solimoens altogether for four years and a half.
+The country on its borders is a magnificent wilderness where
+civilised man, as yet, has scarcely obtained a footing; the
+cultivated ground from the Rio Negro to the Andes amounting only
+to a few score acres. Man, indeed, in any condition, from his
+small numbers, makes but an insignificant figure in these vast
+solitudes. It may be mentioned that the Solimoens is 2130 miles
+in length, if we reckon from the source of what is usually
+considered the main stream (Lake Lauricocha, near Lima); but 2500
+miles by the route of the Ucayali, the most considerable and
+practicable fork of the upper part of the river. It is navigable
+at all seasons by large steamers for upwards of 1400 miles from
+the mouth of the Rio Negro.
+
+On the 28th we passed the mouth of Arlauu, a narrow inlet which
+communicates with the Rio Negro, emerging in front of Barra. Our
+vessel was nearly drawn into this by the violent current which
+set from the Solimoens. The towing-cable was lashed to a strong
+tree about thirty yards ahead, and it took the whole strength of
+crew and passengers to pull across. We passed the Guariba, a
+second channel connecting the two rivers, on the 30th, and on the
+31st sailed past a straggling settlement called Manacapuru,
+situated on a high, rocky bank. Many citizens of Barra have
+sitios, or country-houses, in this place, although it is eighty
+miles distant from the town by the nearest road. Beyond
+Manacapuru all traces of high land cease; both shores of the
+river, henceforward for many hundred miles, are flat, except in
+places where the Tabatinga formation appears in clayey elevations
+of from twenty to forty feet above the line of highest water. The
+country is so completely destitute of rocky or gravelly beds that
+not a pebble is seen during many weeks' journey. Our voyage was
+now very monotonous. After leaving the last house at Manacapuru,
+we travelled nineteen days without seeing a human habitation, the
+few settlers being located on the banks of inlets or lakes some
+distance from the shores of the main river. We met only one
+vessel during the whole of the time, and this did not come within
+hail, as it was drifting down in the middle of the current in a
+broad part of the river, two miles from the bank along which we
+were laboriously warping our course upwards.
+
+After the first two or three days we fell into a regular way of
+life on board. Our crew was composed of ten Indians of the Cucama
+nation, whose native country is a portion of the borders of the
+upper river in the neighbourhood of Nauta, in Peru. The Cucamas
+speak the Tupi language, using, however, a harsher accent than is
+common amongst the semi-civilised Indians from Ega downwards.
+They are a shrewd, hard-working people, and are the only Indians
+who willingly, and in a body, engage themselves to navigate the
+canoes of traders. The pilot, a steady and faithful fellow named
+Vicente, told me that he and his companions had now been fifteen
+months absent from their wives and families, and that on arriving
+at Ega they intended to take the first chance of a passage to
+Nauta. There was nothing in the appearance of these men to
+distinguish them from canoemen in general. Some were tall and
+well built, others had squat figures with broad shoulders and
+excessively thick arms and legs. No two of them were at all
+similar in the shape of the head: Vicente had an oval visage,
+with fine regular features, while a little dumpy fellow, the wag
+of the party, was quite a Mongolian in breadth and prominence of
+cheek, spread of nostrils, and obliquity of eyes; but these two
+formed the extremes as to face and figure. None of them were
+tattooed or disfigured in any way and they were all quite
+destitute of beard.
+
+The Cucamas are notorious on the river for their provident
+habits. The desire of acquiring property is so rare a trait in
+Indians, that the habits of these people are remarked on with
+surprise by the Brazilians. The first possession which they
+strive to acquire on descending the river into Brazil, which all
+the Peruvian Indians look upon as a richer country than their
+own, is a wooden trunk with lock and key; in this they stow away
+carefully all their earnings converted into clothing, hatchets,
+knives, harpoon heads, needles and thread, and so forth. Their
+wages are only fourpence or sixpence a day, which is often paid
+in goods charged one hundred per cent above Para prices, so that
+it takes them a long time to fill their chest.
+
+It would be difficult to find a better-behaved set of men in a
+voyage than these poor Indians. During our thirty-five days'
+journey they lived and worked together in the most perfect good
+fellowship. I never heard an angry word pass amongst them. Senor
+Estulano let them navigate the vessel in their own way, exerting
+his authority only now and then when they were inclined to be
+lazy. Vicente regulated the working hours. These depended on the
+darkness of the nights. In the first and second quarters of the
+moon they kept it up with espia, or oars, until almost midnight;
+in the third and fourth quarters they were allowed to go to sleep
+soon after sunset, and were aroused at three or four o'clock in
+the morning to resume their work. On cool, rainy days we all bore
+a hand at the espia, trotting with bare feet on the sloppy deck
+in Indian file to the tune of some wild boatman's chorus. We had
+a favorable wind for only two days out of the thirty-five, by
+which we made about forty miles, the rest of our long journey was
+accomplished literally by pulling our way from tree to tree. When
+we encountered a remanso near the shore, we got along very
+pleasantly for a few miles by rowing-- but this was a rare
+occurrence. During leisure hours the Indians employed themselves
+in sewing. Vicente was a good hand at cutting out shirts and
+trousers, and acted as master tailor to the whole party, each of
+whom had a thick steel thimble and a stock of needles and thread
+of his own. Vicente made for me a set of blue-check cotton shirts
+during the passage.
+
+The goodness of these Indians, like that of most others amongst
+whom I lived, consisted perhaps more in the absence of active bad
+qualities, than in the possession of good ones; in other words,
+it was negative rather than positive. Their phlegmatic, apathetic
+temperament, coldness of desire and deadness of feeling, want of
+curiosity and slowness of intellect, make the Amazonian Indians
+very uninteresting companions anywhere. Their imagination is of a
+dull, gloomy, quality and they seemed never to be stirred by the
+emotions--love, pity, admiration, fear, wonder, joy,
+orenthusiasm. These are characteristics of the whole race. The
+good fellowship of our Cucamas seemed to arise not from warm
+sympathy, but simply from the absence of eager selfishness in
+small matters. On the morning when the favourable wind sprung up,
+one of the crew, a lad of about seventeen years of age, was
+absent ashore at the time of starting, having gone alone in one
+of the montarias to gather wild fruit. The sails were spread and
+we travelled for several hours at great speed, leaving the poor
+fellow to paddle after us against the strong current. Vicente,
+who might have waited a few minutes at starting, and the others,
+only laughed when the hardship of their companion was alluded to.
+He overtook us at night, having worked his way with frightful
+labor the whole day without a morsel of food. He grinned when he
+came on board, and not a dozen words were said on either side.
+
+Their want of curiosity is extreme. One day we had an unusually
+sharp thunder shower. The crew were lying about the deck, and
+after each explosion all set up a loud laugh; the wag of the
+party exclaiming: "There's my old uncle hunting again!"-- an
+expression showing the utter emptiness of mind of the spokesman.
+I asked Vicente what he thought was the cause of lightning and
+thunder... He said, "Timaa ichoqua,"--I don't know. He had never
+given the subject a moment's thought! It was the same with other
+things. I asked him who made the sun, the stars, the trees... He
+didn't know, and had never heard the subject mentioned amongst
+his tribe. The Tupi language, at least as taught by the old
+Jesuits, has a word--Tupana--signifying God. Vicente sometimes
+used this word, but he showed by his expressions that he did not
+attach the idea of a Creator to it. He seemed to think it meant
+some deity or visible image which the whites worshipped in the
+churches he had seen in the villages. None of the Indian tribes
+on the Upper Amazons have an idea of a Supreme Being, and
+consequently have no word to express it in their own language.
+Vicente thought the river on which we were travelling encircled
+the whole earth, and that the land was an island like those seen
+in the stream, but larger. Here a gleam of curiosity and
+imagination in the Indian mind is revealed: the necessity of a
+theory of the earth and water has been felt, and a theory has
+been suggested. In all other matters not concerning the common
+wants of life, the mind of Vicente was a blank and such I always
+found to be the case with the Indian in his natural state. Would
+a community of any race of men be otherwise, were they isolated
+for centuries in a wilderness like the Amazonian Indians,
+associated in small numbers wholly occupied in procuring a mere
+subsistence, and without a written language, or a leisured class
+to hand down acquired knowledge from generation to generation?One
+day a smart squall gave us a good lift onward; it came with a
+cold, fine, driving rain, which enveloped the desolate landscape
+as with a mist; the forest swayed and roared with the force of
+the gale, and flocks of birds were driven about in alarm over the
+tree tops. On another occasion a similar squall came from an
+unfavourable quarter; it fell upon us quite unawares, when we had
+all our sails out to dry, and blew us broadside foremost on the
+shore. The vessel was fairly lifted on to the tall bushes which
+lined the banks, but we sustained no injury beyond the
+entanglement of our rigging in the branches. The days and nights
+usually passed in a dead calm, or with light intermittent winds
+from up river, and consequently full against us. We landed twice
+a day to give ourselves and the Indians a little rest and change,
+and to cook our two meals--breakfast and dinner. There was
+another passenger besides myself--a cautious, middle-aged
+Portuguese, who was going to settle at Ega, where he had a
+brother long since established. He was accommodated in the fore-
+cabin, or arched covering over the hold. I shared the cabin-
+proper with Senores Estulano and Manoel, the latter a young half-
+caste, son-in-law to the owner of the vessel, under whose tuition
+I made good progress in learning the Tupi language during the
+voyage.
+
+Our men took it in turns, two at a time, to go out fishing-- for
+which purpose we carried a spare montaria. The master had brought
+from Barra as provision, nothing but stale, salt pirarucu--half
+rotten fish, in large, thin, rusty slabs--farinha, coffee, and
+treacle. In these voyages, passengers are expected to provide for
+themselves, as no charge is made except for freight of the heavy
+luggage or cargo they take with them. The Portuguese and myself
+had brought a few luxuries, such as beans, sugar, biscuits, tea,
+and so forth; but we found ourselves almost obliged to share them
+with our two companions and the pilot, so that before the voyage
+was one-third finished, the small stock of most of these articles
+was exhausted. In return, we shared in whatever the men brought.
+Sometimes they were quite unsuccessful, for fish is extremely
+difficult to procure in the season of high water, on account of
+the lower lands lying between the inlets and infinite chain of
+pools and lakes being flooded from the main river, thus
+increasing tenfold the area over which the finny population has
+to range. On most days, however, they brought two or three fine
+fish, and once they harpooned a manatee, or Vacca marina. On this
+last-mentioned occasion we made quite a holiday; the canoe was
+stopped for six or seven hours, and all turned out into the
+forest to help skin and cook the animal. The meat was cut into
+cubical slabs, and each person skewered a dozen or so of these on
+a long stick. Fires were made, and the spits stuck in the ground
+and slanted over the flames to roast. A drizzling rain fell all
+the time, and the ground around the fires swarmed with stinging
+ants, attracted by the entrails and slime which were scattered
+about. The meat has somewhat the taste of very coarse pork; but
+the fat, which lies in thick layers between the lean parts, is of
+a greenish colour, and of a disagreeable, fishy flavour. The
+animal was a large one, measuring nearly ten feet in length, and
+nine in girth at the broadest part. The manatee is one of the few
+objects which excite the dull wonder and curiosity of the
+Indians, notwithstanding its commonness. The fact of its suckling
+its young at the breast, although an aquatic animal resembling a
+fish, seems to strike them as something very strange. The animal,
+as it lay on its back, with its broad rounded head and muzzle,
+tapering body, and smooth, thick, lead-coloured skin reminded me
+of those Egyptian tombs which are made of dark, smooth stone, and
+shaped to the human figure.
+
+Notwithstanding the hard fare, the confinement of the canoe, the
+trying weather--frequent and drenching rains, with gleams of
+fiery sunshine--and the woeful desolation of the river scenery, I
+enjoyed the voyage on the whole. We were not much troubled by
+mosquitoes, and therefore passed the nights very pleasantly,
+sleeping on deck wrapped in blankets or old sails. When the rains
+drove us below we were less comfortable, as there was only just
+room in the small cabin for three of us to lie close together,
+and the confined air was stifling. I became inured to the Piums
+in the course of the first week; all the exposed parts of my
+body, by that time, being so closely covered with black punctures
+that the little bloodsuckers could not very easily find an
+unoccupied place to operate upon. Poor Miguel, the Portuguese,
+suffered horribly from these pests, his ankles and wrists being
+so much inflamed that he was confined to his hammock, slung in
+the hold, for weeks. At every landing place I had a ramble in the
+forest, while the redskins made the fire and cooked the meal. The
+result was a large daily addition to my collection of insects,
+reptiles, and shells.
+
+Sometimes the neighbourhood of our gipsy-like encampment was a
+tract of dry and spacious forest, pleasant to ramble in; but more
+frequently it was a rank wilderness, into which it was impossible
+to penetrate many yards, on account of uprooted trees, entangled
+webs of monstrous woody climbers, thickets of spiny bamboos,
+swamps, or obstacles of one kind or other. The drier lands were
+sometimes beautified to the highest degree by groves of the
+Urucuri palm (Attalea excelsa), which grew by the thousands under
+the crowns of the lofty, ordinary forest trees; their smooth
+columnar stems being all of nearly equal height (forty or fifty
+feet), and their broad, finely-pinnated leaves interlocking above
+to form arches and woven canopies of elegant and diversified
+shapes. The fruit of this palm ripens on the upper river in
+April, and during our voyage I saw immense quantities of it
+strewn about under the trees in places where we encamped. It is
+similar in size and shape to the date, and has a pleasantly-
+flavoured juicy pulp. The Indians would not eat it; I was
+surprised at this, as they greedily devoured many other kinds of
+palm fruit whose sour and fibrous pulp was much less palatable.
+Vicente shook his head when he saw me one day eating a quantity
+of the Urucuri plums. I am not sure they were not the cause of a
+severe indigestion under which I suffered for many days
+afterwards.
+
+In passing slowly along the interminable wooded banks week after
+week, I observed that there were three tolerably distinct kinds
+of coast and corresponding forest constantly recurring on this
+upper river. First, there were the low and most recent alluvial
+deposits--a mixture of sand and mud, covered with tall, broad-
+leaved grasses, or with the arrow-grass before described, whose
+feathery-topped flower-stem rises to a height of fourteen or
+fifteen feet. The only large trees which grow in these places are
+the Cecropiae. Many of the smaller and newer islands were of this
+description. Secondly, there were the moderately high banks,
+which are only partially overflowed when the flood season is at
+its height; these are wooded with a magnificent, varied forest,
+in which a great variety of palms and broad-leaved Marantaceae
+form a very large proportion of the vegetation. The general
+foliage is of a vivid light-green hue; the water frontage is
+sometimes covered with a diversified mass of greenery; but where
+the current sets strongly against the friable, earthy banks,
+which at low water are twenty-five to thirty feet high, these are
+cut away, and expose a section of forest where the trunks of
+trees loaded with epiphytes appear in massy colonnades. One might
+safely say that three-fourths of the land bordering the Upper
+Amazons, for a thousand miles, belong to this second class. The
+third description of coast is the higher, undulating, clayey
+land, which appears only at long intervals, but extends sometimes
+for many miles along the borders of the river. The coast at these
+places is sloping, and composed of red or variegated clay. The
+forest is of a different character from that of the lower tracts:
+it is rounder in outline, more uniform in its general aspect--
+palms are much less numerous and of peculiar species--the strange
+bulging-stemmed species, Iriartea ventricosa, and the slender,
+glossy-leaved Bacaba-i (Oenocarpus minor), being especially
+characteristic; and, in short, animal life, which imparts some
+cheerfulness to the other parts of the river, is seldom apparent.
+This "terra firme," as it is called, and a large portion of the
+fertile lower land, seemed well adapted for settlement; some
+parts were originally peopled by the aborigines, but these have
+long since become extinct or amalgamated with the white
+immigrants. I afterwards learned that there were not more than
+eighteen or twenty families settled throughout the whole country
+from Manacapuru to Quary, a distance of 240 miles; and these, as
+before observed, do not live on the banks of the main stream, but
+on the shores of inlets and lakes.
+
+The fishermen twice brought me small rounded pieces of very
+porous pumice-stone, which they had picked up floating on the
+surface of the main current of the river. They were to me objects
+of great curiosity as being messengers from the distant volcanoes
+of the Andes-- Cotopaxi, Llanganete, or Sangay-- which rear their
+peaks amongst the rivulets that feed some of the early
+tributaries of the Amazons, such as the Macas, the Pastaza, and
+the Napo. The stones must have already travelled a distance of
+1200 miles. I afterwards found them rather common; the Brazilians
+use them for cleaning rust from their guns, and firmly believe
+them to be solidified river foam. A friend once brought me, when
+I lived at Santarem, a large piece which had been found in the
+middle of the stream below Monte Alegre, about 900 miles further
+down the river; having reached this distance, pumice-stones would
+be pretty sure of being carried out to sea, and floated thence
+with the northwesterly Atlantic current to shores many thousand
+miles distant from the volcanoes which ejected them. They are
+sometimes stranded on the banks in different parts of the river.
+Reflecting on this circumstance since I arrived in England, the
+probability of these porous fragments serving as vehicles for the
+transportation of seeds of plants, eggs of insects, spawn of
+fresh-water fish, and so forth, has suggested itself to me. Their
+rounded, water-worn appearance showed that they must have been
+rolled about for a long time in the shallow streams near the
+sources of the rivers at the feet of the volcanoes, before they
+leapt the waterfalls and embarked on the currents which lead
+direct for the Amazons. They may have been originally cast on the
+land and afterwards carried to the rivers by freshets; in which
+case the eggs and seeds of land insects and plants might be
+accidentally introduced and safely enclosed with particles of
+earth in their cavities. As the speed of the current in the rainy
+season has been observed to be from three to five miles an hour,
+they might travel an immense distance before the eggs or seeds
+were destroyed. I am ashamed to say that I neglected the
+opportunity, while on the spot, of ascertaining whether this was
+actually the case. The attention of Naturalists has only lately
+been turned to the important subject of occasional means of wide
+dissemination of species of animals and plants. Unless such be
+shown to exist, it is impossible to solve some of the most
+difficult problems connected with the distribution of plants and
+animals. Some species, with most limited powers of locomotion,
+are found in opposite parts of the earth, without existing in the
+intermediate regions; unless it can be shown that these may have
+migrated or been accidentally transported from one point to the
+other, we shall have to come to the strange conclusion that the
+same species had been created in two separate districts.
+
+Canoemen on the Upper Amazons live in constant dread of the
+"terras cahidas," or landslips, which occasionally take place
+along the steep earthy banks, especially when the waters are
+rising. Large vessels are sometimes overwhelmed by these
+avalanches of earth and trees. I should have thought the accounts
+of them exaggerated if I had not had an opportunity during this
+voyage of seeing one on a large scale. One morning I was awakened
+before sunrise by an unusual sound resembling the roar of
+artillery. I was lying alone on the top of the cabin; it was very
+dark, and all my companions were asleep, so I lay listening. The
+sounds came from a considerable distance, and the crash which had
+aroused me was succeeded by others much less formidable. The
+first explanation which occurred to me was that it was an
+earthquake; for, although the night was breathlessly calm, the
+broad river was much agitated and the vessel rolled heavily. Soon
+after, another loud explosion took place, apparently much nearer
+than the former one; then followed others. The thundering peal
+rolled backwards and forwards, now seeming close at hand, now far
+off--the sudden crashes being often succeeded by a pause or a
+long,continued dull rumbling. At the second explosion, Vicente,
+who lay snoring by the helm, awoke and told me it was a "terra
+cahida"; but I could scarcely believe him. The day dawned after
+the uproar had lasted about an hour, and we then saw the work of
+destruction going forward on the other side of the river, about
+three miles off. Large masses of forest, including trees of
+colossal size, probably 200 feet in height, were rocking to and
+fro, and falling headlong one after the other into the water.
+After each avalanche the wave which it caused returned on the
+crumbly bank with tremendous force, and caused the fall of other
+masses by undermining them. The line of coast over which the
+landslip extended, was a mile or two in length; the end of it,
+however, was hidden from our view by an intervening island. It
+was a grand sight; each downfall created a cloud of spray; the
+concussion in one place causing other masses to give way a long
+distance from it, and thus the crashes continued, swaying to and
+fro, with little prospect of a termination. When we glided out of
+sight, two hours after sunrise, the destruction was still going
+on.
+
+On the 22nd we threaded the Parana-mirim of Arauana-i, one of the
+numerous narrow bywaters which lie conveniently for canoes away
+from the main river, and often save a considerable circuit around
+a promontory or island. We rowed for half a mile through a
+magnificent bed of Victoria waterlilies, the flower-buds of which
+were just beginning to expand. Beyond the mouth of the Catua, a
+channel leading to one of the great lakes so numerous in the
+plains of the Amazons, which we passed on the 25th, the river
+appeared greatly increased in breadth. We travelled for three
+days along a broad reach which both up and down river presented a
+blank horizon of water and sky-- this clear view was owing to the
+absence of islands, but it renewed one's impressions of the
+magnitude of the stream, which here, 1200 miles from its mouth,
+showed so little diminution of width. Further westward, a series
+of large islands commences, which divides the river into two and
+sometimes three channels, each about a mile in breadth. We kept
+to the southernmost of these, travelling all day on the 30th of
+April along a high and rather sloping bank.
+
+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. After
+having struggled for thirty-five days with the muddy currents and
+insect pests of the Solimoens, it was unspeakably refreshing to
+find oneself again in a dark-water river, smooth as a lake, and
+free from Pium and Motuca. The rounded outline, small foliage,
+and sombre-green of the woods, which seemed to rest on the glassy
+waters, made a pleasant contrast to the tumultuous piles of rank,
+glaring, light-green vegetation, and torn, timber-strewn banks to
+which we had been so long accustomed on the main river. The men
+rowed lazily until nightfall, when, having done a laborious day's
+work, they discontinued and went to sleep, intending to make for
+Ega in the morning. It was not thought worthwhile to secure the
+vessel to the trees or cast anchor, as there was no current. I
+sat up for two or three hours after my companions had gone to
+rest, enjoying the solemn calm of the night. Not a breath of air
+stirred; the sky was of a deep blue, and the stars seemed to
+stand forth in sharp relief; there was no sound of life in the
+woods, except the occasional melancholy note of some nocturnal
+bird. I reflected on my own wandering life; I had now reached the
+end of the third stage of my journey, and was now more than half
+way across the continent. It was necessary for me, on many
+accounts, to find a rich locality for Natural History
+explorations, and settle myself in it for some months or years.
+Would the neighbourhood of Ega turn out to be suitable, and
+should I, a solitary stranger on a strange errand, find a welcome
+amongst its people?
+
+Our Indians resumed their oars at sunrise the next morning (May
+1st), and after an hour's rowing along the narrow channel, which
+varies in breadth from 100 to 500 yards, we doubled a low wooded
+point, and emerged suddenly on the so-called Lake of Ega-- a
+magnificent sheet of water, five miles broad, the expanded
+portion of the Teffe. It is quite clear of islands, and curves
+away to the west and south, so that its full extent is not
+visible from this side. To the left, on a gentle grassy slope at
+the point of junction of a broad tributary with the Teffe, lay
+the little settlement-- a cluster of a hundred or so of palm-
+thatched cottages and white-washed red-tiled houses, each with
+its neatly-enclosed orchard of orange, lemon, banana, and guava
+trees. Groups of palms, with their tall slender shafts and
+feathery crowns, overtopped the buildings and lower trees. A
+broad grass-carpeted street led from the narrow strip of white
+sandy beach to the rudely-built barn-like church, with its wooden
+crucifix on the green before it, in the centre of the town.
+Cattle were grazing before the houses, and a number of dark-
+skinned natives were taking their morning bath amongst the canoes
+of various sizes, which were anchored or moored to stakes in the
+port. We let off rockets and fired salutes, according to custom,
+in token of our safe arrival, and shortly afterwards went ashore.
+
+A few days' experience of the people and the forests of the
+vicinity showed me that I might lay myself out for a long,
+pleasant, and busy residence at this place. An idea of the kind
+of people I had fallen amongst may be conveyed by an account of
+my earliest acquaintances in the place. On landing, the owner of
+the canoe killed an ox in honour of our arrival, and the next day
+took me round the town to introduce me to the principal
+residents. We first went to the Delegado of police, Senor Antonio
+Cardozo, of whom I shall have to make frequent mention by-and-by.
+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. I
+afterwards 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 I
+wished to settle for the goods I had had of him, he refused to
+take any payment.
+
+I made Ega my headquarters during the whole of the time I
+remained on the Upper Amazons (four years and a half). My
+excursions into the neighbouring region extended sometimes as far
+as 300 and 400 miles from the place. An account of these
+excursions will be given in subsequent chapters; in the intervals
+between them I led a quiet, uneventful life in the settlement,
+following my pursuit in the same peaceful, regular way as a
+Naturalist might do in a European village. For many weeks in
+succession my journal records little more than the notes made on
+my daily captures. I had a dry and specious cottage, the
+principal room of which was made a workshop and study; here a
+large table was placed, and my little library of reference
+arranged on shelves in rough wooden boxes. Cages for drying
+specimens were suspended from the rafters by cords well anointed,
+to prevent ants from descending, with a bitter vegetable oil;
+rats and mice were kept from them by inverted cuyas, placed half
+way down the cords. I always kept on hand a large portion of my
+private collection, which contained a pair of each species and
+variety, for the sake of comparing the old with the new
+acquisitions. My cottage was whitewashed inside and out about
+once a year by the proprietor, a native trader; the floor was of
+earth; the ventilation was perfect, for the outside air, and
+sometimes the rain as well, entered freely through gaps at the
+top of the walls under the eaves and through wide crevices in the
+doorways. Rude as the dwelling was, I look back with pleasure on
+the many happy months I spent in it. I rose generally with the
+sun, when the grassy streets were wet with dew, and walked down
+to the river to bathe; five or six hours of every morning were
+spent in collecting in the forest, whose borders lay only five
+minutes' walk from my house; the hot hours of the afternoon,
+between three and six o'clock, and the rainy days, were occupied
+in preparing and ticketing the specimens, making notes,
+dissecting, and drawing. I frequently had short rambles by water
+in a small montaria, with an Indian lad to paddle. The
+neighbourhood yielded me, up to the last day of my residence, an
+uninterrupted succession of new and curious forms in the
+different classes of the animal kingdom, and especially insects.
+
+I lived, as may already have been seen, on the best of terms with
+the inhabitants of Ega. Refined society, of course, there was
+none; but the score or so of decent quiet families which
+constituted the upper class of the place were very sociable;
+their manners offered a curious mixture of naive rusticity and
+formal politeness; the great desire to be thought civilised leads
+the most ignorant of these people (and they are all very
+ignorant, although of quick intelligence) to be civil and kind to
+strangers from Europe. I was never troubled with that impertinent
+curiosity on the part of the people in these interior places
+which some travellers complain of in other countries. The Indians
+and lower half-castes--at least such of them who gave any thought
+to the subject--seemed to think it natural that strangers should
+collect and send abroad the beautiful birds and insects of their
+country. The butterflies they universally concluded to be wanted
+as patterns for bright-coloured calico-prints. As to the better
+sort of people, I had no difficulty in making them understand
+that each European capital had a public museum, in which were
+sought to be stored specimens of all natural productions in the
+mineral, animal, and vegetable kingdoms. They could not
+comprehend how a man could study science for its own sake; but I
+told them I was collecting for the "Museo de Londres," and was
+paid for it; that was very intelligible. One day, soon after my
+arrival, when I was explaining these things to a listening circle
+seated on benches in the grassy street, one of the audience, a
+considerable tradesman, a Mameluco native of Ega, got suddenly
+quite enthusiastic, and exclaimed, "How rich are these great
+nations of Europe!  We half-civilised creatures know nothing. Let
+us treat this stranger well, that he may stay amongst us and
+teach our children." We very frequently had social parties, with
+dancing and so forth; of these relaxations I shall have more to
+say presently. The manners of the Indian population also gave me
+some amusement for a long time. During the latter part of my
+residence, three wandering Frenchmen, and two Italians, some of
+them men of good education, on their road one after the other
+from the Andes down the Amazons, became enamoured of this
+delightfully situated and tranquil spot, and made up their minds
+to settle here for the remainder of their lives. Three of them
+ended by marrying native women. I found the society of these
+friends a very agreeable change.
+
+There were, of course, many drawbacks to the amenities of the
+place as a residence for a European; but these were not of a
+nature that my readers would perhaps imagine. There was scarcely
+any danger from wild animals-- it seems almost ridiculous to
+refute the idea of danger from the natives in a country where
+even incivility to an unoffending stranger is a rarity. A jaguar,
+however, paid us a visit one night. It was considered an
+extraordinary event, and so much uproar was made by the men who
+turned out with guns and bows and arrows, that the animal
+scampered off and was heard of no more. Alligators were rather
+troublesome in the dry season. During these months there was
+almost always one or two lying in wait near the bathing place for
+anything that might turn up at the edge of the water-- dog,
+sheep, pig, child, or drunken Indian. When this visitor was about
+every one took extra care whilst bathing. I used to imitate the
+natives in not advancing far from the bank, and in keeping my eye
+fixed on that of the monster, which stares with a disgusting leer
+along the surface of the water; the body being submerged to the
+level of the eyes, and the top of the head, with part of the
+dorsal crest the only portions visible. When a little motion was
+perceived in the water behind the reptile's tail, bathers were
+obliged to beat a quick retreat. I was never threatened myself,
+but I often saw the crowds of women and children scared while
+bathing by the beast making a movement towards them -- a general
+scamper to the shore and peals of laughter were always the result
+in these cases. The men can always destroy these alligators when
+they like to take the trouble to set out with montarias and
+harpoons for the purpose; but they never do it unless one of the
+monsters, bolder than usual, puts some one's life in danger. This
+arouses them, and they then track the enemy with the greatest
+pertinacity; when half-killed, they drag it ashore and dispatch
+it amid loud execrations. Another, however, is sure to appear
+some days or weeks afterwards and take the vacant place on the
+station. Besides alligators, the only animals to be feared are
+the poisonous serpents. These are certainly common enough in the
+forest, but no fatal accident happened during the whole time of
+my residence.
+
+I suffered most inconvenience from the difficulty of getting news
+from the civilised world down river, from the irregularity of
+receipt of letters, parcels of books and periodicals, and towards
+the latter part of my residence from ill health arising from bad
+and insufficient food. The want of intellectual society, and of
+the varied excitement of European life, was also felt most
+acutely, and this, instead of becoming deadened by time,
+increased until it became almost insupportable. I was obliged, at
+last, to come to the conclusion that the contemplation of Nature
+alone is not sufficient to fill the human heart and mind. I got
+on pretty well when I received a parcel from England by the
+steamer, once in two or four months. I used to be very economical
+with my stock of reading lest it should be finished before the
+next arrival, and leave me utterly destitute. I went over the
+periodicals, the Athenaeum, for instance, with great
+deliberation, going through every number three times; the first
+time devouring the more interesting articles; the second, the
+whole of the remainder; and the third, reading all the
+advertisements from beginning to end. If four months (two
+steamers) passed without a fresh parcel, I felt discouraged in
+the extreme. I was worst off in the first year, 1850, when twelve
+months elapsed without letters or remittances. Towards the end of
+this time my clothes had worn to rags; I was barefoot, a great
+inconvenience in tropical forests, notwithstanding statements to
+the contrary that have been published by travellers; my servant
+ran away, and I was robbed of nearly all my copper money. I was
+obliged then to descend to Para, but returned, after finishing
+the examination of the middle part of the Lower Amazons and the
+Tapajos, in 1855, with my Santarem assistant and better provided
+for making collections on the upper river. This second visit was
+in pursuit of the plan before mentioned, of exploring in detail
+the whole valley of the Amazons, which I formed in Para in the
+year 1851.
+
+During so long a residence I witnessed, of course, many changes
+in the place. Some of the good friends who made me welcome on my
+first arrival, died, and I followed their remains to their last
+resting-place in the little rustic cemetery on the borders of the
+surrounding forest. I lived there long enough, from first to
+last, to see the young people grow up, attended their weddings,
+and the christenings of their children, and, before I left, saw
+them old married folks with numerous families. In 1850 Ega was
+only a village, dependent on Para 1400 miles distant, as the
+capital of the then undivided province. In 1852, with the
+creation of the new province of the Amazons, it became a city;
+returned its members to the provincial parliament at Barra; had
+it assizes, its resident judges, and rose to be the chief town of
+the comarca or county. A year after this, namely, in 1853,
+steamers were introduced on the Solimoens; and from 1855, one ran
+regularly every two months between the Rio Negro and Nauta in
+Peru, touching at all the villages, and accomplishing the
+distance in ascending, about 1200 miles, in eighteen days. The
+trade and population, however, did not increase with these
+changes. The people became more "civilised," that is, they began
+to dress according to the latest Parisian fashions, instead of
+going about in stockingless feet, wooden clogs, and shirt
+sleeves, acquired a taste for money-getting and office-holding;
+became divided into parties, and lost part of their former
+simplicity of manners. But the place remained, when I left it in
+1859, pretty nearly what it was when I first arrived in 1850--a
+semi-Indian village, with much in the ways and notions of its
+people more like those of a small country town in Northern Europe
+than a South American settlement. The place is healthy, and
+almost free from insect pests-- perpetual verdure surrounds it;
+the soil is of marvellous fertility, even for Brazil; the endless
+rivers and labyrinths of channels teem with fish and turtle, a
+fleet of steamers might anchor at any season of the year in the
+lake, which has uninterrupted water communication straight to the
+Atlantic. What a future is in store for the sleepy little
+tropical village!
+
+After speaking of Ega as a city, it will have a ludicrous effect
+to mention that the total number of its inhabitants is only about
+1200. It contains just 107 houses, about half of which are
+miserably built mud-walled cottages, thatched with palm leaves. A
+fourth of the population are almost always absent, trading or
+collecting produce on the rivers. The neighbourhood within a
+radius of thirty miles, and including two other small villages,
+contains probably 2000 more people. The settlement is one of the
+oldest in the country, having beenfounded in 1688 by Father
+Samuel Fritz, a Bohemian Jesuit, who induced several of the
+docile tribes of Indians, then scattered over the neighbouring
+region, to settle on the site. From 100 to 200 acres of sloping
+ground around the place were afterwards cleared of timber; but
+such is the encroaching vigour of vegetation in this country that
+the site would quickly relapse into jungle if the inhabitants
+neglected to pull up the young shoots as they arose. There is a
+stringent municipal law which compels each resident to weed a
+given space around his dwelling. Every month, whilst I resided
+here, an inspector came round with his wand of authority, and
+fined every one who had not complied with the regulation. The
+Indians of the surrounding country have never been hostile to the
+European settlers. The rebels of Para and the Lower Amazons, in
+1835-6, did not succeed in rousing the natives of the Solimoens
+against the whites. A party of forty of them ascended the river
+for that purpose, but on arriving at Ega, instead of meeting with
+sympathisers as in other places, they were surrounded by a small
+body of armed residents, and shot down without mercy. The
+military commandant at the time, who was the prime mover in this
+orderly resistance to anarchy, was a courageous and loyal negro,
+named Jose Patricio, an officer known throughout the Upper
+Amazons for his unflinching honesty and love of order, whose
+acquaintance I had the pleasure of making at St. Paulo in 1858.
+Ega was the headquarters of the great scientific commission,
+which met in the years from 1781 to 1791 to settle the boundaries
+between the Spanish and Portuguese territories in South America.
+The chief commissioner for Spain, Don Francisco Requena, lived
+some time in the village with his family. I found only one person
+at Ega, my old friend Romao de Oliveira, who recollected, or had
+any knowledge of this important time, when a numerous staff of
+astronomers, surveyors, and draughtsmen, explored much of the
+surrounding country with large bodies of soldiers and natives.
+
+More than half the inhabitants of Ega are Mamelucos; there are
+not more than forty or fifty pure whites; the number of negroes
+and mulattos is probably a little less, and the rest of the
+population consists of pure blood Indians. Every householder,
+including Indians and free negroes, is entitled to a vote in the
+elections, municipal, provincial, and imperial, and is liable to
+be called on juries, and to serve in the national guard. These
+privileges and duties of citizenship do not seem at present to be
+appreciated by the more ignorant coloured people. There is,
+however, a gradual improvement taking place in this respect.
+Before I left there was a rather sharp contest for the Presidency
+of the Municipal Chamber, and most of the voters took a lively
+interest in it. There was also an election of members to
+represent the province in the Imperial Parliament at Rio Janeiro,
+in which each party strove hard to return its candidate. On this
+occasion, an unscrupulous lawyer was sent by the government party
+from the capital to overawe the opposition to its nominee; many
+of the half-castes, headed by my old friend John da Cunha, who
+was then settled at Ega, fought hard, but with perfect legality
+and good humour, against this powerful interest. They did not
+succeed -- and although the government agent committed many
+tyrannical and illegal acts, the losing party submitted quietly
+to their defeat. In a larger town, I believe, the government
+would not have dared to attempt thus to control the elections. I
+think I saw enough to warrant the conclusion that the machinery
+of constitutional government would, with a little longer trial,
+work well amongst the mixed Indian, white, and negro population,
+even in this remote part of the Brazilian empire. I attended
+also, before I left, several assize meetings at Ega, and
+witnessed the novel sight of negro, white, half-caste, and
+Indian, sitting gravely side by side on the jury bench.
+
+The way in which the coloured races act under the conditions of
+free citizenship is a very interesting subject. Brazilian
+statesmen seem to have abandoned the idea, if they ever
+entertained it, of making this tropical empire a nation of whites
+with a slave labouring class. The greatest difficulty on the
+Amazons is with the Indians. The general inflexibility of
+character of the race, and their abhorrence of the restraints of
+civilised life, make them very intractable subjects. Some of
+them, however, who have learned to read and write, and whose
+dislike to live in towns has been overcome by some cause acting
+early in life, make very good citizens. I have already mentioned
+the priest, who is a good example of what early training can do.
+There can be no doubt that if the docile Amazonian Indians were
+kindly treated by their white fellow-citizens, and educated, they
+would not be so 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, Senor 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; but 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.Many of the Ega Indians, including all the
+domestic servants, are savages who have been brought from the
+neighbouring rivers-- the Japura, the Issa, and the Solimoens. I
+saw here individuals of at least sixteen different tribes, most
+of whom had been bought, when children, of the native chiefs.
+This species of slave-dealing, although forbidden by the laws of
+Brazil, is winked at by the authorities, because without it,
+there would be no means of obtaining servants. They all become
+their own masters when they grow up, and never show the slightest
+inclination to return to utter savage life. But the boys
+generally run away and embark on the canoes of traders; and the
+girls are often badly treated by their mistresses-- the jealous,
+passionate, and ill-educated Brazilian women. Nearly all the
+enmities which arise amongst residents at Ega and other place,
+are caused by disputes about Indian servants. No one who has
+lived only in old settled countries, where service can be readily
+bought, can imagine the difficulties and annoyances of a land
+where the servant class are ignorant of the value of money, and
+hands cannot be obtained except by coaxing them from the employ
+of other masters.
+
+Great mortality takes place amongst the poor captive children on
+their arrival at Ega. It is a singular circumstance that the
+Indians residing on the Japura and other tributaries always fall
+ill on descending to the Solimoens, while the reverse takes place
+with the inhabitants of the banks of the main river, who never
+fail of taking intermittent fever when they first ascend these
+branch rivers, and of getting well when they return. The finest
+tribes of savages who inhabit the country near Ega are the Juris
+and Passes-- these are now, however, nearly extinct, a few
+families only remaining on the banks of the retired creeks
+connected with the Teffe, and on other branch rivers between the
+Teffe and the Jutahi. They are a peaceable, gentle, and
+industrious people, devoted to agriculture and fishing, and have
+always been friendly to the whites. I shall have occasion to
+speak again of the Passes, who are a slenderly-built and superior
+race of Indians, distinguished by a large, square tattooed patch
+in the middle of their faces. The principal cause of their decay
+in numbers seems to be a disease which always appears amongst
+them when a village is visited by people from the civilised
+settlements--a slow fever, accompanied by the symptoms of a
+common cold, "defluxo," as the Brazilians term it, ending
+probably in consumption. The disorder has been known to break out
+when the visitors were entirely free from it-- the simple contact
+of civilised men, in some mysterious way, being sufficient to
+create it. It is generally fatal to the Juris and Passes; the
+first question the poor, patient Indians now put to an advancing
+canoe is, "Do you bring defluxo?"
+
+My assistant, Jose, in the last year of our residence at Ega,
+"resgatou" (ransomed, the euphemism in use for purchased) two
+Indian children, a boy and a girl, through a Japura trader. The
+boy was about twelve years of age, and of an unusually dark
+colour of skin-- he had, in fact, the tint of a Cafuzo, the
+offspring of Indian and negro. It was thought he had belonged to
+some perfectly wild and houseless tribe, similar to the
+Pararauates of the Tapajos, of which there are several in
+different parts of the interior of South America. His face was of
+regular, oval shape, but his glistening black eyes had a wary,
+distrustful expression, like that of a wild animal; his hands and
+feet were small and delicately formed. Soon after his arrival,
+finding that none of the Indian boys and girls in the houses of
+our neighbours understood his language, he became sulky and
+reserved; not a word could be got from him until many weeks
+afterwards, when he suddenly broke out with complete phrases of
+Portuguese. He was ill of swollen liver and spleen, the result of
+intermittent fever, for a long time after coming into our hands.
+We found it difficult to cure him, owing to his almost invincible
+habit of eating earth, baked clay, pitch, wax, and other similar
+substances. Very many children on the upper parts of the Amazons
+have this strange habit; not only Indians, but negroes and
+whites. It is not, therefore, peculiar to the famous Otomacs of
+the Orinoco, described by Humboldt,or to Indians at all, and
+seems to originate in a morbid craving, the result of a meagre
+diet of fish, wild-fruits, and mandioca-meal. We gave our little
+savage the name of Sebastian.
+
+The use of these Indian children is to fill water-jars from the
+river, gather firewood in the forest, cook, assist in paddling
+the montaria in excursions, and so forth. Sebastian was often my
+companion in the woods, where he was very useful in finding the
+small birds I shot, which sometimes fell in the thickets amongst
+confused masses of fallen branches and dead leaves. He was
+wonderfully expert at catching lizards with his hands, and at
+climbing. The smoothest stems of palm trees offered little
+difficulty to him; he would gather a few lengths of tough,
+flexible lianas, tie them in a short, endless band to support his
+feet with, in embracing the slippery shaft, and then mount
+upwards by a succession of slight jerks. It was very amusing,
+during the first few weeks, to witness the glee and pride with
+which he would bring to me the bunches of fruit he had gathered
+from almost inaccessible trees. He avoided the company of boys of
+his own race, and was evidently proud of being the servant of a
+real white man. We brought him down with us to Para, but he
+showed no emotion at any of the strange sights of the capital--
+the steam-vessels, large ships and houses, horses and carriages,
+the pomp of church ceremonies, and so forth. In this he exhibited
+the usual dullness of feeling and poverty of thought of the
+Indian; he had, nevertheless, very keen perceptions, and was
+quick at learning any mechanical art. Jose, who had resumed, some
+time before I left the country, his old trade of goldsmith, made
+him his apprentice, and he made very rapid progress; for after
+about three months' teaching he came to me one day with radiant
+countenance and showed me a gold ring of his own making.
+
+The fate of the little girl, who came with a second batch of
+children all ill of intermittent fever, a month or two after
+Sebastian, was very different. She was brought to our house,
+after landing, one night in the wet season, when the rain was
+pouring in torrents, thin and haggard, drenched with wet and
+shivering with ague. An old Indian who brought her to the door
+said briefly, "ecui encommenda" (here's your little parcel, or
+order), and went away. There was very little of the savage in her
+appearance, and she was of a much lighter colour than the boy. We
+found she was of the Miranha tribe, all of whom are distinguished
+by a slit, cut in the middle of each wing of the nose, in which
+they wear on holiday occasions a large button made of pearly
+river-shell. We took the greatest care of our little patient; had
+the best nurses in the town, fomented her daily, gave her quinine
+and the most nourishing food; but it was all of no avail, she
+sank rapidly; her liver was enormously swollen, and almost as
+hard to the touch as stone. There was something uncommonly
+pleasing in her ways, and quite unlike anything I had yet seen in
+Indians. Instead of being dull and taciturn, she was always
+smiling and full of talk. We had an old woman of the same tribe
+to attend her, who explained what she said to us. She often
+begged to be taken to the river to bathe; asked for fruit, or
+coveted articles she saw in the room for playthings. Her native
+name was Oria. The last week or two she could not rise from the
+bed we had made for her in a dry corner of the room; when she
+wanted lifting, which, was very often, she would allow no one to
+help her but me, calling me by the name of "Cariwa " (white man),
+the only word of Tupi she seemed to know. It was inexpressibly
+touching to hear her, as she lay, repeating by the hour the
+verses which she had been taught to recite with her companions in
+her native village: a few sentences repeated over and over again
+with a rhythmic accent, and relating to objects and incidents
+connected with the wild life of her tribe. We had her baptised
+before she died, and when this latter event happened, in
+opposition to the wishes of the big people of Ega, I insisted on
+burying her with the same honours as a child of the whites; that
+is, as an "anjinho" (little angel), according to the pretty Roman
+Catholic custom of the country. We had the corpse clothed in a
+robe of fine calico, crossed her hands on her breast over a
+"palma" of flowers, and made also a crown of flowers for her
+head. Scores of helpless children like our poor Oria die at Ega,
+or on the road; but generally not the slightest care is taken of
+them during their illness. They are the captives made during the
+merciless raids of one section of the Miranha tribe on the
+territories of another, and sold to the Ega traders. The villages
+of the attacked hordes are surprised, and the men and women
+killed or driven into the thickets without having time to save
+their children. There appears to be no doubt that the Miranhas
+are cannibals, and, therefore, the purchase of these captives
+probably saves them from a worse fate. The demand for them at Ega
+operates, however, as a direct cause of the supply, stimulating
+the unscrupulous chiefs, who receive all the profits, to
+undertake these murderous expeditions.
+
+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. As far as I could learn, the
+feature is common to all, of placing the preposition after the
+noun, making it, in fact, a post-position, thus: "He is come the
+village from;" "Go him with, the plantation to," and so forth.
+The ideas to be expressed in their limited sphere of life and
+thought are few; consequently the stock of words is extremely
+small; besides, all Indians have the same way of thinking, and
+the same objects to talk about; these circumstances also
+contribute to the case with which they learn each other's
+language. Hordes of the same tribe living on the same branch
+rivers, speak mutually unintelligible languages; this happens
+with the Miranhas on the Japura, and with the Collinas on the
+Jurua; whilst Tupi is spoken with little corruption along the
+banks of the main Amazons for a distance Of 2500 miles. The
+purity of Tupi is kept up by frequent communication amongst the
+natives, from one end to the other of the main river; how
+complete and long-continued must be the isolation in which the
+small groups of savages have lived in other parts, to have caused
+so complete a segregation of dialects! It is probable that the
+strange inflexibility of the Indian organisation, both bodily and
+mental, is owing to the isolation in which each small tribe has
+lived, and to the narrow round of life and thought, and close
+intermarriages for countless generations which are the necessary
+results. Their fecundity is of a low degree, for it is very rare
+to find an Indian family having so many as four children, and we
+have seen how great is their liability to sickness and death on
+removal from place to place.
+
+I have already remarked on the different way in which the climate
+of this equatorial region affects Indians and negroes. No one
+could live long amongst the Indians of the Upper Amazons without
+being struck with their constitutional dislike to the heat.
+Europeans certainly withstand the high temperature better than
+the original inhabitants of the country; I always found I could
+myself bear exposure to the sun or unusually hot weather quite as
+well as the Indians, although not well-fitted by nature for a hot
+climate. Their skin is always hot to the touch, and they perspire
+little. No Indian resident of Ega can be induced to stay in the
+village (where the heat is felt more than in the forest or on the
+river), for many days together. They bathe many times a day, but
+do not plunge in the water, taking merely a sitz-bath, as dogs
+may be seen doing in hot climates, to cool the lower parts of the
+body. The women and children, who often remain at home, while the
+men are out for many days together fishing, generally find some
+excuse for trooping off to the shades of the forest in the hot
+hours of the afternoons. They are restless and discontented in
+fine dry weather, but cheerful in cool days, when the rain is
+pouring down on their naked backs. When suffering under fever,
+nothing but strict watching can prevent them from going down to
+bathe in the river, or eating immoderate quantities of juicy
+fruits, although these indulgences are frequently the cause of
+death. They are very subject to disorders of the liver,
+dysentery, and other diseases of hot climates, and when any
+epidemic is about, they fall ill quicker, and suffer more than
+negroes or even whites. How different all this is with the negro,
+the true child of tropical climes! 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. All the Roman Catholic holidays are kept up with great
+spirit; rude Indian sports being mingled with the ceremonies
+introduced by the Portuguese. Besides these, the aborigines
+celebrate their own ruder festivals; the people of different
+tribes combining-- for, in most of their features, the merry-
+makings were originally alike in all the tribes. The Indian idea
+of a holiday is bonfires, processions, masquerading, especially
+the mimicry of different kinds of animals, plenty of confused
+drumming and fifing, monotonous dancing, kept up hour after hour
+without intermission, and, the most important point of all,
+getting gradually and completely drunk. But he attaches a kind of
+superstitious significance to these acts, and thinks that the
+amusements appended to the Roman Catholic holidays as celebrated
+by the descendants of the Portuguese, are also an essential part
+of the religious ceremonies. But in this respect, the uneducated
+whites and half-breeds are not a bit more enlightened than the
+poor, dull-souled Indian. All look upon a religious holiday as an
+amusement, in which the priest takes the part of director or
+chief actor.
+
+Almost every unusual event, independent of saints' days, is made
+the occasion of a holiday by the sociable, easy-going people of
+the white and Mameluco classes-- funerals, christenings,
+weddings, the arrival of strangers, and so forth. The custom of
+"waking" the dead is also kept up. A few days after I arrived, I
+was awoke in the middle of a dark, moist night by Cardozo, to sit
+up with a neighbour whose wife had just died. I found the body
+laid out on a table, with crucifix and lighted wax-candles at the
+head, and the room full of women and girls squatted on stools or
+on their haunches. The men were seated round the open door,
+smoking, drinking coffee, and telling stories, the bereaved
+husband exerting himself much to keep the people merry during the
+remainder of the night. The Ega people seem to like an excuse for
+turning night into day; it is so cool and pleasant, and they can
+sit about during these hours in the open air, clad as usual in
+simple shirt and trousers, without streaming with perspiration.
+
+The patron saint is Santa Theresa, the festival at whose
+anniversary lasts, like most of the others, ten days. It begins
+very quietly with evening litanies sung in the church, which are
+attended by the greater part of the population, all clean and
+gaily dressed in calicos and muslins; the girls wearing jasmines
+and other natural flowers in their hair, no other headdress being
+worn by females of any class. The evenings pass pleasantly; the
+church is lighted up with wax candles, and illuminated on the
+outside by a great number of little oil lamps, rude clay cups, or
+halves of the thick rind of the bitter orange, which are fixed
+all over the front. The congregation seem very attentive, and the
+responses to the litany of Our Lady, sung by a couple of hundred
+fresh female voices, ring agreeably through the still village.
+Towards the end of the festival the fun commences. The managers
+of the feast keep open houses, and dancing, drumming, tinkling of
+wire guitars, and unbridled drinking by both sexes, old and
+young, are kept up for a couple of days and a night with little
+intermission. The ways of the people at these merry-makings, of
+which there are many in the course of the year, always struck me
+as being not greatly different from those seen at an old-
+fashioned village wake in retired parts of England. The old folks
+look on and get very talkative over their cups; the children are
+allowed a little extra indulgence in sitting up; the dull,
+reserved fellows become loquacious, shake one another by the hand
+or slap each other on the back, discovering, all at once, what
+capital friends they are. The cantankerous individual gets
+quarrelsome, and the amorous unusually loving. The Indian,
+ordinarily so taciturn, finds the use of his tongue, and gives
+the minutest details of some little dispute which he had with his
+master years ago, and which everyone else had forgotten-- just as
+I have known lumpish labouring men in England do, when half-
+fuddled. One cannot help reflecting, when witnessing these traits
+of manners, on the similarity of human nature everywhere, when
+classes are compared whose state of culture and conditions of
+life are pretty nearly the same.
+
+The Indians play a conspicuous part in the amusements at St.
+John's eve, and at one or two other holidays which happen about
+that time of the year--the end of June. In some of the sports the
+Portuguese element is visible, in others the Indian, but it must
+be recollected that masquerading, recitative singing, and so
+forth, are common originally to both peoples. A large number of
+men and boys disguise themselves to represent different grotesque
+figures, animals, or persons. Two or three dress themselves up as
+giants, with the help of a tall framework. One enacts the part of
+the Caypor, a kind of sylvan deity similar to the Curupira which
+I have before mentioned. The belief in this being seems to be
+common to all the tribes of the Tupi stock. According to the
+figure they dressed up at Ega, he is a bulky, misshapen monster,
+with red skin and long shaggy red hair hanging half way down his
+back. They believe that he has subterranean campos and hunting
+grounds in the forest, well stocked with pacas and deer. He is
+not at all an object of worship nor of fear, except to children,
+being considered merely as a kind of hobgoblin. Most of the
+masquers make themselves up as animals--bulls, deer, magoary
+storks, jaguars, and so forth, with the aid of light frameworks,
+covered with old cloth dyed or painted and shaped according to
+the object represented. Some of the imitations which I saw were
+capital. One ingenious fellow arranged an old piece of canvas in
+the form of a tapir, placed himself under it, and crawled about
+on all fours. He constructed an elastic nose to resemble that of
+the tapir, and made, before the doors of the principal residents,
+such a good imitation of the beast grazing, that peals of
+laughter greeted him wherever he went. Another man walked about
+solitarily, masked as a jabiru crane (a large animal standing
+about four feet high), and mimicked the gait and habits of the
+bird uncommonly well. One year an Indian lad imitated me, to the
+infinite amusement of the townsfolk. He came the previous day to
+borrow of me an old blouse and straw hat. I felt rather taken in
+when I saw him, on the night of the performance, rigged out as an
+entomologist, with an insect net, hunting bag, and pincushion. To
+make the imitation complete, he had borrowed the frame of an old
+pair of spectacles, and went about with it straddled over his
+nose. The jaguar now and then made a raid amongst the crowd of
+boys who were dressed as deer, goats, and so forth. The masquers
+kept generally together, moving from house to house, and the
+performances were directed by an old musician, who sang the
+orders and explained to the spectators what was going forward in
+a kind of recitative, accompanying himself on a wire guitar. The
+mixture of Portuguese and Indian customs is partly owing to the
+European immigrants in these parts having been uneducated men,
+who, instead of introducing European civilisation, have descended
+almost to the level of the Indians, and adopted some of their
+practices. The performances take place in the evening, and occupy
+five or six hours; bonfires are lighted along the grassy streets,
+and the families of the better class are seated at their doors,
+enjoying the wild but good-humoured fun.
+
+We lived at Ega, during most part of the year, on turtle. The
+great freshwater turtle of the Amazons grows on the upper river
+to an immense size, a full-grown one measuring nearly three feet
+in length by two in breadth, and is a load for the strongest
+Indian. Every house has a little pond, called a curral (pen), in
+the backyard to hold a stock of the animals through the season of
+dearth--the wet months; those who have a number of Indians in
+their employ send them out for a month when the waters are low,
+to collect a stock, and those who have not, purchasing their
+supply-- with some difficulty, however, as they are rarely
+offered for sale. The price of turtles, like that of all other
+articles of food, has risen greatly with the introduction of
+steam-vessels. When I arrived in 1850, a middle-sized one could
+be bought pretty readily for ninepence, but when I left in 1859,
+they were with difficulty obtained at eight and nine shillings
+each. The abundance of turtles, or rather the facility with which
+they can be found and caught, varies with the amount of annual
+subsidence of the waters. When the river sinks less than the
+average, they are scarce; but when more, they can be caught in
+plenty, the bays and shallow lagoons in the forest having then
+only a small depth of water. The flesh is very tender, palatable,
+and wholesome; but it is very cloying-- every one ends, sooner or
+later, by becoming thoroughly surfeited. I became so sick of
+turtle in the course of two years that I could not bear the smell
+of it, although at the same time nothing else was to be had, and
+I was suffering actual hunger. The native women cook it in
+various ways. The entrails are chopped up and made into a
+delicious soup called sarapatel, which is generally boiled in the
+concave upper shell of the animal used as a kettle. The tender
+flesh of the breast is partially minced with farinha, and the
+breast shell then roasted over the fire, making a very pleasant
+dish. Steaks cut from the breast and cooked with the fat form
+another palatable dish. Large sausages are made of the thick-
+coated stomach, which is filled with minced meat and boiled. The
+quarters cooked in a kettle of Tucupi sauce form another variety
+of food. When surfeited with turtle in all other shapes, pieces
+of the lean part roasted on a spit and moistened only with
+vinegar make an agreeable change. The smaller kind of turtle, the
+tracaja, which makes its appearance in the main river, and lays
+its eggs a month earlier than the large species, is of less
+utility to the inhabitants although its flesh is superior, on
+account of the difficulty of keeping it alive; it survives
+captivity but a very few days, although placed in the same ponds
+in which the large turtle keeps well for two or three years.
+
+Those who cannot hunt and fish for themselves, and whose stomachs
+refuse turtle, are in a poor way at Ega. Fish, including many
+kinds of large and delicious salmonidae, is abundant in the fine
+season; but each family fishes only for itself, and has no
+surplus for sale. An Indian fisherman remains out just long
+enough to draw what he thinks sufficient for a couple of days'
+consumption. Vacca marina is a great resource in the wet season.
+It is caught by harpooning, which requires much skill, or by
+strong nets made of very thick hammock twine, and placed across
+narrow inlets. Very few Europeans are able to eat the meat of
+this animal. Although there is a large quantity of cattle in the
+neighbourhood of the town, and pasture is abundant all the year
+round, beef can be had only when a beast is killed by accident.
+
+The most frequent cause of death is poisoning by drinking raw
+Tucupi, the juice of the mandioca root. Bowls of this are placed
+on the ground in the sheds where the women prepare farinha; it is
+generally done carelessly, but sometimes intentionally through
+spite when stray oxen devastate the plantations of the poorer
+people. The juice, is almost certain to be drunk if cattle stray
+near the place, and death is the certain result. The owners kill
+a beast which shows symptoms of having been poisoned, and retail
+the beef in the town. Although every one knows it cannot be
+wholesome, such is the scarcity of meat and the uncontrollable
+desire to eat beef, that it is eagerly bought, at least by those
+residents who come from other provinces where beef is the staple
+article of food. Game of all kinds is scarce in the forest near
+the town, except in the months of June and July, when immense
+numbers of a large and handsome bird, Cuvier's toucan (Ramphastos
+Cuvieri) make their appearance. They come in well-fed condition,
+and are shot in such quantities that every family has the strange
+treat of stewed and roasted toucans daily for many weeks.
+Curassow birds are plentiful on the banks of the Solimoens, but
+to get a brace or two requires the sacrifice of several days for
+the trip. A tapir, of which the meat is most delicious and
+nourishing, is sometimes killed by a fortunate hunter. I have
+still a lively recollection of the pleasant effects which I once
+experienced from a diet of fresh tapir meat for a few days, after
+having been brought to a painful state of bodily and mental
+depression by a month's scanty rations of fish and farinha.
+
+We sometimes had fresh bread at Ega made from American flour
+brought from Para, but it was sold at ninepence a pound. I was
+once two years without tasting wheaten bread, and attribute
+partly to this the gradual deterioration of health which I
+suffered on the Upper Amazons. Mandioca meal is a poor, weak
+substitute for bread; it is deficient in gluten, and consequently
+cannot be formed into a leavened mass or loaf, but is obliged to
+be roasted in hard grains in order to keep any length of time.
+Cakes are made of the half-roasted meal, but they become sour in
+a very few hours. A superior kind of meal is manufactured at Ega
+of the sweet mandioca (Manihot Aypi); it is generally made with a
+mixture of the starch of the root and is therefore a much more
+wholesome article of food than the ordinary sort which, on the
+Amazons, is made of the pulp after the starch has been extracted
+by soaking in water. When we could get neither bread nor biscuit,
+I found tapioca soaked in coffee the best native substitute. We
+were seldom without butter, as every canoe brought one or two
+casks on each return voyage from Para, where it is imported in
+considerable quantity from Liverpool. We obtained tea in the same
+way; it being served as a fashionable luxury at wedding and
+christening parties; the people were at first strangers to this
+article, for they used to stew it in a saucepan, mixing it up
+with coarse raw sugar, and stirring it with a spoon. Sometimes we
+had milk, but this was only when a cow calved; the yield from
+each cow was very small, and lasted only for a few weeks in each
+case, although the pasture is good, and the animals are sleek and
+fat. Fruit of the ordinary tropical sorts could generally be had.
+I was quite surprised at the variety of the wild kinds, and of
+the delicious flavour of some of them. Many of these are utterly
+unknown in the regions nearer the Atlantic, being the peculiar
+productions of this highly favoured, and little known, interior
+country. Some have been planted by the natives in their
+clearings. The best was the Jabuti-puhe, or tortoise-foot; a
+scaled fruit probably of the Anonaceous order. It is about the
+size of an ordinary apple; when ripe the rind is moderately thin,
+and encloses, with the seeds, a quantity of custardy pulp of a
+very rich flavour. Next to this stands the Cuma (Collophora sp.)
+of which there are two species, not unlike in appearance, small
+round Dears-- but the rind is rather hard, and contains a gummy
+milk, and the pulpy part is almost as delicious as that of the
+Jabuti-puhe. The Cuma tree is of moderate height, and grows
+rather plentifully in the more elevated and drier situations. A
+third kind is the Pama, which is a stone fruit, similar in colour
+and appearance to the cherry but of oblong shape. The tree is one
+of the loftiest in the forest, and has never, I believe, been
+selected for cultivation. To get at the fruit the natives are
+obliged to climb to the height of about a hundred feet, and cut
+off the heavily laden branches. I have already mentioned the
+Umari and the Wishi: both these are now cultivated. The fatty,
+bitter pulp which surrounds the large stony seeds of these fruits
+is eaten mixed with farinha, and is very nourishing. Another
+cultivated fruit is the Puruma (Puruma cecropiaefolia, Martius),
+a round juicy berry, growing in large bunches and resembling
+grapes in taste. Another smaller kind, called Puruma-i, grows
+wild in the forest close to Ega, and has not yet been planted.
+The most singular of all these fruits is the Uiki, which is of
+oblong shape, and grows apparently crosswise on the end of its
+stalk. When ripe, the thick green rind opens by a natural cleft
+across the middle, and discloses an oval seed the size of a
+damascene plum, but of a vivid crimson colour. This bright hue
+belongs to a thin coating of pulp which, when the seeds are mixed
+in a plate of stewed bananas, gives to the mess a pleasant rosy
+tint, and a rich creamy taste and consistence. Mingua (porridge)
+of bananas flavoured and coloured with Uiki is a favourite dish
+at Ega. The fruit, like most of the others here mentioned, ripens
+in January. Many smaller fruits such as Wajuru (probably a
+species of Achras), the size of a gooseberry, which grows singly
+and contains a sweet gelatinous pulp, enclosing two large,
+shining black seeds; Cashipari-arapaa, an oblong scarlet berry;
+two kinds of Bacuri, the Bacuri-siuma and the B. curua, sour
+fruits of a bright lemon colour when ripe, and a great number of
+others, are of less importance as articles of food.
+
+The celebrated "Peach palm," Pupunha of the Tupi nations
+(Guilielma speciosa), is a common tree at Ega. The name, I
+suppose, is in allusion to the colour of the fruit, and not to
+its flavour, for it is dry and mealy, and in taste may be
+compared to a mixture of chestnuts and cheese. Vultures devour it
+eagerly, and come in quarrelsome flocks to the trees when it is
+ripe. Dogs will also eat it: I do not recollect seeing cats do
+the same, although they go voluntarily to the woods to eat
+Tucuma, another kind of palm fruit. The tree, as it grows in
+clusters beside the palm-thatched huts, is a noble ornament,
+being, when full grown, from fifty to sixty feet in height and
+often as straight as a scaffold-pole. A bunch of fruit when ripe
+is a load for a strong man, and each tree bears several of them.
+The Pupunha grows wild nowhere on the Amazons. It is one of those
+few vegetable productions (including three kinds of mandioca and
+the American species of banana) which the Indians have cultivated
+from time immemorial, and brought with them in their original
+migration to Brazil. It is only, however, the more advanced
+tribes who have kept up the cultivation. The superiority of the
+fruit on the Solimoens to that grown on the Lower Amazons and in
+the neighbourhood of Para is very striking. At Ega it is
+generally as large as a full-sized peach, and when boiled, almost
+as mealy as a potato; while at Para it is no bigger than a
+walnut, and the pulp is fibrous. Bunches of sterile or seedless
+fruits sometimes occur in both districts. It is one of the
+principal articles of food at Ega when in season, and is boiled
+and eaten with treacle or salt. A dozen of the seedless fruits
+makes a good nourishing meal for a grown-up person. It is the
+general belief that there is more nutriment in Pupunha than in
+fish or Vacca marina.
+
+The seasons in the Upper Amazons region offer some points of
+difference from those of the lower river and the district of
+Para, which two sections of the country we have already seen also
+differ considerably. The year at Ega is divided according to the
+rises and falls of the river, with which coincide the wet and dry
+periods. All the principal transactions of life of the
+inhabitants are regulated by these yearly recurring phenomena.
+The peculiarity of this upper region consists in there being two
+rises and two falls within the year. The great annual rise
+commences about the end of February and continues to the middle
+of June, during which the rivers and lakes, confined during the
+dry periods to their ordinary beds, gradually swell and overflow
+all the lower lands. The inundation progresses gently inch by
+inch, and is felt everywhere, even in the interior of the forests
+of the higher lands, miles away from the river; as these are
+traversed by numerous gullies, forming in the fine season dry,
+spacious dells, which become gradually transformed by the
+pressure of the flood into broad creeks navigable, by small boats
+under the shade of trees. All the countless swarms of turtle of
+various species then leave the main river for the inland pools;
+the sand-banks go under water, and the flocks of wading birds
+migrate north to the upper waters of the tributaries which flow
+from that direction, or to the Orinoco, which streams during the
+wet period of the Amazons are enjoying the cloudless skies of
+their dry season. The families of fishermen who have been
+employed during the previous four or five months in harpooning
+and salting pirarucu and shooting turtle in the great lakes, now
+return to the towns and villages-- their temporarily constructed
+fishing establishments becoming gradually submerged with the sand
+islets or beaches on which they were situated. This is the
+season, however, in which the Brazil nut and wild cacao ripen,
+and many persons go out to gather these harvests, remaining
+absent generally throughout the months of March and April. The
+rains during this time are not continuous; they fall very heavily
+at times, but rarely last so long at a stretch as twenty-four
+hours, and many days intervene of pleasant, sunny weather. The
+sky, however, is generally overcast and gloomy, and sometimes a
+drizzling rain falls.
+
+About the first week in June the flood is at its highest; the
+water being then about forty-five feet above its lowest point;
+but it varies in different years to the extent of about fifteen
+feet. The "enchente," or flow, as it is called by the natives,
+who believe this great annual movement of the waters to be of the
+same nature as the tide towards the mouth of the Amazons, is then
+completed, and all begin to look forward to the "vasante," or
+ebb. The provision made for the dearth of the wet season is by
+this time pretty nearly exhausted; fish is difficult to procure
+and many of the less provident inhabitants have become reduced to
+a diet of fruits and farinha porridge.
+
+The fine season begins with a few days of brilliant weather--
+furious, hot sun, with passing clouds. Idle men and women, tired
+of the dullness and confinement of the flood season, begin to
+report, on returning from their morning bath, the cessation of
+the flow-- as agoas estao paradas, "the waters have stopped." The
+muddy streets, in a few days, dry up; groups of young fellows are
+now seen seated on the shady sides of the cottages making arrows
+and knitting fishing-nets with tucum twine; others are busy
+patching up and caulking their canoes, large and small; in fact,
+preparations are made on all sides for the much longed-for
+"verao," or summer, and the "migration," as it is called, of fish
+and turtle-- that is, their descent from the inaccessible pools
+in the forest to the main river. Towards the middle of July, the
+sand-banks begin to reappear above the surface of the waters, and
+with this change come flocks of sandpipers and gulls, which
+latter make known the advent of the fine season, as the cuckoo
+does of the European spring-- uttering almost incessantly their
+plaintive cries as they fly about over the shallow waters of
+sandy shores. Most of the gaily-plumaged birds have now finished
+moulting, and begin to be more active in the forest.
+
+The fall continues to the middle of October, with the
+interruption of a partial rise called "repiquet" of a few inches
+in the midst of very dry weather in September, caused by the
+swollen contribution of some large affluent higher up the river.
+The amount of subsidence also varies considerably, but it is
+never so great as to interrupt navigation by large vessels. The
+greater it is the more abundant is the season. Everyone is
+prosperous when the waters are low; the shallow bays and pools
+being then crowded with the concentrated population of fish and
+turtle. All the people-- men, women, and children-- leave the
+villages and spend the few weeks of glorious weather rambling
+over the vast undulating expanses of sand in the middle of the
+Solimoens, fishing, hunting, collecting eggs of turtle and
+plovers and thoroughly enjoying themselves. The inhabitants pray
+always for a "vasante grande," or great ebb.
+
+From the middle of October to the beginning of January, the
+second wet season prevails. The rise is sometimes not more than
+about fifteen feet, but it is, in some years, much more
+extensive, laying the large sand islands under water before the
+turtle eggs are hatched. In one year, while I resided at Ega,
+this second annual inundation reached to within ten feet of the
+highest water point as marked by the stains on the trunks of
+trees by the river side.
+
+The second dry season comes on in January, and lasts throughout
+February. The river sinks sometimes to the extent of a few feet
+only, but one year (1856) I saw it ebb to within about five feet
+of its lowest point in September. This is called the summer of
+the Umari, "Verao do Umari," after the fruit of this name already
+described, which ripens at this season. When the fall is great,
+this is the best time to catch turtles. In the year above
+mentioned, nearly all the residents who had a canoe, and could
+work a paddle, went out after them in the month of February, and
+about 2000 were caught in the course of a few days. It appears
+that they had been arrested in their migration towards the
+interior pools of the forest by the sudden drying up of the
+water-courses, and so had become easy prey.
+
+Thus the Ega year is divided into four seasons; two of dry
+weather and falling waters, and two of the reverse. Besides this
+variety, there is, in the month of May, a short season of very
+cold weather, a most surprising circumstance in this otherwise
+uniformly sweltering climate. This is caused by the continuance
+of a cold wind, which blows from the south over the humid forests
+that extend without interruption from north of the equator to the
+eighteenth parallel of latitude in Bolivia. I had, unfortunately,
+no thermometer with me at Ega-- the only one I brought with me
+from England having been lost at Para. The temperature is so much
+lowered that fishes die in the river Teffe, and are cast in
+considerable quantities on its shores. The wind is not strong,
+but it brings cloudy weather, and lasts from three to five or six
+days in each year. The inhabitants all suffer much from the cold,
+many of them wrapping themselves up with the warmest clothing
+they can get (blankets are here unknown), and shutting themselves
+indoors with a charcoal fire lighted. I found, myself, the change
+of temperature most delightful, and did not require extra
+clothing. It was a bad time, however, for my pursuit, as birds
+and insects all betook themselves to places of concealment, and
+remained inactive. The period during which this wind prevails is
+called the "tempo da friagem," or the season of coldness. The
+phenomenon, I presume, is to be accounted for by the fact that in
+May it is winter in the southern temperate zone, and that the
+cool currents of air travelling thence northwards towards the
+equator become only moderately heated in their course, owing to
+the intermediate country being a vast, partially-flooded plain
+covered with humid forests.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
+
+The River Teffe--Rambles through Groves on the Beach--Excursion
+to the House of a Passe Chieftain--Character and Customs of the
+Passe Tribe--First Excursion: Sand Islands of the Solimoens--
+Habits of Great River Turtle--Second Excursion:Turtle-fishing in
+the Inland Pools--Third Excursion: Hunting-rambles with Natives
+in
+the Forest--Return to Ega
+
+I WILL now proceed to give some account of the more interesting
+of my shorter excursions in the neighbourhood of Ega. The
+incidents of the longer voyages, which occupied each several
+months, will be narrated in a separate chapter.
+
+The settlement, as before described, is built on a small tract of
+cleared land at the lower or eastern end of the lake, six or
+seven miles from the main Amazons, with which the lake
+communicates by a narrow channel. On the opposite shore of the
+broad expanse stands a small village, called Nogueira, the houses
+of which are not visible from Ega, except on very clear days; the
+coast on the Nogueira side is high, and stretches away into the
+grey distance towards the southwest. The upper part of the river
+Teffe is not visited by the Ega people, on account of its extreme
+unhealthiness, and its barrenness in sarsaparilla and other
+wares. To Europeans it would seem a most surprising thing that
+the people of a civilised settlement, a hundred and seventy years
+old, should still be ignorant of the course of the river on whose
+banks their native place, for which they proudly claim the title
+of city, is situated. It would be very difficult for a private
+individual to explore it, as the necessary number of Indian
+paddlers could not be obtained. I knew only one person who had
+ascended the Teffe to any considerable distance, and he was not
+able to give me a distinct account of the river. The only tribe
+known to live on its banks are the Catauishis, a people who
+perforate their lips all round, and wear rows of slender sticks
+in the holes: their territory lies between the Purus and the
+Jurua, embracing both shores of the Teffe. A large, navigable
+stream, the Bararua, enters the lake from the west, about thirty
+miles above Ega; the breadth of the lake is much contracted a
+little below the mouth of this tributary, but it again expands
+further south, and terminates abruptly where the Teffe proper, a
+narrow river with a strong current, forms its head water.
+
+The whole of the country for hundreds of miles is covered with
+picturesque but pathless forests, and there are only two roads
+along which excursions can be made by land from Ega. One is a
+narrow hunter's track, about two miles in length, which traverses
+the forest in the rear of the settlement. The other is an
+extremely pleasant path along the beach to the west of the town.
+This is practicable only in the dry season, when a flat strip of
+white sandy beach is exposed at the foot of the high wooded banks
+of the lake, covered with trees, which, as there is no underwood,
+form a spacious shady grove. I rambled daily, during many weeks
+of each successive dry season, along this delightful road. The
+trees, many of which are myrtles and wild Guavas, with smooth
+yellow stems, were in flower at this time; and the rippling
+waters of the lake, under the cool shade, everywhere bordered the
+path. The place was the resort of kingfishers, green and blue
+tree-creepers, purple-headed tanagers, and hummingbirds. Birds
+generally, however, were not numerous. Every tree was tenanted by
+Cicadas, the reedy notes of which produced that loud, jarring,
+insect music which is the general accompaniment of a woodland
+ramble in a hot climate. One species was very handsome, having
+wings adorned with patches of bright green and scarlet. It was
+very common-- sometimes three or four tenanting a single tree,
+clinging as usual to the branches. On approaching a tree thus
+peopled, a number of little jets of a clear liquid would be seen
+squirted from aloft. I have often received the well-directed
+discharge full on my face; but the liquid is harmless, having a
+sweetish taste, and is ejected by the insect from the anus,
+probably in self-defence, or from fear. The number and variety of
+gaily-tinted butterflies, sporting about in this grove on sunny
+days, were so great that the bright moving flakes of colour gave
+quite a character to the physiognomy of the place. It was
+impossible to walk far without disturbing flocks of them from the
+damp sand at the edge of the water, where they congregated to
+imbibe the moisture. They were of almost all colours, sizes, and
+shapes: I noticed here altogether eighty species, belonging to
+twenty-two different genera. It is a singular fact that, with
+very few exceptions, all the individuals of these various species
+thus sporting in sunny places were of the male sex; their
+partners, which are much more soberly dressed and immensely less
+numerous than the males, being confined to the shades of the
+woods. Every afternoon, as the sun was getting low, I used to
+notice these gaudy sunshine-loving swains trooping off to the
+forest, where I suppose they would find their sweethearts and
+wives. The most abundant, next to the very common sulphur-yellow
+and orange-coloured kinds, were about a dozen species of Eunica,
+which are of large size, and are conspicuous from their liveries
+of glossy dark-blue and purple. A superbly-adorned creature, the
+Callithea Markii, having wings of a thick texture, coloured
+sapphire-blue and orange, was only an occasional visitor. On
+certain days, when the weather was very calm, two small gilded-
+green species (Symmachia Trochilus and Colubris) literally
+swarmed on the sands, their glittering wings lying wide open on
+the flat surface. The beach terminates, eight miles beyond Ega,
+at the mouth of a rivulet; the character of the coast then
+changes, the river banks being masked by a line of low islets
+amid a labyrinth of channels.
+
+In all other directions my very numerous excursions were by
+water; the most interesting of those made in the immediate
+neighbourhood were to the houses of Indians on the banks of
+retired creeks-- an account of one of these trips will suffice.
+
+On the 23rd of May, 1850, I visited, in company with Antonio
+Cardozo, the Delegado, a family of the Passe tribe, who live near
+the head waters of the Igarape, which flows from the south into
+the Teffe, entering it at Ega. The creek is more than a quarter
+of a mile broad near the town, but a few miles inland it
+gradually contracts, until it becomes a mere rivulet flowing
+through a broad dell in the forest. When the river rises it fills
+this dell; the trunks of the lofty trees then stand many feet
+deep in the water, and small canoes are able to travel the
+distance of a day's journey under the shade, regular paths or
+alleys being cut through the branches and lower trees. This is
+the general character of the country of the Upper Amazons; a land
+of small elevation and abruptly undulated, the hollows forming
+narrow valleys in the dry months, and deep navigable creeks in
+the wet months. In retired nooks on the margins of these shady
+rivulets, a few families or small hordes of aborigines still
+linger in nearly their primitive state, the relicts of their once
+numerous tribes. The family we intended to visit on this trip was
+that of Pedro-uassu (Peter the Great, or Tall Peter), an old
+chieftain or Tushaua of the Passes.
+
+We set out at sunrise, in a small igarite, manned by six young
+Indian paddlers. After travelling about three miles along the
+broad portion of the creek-- which, being surrounded by woods,
+had the appearance of a large pool-- we came to a part where our
+course seemed to be stopped by an impenetrable hedge of trees and
+bushes. We were some time before finding the entrance, but when
+fairly within the shades, a remarkable scene presented itself. It
+was my first introduction to these singular waterpaths. A narrow
+and tolerably straight alley stretched away for a long distance
+before us; on each side were the tops of bushes and young trees,
+forming a kind of border to the path, and the trunks of the tall
+forest trees rose at irregular intervals from the water, their
+crowns interlocking far over our heads, and forming a thick
+shade. Slender air roots hung down in clusters, and looping sipos
+dangled from the lower branches; bunches of grass, tillandsiae,
+and ferns sat in the forks of the larger boughs, and the trunks
+of trees near the water had adhering to them round dried masses
+of freshwater sponges. There was no current perceptible, and the
+water was stained of a dark olive-brown hue, but the submerged
+stems could be seen through it to a great depth. We travelled at
+good speed for three hours along this shady road-- the distance
+of Pedro's house from Ega being about twenty miles. When the
+paddlers rested for a time, the stillness and gloom of the place
+became almost painful: our voices waked dull echoes as we
+conversed, and the noise made by fishes occasionally whipping the
+surface of the water was quite startling. A cool, moist, clammy
+air pervaded the sunless shade.
+
+The breadth of the wooded valley, at the commencement, is
+probably more than half a mile, and there is a tolerably clear
+view for a considerable distance on each side of the water-path
+through the irregular colonnade of trees; other paths also, in
+this part, branch off right and left from the principal road,
+leading to the scattered houses of Indians on the mainland. The
+dell contracts gradually towards the head of the rivulet, and the
+forest then becomes denser; the waterpath also diminishes in
+width, and becomes more winding, on account of the closer growth
+of the trees. The boughs of some are stretched forth at no great
+height over one's head, and are seen to be loaded with epiphytes;
+one orchid I noticed particularly, on account of its bright
+yellow flowers growing at the end of flower-stems several feet
+long. Some of the trunks, especially those of palms, close
+beneath their crowns, were clothed with a thick mass of glossy
+shield-shaped Pothos plants, mingled with ferns. Arrived at this
+part we were, in fact, in the heart of the virgin forest. We
+heard no noises of animals in the trees, and saw only one bird,
+the sky-blue chatterer, sitting alone on a high branch. For some
+distance the lower vegetation was so dense that the road runs
+under an arcade of foliage, the branches having been cut away
+only sufficiently to admit of the passage of a small canoe. These
+thickets are formed chiefly of bamboos, whose slender foliage and
+curving stems arrange themselves in elegant, feathery bowers; but
+other social plants --slender green climbers with tendrils so
+eager in aspiring to grasp the higher boughs that they seem to be
+endowed almost with animal energy, and certain low trees having
+large elegantly-veined leaves-- contribute also to the jungly
+masses. Occasionally we came upon an uprooted tree lying across
+the path, its voluminous crown still held up by thick cables of
+sipo, connecting it with standing trees; a wide circuit had to be
+made in these cases, and it was sometimes difficult to find the
+right path again.
+
+At length we arrived at our journey's end. We were then in a very
+dense and gloomy part of the forest-- we could see, however, the
+dry land on both sides of the creek, and to our right a small
+sunny opening appeared, the landing place to the native
+dwellings. The water was deep close to the bank, and a clean
+pathway ascended from the shady port to the buildings, which were
+about a furlong distant. My friend Cardozo was godfather to a
+grandchild of Pedro-uassu, whose daughter had married an Indian
+settled in Ega. He had sent word to the old man that he intended
+to visit him: we were therefore expected.
+
+As we landed, Pedro-uassu himself came down to the port to
+receive us, our arrival having been announced by the barking of
+dogs. He was a tall and thin old man, with a serious, but
+benignant expression of countenance, and a manner much freer from
+shyness and distrust than is usual with Indians. He was clad in a
+shirt of coarse cotton cloth, dyed with murishi, and trousers of
+the same material turned up to the knee. His features were
+sharply delineated-- more so than in any Indian face I had yet
+seen; the lips thin and the nose rather high and compressed. A
+large, square, blue-black tattooed patch occupied the middle of
+his face, which, as well as the other exposed parts of his body,
+was of a light reddish-tan colour, instead of the usual coppery-
+brown hue. He walked with an upright, slow gait, and on reaching
+us saluted Cardozo with the air of a man who wished it to be
+understood that he was dealing with an equal. My friend
+introduced me, and I was welcomed in the same grave, ceremonious
+manner. He seemed to have many questions to ask, but they were
+chiefly about Senora Felippa, Cardozo's Indian housekeeper at
+Ega, and were purely complimentary. This studied politeness is
+quite natural to Indians of the advanced agricultural tribes. The
+language used was Tupi-- I heard no other spoken all the day. It
+must be borne in mind that Pedro-uassu had never had much
+intercourse with whites; he was, although baptised, a primitive
+Indian who had always lived in retirement, the ceremony of
+baptism having been gone through, as it generally is by the
+aborigines, simply from a wish to stand well with the whites.
+
+Arrived at the house, we were welcomed by Pedro's wife: a thin,
+wrinkled, active old squaw, tattooed in precisely the same way as
+her husband. She also had sharp features, but her manner was more
+cordial and quicker than that of her husband: she talked much,
+and with great inflection of voice; while the tones of the old
+man were rather drawling and querulous. Her clothing was a long
+petticoat of thick cotton cloth, and a very short chemise, not
+reaching to her waist. I was rather surprised to find the grounds
+around the establishment in neater order than in any sitio, even
+of civilised people, I had yet seen on the Upper Amazons; the
+stock of utensils and household goods of all sorts was larger,
+and the evidences of regular industry and plenty more numerous
+than one usually perceives in the farms of civilised Indians and
+whites. The buildings were of the same construction as those of
+the humbler settlers in all other parts of the country. The
+family lived in a large, oblong, open shed built under the shade
+of trees. Two smaller buildings, detached from the shed and
+having mud-walls with low doorways, contained apparently the
+sleeping apartments of different members of the large household.
+A small mill for grinding sugar-cane, having two cylinders of
+hard notched wood, wooden troughs, and kettles for boiling the
+guarapa (cane juice) to make treacle, stood under a separate
+shed, and near it was a large enclosed mud-house for poultry.
+There was another hut and shed a short distance off, inhabited by
+a family dependent on Pedro, and a narrow pathway through the
+luxuriant woods led to more dwellings of the same kind. There was
+an abundance of fruit trees around the place, including the
+never-failing banana, with its long, broad, soft green leaf-
+blades, and groups of full-grown Pupunhas, or peach palms. There
+was also a large number of cotton and coffee trees. Among the
+utensils I noticed baskets of different shapes, made of flattened
+maranta stalks, and dyed various colours. The making of these is
+an original art of the Passes, but I believe it is also practised
+by other tribes, for I saw several in the houses of semi-
+civilised Indians on the Tapajos.
+
+There were only three persons in the house besides the old
+couple, the rest of the people being absent; several came in,
+however, in the course of the day. One was a daughter of Pedro's,
+who had an oval tattooed spot over her mouth; the second was a
+young grandson; and the third the son-in-law from Ega, Cardozo's
+compadre. The old woman was occupied, when we entered, in
+distilling spirits from cara, an edible root similar to the
+potato, by means of a clay still, which had been manufactured by
+herself. The liquor had a reddish tint, but not a very agreeable
+flavour. A cup of it, warm from the still, however, was welcome
+after our long journey. Cardozo liked it, emptied his cup, and
+replenished it in a very short time. The old lady was very
+talkative, and almost fussy in her desire to please her visitors.
+We sat in tucum hammocks, suspended between the upright posts of
+the shed. The young woman with the blue mouth-- who, although
+married, was as shy as any young maiden of her race--soon became
+employed in scalding and plucking fowls for the dinner near the
+fire on the ground at the other end of the dwelling. The son-in-
+law, Pedro-uassu, and Cardozo now began a long conversation on
+the subject of their deceased wife, daughter, and comadre. [Co-
+mother; the term expressing the relationship of a mother to the
+godfather of her child.] It appeared she had died of consumption-
+-"tisica," as they called it, a word adopted by the Indians from
+the Portuguese. The widower repeated over and over again, in
+nearly the same words, his account of her illness, Pedro chiming
+in like a chorus, and Cardozo moralising and condoling. I thought
+the cauim (grog) had a good deal to do with the flow of talk and
+warmth of feeling of all three; the widower drank and wailed
+until he became maundering, and finally fell asleep.I left them
+talking, and took a long ramble into the forest, Pedro sending
+his grandson, a smiling well-behaved lad of about fourteen years
+of age, to show me the paths, my companion taking with him his
+Zarabatana, or blow-gun. This instrument is used by all the
+Indian tribes on the Upper Amazons. It is generally nine or ten
+feet long, and is made of two separate lengths of wood, each
+scooped out so as to form one-half of the tube. To do this with
+the necessary accuracy requires an enormous amount of patient
+labour, and considerable mechanical ability, the tools used being
+simply the incisor teeth of the Paca and Cutia. The two half
+tubes, when finished, are secured together by a very close and
+tight spirally-wound strapping, consisting of long flat strips of
+Jacitara, or the wood of the climbing palm-tree; and the whole is
+smeared afterwards with black wax, the production of a Melipona
+bee. The pipe tapers towards the muzzle, and a cup-shaped
+mouthpiece, made of wood, is fitted in the broad end. A full-
+sized Zarabatana is heavy, and can only be used by an adult
+Indian who has had great practice. The young lads learn to shoot
+with smaller and lighter tubes. When Mr. Wallace and I had
+lessons at Barra in the use of the blow-gun, of Julio, a Juri
+Indian, then in the employ of Mr. Hauxwell, an English bird-
+collector, we found it very difficult to hold steadily the long
+tubes. The arrows are made from the hard rind of the leaf-stalks
+of certain palms, thin strips being cut, and rendered as sharp as
+needles by scraping the ends with a knife or the tooth of an
+animal. They are winged with a little oval mass of samauma silk
+(from the seed-vessels of the silk-cotton tree, Eriodendron
+samauma), cotton being too heavy. The ball of samauma should fit
+to a nicety the bore of the blowgun; when it does so, the arrow
+can be propelled with such force by the breath that it makes a
+noise almost as loud as a pop-gun on flying from the muzzle. My
+little companion was armed with a quiver full of these little
+missiles, a small number of which, sufficient for the day's
+sport, were tipped with the fatal Urari poison. The quiver was an
+ornamental affair, the broad rim being made of highly-polished
+wood of a rich cherry-red colour (the Moira-piranga, or redwood
+of the Japura). The body was formed of neatly-plaited strips of
+Maranta stalks, and the belt by which it was suspended from the
+shoulder was decorated with cotton fringes and tassels.
+
+We walked about two miles along a well-trodden pathway, through
+high caapoeira (second-growth forest). A large proportion of the
+trees were Melastomas, which bore a hairy yellow fruit, nearly as
+large and as well flavoured as our gooseberry. The season,
+however, was nearly over for them. The road was bordered every
+inch of the way by a thick bed of elegant Lycopodiums. An
+artificial arrangement of trees and bushes could scarcely have
+been made to wear so finished an appearance as this naturally
+decorated avenue. The path at length terminated at a plantation
+of mandioca, the largest I had yet seen since I left the
+neighbourhood of Para. There were probably ten acres of cleared
+land, and part of the ground was planted with Indian corn, water-
+melons, and sugar cane. Beyond this field there was only a faint
+hunter's track, leading towards the untrodden interior. My
+companion told me he had never heard of there being any
+inhabitants in that direction (the south). We crossed the forest
+from this place to another smaller clearing, and then walked, on
+our road home, through about two miles of caapoeira of various
+ages, the sites of old plantations. The only fruits of our ramble
+were a few rare insects and a Japu (Cassicus cristatus), a
+handsome bird with chestnut and saffron-coloured plumage, which
+wanders through the tree-tops in large flocks. My little
+companion brought this down from a height which I calculated at
+thirty yards. The blow-gun, however, in the hands of an expert
+adult Indian, can be made to propel arrows so as to kill at a
+distance of fifty and sixty yards. The aim is most certain when
+the tube is held vertically, or nearly so. It is a far more
+useful weapon in the forest than a gun, for the report of a
+firearm alarms the whole flock of birds or monkeys feeding on a
+tree, while the silent poisoned dart brings the animals down one
+by one until the sportsman has a heap of slain by his side. None
+but the stealthy Indian can use it effectively. The poison, which
+must be fresh to kill speedily, is obtained only of the Indians
+who live beyond the cataracts of the rivers flowing from the
+north, especially the Rio Negro and the Japura. Its principal
+ingredient is the wood of the Strychnos toxifera, a tree which
+does not grow in the humid forests of the river plains. A most
+graphic account of the Urari, and of an expedition undertaken in
+search of the tree in Guiana, has been given by Sir Robert
+Schomburgk. [Annals and Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii. P.
+411.]
+
+When we returned to the house after mid-day, Cardozo was still
+sipping cauim, and now looked exceedingly merry. It was fearfully
+hot; the good fellow sat in his hammock with a cuya full of grog
+in his hands; his broad honest face all of a glow, and the
+perspiration streaming down his uncovered breast, the unbuttoned
+shirt having slipped half-way over his broad shoulders. Pedro-
+uassu had not drunk much; he was noted, as I afterwards learned,
+for his temperance. But he was standing up as I had left him two
+hours previous, talking to Cardozo in the same monotonous tones,
+the conversation apparently not having flagged all the time. I
+had never heard so much talking amongst Indians. The widower was
+asleep; the stirring, managing old lady with her daughter were
+preparing dinner. This, which was ready soon after I entered,
+consisted of boiled fowls and rice, seasoned with large green
+peppers and lemon juice, and piles of new, fragrant farinha and
+raw bananas. It was served on plates of English manufacture on a
+tupe, or large plaited rush mat, such as is made by the natives
+pretty generally on the Amazons. Three or four other Indians, men
+and women of middle age, now made their appearance, and joined in
+the meal. We all sat round on the floor: the women, according to
+custom, not eating until after the men had done. Before sitting
+down, our host apologised in his usual quiet, courteous manner
+for not having knives and forks; Cardozo and I ate by the aid of
+wooden spoons, the Indians using their fingers. The old man
+waited until we were all served before he himself commenced. At
+the end of the meal, one of the women brought us water in a
+painted clay basin of Indian manufacture, and a clean coarse
+cotton napkin, that we might wash our hands.
+
+The horde of Passes of which Pedro-uassu was Tushaua or
+chieftain, was at this time reduced to a very small number of
+individuals. The disease mentioned in the last chapter had for
+several generations made great havoc among them; many had also
+entered the service of whites at Ega, and, of late years,
+intermarriages with whites, half-castes, and civilised Indians
+had been frequent. The old man bewailed the fate of his race to
+Cardozo with tears in his eyes. "The people of my nation," he
+said," have always been good friends to the Cariwas (whites), but
+before my grandchildren are old like me the name of Passe will be
+forgotten." In so far as the Passes have amalgamated with
+European immigrants or their descendants, and become civilised
+Brazilian citizens, there can scarcely be ground for lamenting
+their extinction as a nation; but it fills one with regret to
+learn how many die prematurely of a disease which seems to arise
+on their simply breathing the same air as the whites. The
+original territory of the tribe must have been of large extent,
+for Passes are said to have been found by the early Portuguese
+colonists on the Rio Negro; an ancient settlement on that river,
+Barcellos, having been peopled by them when it was first
+established; and they formed also part of the original population
+of Fonte-boa on the Solimoens. Their hordes were therefore,
+spread over a region 400 miles in length from cast to west. It is
+probable, however, that they have been confounded by the
+colonists with other neighbouring tribes who tattoo their faces
+in a similar manner. The extinct tribe of Yurimauas, or Sorimoas,
+from which the river Solimoens derives its name, according to
+traditions extant at Ega, resembled the Passes in their slender
+figures and friendly disposition. These tribes (with others lying
+between them) peopled the banks of the main river and its by-
+streams from the mouth of the Rio Negro to Peru. True Passes
+existed in their primitive state on the banks of the Issa, 240
+miles to the west of Ega, within the memory of living persons.
+The only large body of them now extant are located on the Japura,
+at a place distant about 150 miles from Ega: the population of
+this horde, however, does not exceed, from what I could learn,
+300 or 400 persons. I think it probable that the lower part of
+the Japura and its extensive delta lands formed the original home
+of this gentle tribe of Indians.
+
+The Passes are always spoken of in this country as the most
+advanced of all the Indian nations in the Amazons region. Under
+what influences this tribe has become so strongly modified in
+mental, social, and bodily features it is hard to divine. The
+industrious habits, fidelity, and mildness of disposition of the
+Passes, their docility and, it may be added, their personal
+beauty, especially of the children and women, made them from the
+first very attractive to the Portuguese colonists. They were,
+consequently, enticed in great number from their villages and
+brought to Barra and other settlements of the whites. The wives
+of governors and military officers from Europe were always eager
+to obtain children for domestic servants; the girls being taught
+to sew, cook, weave hammocks, manufacture pillow-lace, and so
+forth. They have been generally treated with kindness, especially
+by the educated families in the settlements. It is pleasant to
+have to record that I never heard of a deed of violence
+perpetrated, on the one side or the other, in the dealings
+between European settlers and this noble tribe of savages.
+
+Very little is known of the original customs of the Passes. The
+mode of life of our host Pedro-uassu did not differ much from
+that of the civilised Mamelucos; but he and his people showed a
+greater industry, and were more open, cheerful, and generous in
+their dealings than many half-castes. The authority of Pedro,
+like that of the Tushauas, generally was exercised in a mild
+manner. These chieftains appear able to command the services of
+their subjects, since they furnish men to the Brazilian
+authorities when requested; but none of them, even those of the
+most advanced tribes, appear to make use of this authority for
+the accumulation of property-- the service being exacted chiefly
+in time of war. Had the ambition of the chiefs of some of these
+industrious tribes been turned to the acquisition of wealth,
+probably we should have seen indigenous civilised nations in the
+heart of South America similar to those found on the Andes of
+Peru and Mexico. It is very probable that the Passes adopted from
+the first to some extent the manners of the whites. Ribeiro, a
+Portuguese official who travelled in these regions in 1774-5, and
+wrote an account of his journey, relates that they buried their
+dead in large earthenware vessels (a custom still observed among
+other tribes on the Upper Amazons), and that, as to their
+marriages, the young men earned their brides by valiant deeds in
+war. He also states that they possessed a cosmogony in which the
+belief that the sun was a fixed body, with the earth revolving
+around it, was a prominent feature. He says, moreover, that they
+believed in a Creator of all things; a future state of rewards
+and punishments, and so forth. These notions are so far in
+advance of the ideas of all other tribes of Indians, and so
+little likely to have been conceived and perfected by a people
+having no written language or leisured class, that we must
+suppose them to have been derived by the docile Passes from some
+early missionary or traveller. I never found that the Passes had
+more curiosity or activity of intellect than other Indians. No
+trace of a belief in a future state exists amongst Indians who
+have not had much intercourse with the civilised settlers, and
+even amongst those who have it is only a few of the more gifted
+individuals who show any curiosity on the subject. Their sluggish
+minds seem unable to conceive or feel the want of a theory of the
+soul, and of the relations of man to the rest of Nature or to the
+Creator. But is it not so with totally uneducated and isolated
+people even in the most highly civilised parts of the world? The
+good qualities of the Passes belong to the moral part of the
+character: they lead a contented, unambitious, and friendly life,
+a quiet, domestic, orderly existence, varied by occasional
+drinking bouts and summer excursions. They are not so shrewd,
+energetic, and masterful as the Mundurucus, but they are more
+easily taught, because their disposition is more yielding than
+that of the Mundurucus or any other tribe.
+
+We started on our return to Ega at half-past four o'clock in the
+afternoon. Our generous entertainers loaded us with presents.
+There was scarcely room for us to sit in the canoe, as they had
+sent down ten large bundles of sugar-cane, four baskets of
+farinha, three cedar planks, a small hamper of coffee, and two
+heavy bunches of bananas. After we were embarked, the old lady
+came with a parting gift for me--a huge bowl of smoking hot
+banana porridge. I was to eat it on the road "to keep my stomach
+warm." Both stood on the bank as we pushed off, and gave us their
+adios: "Ikudna Tupana eirum" (Go with God)-- a form of salutation
+taught by the old Jesuit missionaries. We had a most
+uncomfortable passage, for Cardozo was quite tipsy, and had not
+attended to the loading of the boat. The cargo had been placed
+too far forward, and to make matters worse, my heavy friend
+obstinately insisted on sitting astride on the top of the pile,
+instead of taking his place near the stern, singing from his
+perch a most indecent love-song, and disregarding the
+inconvenience of having to bend down almost every minute to pass
+under the boughs of hanging sipos as we sped rapidly along. The
+canoe leaked but not, at first, alarmingly. Long before sunset,
+darkness began to close in under those gloomy shades, and our
+steersman could not avoid now and then running the boat into the
+thicket. The first time this happened a piece was broken off the
+square prow (rodella); the second time we got squeezed between
+two trees. A short time after this latter accident, being seated
+near the stern with my feet on the bottom of the boat, I felt
+rather suddenly the cold water above my ankles. A few minutes
+more and we should have sunk, for a seam had been opened forward
+under the pile of sugar-cane. Two of us began to bale, and by the
+most strenuous efforts managed to keep afloat without throwing
+overboard our cargo. The Indians were obliged to paddle with
+extreme slowness to avoid shipping water, as the edge of our prow
+was nearly level with the surface; but Cardozo was now persuaded
+to change his seat. The sun set, the quick twilight passed, and
+the moon soon after began to glimmer through the thick canopy of
+foliage. The prospect of being swamped in this hideous solitude
+was by no means pleasant, although I calculated on the chance of
+swimming to a tree and finding a nice snug place in the fork of
+some large bough wherein to pass the night.
+
+At length, after four hours' tedious progress, we suddenly
+emerged on the open stream where the moonlight glittered in broad
+sheets on the gently rippling waters. A little extra care was now
+required in paddling. The Indians plied their strokes with the
+greatest nicety; the lights of Ega (the oil lamps in the houses)
+soon appeared beyond the black wall of forest, and in a short
+time we leapt safely ashore.
+
+ A few months after the excursion just narrated, I accompanied
+Cardozo in many wanderings on the Solimoens, during which he
+visited the praias (sand-islands), the turtle pools in the
+forests, and the by-streams and lakes of the great desert river.
+His object was mainly to superintend the business of digging up
+turtle eggs on the sandbanks, having been elected commandante for
+the year by the municipal council of Ega, of the "praia real"
+(royal sand-island) of Shimuni, the one lying nearest to Ega.
+There are four of these royal praias within the Ega district (a
+distance of 150 miles from the town), all of which are visited
+annually by the Ega people for the purpose of collecting eggs and
+extracting oil from their yolks Each has its commander, whose
+business is to make arrangements for securing to every inhabitant
+an equal chance in the egg harvest by placing sentinels to
+protect the turtles whilst laying, and so forth. The pregnant
+turtles descend from the interior pools to the main river in July
+and August, before the outlets dry up, and then seek in countless
+swarms their favourite sand islands; for it is only a few praias
+that are selected by them out of the great number existing. The
+young animals remain in the pools throughout the dry season.
+These breeding places of turtles then lie twenty to thirty or
+more feet above the level of the river, and are accessible only
+by cutting roads through the dense forest.
+
+We left Ega on our first trip to visit the sentinels while the
+turtles were yet laying, on the 26th of September. Our canoe was
+a stoutly built igarite, arranged for ten paddlers, and having a
+large arched toldo at the stern under which three persons could
+sleep pretty comfortably. Emerging from the Teffe we descended
+rapidly on the swift current of the Solimoens to the south-
+eastern or lower end of the large wooded island of Baria, which
+here divides the river into two great channels. We then paddled
+across to Shimuni, which lies in the middle of the northeasterly
+channel, reaching the commencement of the praia an hour before
+sunset. The island proper is about three miles long and half a
+mile broad: the forest with which it is covered rises to an
+immense and uniform height, and presents all round a compact,
+impervious front. Here and there a singular tree, called Pao
+mulatto (mulatto wood), with polished dark-green trunk, rose
+conspicuously among the mass of vegetation. The sandbank, which
+lies at the upper end of the island, extends several miles and
+presents an irregular, and in some parts, strongly-waved surface,
+with deep hollows and ridges. When upon it, one feels as though
+treading an almost boundless field of sand, for towards the
+southeast, where no forest line terminates the view, the white,
+rolling plain stretches away to the horizon. The north-easterly
+channel of the river lying between the sands and the further
+shore of the river is at least two miles in breadth; the middle
+one, between the two islands, Shimuni and Baria, is not much less
+than a mile.
+
+We found the two sentinels lodged in a corner of the praia, where
+it commences at the foot of the towering forest wall of the
+island, having built for themselves a little rancho with poles
+and palm-leaves. Great precautions are obliged to be taken to
+avoid disturbing the sensitive turtles, who, previous to crawling
+ashore to lay, assemble in great shoals off the sandbank. The
+men, during this time, take care not to show themselves and warn
+off any fishermen who wishes to pass near the place. Their fires
+are made in a deep hollow near the borders of the forest, so that
+the smoke may not be visible. The passage of a boat through the
+shallow waters where the animals are congregated, or the sight of
+a man or a fire on the sandbank, would prevent the turtles from
+leaving the water that night to lay their eggs, and if the causes
+of alarm were repeated once or twice, they would forsake the
+praia for some other quieter place. Soon after we arrived, our
+men were sent with the net to catch a supply of fish for supper.
+In half an hour, four or five large basketsful of Acari were
+brought in. The sun set soon after our meal was cooked; we were
+then obliged to extinguish the fire and remove our supper
+materials to the sleeping ground, a spit of sand about a mile
+off-- this course being necessary on account of the mosquitoes
+which swarm at night on the borders of the forest.
+
+One of the sentinels was a taciturn, morose-looking, but sober
+and honest Indian, named Daniel; the other was a noted character
+of Ega, a little wiry Mameluco, named Carepira (Fish-hawk)--
+known for his waggery, propensity for strong drink, and
+indebtedness to Ega traders. Both were intrepid canoemen and
+huntsmen, and both perfectly at home anywhere in these fearful
+wastes of forest and water. Carepira had his son with him-- a
+quiet little lad of about nine years of age. These men in a few
+minutes constructed a small shed with four upright poles and
+leaves of the arrow-grass, under which Cardozo and I slung our
+hammocks. We did not go to sleep, however, until after midnight--
+for when supper was over, we lay about on the sand with a flask
+of rum in our midst and whiled away the still hours in listening
+to Carepira's stories.
+
+I rose from my hammock by daylight, shivering with cold; a praia,
+on account of the great radiation of heat in the night from the
+sand, being towards the dawn the coldest place that can be found
+in this climate. Cardozo and the men were already up watching the
+turtles. The sentinels had erected for this purpose a stage about
+fifty feet high, on a tall tree near their station, the ascent to
+which was by a roughly-made ladder of woody lianas. They are
+enabled, by observing the turtles from this watchtower, to
+ascertain the date of successive deposits of eggs, and thus guide
+the commandante in fixing the time for the general invitation to
+the Ega people. The turtles lay their eggs by night, leaving the
+water when nothing disturbs them, in vast crowds, and crawling to
+the central and highest part of the praia. These places are, of
+course, the last to go under water when, in unusually wet
+seasons, the river rises before the eggs are hatched by the heat
+of the sand. One could almost believe from this that the animals
+used forethought in choosing a place; but it is simply one of
+those many instances in animals where unconscious habit has the
+same result as conscious prevision. The hours between midnight
+and dawn are the busiest. The turtles excavate with their broad,
+webbed paws, deep holes in the fine sand-- the first corner, in
+each case, making a pit about three feet deep, laying its eggs
+(about 120 in number) and covering them with sand; the next
+making its deposit at the top of that of its predecessor, and so
+on until every pit is full. The whole body of turtles frequenting
+a praia does not finish laying in less than fourteen or fifteen
+days, even when there is no interruption. When all have done, the
+area (called by the Brazilians taboleiro) over which they have
+excavated is distinguishable from the rest of the praia only by
+signs of the sand having been a little disturbed.
+
+On rising, I went to join my friends. Few recollections of my
+Amazonian rambles are more vivid and agreeable than that of my
+walk over the white sea of sand on this cool morning. The sky was
+cloudless; the just-risen sun was hidden behind the dark mass of
+woods on Shimuni, but the long line of forest to the west, on
+Baria, with its plumy decorations of palms, was lighted up with
+his yellow, horizontal rays. A faint chorus of singing birds
+reached the ears from across the water, and flocks of gulls and
+plovers were drying plaintively over the swelling banks of the
+praia, where their eggs lay in nests made in little hollows of
+the sand. Tracks of stray turtles were visible on the smooth
+white surface of the praia. The animals which thus wander from
+the main body are lawful prizes of the sentinels; they had caught
+in this way two before sunrise, one of which we had for dinner.
+In my walk I disturbed several pairs of the chocolate and drab-
+coloured wild-goose (Anser jubatus) which set off to run along
+the edge of the water. The enjoyment one feels in rambling over
+these free, open spaces, is no doubt enhanced by the novelty of
+the scene, the change being very great from the monotonous
+landscape of forest which everywhere else presents itself.
+
+On arriving at the edge of the forest I mounted the sentinel's
+stage, just in time to see the turtles retreating to the water on
+the opposite side of the sand-bank, after having laid their eggs.
+The sight was well worth the trouble of ascending the shaky
+ladder. They were about a mile off, but the surface of the sands
+was blackened with the multitudes which were waddling towards the
+river; the margin of the praia was rather steep, and they all
+seemed to tumble head first down the declivity into the water.
+
+I spent the morning of the 27th collecting insects in the woods
+of Shimuni; and assisted my friend in the afternoon to beat a
+large pool for Tracajas-- Cardozo wishing to obtain a supply for
+his table at home. The pool was nearly a mile long, and lay on
+one side of the island between the forest and the sand-bank. The
+sands are heaped up very curiously around the margins of these
+isolated sheets of water; in the present case they formed a
+steeply-inclined bank, from five to eight feet in height. What
+may be the cause of this formation I cannot imagine. The pools
+always contain a quantity of imprisoned fish, turtles, Tracajas,
+and Aiyussas. [Specimens of this species of turtle are named in
+the British Museum collection, Podocnemis expansa.] The turtles
+and Aiyussas crawl out voluntarily in the course of a few days,
+and escape to the main river, but the Tracajas remain and become
+an easy prey to the natives. The ordinary mode of obtaining them
+is to whip the water in every part with rods for several hours
+during the day; this treatment having the effect of driving the
+animals out. They wait, however, until the night following the
+beating before making their exit. Our Indians were occupied for
+many hours in this work, and when night came they and the
+sentinels were placed at intervals along the edge of the water to
+be ready to capture the runaways. Cardozo and I, after supper,
+went and took our station at one end of the pool.
+
+We did not succeed, after all our trouble, in getting many
+Tracajas. This was partly owing to the intense darkness of the
+night, and partly, doubtless, to the sentinels having already
+nearly exhausted the pool, notwithstanding their declarations to
+the contrary. In waiting for the animals, it was necessary to
+keep silence-- not a pleasant way of passing the night...
+speaking only in whispers, and being without fire in a place
+liable to be visited by a prowling jaguar. Cardozo and I sat on a
+sandy slope with our loaded guns by our side, but it was so dark
+we could scarcely see each other. Towards midnight a storm began
+to gather around us. The faint wind which had breathed from over
+the water since the sun went down, ceased. thick clouds piled
+themselves up, until every star was obscured, and gleams of
+watery lightning began to play in the midst of the black masses.
+I hinted to Cardozo that I thought we had now had enough of
+watching, and suggested a cigarette. Just then a quick pattering
+movement was heard on the sands, and grasping our guns, we both
+started to our feet. Whatever it might have been it seemed to
+pass by, and a few moments afterwards a dark body appeared to be
+moving in another direction on the opposite slope of the sandy
+ravine where we lay. We prepared to fire, but luckily took the
+precaution of first shouting "Quem vai la?" (Who goes there?) It
+turned out to be the taciturn sentinel, Daniel, who asked us
+mildly whether we had heard a "raposa" pass our way. The raposa
+is a kind of wild dog, with very long tapering muzzle, and black
+and white speckled hair. Daniel could distinguish all kinds of
+animals in the dark by their footsteps. It now began to thunder,
+and our position was getting very uncomfortable. Daniel had not
+seen anything of the other Indians, and thought it was useless
+waiting any longer for Tracajas; we therefore sent him to call in
+the whole party, and made off ourselves, as quickly as we could,
+for the canoe. The rest of the night was passed most miserably;
+as indeed were very many of my nights on the Solimoens. A furious
+squall burst upon us; the wind blew away the cloths and mats we
+had fixed up at the ends of the arched awning of the canoe to
+shelter ourselves, and the rain beat right through our sleeping-
+place. There we lay, Cardozo and I, huddled together, and wet
+through, waiting for the morning.
+
+A cup of strong and hot coffee put us to rights at sunrise, but
+the rain was still coming down, having changed to a steady
+drizzle. Our men were all returned from the pool, having taken
+only four Tracajas. The business which had brought Cardozo hither
+being now finished, we set out to return to Ega, leaving the
+sentinels once more to their solitude on the sands. Our return
+route was by the rarely frequented north-easterly channel of the
+Solimoens, through which flows part of the waters of its great
+tributary stream, the Japura. We travelled for five hours along
+the desolate, broken, timber-strewn shore of Baria. The channel
+is of immense breadth, the opposite coast being visible only as a
+long, low line of forest. At three o'clock in the afternoon we
+doubled the upper end of the island, and then crossed towards the
+mouth of the Teffe by a broad transverse channel running between
+Baria and another island called Quanaru. There is a small sand-
+bank at the north-westerly point of Baria, called Jacare; we
+stayed here to dine and afterwards fished with the net. A fine
+rain was still falling, and we had capital sport-- in three hauls
+taking more fish than our canoe would conveniently hold. They
+were of two kinds only, the Surubim and the Piraepieua (species
+of Pimelodus), very handsome fishes, four feet in length, with
+flat spoon-shaped heads, and prettily-spotted and striped skins.
+
+On our way from Jacare to the mouth of the Teffe we had a little
+adventure with a black tiger or jaguar. We were paddling rapidly
+past a long beach of dried mud, when the Indians became suddenly
+excited, shouting "Ecui Jauarete; Jauaripixuna!" (Behold the
+jaguar, the black jaguar!) Looking ahead we saw the animal
+quietly drinking at the water's edge. Cardozo ordered the
+steersman at once to put us ashore. By the time we were landed
+the tiger had seen us, and was retracing his steps towards the
+forest. On the spur of the moment, and without thinking of what
+we were doing, we took our guns (mine was a double-barrel, with
+one charge of B B and one of dust-shot) and gave chase. The
+animal increased his speed, and reaching the forest border, dived
+into the dense mass of broad-leaved grass which formed its
+frontage. We peeped through the gap he had made, but, our courage
+being by this time cooled, we did not think it wise to go into
+the thicket after him. The black tiger appears to be more
+abundant than the spotted form of jaguar in the neighbourhood of
+Ega. The most certain method of finding it is to hunt assisted by
+a string of Indians shouting and driving the game before them in
+the narrow restingas or strips of dry land in the forest, which
+are isolated by the flooding of their neighbourhood in the wet
+season. We reached Ega by eight o'clock that night.
+
+On the 6th of October we left Ega on a second excursion; the
+principal object of Cardozo being, this time, to search certain
+pools in the forest for young turtles. The exact situation of
+these hidden sheets of water is known only to a few practised
+huntsmen; we took one of these men with us from Ega, a Mameluco
+named Pedro, and on our way called at Shimuni for Daniel to serve
+as an additional guide. We started from the praia at sunrise on
+the 7th in two canoes containing twenty-three persons, nineteen
+of whom were Indians. The morning was cloudy and cool, and a
+fresh wind blew from down river, against which we had to struggle
+with all the force of our paddles, aided by the current; the
+boats were tossed about most disagreeably, and shipped a great
+deal of water. On passing the lower end of Shimuni, a long reach
+of the river was before us, undivided by islands-- a magnificent
+expanse of water stretching away to the southeast. The country on
+the left bank is not, however, terra firma, but a portion of the
+alluvial land which forms the extensive and complex delta region
+of the Japura. It is flooded every year at the time of high
+water, and is traversed by many narrow and deep channels which
+serve as outlets to the Japura, or at least, are connected with
+that river by means of the interior water-system of the Cupiyo.
+This inhospitable tract of country extends for several hundred
+miles, and contains in its midst an endless number of pools and
+lakes tenanted by multitudes of turtles, fishes, alligators, and
+water serpents. Our destination was a point on this coast
+situated about twenty miles below Shimuni, and a short distance
+from the mouth of the Anana, one of the channels just alluded to
+as connected with the Japura. After travelling for three hours in
+midstream we steered for the land, and brought to under a
+steeply-inclined bank of crumbly earth, shaped into a succession
+of steps or terraces, marking the various halts which the waters
+of the river make in the course of subsidence. The coast line was
+nearly straight for many miles, and the bank averaged about
+thirty feet in height above the present level of the river: at
+the top rose the unbroken hedge of forest. No one could have
+divined that pools of water existed on that elevated land. A
+narrow level space extended at the foot of the bank. On landing
+the first business was to get breakfast. While a couple of Indian
+lads were employed in making the fire, roasting the fish, and
+boiling the coffee, the rest of the party mounted the bank, and
+with their long hunting knives commenced cutting a path through
+the forest; the pool, called the Aningal, being about half a mile
+distant. After breakfast, a great number of short poles were cut
+and were laid crosswise on the path, and then three light
+montarias which we had brought with us were dragged up the bank
+by lianas, and rolled away to be embarked on the pool. A large
+net, seventy yards in length, was then disembarked and carried to
+the place. The work was done very speedily, and when Cardozo and
+I went to the spot at eleven o'clock, we found some of the older
+Indians, including Pedro and Daniel, had begun their sport. They
+were mounted on little stages called moutas, made of poles and
+cross-pieces of wood secured with lianas, and were shooting the
+turtles as they came near the surface, with bows and arrows. The
+Indians seemed to think that netting the animals, as Cardozo
+proposed doing, was not lawful sport, and wished first to have an
+hour or two's old-fashioned practice with their weapons.
+
+The pool covered an area of about four or five acres, and was
+closely hemmed in by the forest, which in picturesque variety and
+grouping of trees and foliage exceeded almost everything I had
+yet witnessed. The margins for some distance were swampy, and
+covered with large tufts of a fine grass called Matupa. These
+tufts in many places were overrun with ferns, and exterior to
+them a crowded row of arborescent arums, growing to a height of
+fifteen or twenty feet, formed a green palisade. Around the whole
+stood the taller forest trees; palmate-leaved Cecropiae slender
+Assai palms, thirty feet high, with their thin feathery heads
+crowning the gently-curving, smooth stems; small fan-leaved
+palms; and as a background to all these airy shapes, lay the
+voluminous masses of ordinary forest trees, with garlands,
+festoons, and streamers of leafy climbers hanging from their
+branches. The pool was nowhere more than five feet deep, one foot
+of which was not water, but extremely fine and soft mud.
+
+Cardozo and I spent an hour paddling about. I was astonished at
+the skill which the Indians display in shooting turtles. They did
+not wait for their coming to the surface to breathe, but watched
+for the slight movements in the water, which revealed their
+presence underneath. These little tracks on the water are called
+the Siriri; the instant one was perceived an arrow flew from the
+bow of the nearest man, and never failed to pierce the shell of
+the submerged animal. When the turtle was very distant, of course
+the aim had to be taken at a considerable elevation, but the
+marksmen preferred a longish range, because the arrow then fell
+more perpendicularly on the shell and entered it more deeply.
+
+The arrow used in turtle shooting has a strong lancet-shaped
+steel point, fitted into a peg which enters the tip of the shaft.
+The peg is secured to the shaft by twine made of the fibres of
+pineapple leaves, the twine being some thirty or forty yards in
+length, and neatly wound round the body of the arrow. When the
+missile enters the shell, the peg drops out, and the pierced
+animal descends with it towards the bottom, leaving the shaft
+floating on the surface. This being done, the sportsman paddles
+in his montaria to the place, and gently draws the animal by the
+twine, humouring it by giving it the rein when it plunges, until
+it is brought again near the surface, when he strikes it with a
+second arrow. With the increased hold given by the two cords he
+has then no difficulty in landing his game.
+
+By mid-day the men had shot about a score of nearly full-grown
+turtles. Cardozo then gave orders to spread the net. The spongy,
+swampy nature of the banks made it impossible to work the net so
+as to draw the booty ashore; another method was therefore
+adopted. The net was taken by two Indians and extended in a curve
+at one extremity of the oval-shaped pool, holding it when they
+had done so by the perpendicular rods fixed at each end; its
+breadth was about equal to the depth of the water, its shotted
+side therefore rested on the bottom, while the floats buoyed it
+up on the surface, so that the whole, when the ends were brought
+together, would form a complete trap. The rest of the party then
+spread themselves around the swamp at the opposite end of the
+pool and began to beat, with stout poles, the thick tufts of
+Matupa, in order to drive the turtles towards the middle. This
+was continued for an hour or more, the beaters gradually drawing
+nearer to each other, and driving the host of animals before
+them; the number of little snouts constantly popping above the
+surface of the water showing that all was going on well. When
+they neared the net the men moved more quickly, shouting and
+beating with great vigour. The ends of the net were then seized
+by several strong hands and dragged suddenly forwards, bringing
+them at the same time together, so as to enclose all the booty in
+a circle. Every man now leapt into the enclosure, the boats were
+brought up, and the turtles easily captured by the hand and
+tossed into them. I jumped in along with the rest, although I had
+just before made the discovery that the pool abounded in ugly,
+red, four-angled leeches, having seen several of these delectable
+animals, which sometimes fasten on the legs of fishermen,
+although they, did not, on this day, trouble us, working their
+way through cracks in the bottom of our montaria. Cardozo, who
+remained with the boats, could not turn the animals on their
+backs fast enough, so that a great many clambered out and got
+free again. However, three boat-loads, or about eighty, were
+secured in about twenty minutes. They were then taken ashore, and
+each one secured by the men tying the legs with thongs of bast.
+
+When the canoes had been twice filled, we desisted, after a very
+hard day's work. Nearly all the animals were young ones, chiefly,
+according to the statement of Pedro, from three to ten years of
+age; they varied from six to eighteen inches in length, and were
+very fat. Cardozo and I lived almost exclusively on them for
+several months afterwards. Roasted in the shell they form a most
+appetising dish. These younger turtles never migrate with their
+elders on the sinking of the waters, but remain in the tepid
+pools, fattening on fallen fruits, and, according to the natives,
+on the fine nutritious mud. We captured a few full-grown
+motherturtles, which were known at once by the horny skin of
+their breast-plates being worn, telling of their having crawled
+on the sands to lay eggs the previous year. They had evidently
+made a mistake in not leaving the pool at the proper time, for
+they were full of eggs, which, we were told, they would, before
+the season was over, scatter in despair over the swamp. We also
+found several male turtles, or Capitaris, as they are called by
+the natives. These are immensely less numerous than the females,
+and are distinguishable by their much smaller size, more circular
+shape, and the greater length and thickness of their tails. Their
+flesh is considered unwholesome, especially to sick people having
+external signs of inflammation. All diseases in these parts, as
+well as their remedies and all articles of food, are classed by
+the inhabitants as "hot" and "cold," and the meat of the Capitari
+is settled by unanimous consent as belonging to the "hot" list.
+
+We dined on the banks of the river a little before sunset. The
+mosquitoes then began to be troublesome, and finding it would be
+impossible to sleep here, we all embarked and crossed the river
+to a sand-bank, about three miles distant, where we passed the
+night. Cardozo and I slept in our hammocks slung between upright
+poles, the rest stretching themselves on the sand round a large
+fire. We lay awake conversing until past midnight. It was a real
+pleasure to listen to the stories told by one of the older men,
+they were given with so much spirit. The tales always related to
+struggles with some intractable animal-jaguar, manatee, or
+alligator. Many interjections and expressive gestures were used,
+and at the end came a sudden "Pa! terra!" when the animal was
+vanquished by a shot or a blow. Many mysterious tales were
+recounted about the Bouto, as the large Dolphin of the Amazons is
+called. One of them was to the effect that a Bouto once had the
+habit of assuming the shape of a beautiful woman, with hair
+hanging loose to her heels, and walking ashore at night in the
+streets of Ega, to entice the young men down to the water. If any
+one was so much smitten as to follow her to the waterside, she
+grasped her victim round the waist and plunged beneath the waves
+with a triumphant cry. No animal in the Amazons region is the
+subject of so many fables as the Bouto; but it is probable these
+did not originate with the Indians, but with the Portuguese
+colonists. It was several years before I could induce a fisherman
+to harpoon Dolphins for me as specimens, for no one ever kills
+these animals voluntarily, although their fat is known to yield
+an excellent oil for lamps. The superstitious people believe that
+blindness would result from the use of this oil in lamps. I
+succeeded at length with Carepira, by offering him a high reward
+when his finances were at a very low point, but he repented of
+his deed ever afterwards, declaring that his luck had forsaken
+him from that day.
+
+The next morning we again beat the pool. Although we had proof of
+there being a great number of turtles yet remaining, we had very
+poor success. The old Indians told us it would be so, for the
+turtles were "ladino" (cunning), and would take no notice of the
+beating a second day. When the net was formed into a circle, and
+the men had jumped in, an alligator was found to be inclosed. No
+one was alarmed, the only fear expressed being that the
+imprisoned beast would tear the net. First one shouted, "I have
+touched his head;" then another, "he has scratched my leg;" one
+of the men, a lanky Miranha, was thrown off his balance, and then
+there was no end to the laughter and shouting. At last a youth of
+about fourteen years of age, on my calling to him from the bank
+to do so, seized the reptile by the tail, and held him tightly
+until, a little resistance being overcome, he was able to bring
+it ashore. The net was opened, and the boy slowly dragged the
+dangerous but cowardly beast to land through the muddy water, a
+distance of about a hundred yards. Meantime, I had cut a strong
+pole from a tree, and as soon as the alligator was drawn to solid
+ground, gave him a smart rap with it on the crown of his head,
+which killed him instantly. It was a good-sized individual, the
+jaws being considerably more than a foot long, and fully capable
+of snapping a man's leg in twain. The species was the large
+cayman, the Jacareuassu of the Amazonian Indians (Jacare nigra).
+
+On the third day, we sent our men in the boats to net turtles in
+a larger pool about five miles further down the river, and on the
+fourth, returned to Ega.
+
+It will be well to mention here a few circumstances relative to
+the large Cayman, which, with the incident just narrated, afford
+illustrations of the cunning, cowardice, and ferocity of this
+reptile.
+
+I have hitherto had but few occasions of mentioning alligators,
+although they exist by myriads in the waters of the Upper
+Amazons. Many different species are spoken of by the natives. I
+saw only three, and of these two only are common: one, the
+Jacare-tinga, a small kind (five feet long when full grown),
+having a long slender muzzle and a black-banded tail; the other,
+the Jacare-uassu, to which these remarks more especially relate
+and the third the Jacare-curua, mentioned in a former chapter.
+The Jacare-uassu, or large Cayman, grows to a length of eighteen
+or twenty feet, and attains an enormous bulk. Like the turtles,
+the alligator has its annual migrations, for it retreats to the
+interior pools and flooded forests in the wet season, and
+descends to the main river in the dry season. During the months
+of high water, therefore, scarcely a single individual is to be
+seen in the main river. In the middle part of the Lower Amazons,
+about Obydos and Villa Nova, where many of the lakes with their
+channels of communication with the trunk stream dry up in the
+fine months, the alligator buries itself in the mud and becomes
+dormant, sleeping till the rainy season returns. On the Upper
+Amazons, where the dry season is never excessive, it has not this
+habit, but is lively all the year round. It is scarcely
+exaggerating to say that the waters of the Solimoens are as well
+stocked with large alligators in the dry season, as a ditch in
+England is in summer with tadpoles. During a journey of five days
+which I once made in the Upper Amazons steamer, in November,
+alligators were seen along the coast almost every step of the
+way, and the passengers amused themselves, from morning till
+night, by firing at them with rifle and ball. They were very
+numerous in the still bays, where the huddled crowds jostled
+together, to the great rattling of their coats of mail, as the
+steamer passed.
+
+The natives at once despise and fear the great cayman. I once
+spent a month at Caicara, a small village of semi-civilised
+Indians, about twenty miles to the west of Ega. My entertainer,
+the only white in the place, and one of my best and most constant
+friends, Senor Innocencio Alves Faria, one day proposed a half-
+day's fishing with net in the lake--the expanded bed of the small
+river on which the village is situated. We set out in an open
+boat with six Indians and two of Innocencio's children. The water
+had sunk so low that the net had to be taken out into the middle
+by the Indians, whence at the first draught, two medium-sized
+alligators were brought to land. They were disengaged from the
+net and allowed, with the coolest unconcern, to return to the
+water, although the two children were playing in it not many
+yards off. We continued fishing, Innocencio and I lending a
+helping hand, and each time drew a number of the reptiles of
+different ages and sizes, some of them Jacare-tingas; the lake,
+in fact, swarmed with alligators. After taking a very large
+quantity of fish, we prepared to return, and the Indians, at my
+suggestion, secured one of the alligators with the view of
+letting it loose amongst the swarms of dogs in the village. An
+individual was selected about eight feet long-- one man holding
+his head and another his tail, whilst a third took a few lengths
+of a flexible liana, and deliberately bound the jaws and the
+legs. Thus secured, the beast was laid across the benches of the
+boat on which we sat during the hour and a half's journey to the
+settlement. We were rather crowded, but our amiable passenger
+gave us no trouble during the transit. On reaching the village,
+we took the animal into the middle of the green, in front of the
+church, where the dogs were congregated, and there gave him his
+liberty, two of us arming ourselves with long poles to intercept
+him if he should make for the water, and the others exciting the
+dogs. The alligator showed great terror, although the dogs could
+not be made to advance, and made off at the top of its speed for
+the water, waddling like a duck. We tried to keep him back with
+the poles, but he became enraged, and seizing the end of the one
+I held in his jaws, nearly wrenched it from my grasp. We were
+obliged, at length, to kill him to prevent his escape.
+
+These little incidents show the timidity or cowardice of the
+alligator. He never attacks man when his intended victim is on
+his guard; but he is cunning enough to know when this may be done
+with impunity-- of this we had proof at Caicara, a few days
+afterwards. The river had sunk to a very low point, so that the
+port and bathing-place of the village now lay at the foot of a
+long sloping bank, and a large cayman made his appearance in the
+shallow and muddy water. We were all obliged to be very careful
+in taking our bath; most of the people simply using a calabash,
+pouring the water over themselves while standing on the brink. A
+large trading canoe, belonging to a Barra merchant named Soares,
+arrived at this time, and the Indian crew, as usual, spent the
+first day or two after their coming into port in drunkenness and
+debauchery ashore. One of the men, during the greatest heat of
+the day, when almost everyone was enjoying his afternoon's nap,
+took it into his head while in a tipsy state to go down alone to
+bathe. He was seen only by the Juiz de Paz, a feeble old man who
+was lying in his hammock in the open verandah at the rear of his
+house on the top of the bank, and who shouted to the besotted
+Indian to beware of the alligator. Before he could repeat his
+warning, the man stumbled, and a pair of gaping jaws, appearing
+suddenly above the surface, seized him round the waist and drew
+him under the water. A cry of agony "Ai Jesus!" was the last sign
+made by the wretched victim. The village was aroused: the young
+men with praiseworthy readiness seized their harpoons and hurried
+down to the bank; but, of course it was too late, a winding track
+of blood on the surface of the water was all that could be seen.
+They embarked, however, in montarias, determined upon vengeance;
+the monster was traced, and when, after a short lapse of time, he
+came up to breathe--one leg of the man sticking out from his
+jaws--was despatched with bitter curses.
+
+The last of these minor excursions which I shall narrate, was
+made (again in company of Senor Cardozo, with the addition of his
+housekeeper Senora Felippa) in the season when all the population
+of the villages turns out to dig up turtle eggs, and revel on the
+praias. Placards were posted on the church doors at Ega,
+announcing that the excavation on Shimuni would commence on the
+17th of October, and on Catua, sixty miles below Shimuni, on the
+25th. We set out on the 16th, and passed on the road, in our
+well-manned igarite, a large number of people-- men, women, and
+children in canoes of all sizes-- wending their way as if to a
+great holiday gathering. By the morning of the 17th, some 400
+persons were assembled on the borders of the sand-bank; each
+family having erected a rude temporary shed of poles and palm
+leaves to protect themselves from the sun and rain. Large copper
+kettles to prepare the oil, and hundreds of red earthenware jars,
+were scattered about on the sand.
+
+The excavation of the taboleiro, collecting the eggs and
+purifying the oil, occupied four days. All was done on a system
+established by the old Portuguese governors, probably more than a
+century ago. The commandante first took down the names of all the
+masters of households, with the number of persons each intended
+to employ in digging; he then exacted a payment of 140 reis
+(about fourpence) a head, towards defraying the expense of
+sentinels. The whole were then allowed to go to the taboleiro.
+They arranged themselves around the circle, each person armed
+with a paddle to be used as a spade, and then all began
+simultaneously to dig on a signal being given--the roll of drums-
+-by order of the commandante. It was an animating sight to behold
+the wide circle of rival diggers throwing up clouds of sand in
+their energetic labours, and working gradually towards the centre
+of the ring. A little rest was taken during the great heat of
+midday, and in the evening the eggs were carried to the huts in
+baskets. By the end of the second day, the taboleiro was
+exhausted; large mounds of eggs, some of them four to five feet
+in height, were then seen by the side of each hut, the produce of
+the labours of the family.
+
+In the hurry of digging, some of the deeper nests are passed
+over; to find these out, the people go about provided with a long
+steel or wooden probe, the presence of the eggs being
+discoverable by the ease with which the spit enters the sand.
+When no more eggs are to be found, the mashing process begins.
+The egg, it may be mentioned, has a flexible or leathery shell;
+it is quite round, and somewhat larger than a hen's egg. The
+whole heap is thrown into an empty canoe and mashed with wooden
+prongs; but sometimes naked Indians and children jump into the
+mass and tread it down, besmearing themselves with yolk and
+making about as filthy a scene as can well be imagined. This
+being finished, water is poured into the canoe, and the fatty
+mess then left for a few hours to be heated by the sun, on which
+the oil separates and rises to the surface. The floating oil is
+afterwards skimmed off with long spoons, made by tying large
+mussel-shells to the end of rods, and purified over the fire in
+copper kettles.
+
+The destruction of turtle eggs every year by these proceedings is
+enormous. At least 6000 jars, holding each three gallons of the
+oil, are exported annually from the Upper Amazons and the Madeira
+to Para, where it is used for lighting, frying fish, and other
+purposes. It may be fairly estimated that 2000 more jars-full are
+consumed by the inhabitants of the villages on the river. Now, it
+takes at least twelve basketsful of eggs, or about 6000 by the
+wasteful process followed, to make one jar of oil. The total
+number of eggs annually destroyed amounts, therefore, to
+48,000,000. As each turtle lays about 120, it follows that the
+yearly offspring Of 400,000 turtles is thus annihilated. A vast
+number, nevertheless, remain undetected; and these would probably
+be sufficient to keep the turtle population of these rivers up to
+the mark, if the people did not follow the wasteful practice of
+lying in wait for the newly-hatched young, and collecting them by
+thousands for eating-- their tender flesh and the remains of yolk
+in their entrails being considered a great delicacy. The chief
+natural enemies of the turtle are vultures and alligators, which
+devour the newly-hatched young as they descend in shoals to the
+water. These must have destroyed an immensely greater number
+before the European settlers began to appropriate the eggs than
+they do now. It is almost doubtful if this natural persecution
+did not act as effectively in checking the increase of the turtle
+as the artificial destruction now does. If we are to believe the
+tradition of the Indians, however, it had not this result; for
+they say that formerly the waters teemed as thickly with turtles
+as the air now does with mosquitoes. The universal opinion of the
+settlers on the Upper Amazons is, that the turtle has very
+greatly decreased in numbers, and is still annually decreasing.
+
+We left Shimuni on the 20th with quite a flotilla of canoes, and
+descended the river to Catua, an eleven hours' journey by paddle
+and current. Catua is about six miles long, and almost entirely
+encircled by its praia. The turtles had selected for their egg-
+laying a part of the sand-bank which was elevated at least twenty
+feet above the present level of the river; the animals, to reach
+the place, must have crawled up a slope. As we approached the
+island, numbers of the animals were seen coming to the surface to
+breathe, in a small shoaly bay. Those who had light montarias
+sped forward with bows and arrows to shoot them. Carepira was
+foremost, having borrowed a small and very unsteady boat, of
+Cardozo, and embarked in it with his little son. After bagging a
+couple of turtles, and while hauling in a third, he overbalanced
+himself; the canoe went over, and he with his child had to swim
+for their lives in the midst of numerous alligators, about a mile
+from the land. The old man had to sustain a heavy fire of jokes
+from his companions for several days after this mishap. Such
+accidents are only laughed at by this almost amphibious people.
+
+The number of persons congregated on Catua was much greater than
+on Shimuni, as the population of the banks of several
+neighbouring lakes were here added. The line of huts and sheds
+extended half a mile, and several large sailing vessels were
+anchored at the place. 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. All of them were tattooed around the mouth, the bluish
+tint forming a border to the lips, and extending in a line on the
+cheeks towards the ear on each side. They were not quite so
+slender in figure as the Passes of Perdo-uassu's family; but
+their features deviated quite as much as those of the Passes from
+the ordinary Indian type. This was seen chiefly in the
+comparatively small mouth, pointed chin, thin lips, and narrow,
+high nose. One of the daughters, a young girl of about seventeen
+years of age, was a real beauty. The colour of her skin
+approached the light tanned shade of the Mameluco women; her
+figure was almost faultless, and the blue mouth, instead of being
+a disfigurement, gave quite a captivating finish to her
+appearance. Her neck, wrists, and ankles were adorned with
+strings of blue beads. She was, however, extremely bashful, never
+venturing to look strangers in the face, and never quitting, for
+many minutes together, the side of her father and mother. The
+family had been shamefully swindled by some rascally trader on
+another praia; and, on our arrival, came to lay their case before
+Senor Cardozo, as the delegado of police of the district. The
+mild way in which the old man, without a trace of anger, stated
+his complaint in imperfect Tupi quite enlisted our sympathies in
+his favour. But Cardozo could give him no redress; he invited the
+family, however, to make their rancho near to ours, and in the
+end gave them the highest price for the surplus oil which they
+manufactured.
+
+It was not all work at Catua; indeed there was rather more play
+than work going on. The people make a kind of holiday of these
+occasions. Every fine night parties of the younger people
+assembled on the sands, and dancing and games were carried on for
+hours together. But the requisite liveliness for these sports was
+never got up without a good deal of preliminary rum-drinking. The
+girls were so coy that the young men could not get sufficient
+partners for the dances without first subscribing for a few
+flagons of the needful cashaca. The coldness of the shy Indian
+and Mameluco maidens never failed to give way after a little of
+this strong drink, but it was astonishing what an immense deal
+they could take of it in the course of an evening. Coyness is not
+always a sign of innocence in these people, for most of the half-
+caste women on the Upper Amazons lead a little career of
+looseness before they marry and settle down for life; and it is
+rather remarkable that the men do not seem to object much to
+their brides having had a child or two by various fathers before
+marriage. The women do not lose reputation unless they become
+utterly depraved, but in that case they are condemned pretty
+strongly by public opinion. Depravity is, however, rare, for all
+require more or less to be wooed before they are won. I did not
+see (although I mixed pretty freely with the young people) any
+breach of propriety on the praias. The merry-makings were carried
+on near the ranchos, where the more staid citizens of Ega,
+husbands with their wives and young daughters, all smoking
+gravely out of long pipes, sat in their hammocks and enjoyed the
+fun. Towards midnight we often heard, in the intervals between
+jokes and laughter, the hoarse roar of jaguars prowling about the
+jungle in the middle of the praia. There were several guitar-
+players among the young men, and one most persevering fiddler--
+so there was no lack of music.
+
+The favourite sport was the Pira-purasseya, or fish-dance, one of
+the original games of the Indians, though now probably a little
+modified. The young men and women, mingling together, formed a
+ring, leaving one of their number in the middle, who represented
+the fish. They then all marched round, Indian file, the musicians
+mixed up with the rest, singing a monotonous but rather pretty
+chorus, the words of which were invented (under a certain form)
+by one of the party who acted as leader. This finished, all
+joined hands, and questions were put to the one in the middle,
+asking what kind of fish he or she might be. To these the
+individual has to reply. The end of it all is that he makes a
+rush at the ring, and if he succeeds in escaping, the person who
+allowed him to do so has to take his place; the march and chorus
+then recommences, and so the game goes on hour after hour. Tupi
+was the language mostly used, but sometimes Portuguese was sung
+and spoken. The details of the dance were often varied. Instead
+of the names of fishes being called over by the person in the
+middle, the name of some animal, flower, or other object was
+given to every fresh occupier of the place. There was then good
+scope for wit in the invention of nicknames, and peals of
+laughter would often salute some particularly good hit. Thus a
+very lanky young man was called the Magoary, or the grey stork; a
+moist grey-eyed man with a profile comically suggestive of a fish
+was christened Jaraki (a kind of fish), which was considered
+quite a witty sally; a little Mameluco girl, with light-coloured
+eyes and brown hair, got the gallant name of Rosa Blanca, or the
+white rose; a young fellow who had recently singed his eye brows
+by the explosion of fireworks, was dubbed Pedro queimado (burnt
+Peter); in short every one got a nickname, and each time the
+cognomen was introduced into the chorus as the circle marched
+round.
+
+Our rancho was a large one, and was erected in a line with the
+others near the edge of the sand-bank which sloped rather
+abruptly to the water. During the first week the people were all,
+more or less, troubled by alligators. Some half-dozen full-grown
+ones were in attendance off the praia, floating about on the
+lazily-flowing, muddy water. The dryness of the weather had
+increased since we had left Shimuni, the currents had slackened,
+and the heat in the middle part of the day was almost
+insupportable. But no one could descend to bathe without being
+advanced upon by one or other of these hungry monsters. There was
+much offal cast into the river, and this, of course, attracted
+them to the place. One day I amused myself by taking a basketful
+of fragments of meat beyond the line of ranchos, and drawing the
+alligators towards me by feeding them. They behaved pretty much
+as dogs do when fed-- catching the bones I threw them in their
+huge jaws, and coming nearer and showing increased eagerness
+after every morsel. The enormous gape of their mouths, with their
+blood-red lining and long fringes of teeth, and the uncouth
+shapes of their bodies, made a picture of unsurpassable ugliness.
+I once or twice fired a heavy charge of shot at them, aiming at
+the vulnerable part of their bodies, which is a small space
+situated behind the eyes, but this had no other effect than to
+make them give a hoarse grunt and shake themselves; they
+immediately afterwards turned to receive another bone which I
+threw to them.
+
+Everyday these visitors became bolder; at length they reached a
+pitch of impudence that was quite intolerable. Cardozo had a
+poodle dog named Carlito, which some grateful traveller whom he
+had befriended had sent him from Rio Janeiro. He took great pride
+in this dog, keeping it well sheared, and preserving his coat as
+white as soap and water could make it. We slept in our rancho in
+hammocks slung between the outer posts; a large wood fire (fed
+with a kind of wood abundant on the banks of the river, which
+keeps alight all night) being made in the middle, by the side of
+which slept Carlito on a little mat. Well, one night I was awoke
+by a great uproar. It was caused by Cardozo hurling burning
+firewood with loud curses at a huge cayman which had crawled up
+the bank and passed beneath my hammock (being nearest the water)
+towards the place where Carlito lay. The dog had raised the alarm
+in time; the reptile backed out and tumbled down the bank to the
+water, the sparks from the brands hurled at him flying from his
+bony hide. To our great surprise the animal (we supposed it to be
+the same individual) repeated his visit the very next night, this
+time passing round to the other side of our shed. Cardozo was
+awake, and threw a harpoon at him, but without doing him any
+harm. After this it was thought necessary to make an effort to
+check the alligators; a number of men were therefore persuaded to
+sally forth in their montarias and devote a day to killing them.
+
+The young men made several hunting excursions during the fourteen
+days of our stay on Catua, and I, being associated with them in
+all their pleasures, made generally one of the party. These were,
+besides, the sole occasions on which I could add to my
+collections, while on these barren sands. Only two of these trips
+afforded incidents worth relating.
+
+The first, which was made to the interior of the wooded island of
+Catua, was not a very successful one. We were twelve in number,
+all armed with guns and long hunting-knives. Long before sunrise,
+my friends woke me up from my hammock, where I lay, as usual, in
+the clothes worn during the day; and after taking each a cup-full
+of cashaca and ginger (a very general practice in early morning
+on the sand-banks), we commenced our walk. The waning moon still
+lingered in the clear sky, and a profound stillness pervaded
+sleeping camp, forest, and stream. Along the line of ranchos
+glimmered the fires made by each party to dry turtle-eggs for
+food, the eggs being spread on little wooden stages over the
+smoke. The distance to the forest from our place of starting was
+about two miles, being nearly the whole length of the sand-bank,
+which was also a very broad one-- the highest part, where it was
+covered with a thicket of dwarf willows, mimosas, and arrow
+grass, lying near the ranchos. We loitered much on the way, and
+the day dawned whilst we were yet on the road, the sand at this
+early hour feeling quite cold to the naked feet. As soon as we
+were able to distinguish things, the surface of the praia was
+seen to be dotted with small black objects. These were newly-
+hatched Aiyussa turtles, which were making their way in an
+undeviating line to the water, at least a mile distant. The young
+animal of this species is distinguishable from that of the large
+turtle and the Tracaja, by the edges of the breast-plate being
+raised on each side, so that in crawling it scores two parallel
+lines on the sand. The mouths of these little creatures were full
+of sand, a circumstance arising from their having to bite their
+way through many inches of superincumbent sand to reach the
+surface on emerging from the buried eggs. It was amusing to
+observe how constantly they turned again in the direction of the
+distant river, after being handled and set down on the sand with
+their heads facing the opposite quarter. We saw also several
+skeletons of the large cayman (some with the horny and bony hide
+of the animal nearly perfect) embedded in the sand; they reminded
+me of the remains of Ichthyosauri fossilised in beds of lias,
+with the difference of being buried in fine sand instead of in
+blue mud. I marked the place of one which had a well-preserved
+skull, and the next day returned to secure it. The specimen is
+now in the British Museum collection. There were also many
+footmarks of jaguars on the sand.
+
+We entered the forest, as the sun peeped over the tree-tops far
+away down river. The party soon after divided, I keeping with a
+section which was led by Bento, the Ega carpenter, a capital
+woodsman. After a short walk we struck the banks of a beautiful
+little lake, having grassy margins and clear dark water, on the
+surface of which floated thick beds of water-lilies. We then
+crossed a muddy creek or watercourse that entered the lake, and
+then found ourselves on a restinga, or tongue of land between two
+waters. By keeping in sight of one or the other of these, there
+was no danger of our losing our way-- all other precautions were
+therefore unnecessary. The forest was tolerably clear of
+underwood, and consequently, easy to walk through. We had not
+gone far before a soft, long-drawn whistle was heard aloft in the
+trees, betraying the presence of Mutums (Curassow birds). The
+crowns of the trees, a hundred feet or more over our heads, were
+so closely interwoven that it was difficult to distinguish the
+birds-- the practised eye of Bento, however, made them out, and a
+fine male was shot from the flock, the rest flying away and
+alighting at no great distance. The species was the one of which
+the male has a round red ball on its beak (Crax globicera). The
+pursuit of the others led us a great distance, straight towards
+the interior of the island, in which direction we marched for
+three hours, having the lake always on our right.
+
+Arriving at length at the head of the lake, Bento struck off to
+the left across the restinga, and we then soon came upon a
+treeless space choked up with tall grass, which appeared to be
+the dried-up bed of another lake. Our leader was obliged to climb
+a tree to ascertain our position, and found that the clear space
+was part of the creek, whose mouth we had crossed lower down. The
+banks were clothed with low trees, nearly all of one species, a
+kind of araca (Psidium), and the ground was carpeted with a
+slender delicate grass, now in flower. A great number of crimson
+and vermilion-coloured butterflies (Catagramma Peristera, male
+and female) were settled on the smooth, white trunks of these
+trees. I had also here the great pleasure of seeing for the first
+time, the rare and curious Umbrella Bird (Cephalopterus ornatus),
+a species which resembles in size, colour, and appearance our
+common crow, but is decorated with a crest of long, curved, hairy
+feathers having long bare quills, which, when raised, spread
+themselves out in the form of a fringed sunshade over the head. A
+strange ornament, like a pelerine, is also suspended from the
+neck, formed by a thick pad of glossy steel-blue feathers, which
+grow on a long fleshy lobe or excrescence. This lobe is connected
+(as I found on skinning specimens) with an unusual development of
+the trachea and vocal organs, to which the bird doubtless owes
+its singularly deep, loud, and long-sustained fluty note. The
+Indian name of this strange creature is Uira-mimbeu, or fife-
+bird, [Mimbeu is the Indian name for a rude kind of pan-pipes
+used by the Caishanas and other tribes.] in allusion to the tone
+of its voice. We had the good luck, after remaining quiet a short
+time, to hear its performance. It drew itself up on its perch,
+spread widely the umbrella-formed crest, dilated and waved its
+glossy breast-lappet, and then, in giving vent to its loud piping
+note, bowed its head slowly forwards. We obtained a pair, male
+and female; the female has only the rudiments of the crest and
+lappet, and is duller-coloured altogether than the male. The
+range of this bird appears to be quite confined to the plains of
+the Upper Amazons (especially the Ygapo forests), not having been
+found to the east of the Rio Negro.
+
+Bento and our other friends being disappointed in finding no more
+Curassows, or indeed any other species of game, now resolved to
+turn back. On reaching the edge of the forest, we sat down and
+ate our dinners under the shade-- each man having brought a
+little bag containing a few handsfull of farinha, and a piece of
+fried fish or roast turtle. We expected our companions of the
+other division to join us at midday, but after waiting till past
+one o'clock without seeing anything of them (in fact, they had
+returned to the huts an hour or two previously), we struck off
+across the praia towards the encampment. An obstacle here
+presented itself on which we had not counted. The sun had shone
+all day through a cloudless sky untempered by a breath of wind,
+and the sands had become heated by it to a degree that rendered
+walking over them with our bare feet impossible. The most
+hardened footsoles of the party could not endure the burning
+soil. We made several attempts; we tried running, having wrapped
+the cool leaves of Heliconiae round our feet, but in no way could
+we step forward many yards. There was no means of getting back to
+our friends before night, except going round the praia, a circuit
+of about four miles, and walking through the water or on the
+moist sand. To get to the waterside from the place where we then
+stood was not difficult, as a thick bed of a flowering shrub,
+called tintarana, an infusion of the leaves of which is used to
+dye black, lay on that side of the sand-bank. Footsore and
+wearied, burthened with our guns, and walking for miles through
+the tepid shallow water under the brain-scorching vertical sun,
+we had, as may be imagined, anything but a pleasant time of it. I
+did not, however, feel any inconvenience afterwards. Everyone
+enjoys the most lusty health while living this free and wild life
+on the rivers.
+
+The other hunting trip which I have alluded to was undertaken in
+company with three friendly young half-castes. Two of them were
+brothers, namely, Joao (John) and Zephyrino Jabuti: Jabuti, or
+tortoise, being a nickname which their father had earned for his
+slow gait, and which, as is usual in this country, had descended
+as the surname of the family. 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. We were accompanied
+by an Indian named Lino, and a Mulatto boy, whose office was to
+carry our game.
+
+Our proposed hunting-ground on this occasion lay across the
+water, about fifteen miles distant. We set out in a small
+montaria, at four o'clock in the morning, again leaving the
+encampment asleep, and travelled at a good pace up the northern
+channel of the Solimoens, or that lying between the island Catua
+and the left bank of the river. The northern shore of the island
+had a broad sandy beach reaching to its western extremity. We
+gained our destination a little after daybreak; this was the
+banks of the Carapanatuba, [Meaning, in Tupi, the river of many
+mosquitoes: from carapana, mosquito, and ituba, many.] a channel
+some 150 yards in width, which, like the Anana already mentioned,
+communicates with the Cupiyo. To reach this we had to cross the
+river, here nearly two miles wide. Just as day dawned we saw a
+Cayman seize a large fish, a Tambaki, near the surface; the
+reptile seemed to have a difficulty in securing its prey, for it
+reared itself above the water, tossing the fish in its jaws and
+making a tremendous commotion. I was much struck also by the
+singular appearance presented by certain diving birds having very
+long and snaky necks (the Plotus Anhinga). Occasionally a long
+serpentine form would suddenly wriggle itself to a height of a
+foot and a half above the glassy surface of the water, producing
+such a deceptive imitation of a snake that at first I had some
+difficulty in believing it to be the neck of a bird; it did not
+remain long in view, but soon plunged again beneath the stream.
+
+We ran ashore in a most lonely and gloomy place, on a low sand-
+bank covered with bushes, secured the montaria to a tree, and
+then, after making a very sparing breakfast on fried fish and
+mandioca meal, rolled up our trousers and plunged into the thick
+forest, which here, as everywhere else, rose like a lofty wall of
+foliage from the narrow strip of beach. We made straight for the
+heart of the land, John Jabuti leading, and breaking off at every
+few steps a branch of the lower trees, so that we might recognise
+the path on our return. The district was quite new to all my
+companions, and being on a coast almost totally uninhabited by
+human beings for some 300 miles, to lose our way would have been
+to perish helplessly. I did not think at the time of the risk we
+ran of having our canoe stolen by passing Indians, unguarded
+montarias being never safe even in the ports of the villages,
+Indians apparently considering them common property, and stealing
+them without any compunction. No misgivings clouded the lightness
+of heart with which we trod forward in warm anticipation of a
+good day's sport.
+
+The tract of forest through which we passed was Ygapo, but the
+higher parts of the land formed areas which went only a very few
+inches under water in the flood season. It consisted of a most
+bewildering diversity of grand and beautiful trees, draped,
+festooned, corded, matted, and ribboned with climbing plants,
+woody and succulent, in endless variety. The most prevalent palm
+was the tall Astryocaryum Jauari, whose fallen spines made it
+necessary to pick our way carefully over the ground, as we were
+all barefooted. There was not much green underwood, except in
+places where Bamboos grew; these formed impenetrable thickets of
+plumy foliage and thorny, jointed stems, which always compelled
+us to make a circuit to avoid them. The earth elsewhere was
+encumbered with rotting fruits, gigantic bean-pods, leaves,
+limbs, and trunks of trees; fixing the impression of its being
+the cemetery as well as the birthplace of the great world of
+vegetation overhead. Some of the trees were of prodigious height.
+We passed many specimens of the Moratinga, whose cylindrical
+trunks, I dare not say how many feet in circumference, towered up
+and were lost amidst the crowns of the lower trees, their lower
+branches, in some cases, being hidden from our view. Another very
+large and remarkable tree was the Assacu (Sapium aucuparium). A
+traveller on the Amazons, mingling with the people, is sure to
+hear much of the poisonous qualities of the juices of this tree.
+Its bark exudes, when hacked with a knife, a milky sap, which is
+not only a fatal poison when taken internally, but is said to
+cause incurable sores if simply sprinkled on the skin. My
+companions always gave the Assacu a wide berth when we passed
+one. The tree looks ugly enough to merit a bad name, for the bark
+is of a dingy olive colour, and is studded with short and sharp,
+venomous-looking spines.
+
+After walking about half a mile we came upon a dry watercourse,
+where we observed, first, the old footmarks of a tapir, and, soon
+after, on the margin of a curious circular hole full of muddy
+water, the fresh tracks of a Jaguar. This latter discovery was
+hardly made when a rush was heard amidst the bushes on the top of
+a sloping bank on the opposite side of the dried creek. We
+bounded forward; it was, however, too late, for the animal had
+sped in a few minutes far out of our reach. It was clear we had
+disturbed, on our approach, the Jaguar, while quenching his
+thirst at the water-hole. A few steps further on we saw the
+mangled remains of an alligator (the Jacaretinga). The head,
+forequarters, and bony shell were the only parts which remained;
+but the meat was quite fresh, and there were many footmarks of
+the Jaguar around the carcase-- so that there was no doubt this
+had formed the solid part of the animal's breakfast. My
+companions now began to search for the alligator's nest, the
+presence of the reptile so far from the river being accountable
+for on no other ground than its maternal solicitude for its eggs.
+We found, in fact, the nest at the distance of a few yards from
+the place. It was a conical pile of dead leaves, in the middle of
+which twenty eggs were buried. These were of elliptical shape,
+considerably larger than those of a duck, and having a hard shell
+of the texture of porcelain, but very rough on the outside. They
+make a loud sound when rubbed together, and it is said that it is
+easy to find a mother alligator in the Ygapo forests by rubbing
+together two eggs in this way, she being never far off, and
+attracted by the sounds.
+
+I put half-a-dozen of the alligator's eggs in my game-bag for
+specimens, and we then continued on our way. Lino, who was now
+first, presently made a start backwards, calling out "Jararaca!"
+This is the name of a poisonous snake (genus Craspedocephalus),
+which is far more dreaded by the natives than Jaguar or
+Alligator. The individual seen by Lino lay coiled up at the foot
+of a tree, and was scarcely distinguishable, on account of the
+colours of its body being assimilated to those of the fallen
+leaves. Its hideous, flat triangular head, connected with the
+body by a thin neck, was reared and turned towards us: Frazao
+killed it with a charge of shot, shattering it completely, and
+destroying, to my regret, its value as a specimen. In conversing
+on the subject of Jararacas as we walked onwards, every one of
+the party was ready to swear that this snake attacks man without
+provocation, leaping towards him from a considerable distance
+when he approaches. I met, in the course of my daily rambles in
+the woods, many Jararacas, and once or twice narrowly very
+escaped treading on them, but never saw them attempt to spring.
+On some subjects the testimony of the natives of a wild country
+is utterly worthless. The bite of the Jararacas is generally
+fatal. I knew of four or five instances of death from it, and
+only of one clear case of recovery after being bitten; but in
+that case the person was lamed for life.
+
+We walked over moderately elevated and dry ground for about a
+mile, and then descended (three or four feet only) to the dry bed
+of another creek. This was pierced in the same way as the former
+water-course, with round holes full of muddy water. They occurred
+at intervals of a few yards, and had the appearance of having
+been made by the hand of man. The smallest were about two feet,
+the largest seven or eight feet in diameter. As we approached the
+most extensive of the larger ones, I was startled at seeing a
+number of large serpent-like heads bobbing about the surface.
+They proved to be those of electric eels, and it now occurred to
+me that the round holes were made by these animals working
+constantly round and round in the moist, muddy soil. Their depth
+(some of them were at least eight feet deep) was doubtless due
+also to the movements of the eels in the soft soil, and accounted
+for their not drying up, in the fine season, with the rest of the
+creek. Thus, while alligators and turtles in this great inundated
+forest region retire to the larger pools during the dry season,
+the electric eels make for themselves little ponds in which to
+pass the season of drought.
+
+My companions now cut each a stout pole, and proceeded to eject
+the eels in order to get at the other fishes, with which they had
+discovered the ponds to abound. I amused them all very much by
+showing how the electric shock from the eels could pass from one
+person to another. We joined hands in a line while I touched the
+biggest and freshest of the animals on the head with the point of
+my hunting-knife. We found that this experiment did not succeed
+more than three times with the same eel when out of the water;
+for, the fourth time the shock was scarcely perceptible. All the
+fishes found in the holes (besides the eels) belonged to one
+species, a small kind of Acari, or Loricaria, a group whose
+members have a complete bony integument. Lino and the boy strung
+them together through the gills with slender sipos, and hung them
+on the trees to await our return later in the day.
+
+Leaving the bed of the creek, we marched onwards, always towards
+the centre of the land, guided by the sun, which now glimmered
+through the thick foliage overhead. About eleven o'clock we saw a
+break in the forest before us, and presently emerged on the banks
+of a rather large sheet of water. This was one of the interior
+pools of which there are so many in this district. The margins
+were elevated some few feet, and sloped down to the water, the
+ground being hard and dry to the water's edge, and covered with
+shrubby vegetation. We passed completely round this pool, finding
+the crowns of the trees on its borders tenanted by curassow
+birds, whose presence was betrayed as usual by the peculiar note
+which they emit. My companions shot two of them. At the further
+end of the lake lay a deep watercourse, which we traced for about
+half a mile, and found to communicate with another and smaller
+pool. This second one evidently swarmed with turtles, as we saw
+the snouts of many peering above the surface of the water: the
+same had not been seen in the larger lake, probably because we
+had made too much noise in hailing our discovery on approaching
+its banks. My friends made an arrangement on the spot for
+returning to this pool, after the termination of the egg harvest
+on Catua.
+
+In recrossing the space between the two pools, we heard the crash
+of monkeys in the crowns of trees overhead. The chase of these
+occupied us a considerable time. Jose fired at length at one of
+the laggards of the troop, and wounded him. He climbed pretty
+nimbly towards a denser part of the tree, and a second and third
+discharge failed to bring him down. The poor maimed creature then
+trailed his limbs to one of the topmost branches, where we
+descried him soon after, seated and picking the entrails from a
+wound in his abdomen-- a most heart-rending sight. The height
+from the ground to the bough on which he was perched could not
+have been less than 150 feet, and we could get a glimpse of him
+only by standing directly underneath, and straining our eyes
+upwards. We killed him at last by loading our best gun with a
+careful charge, and resting the barrel against the treetrunk to
+steady the aim. A few shots entered his chin, and he then fell
+heels over head screaming to the ground. Although it was I who
+gave the final shot, this animal did not fall to my lot in
+dividing the spoils at the end of the day. I regret now not
+having preserved the skin, as it belonged to a very large species
+of Cebus, and one which I never met with afterwards.
+
+It was about one o'clock in the afternoon when we again reached
+the spot where we had first struck the banks of the larger pool.
+We hitherto had but poor sport, so after dining on the remains of
+our fried fish and farinha, and smoking our cigarettes, the
+apparatus for making which, including bamboo tinder-box and steel
+and flint for striking a light, being carried by every one always
+on these expeditions, we made off in another (westerly) direction
+through the forest to try to find better hunting-ground. We
+quenched our thirst with water from the pool, which I was rather
+surprised to find quite pure. These pools are, of course,
+sometimes fouled for a time by the movements of alligators and
+other tenants in the fine mud which settles at the bottom, but I
+never observed a scum of confervae or traces of oil revealing
+animal decomposition on the surface of these waters, nor was
+there ever any foul smell perceptible. The whole of this level
+land, instead of being covered with unwholesome swamps emitting
+malaria, forms in the dry season (and in the wet also) a most
+healthy country. How elaborate must be the natural processes of
+self-purification in these teeming waters!
+
+On our fresh route we were obliged to cut our way through a long
+belt of bamboo underwood, and not being so careful of my steps as
+my companions, I trod repeatedly on the flinty thorns which had
+fallen from the bushes, finishing by becoming completely lame,
+one thorn having entered deeply the sole of my foot. I was
+obliged to be left behind-- Lino, the Indian, remaining with me.
+The careful fellow cleaned my wounds with his saliva, placed
+pieces of isca (the felt-like substance manufactured by ants) on
+them to staunch the blood, and bound my feet with tough bast to
+serve as shoes, which he cut from the bark of a Monguba tree. He
+went about his work in a very gentle way and with much skill, but
+was so sparing of speech that I could scarcely get answers to the
+questions I put to him. When he had done I was able to limp about
+pretty nimbly. An Indian when he performs a service of this kind
+never thinks of a reward. I did not find so much
+disinterestedness in negro slaves or half-castes. We had to wait
+two hours for the return of our companions; during part of this
+time I was left quite alone, Lino having started off into the
+jungle after a peccary (a kind of wild hog) which had come near
+to where we sat, but on seeing us had given a grunt and bounded
+off into the thickets. At length our friends hove in sight,
+loaded with game; having shot twelve curassows and two cujubims
+(Penelope Pipile), a handsome black fowl with a white head, which
+is arboreal in its habits like the rest of this group of
+Gallinaceous birds inhabiting the South American forests. They
+had discovered a third pool containing plenty of turtles. Lino
+rejoined us at the same time, having missed the peccary, but in
+compensation shot a Quandu, or porcupine. The mulatto boy had
+caught alive in the pool a most charming little water-fowl, a
+species of grebe. It was somewhat smaller than a pigeon, and had
+a pointed beak; its feet were furnished with many intricate folds
+or frills of skin instead of webs, and resembled very much those
+of the gecko lizards. The bird was kept as a pet in Jabuti's
+house at Ega for a long time afterwards, where it became
+accustomed to swim about in a common hand-basin full of water,
+and was a great favourite with everybody.
+
+We now retraced our steps towards the water-side, a weary walk of
+five or six miles, reaching our canoe by half-past five o'clock,
+or a little before sunset. It was considered by everyone at Catua
+that we had had an unusually good day's sport. I never knew any
+small party to take so much game in one day in these forests,
+over which animals are everywhere so widely and sparingly
+scattered. My companions were greatly elated, and on approaching
+the encampment at Catua, made a great commotion with their
+paddles to announce their successful return, singing in their
+loudest key one of the wild choruses of the Amazonian boatmen.
+
+The excavation of eggs and preparation of the oil being finished,
+we left Catua on the 3rd of November. Carepira, who was now
+attached to Cardozo's party, had discovered another lake rich in
+turtles, about twelve miles distant, in one of his fishing
+rambles, and my friend resolved, before returning to Ega, to go
+there with his nets and drag it as we had formerly done the
+Aningal. Several Mameluco families of Ega begged to accompany us
+to share the labours and booty; the Shumana family also joined
+the party; we therefore, formed a large body, numbering in all
+eight canoes and fifty persons.
+
+The summer season was now breaking up; the river was rising; the
+sky was almost constantly clouded, and we had frequent rains. The
+mosquitoes also, which we had not felt while encamped on the
+sand-banks, now became troublesome. We paddled up the north-
+westerly channel, and arrived at a point near the upper end of
+Catua at ten o'clock p.m. There was here a very broad beach of
+untrodden white sand, which extended quite into the forest, where
+it formed rounded hills and hollows like sand dunes, covered with
+a peculiar vegetation: harsh, reedy grasses, and low trees matted
+together with lianas, and varied with dwarf spiny palms of the
+genus Bactris. We encamped for the night on the sands, finding
+the place luckily free from mosquitoes. The different portions of
+the party made arched coverings with the toldos or maranta-leaf
+awnings of their canoes to sleep under, fixing the edges in the
+sand. No one, however, seemed inclined to go to sleep, so after
+supper we all sat or lay around the large fires and amused
+ourselves. We had the fiddler with us, and in the intervals
+between the wretched tunes which he played, the usual amusement
+of story-telling beguiled the time: tales of hair-breadth escapes
+from jaguar, alligator, and so forth. There were amongst us a
+father and son who had been the actors, the previous year, in an
+alligator adventure on the edge of the praia we had just left.
+The son, while bathing, was seized by the thigh and carried under
+water-- a cry was raised, and the father, rushing down the bank,
+plunged after the rapacious beast, which was diving away with his
+victim. It seems almost incredible that a man could overtake and
+master the large cayman in his own element; but such was the case
+in this instance, for the animal was reached and forced to
+release his booty by the man's thrusting his thumb into his eye.
+The lad showed us the marks of the alligator's teeth on his
+thigh. We sat up until past midnight listening to these stories
+and assisting the flow of talk by frequent potations of burnt
+rum. A large, shallow dish was filled with the liquor and fired;
+when it had burned for a few minutes, the flame was extinguished
+and each one helped himself by dipping a tea-cup into the vessel.
+
+One by one the people dropped asleep, and then the quiet murmur
+of talk of the few who remained awake was interrupted by the roar
+of jaguars in the jungle about a furlong distant. There was not
+one only, but several of the animals. The older men showed
+considerable alarm and proceeded to light fresh fires around the
+outside of our encampment. I had read in books of travel of
+tigers coming to warm themselves by the fires of a bivouac, and
+thought my strong wish to witness the same sight would have been
+gratified tonight. I had not, however,such good fortune, although
+I was the last to go to sleep, and my bed was the bare sand under
+a little arched covering open at both ends. The jaguars,
+nevertheless, must have come very near during the night, for
+their fresh footmarks were numerous within a score yards of the
+place where we slept. In the morning I had a ramble along the
+borders of the jungle, and found the tracks very numerous and
+close together on the sandy soil.
+
+We remained in this neighbourhood four days, and succeeded in
+obtaining many hundred turtles, but we were obliged to sleep two
+nights within the Carapanatuba channel. The first night passed
+rather pleasantly, for the weather was fine, and we encamped in
+the forest, making large fires and slinging our hammocks between
+the trees. The second was one of the most miserable nights I ever
+spent. The air was close, and a drizzling rain began to fall
+about midnight, lasting until morning. We tried at first to brave
+it out under the trees. Several very large fires were made,
+lighting up with ruddy gleams the magnificent foliage in the
+black shades around our encampment. The heat and smoke had the
+desired effect of keeping off pretty well the mosquitoes, but the
+rain continued until at length everything was soaked, and we had
+no help for it but to bundle off to the canoes with drenched
+hammocks and garments. There was not nearly room enough in the
+flotilla to accommodate so large a number of persons lying at
+full length; moreover the night was pitch dark, and it was quite
+impossible in the gloom and confusion to get at a change of
+clothing. So there we lay, huddled together in the best way we
+could arrange ourselves, exhausted with fatigue and irritated
+beyond all conception by clouds of mosquitoes. I slept on a bench
+with a sail over me, my wet clothes clinging to my body, and to
+increase my discomfort, close beside me lay an Indian girl, one
+of Cardozo's domestics, who had a skin disfigured with black
+diseased patches, and whose thick clothing, not having been
+washed during the whole time we had been out (eighteen days),
+gave forth a most vile effluvium.
+
+We spent the night of the 7th of November pleasantly on the
+smooth sands, where the jaguars again serenaded us, and on the
+succeeding morning we commenced our return voyage to Ega. We
+first doubled the upper end of the island of Catua, and then
+struck off for the right bank of the Solimoens. The river was
+here of immense width, and the current was so strong in the
+middle that it required the most strenuous exertions on the part
+of our paddlers to prevent us from being carried miles away down
+the stream. At night we reached the Juteca, a small river which
+enters the Solimoens by a channel so narrow that a man might
+almost jump across it, but a furlong inwards expands into a very
+pretty lake several miles in circumference. We slept again in the
+forest, and again were annoyed by rain and mosquitoes; but this
+time Cardozo and I preferred remaining where we were to mingling
+with the reeking crowd in the boats. When the grey dawn arose a
+steady rain was still falling, and the whole sky had a settled,
+leaden appearance, but it was delightfully cool. We took our net
+into the lake and gleaned a good supply of delicious fish for
+breakfast. I saw at the upper end of this lake the native rice of
+this country growing wild.
+
+The weather cleared up at ten o'clock a.m. At three p.m. we
+arrived at the mouth of the Cayambe, another tributary stream
+much larger than the Juteca. The channel of exit to the Solimoens
+was here also very narrow, but the expanded river inside is of
+vast dimensions: it forms a lake (I may safely venture to say),
+several score miles in circumference. Although prepared for these
+surprises, I was quite taken aback in this case. We had been
+paddling all day along a monotonous shore, with the dreary
+Solimoens before us, here three to four miles broad, heavily
+rolling onward its muddy waters. We come to a little gap in the
+earthy banks, and find a dark, narrow inlet with a wall of forest
+overshadowing it on each side; we enter it, and at a distance of
+two or three hundred yards a glorious sheet of water bursts upon
+the view. The scenery of Cayambe is very picturesque. The land,
+on the two sides visible of the lake, is high, and clothed with
+sombre woods, varied here and there with a white-washed house, in
+the middle of a green patch of clearing, belonging to settlers.
+In striking contrast to these dark, rolling forests, is the
+vivid, light green and cheerful foliage of the woods on the
+numerous islets which rest like water-gardens on the surface of
+the lake. Flocks of ducks, storks, and snow-white herons inhabit
+these islets, and a noise of parrots with the tingling chorus of
+Tamburi-paras was heard from them as we passed. This has a
+cheering effect after the depressing stillness and absence of
+life in the woods on the margins of the main river.
+
+Cardozo and I took a small boat and crossed the lake to visit one
+of the settlers, and on our return to our canoe, while in the
+middle of the lake, a squall suddenly arose in the direction
+towards which we were going, so that for a whole hour we were in
+great danger of being swamped. The wind blew away the awning and
+mats, and lashed the waters into foam, the waves rising to a
+great height. Our boat, fortunately, was excellently constructed,
+rising well towards the prow, so that with good steering we
+managed to head the billows as they arose, and escaped without
+shipping much water. We reached our igarite at sunset, and then
+made all speed to Curubaru, fifteen miles distant, to encamp for
+the night on the sands. We reached the praia at ten o'clock. The
+waters were now mounting fast upon the sloping beach, and we
+found on dragging the net next morning that fish was beginning to
+be scarce. Cardozo and his friends talked quite gloomily at
+breakfast time over the departure of the joyous verao, and the
+setting in of the dull, hungry winter season.
+
+At nine o'clock in the morning of the 10th of November a light
+wind from down river sprang up, and all who had sails hoisted
+them. It was the first time during our trip that we had had
+occasion to use our sails, so continual is the calm on this upper
+river. We bowled along merrily, and soon entered the broad
+channel lying between Baria and the mainland on the south bank.
+The wind carried us right into the mouth of the Teffe and at four
+o'clock p.m. we cast anchor in the port of Ega.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ANIMALS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA
+
+Scarlet-faced Monkeys--Parauacu Monkey--Owl-faced Night-apes--
+Marmosets--Jupura--Bats--Birds--Cuvier's Toucan--Curl-crested
+Toucan--Insects--Pendulous Cocoons--Foraging Ants--Blind Ants
+
+As may have been gathered from the remarks already made, the
+neighbourhood of Ega was a fine field for a Natural History
+collector. With the exception of what could be learned from the
+few specimens brought home, after transient visits by Spix and
+Martius and the Count de Castelnau, whose acquisitions have been
+deposited in the public museums of Munich and Paris, very little
+was known in Europe of the animal tenants of this region; the
+collections that I had the opportunity of making and sending home
+attracted, therefore, considerable attention. Indeed, the name of
+my favourite village has become quite a household word among a
+numerous class of Naturalists, not only in England but abroad, in
+consequence of the very large number of new species (upwards of
+3000) which they have had to describe, with the locality "Ega"
+attached to them. The discovery of new species, however, forms
+but a small item in the interest belonging to the study of the
+living creation. The structure, habits, instincts, and
+geographical distribution of some of the oldest-known forms
+supply inexhaustible materials for reflection. The few remarks I
+have to make on the animals of Ega will relate to the mammals,
+birds, and insects, and will sometimes apply to the productions
+of the whole Upper Amazons region. We will begin with the
+monkeys, the most interesting, next to man, of all animals.
+
+Scarlet-faced Monkeys--Early one sunny morning, in the year 1855,
+I saw in the streets of Ega a number of Indians, carrying on
+their shoulders down to the port, to be embarked on the Upper
+Amazons steamer, a large cage made of strong lianas, some twelve
+feet in length and five in height, containing a dozen monkeys of
+the most grotesque appearance. Their bodies (about eighteen
+inches in height, exclusive of limbs) were clothed from neck to
+tail with very long, straight, and shining whitish hair; their
+heads were nearly bald, owing to the very short crop of thin grey
+hairs, and their faces glowed with the most vivid scarlet hue. As
+a finish to their striking physiognomy, they had bushy whiskers
+of a sandy colour, meeting under the chin, and reddish-yellow
+eyes. These red-faced apes belonged to a species called by the
+Indians Uakari, which is peculiar to the Ega district, and the
+cage with its contents was being sent as a present by Senor
+Chrysostomo, the Director of Indians of the Japura, to one of the
+Government officials at Rio Janeiro, in acknowledgment of having
+been made colonel of the new National Guard. They had been
+obtained with great difficulty in the forests which cover the
+lowlands near the principal mouth of the Japura, about thirty
+miles from Ega. It was the first time I had seen this most
+curious of all the South American monkeys, and one that appears
+to have escaped the notice of Spix and Martius. I afterwards made
+a journey to the district inhabited by it, but did not then
+succeed in obtaining specimens; before leaving the country,
+however, I acquired two individuals, one of which lived in my
+house for several weeks.
+
+The scarlet-faced monkey belongs, in all essential points of
+structure, to the same family (Cebidae) as the rest of the large-
+sized American species; but it differs from all its relatives in
+having only the rudiment of a tail, a member which reaches in
+some allied kinds the highest grade of development known in the
+order. It was so unusual to see a nearly tailless monkey from
+America, that naturalists thought, when the first specimens
+arrived in Europe, that the member had been shortened
+artificially. Nevertheless, the Uakari is not quite isolated from
+its related species of the same family, several other kinds, also
+found on the Amazons, forming a graduated passage between the
+extreme forms as regards the tail. The appendage reaches its
+perfection in those genera (the Howlers, the Lagothrix and the
+Spider monkeys) in which it presents on its under-surface near
+the tip a naked palm, which makes it sensitive and useful as a
+fifth hand in climbing. In the rest of the genera of Cebidae
+(seven in number, containing thirty-eight species), the tail is
+weaker in structure, entirely covered with hair, and of little or
+no service in climbing, a few species nearly related to our
+Uakari having it much shorter than usual. All the Cebidae, both
+long-tailed and short-tailed, are equally dwellers in trees. The
+scarlet-faced monkey lives in forests, which are inundated during
+great part of the year, and is never known to descend to the
+ground; the shortness of its tail is, therefore, no sign of
+terrestrial habits, as it is in the Macaques and Baboons of the
+Old World. It differs a little from the typical Cebidae in its
+teeth, the incisors being oblique and, in the upper jaw,
+converging, so as to leave a gap between the outermost and the
+canine teeth. Like all the rest of its family, it differs from
+the monkeys of the Old World, and from man, in having an
+additional grinding-tooth (premolar) in each side of both jaws,
+making the complete set thirty-six instead of thirty-two in
+number.
+
+The white Uakari (Brachyurus calvus), seems to be found in no
+other part of America than the district just mentioned, namely,
+the banks of the Japura, near its principal mouth; and even there
+it is confined, as far I could learn, to the western side of the
+river. It lives in small troops among the crowns of the lofty
+trees, subsisting on fruits of various kinds. Hunters say it is
+pretty nimble in its motions, but is not much given to leaping,
+preferring to run up and down the larger boughs in travelling
+from tree to tree. The mother, as in other species of the monkey
+order, carries her young on her back. Individuals are obtained
+alive by shooting them with the blow-pipe and arrows tipped with
+diluted Urari poison. They run a considerable distance after
+being pierced, and it requires an experienced hunter to track
+them. He is considered the most expert who can keep pace with a
+wounded one, and catch it in his arms when it falls exhausted. A
+pinch of salt, the antidote to the poison, is then put in its
+mouth, and the creature revives. The species is rare, even in the
+limited district which it inhabits. Senor Chrysostomo sent six of
+his most skillful Indians, who were absent three weeks before
+they obtained the twelve specimens which formed his unique and
+princely gift. When an independent hunter obtains one, a very
+high price (thirty to forty milreis) [Three pounds seven
+shillings to four pounds thirteen shillings] is asked, these
+monkeys being in great demand for presents to persons of
+influence down the river.
+
+Adult Uakaris, caught in the way just described, very rarely
+become tame. They are peevish and sulky, resisting all attempts
+to coax them, and biting anyone who ventures within reach. They
+have no particular cry, even when in their native woods; in
+captivity they are quite silent. In the course of a few days or
+weeks, if not very carefully attended to, they fall into a
+listless condition, refuse food, and die. Many of them succumb to
+a disease which I suppose from the symptoms to be inflammation of
+the chest or lungs. The one which I kept as a pet died of this
+disorder after I had had it about three weeks. It lost its
+appetite in a very few days, although kept in an airy verandah;
+its coat, which was originally long, smooth, and glossy, became
+dingy and ragged like that of the specimens seen in museums, and
+the bright scarlet colour of its face changed to a duller hue.
+This colour, in health, is spread over the features up to the
+roots of the hair on the forehead and temples, and down to the
+neck, including the flabby cheeks which hang down below the jaws.
+The animal, in this condition, looks at a short distance as
+though some one had laid a thick coat of red paint on its
+countenance. The death of my pet was slow; during the last
+twenty-four hours it lay prostrate, breathing quickly, its chest
+strongly heaving; the colour of its face became gradually paler,
+but was still red when it expired. As the hue did not quite
+disappear until two or three hours after the animal was quite
+dead, I judged that it was not exclusively due to the blood, but
+partly to a pigment beneath the skin which would probably retain
+its colour a short time after the circulation had ceased.
+
+After seeing much of the morose disposition of the Uakari, I was
+not a little surprised one day at a friend's house to find an
+extremely lively and familiar individual of this species. It ran
+from an inner chamber straight towards me after I had sat down on
+a chair, climbed my legs and nestled in my lap, turning round and
+looking up with the usual monkey's grin, after it had made itself
+comfortable. It was a young animal which had been taken when its
+mother was shot with a poisoned arrow; its teeth were incomplete,
+and the face was pale and mottled, the glowing scarlet hue not
+supervening in these animals before mature age; it had also a few
+long black hairs on the eyebrows and lips. The frisky little
+fellow had been reared in the house amongst the children, and
+allowed to run about freely, and take its meals with the rest of
+the household. There are few animals which the Brazilians of
+these villages have not succeeded in taming. I have even seen
+young jaguars running loose about a house, and treated as pets.
+The animals that I had rarely became familiar, however long they
+might remain in my possession, a circumstance due no doubt to
+their being kept always tied up.
+
+The Uakari is one of the many species of animals which are
+classified by the Brazilians as "mortal," or of delicate
+constitution, in contradistinction to those which are "duro," or
+hardy. A large proportion of the specimens sent from Ega die
+before arriving at Para, and scarcely one in a dozen succeeds in
+reaching Rip Janeiro alive. The difficulty it has of
+accommodating itself to changed conditions probably has some
+connection with the very limited range or confined sphere of life
+of the species in its natural state, its native home being an
+area of swampy woods, not more than about sixty square miles in
+extent, although no permanent barrier exists to cheek its
+dispersal, except towards the south, over a much wider space.
+When I descended the river in 1859, we had with us a tame adult
+Uakari, which was allowed to ramble about the vessel, a large
+schooner. When we reached the mouth of the Rio Negro, we had to
+wait four days while the custom-house officials at Barra, ten
+miles distant, made out the passports for our crew, and during
+this time the schooner lay close to the shore, with its bowsprit
+secured to the trees on the bank. Well, one morning, scarlet-face
+was missing, having made his escape into the forest. Two men were
+sent in search of him, but returned after several hours' absence
+without having caught sight of the runaway. We gave up the monkey
+for lost, until the following day, when he re-appeared on the
+skirts of the forest, and marched quietly down the bowsprit to
+his usual place on deck. He had evidently found the forests of
+the Rio Negro very different from those of the delta lands of the
+Japura, and preferred captivity to freedom in a place that was so
+uncongenial to him.
+
+The Parauacu Monkey.--Another Ega monkey, nearly related to the
+Uakaris, is the Parauacu (Pithecia hirsuta), a timid inoffensive
+creature with a long bear-like coat of harsh speckled-grey hair.
+The long fur hangs over the head, half concealing the pleasing
+diminutive face, and clothes also the tail to the tip, which
+member is well developed, being eighteen inches in length, or
+longer than the body. The Parauacu is found on the "terra firma"
+lands of the north shore of the Solimoens from Tunantins to Peru.
+It exists also on the south side of the river, namely, on the
+banks of the Teffe, but there under a changed form, which differs
+a little from its type in colours. This form has been described
+by Dr. Gray as a distinct species, under the name of Pithecia
+albicans. The Parauacu is also a very delicate animal, rarely
+living many weeks in captivity; but any one who succeeds in
+keeping it alive for a month or two, gains by it a most
+affectionate pet. One of the specimens of Pithecia albicans now
+in the British Museum was, when living, the property of a young
+Frenchman, a neighbour of mine at Ega. It became so tame in the
+course of a few weeks that it followed him about the streets like
+a dog. My friend was a tailor, and the little pet used to spend
+the greater part of the day seated on his shoulder, while he was
+at work on his board. Nevertheless,it showed great dislike to
+strangers, and was not on good terms with any other member of my
+friend's household than himself. I saw no monkey that showed so
+strong a personal attachment as this gentle, timid, silent,
+little creature. The eager and passionate Cebi seem to take the
+lead of all the South American monkeys in intelligence and
+docility, and the Coaita has perhaps the most gentle and
+impressible disposition; but the Parauacu, although a dull,
+cheerless animal, excels all in this quality of capability of
+attachment to individuals of our own species. It is not wanting,
+however, in intelligence as well as moral goodness, proof of
+which was furnished one day by an act of our little pet. My
+neighbour had quitted his house in the morning without taking
+Parauacu with him, and the little creature having missed its
+friend, and concluded, as it seemed, that he would be sure to
+come to me, both being in the habit of paying me a daily visit
+together, came straight to my dwelling, taking a short cut over
+gardens, trees, and thickets, instead of going the roundabout way
+of the street. It had never done this before, and we knew the
+route it had taken only from a neighbour having watched its
+movements. On arriving at my house and not finding its master, it
+climbed to the top of my table, and sat with an air of quiet
+resignation waiting for him. Shortly afterwards my friend
+entered, and the gladdened pet then jumped to its usual perch on
+his shoulder.
+
+Owl-laced Night Apes--A third interesting genus of monkeys found
+near Ega, are the Nyctipitheci, or night apes, called Ei-a by the
+Indians. Of these I found two species, closely related to each
+other but nevertheless quite distinct, as both inhabit the same
+forests, namely, those of the higher and drier lands, without
+mingling with each other or intercrossing. They sleep all day
+long in hollow trees, and come forth to prey on insects and eat
+fruits only in the night. They are of small size, the body being
+about a foot long, and the tall fourteen inches, and are thickly
+clothed with soft grey and brown fur, similar in substance to
+that of the rabbit. Their physiognomy reminds one of an owl, or
+tiger-cat: the face is round and encircled by a ruff of whitish
+fur. the muzzle is not at all prominent; the mouth and chin are
+small; the cars are very short, scarcely appearing above the hair
+of the head; and the eyes are large and yellowish in colour,
+imparting the staring expression of nocturnal animals of prey.
+The forehead is whitish, and decorated with three black stripes,
+which in one of the species (Nyctipithecus trivirgatus) continue
+to the crown; and in the other (N. felinus), meet on the top of
+the forehead. N. trivirgatus was first described by Humboldt, who
+discovered it on the banks of the Cassiquiare, near the head
+waters of the Rio Negro.
+
+I kept a pet animal of the N. trivirgatus for many months, a
+young one having been given to me by an Indian compadre, as a
+present from my newly-baptised godson. These monkeys, although
+sleeping by day, are aroused by the least noise; so that, when a
+person passes by a tree in which a number of them are concealed,
+he is startled by the sudden apparition of a group of little
+striped faces crowding a hole in the trunk. It was in this way
+that my compadre discovered the colony from which the one given
+to me was taken. I was obliged to keep my pet chained up; it
+therefore, never became thoroughly familiar. I once saw, however,
+an individual of the other species (N. felinus) which was most
+amusingly tame. It was as lively and nimble as the Cebi, but not
+so mischievous and far more confiding in its disposition,
+delighting to be caressed by all persons who came into the house.
+But its owner, the Municipal Judge of Ega, Dr. Carlos Mariana,
+had treated it for many weeks with the greatest kindness,
+allowing it to sleep with him at night in his hammock, and to
+nestle in his bosom half the day as he lay reading. It was a
+great favourite with everyone, from the cleanliness of its habits
+to the prettiness of its features and ways. My own pet was kept
+in a box, in which was placed a broad-mouthed glass jar; into
+this it would dive, head foremost, when any one entered the room,
+turning round inside, and thrusting forth its inquisitive face an
+instant afterwards to stare at the intruder. It was very active
+at night, venting at frequent intervals a hoarse cry, like the
+suppressed barking of a dog, and scampering about the room, to
+the length of its tether, after cockroaches and spiders. In
+climbing between the box and the wall, it straddled the space,
+resting its hands on the palms and tips of the out-stretched
+fingers with the knuckles bent at an acute angle, and thus
+mounted to the top with the greatest facility. Although seeming
+to prefer insects, it ate all kinds of fruit, but would not touch
+raw or cooked meat, and was very seldom thirsty. I was told by
+persons who had kept these monkeys loose about the house, that
+they cleared the chambers of bats as well as insect vermin. When
+approached gently my Ei-a allowed itself to be caressed; but when
+handled roughly, it always took alarm, biting severely, striking
+out its little hands, and making a hissing noise like a cat. As
+already related, my pet was killed by a jealous Caiarara monkey,
+which was kept in the house at the same time.
+
+Barrigudo Monkeys.--Ten other species of monkeys were found, in
+addition to those already mentioned, in the forests of the Upper
+Amazons. All were strictly arboreal and diurnal in their habits,
+and lived in flocks, travelling from tree to tree, the mothers
+with their children on their backs-- leading, in fact, a life
+similar to that of the Pararauate Indians, and, like them,
+occasionally plundering the plantations which lie near their line
+of march. Some of them were found also on the Lower Amazons, and
+have been noticed in former chapters of this narrative. Of the
+remainder, the most remarkable is the Macaco barrigudo, or bag-
+bellied monkey of the Portuguese colonists, a species of
+Lagothrix. The genus is closely allied to the Coaitas, or spider
+monkeys, having, like them, exceedingly strong and flexible
+tails, which are furnished underneath with a naked palm like a
+hand, for grasping. The Barrigudos, however, are very bulky
+animals, while the spider monkeys are remarkable for the
+slenderness of their bodies and limbs. I obtained specimens of
+what have been considered two species, one (L. olivaceus of
+Spix?) having the head clothed with grey, the other (L.
+Humboldtii) with black fur. They both live together in the same
+places, and are probably only differently-coloured individuals of
+one and the same species. I sent home a very large male of one of
+these kinds, which measured twenty-seven inches in length of
+trunk, the tail being twenty-six inches long; it was the largest
+monkey I saw in America, with the exception of a black Howler,
+whose body was twenty-eight inches in height. The skin of the
+face in the Barrigudo is black and wrinkled, the forehead is low,
+with the eyebrows projecting, and, in short, the features
+altogether resemble in a striking manner those of an old negro.
+In the forests, the Barrigudo is not a very active animal; it
+lives exclusively on fruits, and is much persecuted by the
+Indians, on account of the excellence of its flesh as food. From
+information given me by a collector of birds and mammals, whom I
+employed, and who resided a long time among the Tucuna Indians
+near Tabatinga, I calculated that one horde of this tribe, 200 in
+number, destroyed 1200 of these monkeys annually for food. The
+species is very numerous in the forests of the higher lands, but,
+owing to long persecution, it is now seldom seen in the
+neighbourhood of the larger villages. It is not found at all on
+the Lower Amazons. Its manners in captivity are grave, and its
+temper mild and confiding, like that of the Coaitas, owing to
+these traits, the Barrigudo is much sought after for pets; but it
+is not hardy like the Coaitas, and seldom survives a passage down
+the river to Para.
+
+Marmosets.-It now only remains to notice the Marmosets, which
+form the second family of American monkeys. Our old friend Midas
+ursulus, of Para and the Lower Amazons, is not found on the Upper
+river, but in its stead a closely-allied species presents itself,
+which appears to be the Midas rufoniger of Gervais, whose mouth
+is bordered with longish white hairs. The habits of this species
+are the same as those of the M. ursulus, indeed it seems probable
+that it is a form or race of the same stock, modified to suit the
+altered local conditions under which it lives. One day, while
+walking along a forest pathway, I saw one of these lively little
+fellows miss his grasp as he was passing from one tree to another
+along with his troop. He fell head foremost, from a height of at
+least fifty feet, but managed cleverly to alight on his legs in
+the pathway, quickly turning around, gave me a good stare for a
+few moments, and then bounded off gaily to climb another tree. At
+Tunantins, I shot a pair of a very handsome species of Marmoset,
+the M. rufiventer, I believe, of zoologists. Its coat was very
+glossy and smooth, the back deep brown, and the underside of the
+body of rich black and reddish hues. A third species (found at
+Tabatinga, 200 miles further west) is of a deep black colour,
+with the exception of a patch of white hair around its mouth. The
+little animal, at a short distance, looks as though it held a
+ball of snow-white cotton in its teeth. The last I shall mention
+is the Hapale pygmaeus, one of the most diminutive forms of the
+monkey order, three full-grown specimens of which, measuring only
+seven inches in length of body, I obtained near St. Paulo. The
+pretty Lilliputian face is furnished with long brown whiskers,
+which are naturally brushed back over the cars. The general
+colour of the animal is brownish-tawny, but the tail is elegantly
+barred with black. I was surprised, on my return to England, to
+learn from specimens in the British Museum, that the pigmy
+Marmoset was found also in Mexico-- no other Amazonian monkey
+being known to wander far from the great river plain. Thus, the
+smallest and apparently the feeblest, species of the whole order,
+is one which has, by some means, become the most widely
+dispersed.
+
+The Jupura.--A curious animal, known to naturalists as the
+Kinkajou, but called Jupura by the Indians of the Amazons, and
+considered by them as a kind of monkey, may be mentioned in this
+place. It is the Cercoleptes caudivolvus of zoologists, and has
+been considered by some authors as an intermediate form between
+the Lemur family of apes and the plantigrade Carnivora, or Bear
+family. It has decidedly no close relation ship to either of the
+groups of American monkeys, having six cutting teeth to each jaw,
+and long claws instead of nails, with extremities of the usual
+shape of paws instead of hands. Its muzzle is conical and
+pointed, like that of many Lemurs of Madagascar; the expression
+of its countenance, and its habits and actions, are also very
+similar to those of Lemurs. Its tail is very flexible towards the
+tip, and is used to twine round branches in climbing. I did not
+see or hear anything of this animal while residing on the Lower
+Amazons, but on the banks of the Upper river, from the Teffe to
+Peru, it appeared to be rather common. It is nocturnal in its
+habits, like the owl-faced monkeys, although, unlike them, it has
+a bright, dark eye. I once saw it in considerable numbers, when
+on an excursion with an Indian companion along the low Ygapo
+shores of the Teffe, about twenty miles above Ega. We slept one
+night at the house of a native family living in the thick of the
+forest where a festival was going on and, there being no room to
+hang our hammocks under shelter. on account of the number of
+visitors, we lay down on a mat in the open air, near a shed which
+stood in the midst of a grove of fruit-trees and pupunha palms.
+Past midnight, when all became still, after the uproar of
+holidaymaking, as I was listening to the dull, fanning sound made
+by the wings of impish hosts of vampire bats crowding round the
+Caju trees, a rustle commenced from the side of the woods, and a
+troop of slender, long-tailed animals were seen against the clear
+moonlit sky, taking flying leaps from branch to branch through
+the grove. Many of them stopped at the pupunha trees, and the
+hustling, twittering, and screaming, with sounds of falling
+fruits, showed how they were employed. I thought, at first, they
+were Nyctipitheci, but they proved to be Jupuras, for the owner
+of the house early next morning caught a young one, and gave it
+to me. I kept this as a pet animal for several weeks, feeding it
+on bananas and mandioca-meal mixed with treacle. It became tame
+in a very short time, allowing itself to be caressed, but making
+a distinction in the degree of confidence it showed between
+myself and strangers. My pet was unfortunately killed by a
+neighbour's dog, which entered the room where it was kept. The
+animal is so difficult to obtain  alive, its place of retreat in
+the daytime not being known to the natives, that I was unable to
+procure a second living specimen.
+
+Bats--The only other mammals that I shall mention are the bats,
+which exist in very considerable numbers and variety in the
+forest, as well as in the buildings of the villages. Many small
+and curious species, living in the woods, conceal themselves by
+day under the broad leaf-blades of Heliconiae and other plants
+which grow in shady places; others cling to the trunks of trees.
+While walking through the forest in the daytime, especially along
+gloomy ravines, one is almost sure to startle bats from their
+sleeping-places; and at night they are often seen in great
+numbers flitting about the trees on the shady margins of narrow
+channels. I captured altogether, without giving especial
+attention to bats, sixteen different species at Ega.
+
+The Vampire Bat.--The little grey blood-sucking Phyllostoma,
+mentioned in a former chapter as found in my chamber at Caripi,
+was not uncommon at Ega, where everyone believes it to visit
+sleepers and bleed them in the night. But the vampire was here by
+far the most abundant of the family of leaf-nosed bats. It is the
+largest of all the South American species, measuring twenty-eight
+inches in expanse of wing. Nothing in animal physiognomy can be
+more hideous than the countenance of this creature when viewed
+from the front; the large, leathery ears standing out from the
+sides and top of the head, the erect spear-shaped appendage on
+the tip of the nose, the grin and the glistening black eye, all
+combining to make up a figure that reminds one of some mocking
+imp of fable. No wonder that imaginative people have inferred
+diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly an animal. The
+vampire, however, is the most harmless of all bats, and its
+inoffensive character is well known to residents on the banks of
+the Amazons. I found two distinct species of it, one having the
+fur of a blackish colour, the other of a ruddy hue, and
+ascertained that both feed chiefly on fruits. The church at Ega
+was the headquarters of both kinds, I used to see them, as I sat
+at my door during the short evening twilights, trooping forth by
+scores from a large open window at the back of the altar,
+twittering cheerfully as they sped off to the borders of the
+forest. They sometimes enter houses; the first time I saw one in
+my chamber, wheeling heavily round and round, I mistook it for a
+pigeon, thinking that a tame one had escaped from the premises of
+one of my neighbours. I opened the stomachs of several of these
+bats, and found them to contain a mass of pulp and seeds of
+fruits, mingled with a few remains of insects. 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.
+
+Birds.--I have already had occasion to mention several of the
+more interesting birds found in the Ega district. The first thing
+that would strike a newcomer in the forests of the Upper Amazons
+would be the general scarcity of birds; indeed, it often happened
+that I did not meet with a single bird during a whole day's
+ramble in the richest and most varied parts of the woods. Yet the
+country is tenanted by many hundred species, many of which are,
+in reality, abundant, and some of them conspicuous from their
+brilliant plumage. The cause of their apparent rarity is to be
+sought in the sameness and density of the thousand miles of
+forest which constitute their dwelling-place. The birds of the
+country are gregarious, at least during the season when they are
+most readily found; but the frugivorous kinds are to be met with
+only when certain wild fruits are ripe, and to know the exact
+localities of the trees requires months of experience. It would
+not be supposed that the insectivorous birds are also gregarious,
+but they are so-- numbers of distinct species, belonging to many
+different families, joining together in the chase or search of
+food. The proceedings of these associated bands of insect-hunters
+are not a little curious, and merit a few remarks.
+
+While hunting along the narrow pathways that are made through the
+forest in the neighbourhood of houses and villages, one may pass
+several days without seeing many birds; but now and then the
+surrounding bushes and trees appear suddenly to swarm with them.
+There are scores, probably hundreds of birds, all moving about
+with the greatest activity--woodpeckers and Dendrocolaptidae
+(from species no larger than a sparrow to others the size of a
+crow) running up the tree trunks; tanagers, ant-thrushes,
+hummingbirds, fly-catchers, and barbets flitting about the leaves
+and lower branches. The bustling crowd loses no time, and
+although moving in concert, each bird is occupied, on its own
+account, in searching bark or leaf or twig; the barbets visit
+every clayey nest of termites on the trees which lie in the line
+of march. In a few minutes the host is gone, and the forest path
+remains deserted and silent as before. I became, in course of
+time, so accustomed to this habit of birds in the woods near Ega,
+that I could generally find the flock of associated marauders
+whenever I wanted it. There appeared to be only one of these
+flocks in each small district; and, as it traversed chiefly a
+limited tract of woods of second growth, I used to try different
+paths until I came up with it.
+
+The Indians have noticed these miscellaneous hunting parties of
+birds, but appear not to have observed that they are occupied in
+searching for insects. They have supplied their want of
+knowledge, in the usual way of half-civilised people, by a theory
+which has degenerated into a myth, to the effect that the onward
+moving bands are led by a little grey bird, called the Uira-para,
+which fascinates all the rest, and leads them a weary dance
+through the thickets. There is certainly some appearance of truth
+in this explanation, for sometimes stray birds encountered in the
+line of march, are seen to be drawn into the throng, and purely
+frugivorous birds are now and then found mixed up with the rest,
+as though led away by some will-o'-the-wisp. The native women,
+even the white and half-caste inhabitants of the towns, attach a
+superstitious value to the skin and feathers of the Uira-para,
+believing that if they keep them in their clothes' chest, the
+relics will have the effect of attracting for the happy
+possessors a train of lovers and followers. These birds are
+consequently in great demand in some places, the hunters selling
+them at a high price to the foolish girls, who preserve the
+bodies by drying flesh and feathers together in the sun. I could
+never get a sight of this famous little bird in the forest. I
+once employed Indians to obtain specimens for me; but, after the
+same man (who was a noted woodsman) brought me, at different
+times, three distinct species of birds as the Uira-para, I gave
+up the story as a piece of humbug. The simplest explanation
+appears to be this: the birds associate in flocks from the
+instinct of self-preservation in order to be a less easy prey to
+hawks, snakes, and other enemies than they would be if feeding
+alone.
+
+Toucans--Cuvier's Toucan--Of this family of birds, so conspicuous
+from the great size and light structure of their beaks, and so
+characteristic of tropical American forests, five species inhabit
+the woods of Ega. The commonest is Cuvier's Toucan, a large bird,
+distinguished from its nearest relatives by the feathers at the
+bottom of the back being of a saffron hue instead of red. It is
+found more or less numerously throughout the year, as it breeds
+in the neighbourhood, laying its eggs in holes of trees, at a
+great height from the ground. During most months of the year, it
+is met with in single individuals or small flocks, and the birds
+are then very wary. Sometimes one of these little bands of four
+or five is seen perched, for hours together, among the topmost
+branches of high trees, giving vent to their remarkably loud,
+shrill, yelping cries, one bird, mounted higher than the rest,
+acting, apparently, as leader of the inharmonious chorus; but two
+of them are often heard yelping alternately, and in different
+notes. These cries have a vague resemblance to the syllables
+Tocano, Tocano, and hence, the Indian name of this genus of
+birds. At these times it is difficult to get a shot at Toucans,
+for their senses are so sharpened that they descry the hunter
+before he gets near the tree on which they are perched, although
+he may be half-concealed among the underwood, 150 feet below
+them. They stretch their necks downwards to look beneath, and on
+espying the least movement among the foliage, fly off to the more
+inaccessible parts of the forest. Solitary Toucans are sometimes
+met with at the same season, hopping silently up and down the
+larger boughs, and peering into crevices of the tree-trunks. They
+moult in the months from March to June, some individuals earlier,
+others later. This season of enforced quiet being passed, they
+make their appearance suddenly in the dry forest, near Ega, in
+large flocks, probably assemblages of birds gathered together
+from the neighbouring Ygapo forests, which are then flooded and
+cold. The birds have now become exceedingly tame, and the troops
+travel with heavy laborious flight from bough to bough among the
+lower trees. They thus become an easy prey to hunters, and
+everyone at Ega who can get a gun of any sort and a few charges
+of powder and shot, or a blow-pipe, goes daily to the woods to
+kill a few brace for dinner; for, as already observed, the people
+of Ega live almost exclusively on stewed and roasted Toucans
+during the months of June and July, the birds being then very fat
+and the meat exceedingly sweet and tender.
+
+No one, on seeing a Toucan, can help asking what is the use of
+the enormous bill, which, in some species, attains a length of
+seven inches, and a width of more than two inches. A few remarks
+on this subject may be here introduced. The early naturalists,
+having seen only the bill of a Toucan, which was esteemed as a
+marvellous production by the virtuosi of the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries, concluded that the bird must have belonged
+to the aquatic and web-footed order, as this contains so many
+species of remarkable development of beak, adapted for seizing
+fish. Some travvellers also related fabulous stories of Toucans
+resorting to the banks of rivers to feed on fish, and these
+accounts also encouraged the erroneous views of the habits of the
+birds which for a long time prevailed. Toucans, however, are now
+well known to be eminently arboreal birds, and to belong to a
+group including trogons, parrots, and barbets [Capitoninae, G. R.
+Gray.]-- all of whose members are fruit-eaters. On the Amazons,
+where these birds are very common, no one pretends ever to have
+seen a Toucan walking on the ground in its natural state, much
+less acting the part of a swimming or wading bird. Professor Owen
+found, on dissection, that the gizzard in Toucans is not so well
+adapted for the trituration of food as it is in other vegetable
+feeders, and concluded, therefore, as Broderip had observed the
+habit of chewing the cud in a tame bird, that the great toothed
+bill was useful in holding and remasticating the food. The bill
+can scarcely be said to be a very good contrivance for seizing
+and crushing small birds, or taking them from their nests in
+crevices of trees, habits which have been imputed to Toucans by
+some writers. The hollow, cellular structure of the interior of
+the bill, its curved and clumsy shape, and the deficiency of
+force and precision when it is used to seize objects, suggest a
+want of fitness, if this be the function of the member. But fruit
+is undoubtedly the chief food of Toucans, and it is in reference
+to their mode of obtaining it that the use of their uncouth bills
+is to be sought. Flowers and fruit on the crowns of the large
+trees of South American forests grow, principally, towards the
+end of slender twigs, which will not bear any considerable
+weight; all animals, therefore, which feed upon fruit, or on
+insects contained in flowers, must, of course, have some means of
+reaching the ends of the stalks from a distance. Monkeys obtain
+their food by stretching forth their long arms and, in some
+instances, their tails, to bring the fruit near to their mouths.
+Hummingbirds are endowed with highly perfected organs of flight
+with corresponding muscular development by which they are enabled
+to sustain themselves on the wing before blossoms whilst rifling
+them of their contents. These strong-flying creatures, however,
+will, whenever they can get near enough, remain on their perches
+while probing neighbouring flowers for insects. Trogons have
+feeble wings, and a dull, inactive temperament. Their mode of
+obtaining food is to station themselves quietly on low branches
+in the gloomy shades of the forest, and eye the fruits on the
+surrounding trees-- darting off, as if with an effort, every time
+they wish to seize a mouthful, and returning to the same perch.
+Barbets (Capitoninae) seem to have no especial endowment, either
+of habits or structure, to enable them to seize fruits; and in
+this respect they are similar to the Toucans, if we leave the
+bill out of question, both tribes having heavy bodies, with
+feeble organs of flight, so that they are disabled from taking
+their food on the wing. The purpose of the enormous bill here
+becomes evident; it is to enable the Toucan to reach and devour
+fruit whil remaining seated, and thus to counterbalance the
+disadvantage which its heavy body and gluttonous appetite would
+otherwise give it in the competition with allied groups of birds.
+The relation between the extraordinarily lengthened bill of the
+Toucan and its mode of obtaining food, is therefore precisely
+similar to that between the long neck and lips of the Giraffe and
+the mode of browsing of the animal. The bill of the Toucan can
+scarcely be considered a very perfectly-formed instrument for the
+end to which it is applied, as here explained; but nature appears
+not to invent organs at once for the functions to which they are
+now adapted, but avails herself, here of one already-existing
+structure or instinct, there of another, according as they are
+handy when need for their further modification arises.
+
+One day, whil walking along the principal pathway in the woods
+near Ega, I saw one of these Toucans seated gravely on a low
+branch close to the road, and had no difficulty in seizing it
+with my hand. It turned out to be a runaway pet bird; no one,
+however, came to own it, although I kept it in my house for
+several months. The bird was in a half-starved and sickly
+condition, but after a few days of good living it recovered
+health and spirits, and became one of the most amusing pets
+imaginable. Many excellent accounts of the habits of tame Toucans
+have been published, and therefore, I need not describe them in
+detail, but I do not recollect to have seen any notice of their
+intelligence and confiding disposition under domestication, in
+which qualities my pet seemed to be almost equal to parrots. I
+allowed Tocano to go free about the house, contrary to my usual
+practice with pet animals, he never, however, mounted my working-
+table after a smart correction which he received the first time
+he did it. He used to sleep on the top of a box in a corner of
+the room, in the usual position of these birds, namely, with the
+long tail laid right over on the back, and the beak thrust
+underneath the wing. He ate of everything that we eat; beef,
+turtle, fish, farinha, fruit, and was a constant attendant at our
+table--a cloth spread on a mat. His appetite was most ravenous,
+and his powers of digestion quite wonderful. He got to know the
+meal hours to a nicety, and we found it very difficult, after the
+first week or two, to keep him away from the dining-room, where
+he had become very impudent and troublesome. We tried to shut him
+out by enclosing him in the backyard, which was separated by a
+high fence from the street on which our front door opened, but he
+used to climb the fence and hop round by a long circuit to the
+dining-room, making his appearance with the greatest punctuality
+as the meal was placed on the table. He acquired the habit,
+afterwards, of rambling about the street near our house, and one
+day he was stolen, so we gave him up for lost. But two days
+afterwards he stepped through the open doorway at dinner hour,
+with his old gait, and sly magpie-like expression, having escaped
+from the house where he had been guarded by the person who had
+stolen him, and which was situated at the further end of the
+village.
+
+The Curl-crested Toucan (Pteroglossus Beauharnaisii).--Of the
+four smaller Toucans, or Arassaris, found near Ega, the
+Pteroglossus flavirostris is perhaps the most beautiful in
+colours, its breast being adorned with broad belts of rich
+crimson and black; but the most curious species, by far, is the
+Curl-crested, or Beauharnais Toucan. The feathers on the head of
+this singular bird are transformed into thin, horny plates, of a
+lustrous black colour, curled up at the ends, and resembling
+shavings of steel or ebony-wood: the curly crest being arranged
+on the crown in the form of a wig. Mr. Wallace and I first met
+with this species, on ascending the Amazons, at the mouth of the
+Solimoens; from that point it continues as a rather common bird
+on the terra firma, at least on the south side of the river as
+far as Fonte Boa, but I did not hear of its being found further
+to the west. It appears in large flocks in the forests near Ega
+in May and June, when it has completed its moult. I did not find
+these bands congregated at fruit-trees, but always wandering
+through the forest, hopping from branch to branch among the lower
+trees, and partly concealed among the foliage. None of the
+Arassaris, to my knowledge, make a yelping noise like that
+uttered by the larger Toucans (Ramphastos); the notes of the
+curl-crested species are very singular, resembling the croaking
+of frogs. I had an amusing adventure one day with these birds. I
+had shot one from a rather high tree in a dark glen in the
+forest, and entered the thicket where the bird had fallen to
+secure my booty. It was only wounded, and on my attempting to
+seize it, set up a loud scream. In an instant, as if by magic,
+the shady nook seemed alive with these birds, although there was
+certainly none visible when I entered the jungle. They descended
+towards me, hopping from bough to bough, some of them swinging on
+the loops and cables of woody lianas, and all croaking and
+fluttering their wings like so many furies. If I had had a long
+stick in my hand I could have knocked several of them over. After
+killing the wounded one, I began to prepare for obtaining more
+specimens and punishing the viragos for their boldness; but the
+screaming of their companion having ceased, they remounted the
+trees, and before I could reload, every one of them had
+disappeared.
+
+Insects.--Upwards of 7000 species of insects were found in the
+neighbourhood of Ega. I must confine myself in this place to a
+few remarks on the order Lepidoptera, and on the ants, several
+kinds of which, found chiefly on the Upper Amazons, exhibit the
+most extraordinary instincts.
+
+I found about 550 distinct species of butterflies at Ega. Those
+who know a little of Entomology will be able to form some idea of
+the riches of the place in this department, when I mention that
+eighteen species of true Papilio (the swallow-tail genus) were
+found within ten minutes' walk of my house. No fact could speak
+more plainly for the surpassing exuberance of the vegetation, the
+varied nature of the land, the perennial warmth and humidity of
+the climate. But no description can convey an adequate notion of
+the beauty and diversity in form and colour of this class of
+insects in the neighbourhood of Ega. I paid special attention to
+them, having found that this tribe was better adapted than almost
+any other group of animals or plants to furnish facts in
+illustration of the modifications which all species undergo in
+nature, under changed local conditions. This accidental
+superiority is owing partly to the simplicity and distinctness of
+the specific character of the insects, and partly to the facility
+with which very copious series of specimens can be collected and
+placed side by side for comparison. The distinctness of the
+specific characters is due probably to the fact that all the
+superficial signs of change in the organisation are exaggerated,
+and made unusually plain by affecting the framework, shape, and
+colour of the wings, which, as many anatomists believe, are
+magnified extensions of the skin around the breathing orifices of
+the thorax of the insects. These expansions are clothed with
+minute feathers or scales, coloured in regular patterns, which
+vary in accordance with the slightest change in the conditions to
+which the species are exposed. It may be said, therefore, that on
+these expanded membranes Nature writes, as on a tablet, the story
+of the modifications of species, so truly do all changes of the
+organisation register themselves thereon. Moreover, the same
+colour-patterns of the wings generally show, with great
+regularity, the degrees of blood-relationship of the species. As
+the laws of Nature must be the same for all beings, the
+conclusions furnished by this group of insects must be applicable
+to the whole organic world; therefore, the study of butterflies--
+creatures selected as the types of airiness and frivolity--
+instead of being despised, will some day be valued as one of the
+most important branches of Biological science.
+
+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. It is a cocoon, about the size of a sparrow's egg, woven by
+a caterpillar in broad meshes of either buff or rose-coloured
+silk, and is frequently seen in the narrow alleys of the forest,
+suspended from the extreme tip of an outstanding leaf by a strong
+silken thread five or six inches in length. It forms a very
+conspicuous object, hanging thus in mid-air. The glossy threads
+with which it is knitted are stout, and the structure is
+therefore, not liable to be torn by the beaks of insectivorous
+birds, while its pendulous position makes it doubly secure
+against their attacks, the apparatus giving way when they peck at
+it. There is a small orifice at each end of the egg-shaped bag,
+to admit of the escape of the moth when it changes from the
+little chrysalis which sleeps tranquilly in its airy cage. The
+moth is of a dull slatey colour, and belongs to the Lithosiide
+group of the silk-worm family (Bombycidae). When the caterpillar
+begins its work, it lets itself down from the tip of the leaf
+which it has chosen by spinning a thread of silk, the thickness
+of which it slowly increases as it descends. Having given the
+proper length to the cord, it proceeds to weave its elegant bag,
+placing itself in the centre and spinning rings of silk at
+regular intervals, connecting them at the same time by means of
+cross threads - so that the whole, when finished, forms a loose
+web, with quadrangular meshes of nearly equal size throughout.
+The task occupies about four days: when finished, the enclosed
+caterpillar becomes sluggish, its skin shrivels and cracks, and
+there then remains a motionless chrysalis of narrow shape,
+leaning against the sides of its silken cage.
+
+Many other kinds are found at Ega belonging to the same cocoon-
+weaving family, some of which differ from the rest in their
+caterpillars possessing the art of fabricating cases with
+fragments of wood or leaves, in which they live secure from all
+enemies while they are feeding and growing. I saw many species of
+these; some of them knitted together, with fine silken threads,
+small bits of stick, and so made tubes similar to those of
+caddice-worms; others (Saccophora) chose leaves for the same
+purpose, forming with them an elongated bag open at both ends,
+and having the inside lined with a thick web. The tubes of full-
+grown caterpillars of Saccophora are two inches in length, and it
+is at this stage of growth that I have generally seen them. They
+feed on the leaves of Melastoniae, and as in crawling, the weight
+of so large a dwelling would be greater than the contained
+caterpillar could sustain, the insect attaches the case by one or
+more threads to the leaves or twigs near which it is feeding.
+
+Foraging Ants--Many confused statements have been published in
+books of travel, and copied in Natural History works, regarding
+these ants, which appear to have been confounded with the Sauba,
+a sketch of whose habits has been given in the first chapter of
+this work. The Sauba is a vegetable feeder, and does not attack
+other animals; the accounts that have been published regarding
+carnivorous ants which hunt in vast armies, exciting terror
+wherever they go, apply only to the Ecitons, or foraging ants, a
+totally different group of this tribe of insects. The Ecitons are
+called Tauoca by the Indians, who are always on the look-out for
+their armies when they traverse the forest, so as to avoid being
+attacked. I met with ten distinct species of them, nearly all of
+which have a different system of marching; eight were new to
+science when I sent them to England. Some are found commonly in
+every part of the country, and one is peculiar to the open campos
+of Santarem; but, as nearly all the species are found together at
+Ega, where the forest swarmed with their armies, I have left an
+account of the habits of the whole genus for this part of my
+narrative. The Ecitons resemble, in their habits, the Driver ants
+of Tropical Africa; but they have no close relationship with them
+in structure, and indeed belong to quite another sub-group of the
+ant-tribe.
+
+Like many other ants, the communities of Ecitons are composed,
+besides males and females, of two classes of workers, a large-
+headed (worker-major) and a small-headed (worker-minor) class.
+the large-heads have, in some species, greatly lengthened jaws,
+the small-heads have jaws always of the ordinary shape; but the
+two classes are not sharply-defined in structure and function,
+except in two of the species. There is in all of them a little
+difference among the workers regarding the size of the head; but
+in some species this is not sufficient to cause a separation into
+classes, with division of labour; in others, the jaws are so
+monstrously lengthened in the worker-majors, that they are
+incapacitated from taking part in the labours which the worker-
+minors perform; and again, in others the difference is so great
+that the distinction of classes becomes complete, one acting the
+part of soldiers, and the other that of workers. The peculiar
+feature in the habits of the Eciton genus is their hunting for
+prey in regular bodies, or armies. It is this which chiefly
+distinguishes them from the genus of common red stinging-ants,
+several species of which inhabit England, whose habit is to
+search for food in the usual irregular manner. All the Ecitons
+hunt in large organised bodies; but almost every species has its
+own special manner of hunting.
+
+Eciton rapax.--One of the foragers, Eciton rapax, the giant of
+its genus, whose worker-majors are half-an-inch in length, hunts
+in single file through the forest. There is no division into
+classes amongst its workers, although the difference in size is
+very great, some being scarcely one-half the length of others.
+The head and jaws, however, are always of the same shape, and a
+gradation in size is presented from the largest to the smallest,
+so that all are able to take part in the common labours of the
+colony. The chief employment of the species seems to be
+plundering the nests of a large and defenseless ant of another
+genus (Formica), whose mangled bodies I have often seen in their
+possession as they were marching away. The armies of Eciton rapax
+are never very numerous.
+
+Eciton legionis.--Another species, E. legionis, agrees with E.
+rapax in having workers not rigidly divisible into two classes;
+but it is much smaller in size, not differing greatly, in this
+respect, from our common English red ant (Myrmica rubra), which
+it also resembles in colour. The Eciton legionis lives in open
+places, and was seen only on the sandy campos of Santarem.  The
+movement of its hosts were, therefore, much more easy to observe
+than those of all other kinds, which inhabit solely the densest
+thickets; its sting and bite, also, were less formidable than
+those of other species. The armies of E. legionis consist of many
+thousands of individuals, and move in rather broad columns. They
+are just as quick to break line, on being disturbed, and attack
+hurriedly and furiously any intruding object, as the other
+Ecitons. The species is not a common one, and I seldom had good
+opportunities to watch its habits. The first time I saw an army
+was one evening near sunset. The column consisted of two trains
+of ants, moving in opposite directions; one train empty-handed,
+the other laden with the mangled remains of insects, chiefly
+larvae and pupae of other ants. I had no difficulty in tracing
+the line to the spot from which they were conveying their booty:
+this was a low thicket; the Ecitons were moving rapidly about a
+heap of dead leaves; but as the short tropical twilight was
+deepening rapidly, and I had no wish to be benighted on the
+lonely campos, I deferred further examination until the next day.
+
+On the following morning, no trace of ants could be found near
+the place where I had seen them the preceding day, nor were there
+signs of insects of any description in the thicket, but at the
+distance of eighty or one hundred yards, I came upon the same
+army, engaged, evidently, on a razzia of a similar kind to that
+of the previous evening, but requiring other resources of their
+instinct, owing to the nature of the wound. They were eagerly
+occupied on the face of an inclined bank of light earth, in
+excavating mines, whence, from a depth of eight or ten inches,
+they were extracting the bodies of a bulky species of ant, of the
+genus Formica. It was curious to see them crowding around the
+orifices of the mines, some assisting their comrades to lift out
+the bodies of the Formicae, and others tearing them in pieces, on
+account of their weight being too great for a single Eciton-- a
+number of carriers seizing each a fragment, and carrying it off
+down the slope. On digging into the earth with a small trowel
+near the entrances of the mines, I found the nests of the
+Formicae, with grubs and cocoons, which the Ecitons were thus
+invading, at a depth of about eight inches from the surface. The
+eager freebooters rushed in as fast as I excavated, and seized
+the ants in my fingers as I picked them out, so that I had some
+difficulty in rescuing a few intact for specimens. In digging the
+numerous mines to get at their prey, the little Ecitons seemed to
+be divided into parties, one set excavating, and another set
+carrying away the grains of earth. When the shafts became rather
+deep, the mining parties had to climb up the sides each time they
+wished to cast out a pellet of earth; but their work was
+lightened for them by comrades, who stationed themselves at the
+mouth of the shaft, and relieved them of their burthens, carrying
+the particles, with an appearance of foresight which quite
+staggered me, a sufficient distance from the edge of the hole to
+prevent them from rolling in again. All the work seemed thus to
+be performed by intelligent cooperation among the host of eager
+little creatures, but still there was not a rigid division of
+labour, for some of them, whose proceedings I watched, acted at
+one time as carriers of pellets, and at another as miners, and
+all shortly afterwards assumed the office of conveyors of the
+spoil.
+
+In about two hours, all the nests of Formicae were rifled, though
+not completely, of their contents, and I turned towards the army
+of Ecitons, which were carrying away the mutilated remains. For
+some distance there were many separate lines of them moving along
+the slope of the bank-- but a short distance off, these all
+converged, and then formed one close and broad column, which
+continued for some sixty or seventy yards, and terminated at one
+of those large termitariums or hillocks of white ants which are
+constructed of cemented material as hard as stone. The broad and
+compact column of ants moved up the steep sides of the hillock in
+a continued stream; many, which had hitherto trotted along empty-
+handed, now turned to assist their comrades with their heavy
+loads, and the whole descended into a spacious gallery or mine,
+opening on the top of the termitarium. I did not try to reach the
+nest, which I supposed to lie at the bottom of the broad mine,
+and therefore, in the middle of the base of the stony hillock.
+
+Eciton drepanophora.--The commonest species of foraging ants are
+the Eciton hamata and E. drepanophora, two kinds which resemble
+each other so closely that it requires attentive examination to
+distinguish them; yet their armies never intermingle, although
+moving in the same woods and often crossing each other's tracks.
+The two classes of workers look, at first sight, quite distinct,
+on account of the wonderful amount of difference between the
+largest individuals of the one, and the smallest of the other.
+There are dwarfs not more than one-fifth of an inch in length,
+with small heads and jaws, and giants half an inch in length with
+monstrously enlarged head and jaws, all belonging to the same
+brood. There is not, however, a distinct separation of classes,
+individuals existing which connect together the two extremes.
+These Ecitons are seen in the pathways of the forest at all
+places on the banks of the Amazons, travelling in dense columns
+of countless thousands. One or other of them is sure to be met
+with in a woodland ramble, and it is to them, probably, that the
+stories we read in books on South America apply, of ants clearing
+houses of vermin, although I heard of no instance of their
+entering houses, their ravages being confined to the thickest
+parts of the forest.
+
+When the pedestrian falls in with a train of these ants, the
+first signal given him is a twittering and restless movement of
+small flocks of plain-coloured birds (ant-thrushes) in the
+jungle. If this be disregarded until he advances a few steps
+farther, he is sure to fall into trouble, and find himself
+suddenly attacked by numbers of the ferocious little creatures.
+They swarm up his legs with incredible rapidity, each one driving
+his pincer-like jaws into his skin, and with the purchase thus
+obtained, doubling in its tail, and stinging with all its might.
+There is no course left but to run for it; if he is accompanied
+by natives they will be sure to give the alarm, crying "Tauoca!"
+and scampering at full speed to the other end of the column of
+ants. The tenacious insects who have secured themselves to his
+legs then have to be plucked off one by one, a task which is
+generally not accomplished without pulling them in twain, and
+leaving heads and jaws sticking in the wounds.
+
+The errand of the vast ant-armies is plunder, as in the case of
+Eciton legionis; but from their moving always amongst dense
+thickets, their proceedings are not so easy to observe as in that
+species. Wherever they move, the whole animal world is set in
+commotion, and every creature tries to get out of their way. But
+it is especially the various tribes of wingless insects that have
+cause for fear, such as heavy-bodied spiders, ants of other
+species, maggots, caterpillars, larvae of cockroaches and so
+forth, all of which live under fallen leaves, or in decaying
+wood. The Ecitons do not mount very high on trees, and therefore
+the nestlings of birds are not much incommoded by them. The mode
+of operation of these armies, which I ascertained only after
+long-continued observation, is as follows: the main column, from
+four to six deep, moves forward in a given direction, clearing
+the ground of all animal matter dead or alive, and throwing off
+here and there a thinner column to forage for a short time on the
+flanks of the main army, and re-enter it again after their task
+is accomplished. If some very rich place be encountered anywhere
+near the line of march, for example, a mass of rotten wood
+abounding in insect larvae, a delay takes place, and a very
+strong force of ants is concentrated upon it. The excited
+creatures search every cranny and tear in pieces all the large
+grubs they drag to light. It is curious to see them attack wasps'
+nests, which are sometimes built on low shrubs. They gnaw away
+the papery covering to get at the larvae, pupae, and newly-
+hatched wasps, and cut everything to tatters, regardless of the
+infuriated owners which are flying about them. In bearing off
+their spoil in fragments, the pieces are apportioned to the
+carriers with some degree of regard to fairness of load: the
+dwarfs taking the smallest pieces, and the strongest fellows with
+small heads the heaviest portions. Sometimes two ants join
+together in carrying one piece, but the worker-majors, with their
+unwieldy and distorted jaws, are incapacitated from taking any
+part in the labour. The armies never march far on a beaten path,
+but seem to prefer the entangled thickets where it is seldom
+possible to follow them. I have traced an army sometimes for half
+a mile or more, but was never able to find one that had finished
+its day's course and returned to its hive. Indeed, I never met
+with a hive; whenever the Ecitons were seen, they were always on
+the march.
+
+I thought one day, at Villa Nova, that I had come upon a
+migratory horde of this indefatigable ant. The place was a tract
+of open ground near the river side, just outside the edge of the
+forest, and surrounded by rocks and shrubbery. A dense column of
+Ecitons was seen extending from the rocks on one side of the
+little haven, traversing the open space, and ascending the
+opposite declivity. The length of the procession was from sixty
+to seventy yards, and yet neither van nor rear was visible. All
+were moving in one and the same direction, except a few
+individuals on the outside of the column, which were running
+rearward, trotting along for a short distance, and then turning
+again to follow the same course as the main body. But these
+rearward movements were going on continually from one end to the
+other of the line, and there was every appearance of there being
+a means of keeping up a common understanding amongst all the
+members of the army, for the retrograding ants stopped very often
+for a moment to touch one or other of their onward-moving
+comrades with their antennae-- a proceeding which has been
+noticed in other ants, and supposed to be their mode of conveying
+intelligence. When I interfered with the column or abstracted an
+individual from it, news of the disturbance was very quickly
+communicated to a distance of several yards towards the rear, and
+the column at that point commenced retreating. All the small-
+headed workers carried in their jaws a little cluster of white
+maggots, which I thought at the time, might be young larvae of
+their own colony, but afterwards found reason to conclude were
+the grubs of some other species whose nests they had been
+plundering, the procession being most likely not a migration, but
+a column on a marauding expedition.
+
+The position of the large-headed individuals in the marching
+column was rather curious. There was one of these extraordinary
+fellows to about a score of the smaller class. None of them
+carried anything in their mouths, but all trotted along empty-
+handed and outside the column, at pretty regular intervals from
+each other, like subaltern officers in a marching regiment of
+soldiers. It was easy to be tolerably exact in this observation,
+for their shining white heads made them very conspicuous amongst
+the rest, bobbing up and down as the column passed over the
+inequalities of the road. I did not see them change their
+position, or take any notice of their small-headed comrades
+marching in the column, and when I disturbed the line, they did
+not prance forth or show fight so eagerly as the others. These
+large-headed members of the community have been considered by
+some authors as a soldier class, like the similarly-armed caste
+in termites -- but I found no proof of this, at least in the
+present species, as they always seemed to be rather less
+pugnacious than the worker-minors, and their distorted jaws
+disabled them from fastening on a plane surface like the skin of
+an attacking animal. I am inclined, however, to think that they
+may act, in a less direct way, as protectors of the community,
+namely, as indigestible morsels to the flocks of ant-thrushes
+which follow the marching columns of these Ecitons, and are the
+most formidable enemies of the species. It is possible that the
+hooked and twisted jaws of the large-headed class may be
+effective weapons of annoyance when in the gizzards or stomachs
+of these birds, but I unfortunately omitted to ascertain whether
+this was really the fact.
+
+The life of these Ecitons is not all work, for I frequently saw
+them very leisurely employed in a way that looked like
+recreation. When this happened, the place was always a sunny nook
+in the forest. The main column of the army and the branch
+columns, at these times, were in their ordinary relative
+positions; but, instead of pressing forward eagerly, and
+plundering right and left, they seemed to have been all smitten
+with a sudden fit of laziness. Some were walking slowly about,
+others were brushing their antennae with their forefeet; but the
+drollest sight was their cleaning one another. Here and there an
+ant was seen stretching forth first one leg and then another, to
+be brushed or washed by one or more of its comrades, who
+performed the task by passing the limb between the jaws and the
+tongue,and finishing by giving the antennae a friendly wipe. It
+was a curious spectacle, and one well calculated to increase
+one's amazement at the similarity between the instinctive actions
+of ants and the acts of rational beings, a similarity which must
+have been brought about by two different processes of development
+of the primary qualities of mind. The actions of these ants
+looked like simple indulgence in idle amusement. Have these
+little creatures, then, an excess of energy beyond  what is
+required for labours absolutely necessary to the welfare of their
+species, and do they thus expend it in mere sportiveness, like
+young lambs or kittens, or in idle whims like rational beings? It
+is probable that these hours of relaxation and cleaning may be
+indispensable to the effective performance of their harder
+labours, but while looking at them, the conclusion that the ants
+were engaged merely in play was irresistible.
+
+Eciton praedator.--This is a small dark-reddish species, very
+similar to the common red stinging-ant of England. It differs
+from all other Ecitons in its habit of hunting, not in columns,
+but in dense phalanxes consisting of myriads of individuals, and
+was first met with at Ega, where it is very common. Nothing in
+insect movements is more striking than the rapid march of these
+large and compact bodies. Wherever they pass all the rest of the
+animal world is thrown into a state of alarm. They stream along
+the ground and climb to the summits of all the lower trees,
+searching every leaf to its apex, and whenever they encounter a
+mass of decaying vegetable matter, where booty is plentiful, they
+concentrate, like other Ecitons, all their forces upon it, the
+dense phalanx of shining and quickly-moving bodies, as it spreads
+over the surface, looking like a flood of dark-red liquid. They
+soon penetrate every part of the confused heap, and then,
+gathering together again in marching order, onward they move. All
+soft-bodied and inactive insects fall an easy prey to them, and,
+like other Ecitons, they tear their victims in pieces for
+facility of carriage. A phalanx of this species, when passing
+over a tract of smooth ground, occupies a space of from four to
+six square yards; on examining the ants closely they are seen to
+move, not altogether in one straightforward direction, but in
+variously spreading contiguous columns, now separating a little
+from the general mass, now re-uniting with it. The margins of the
+phalanx spread out at times like a cloud of skirmishers from the
+flanks of an army. I was never able to find the hive of this
+species.
+
+Blind Ecitons.--I will now give a short account of the blind
+species of Eciton. None of the foregoing kinds have eyes of the
+facetted or compound structure such as are usual in insects, and
+which ordinary ants (Formica) are furnished with, but all are
+provided with organs of vision composed each of a single lens.
+Connecting them with the utterly blind species of the genus, is a
+very stout-limbed Eciton, the E. crassicornis, whose eyes are
+sunk in rather deep sockets. This ant goes on foraging
+expeditions like the rest of its tribe, and attacks even the
+nests of other stinging species (Myrmica), but it avoids the
+light, moving always in concealment under leaves and fallen
+branches. When its columns have to cross a cleared space, the
+ants construct a temporary covered way with granules of earth,
+arched over, and holding together mechanically; under this, the
+procession passes in secret, the indefatigable creatures
+repairing their arcade as fast as breaches are made in it.
+
+Next in order comes the Eciton vastator, which has no eyes,
+although the collapsed sockets are plainly visible; and, lastly,
+the Eciton erratica, in which both sockets and eyes have
+disappeared, leaving only a faint ring to mark the place where
+they are usually situated. The armies of E. vastator and E.
+erratica move, as far as I could learn, wholly under covered
+roads-- the ants constructing them gradually but rapidly as they
+advance. The column of foragers pushes forward step by step under
+the protection of these covered passages, through the thickets,
+and upon reaching a rotting log, or other promising hunting-
+ground, pour into the crevices in search of booty. I have traced
+their arcades, occasionally, for a distance of one or two hundred
+yards; the grains of earth are taken from the soil over which the
+column is passing, and are fitted together without cement. It is
+this last-mentioned feature that distinguishes them from the
+similar covered roads made by Termites, who use their glutinous
+saliva to cement the grains together. The blind Ecitons, working
+in numbers, build up simultaneously the sides of their convex
+arcades, and contrive, in a surprising manner, to approximate
+them and fit in the key-stones without letting the loose
+uncemented structure fall to pieces. There was a very clear
+division of labour between the two classes of neuters in these
+blind species. The large-headed class, although not possessing
+monstrously-lengthened jaws like the worker-majors in E. hamata
+and E. drepanophora, are rigidly defined in structure from the
+small-headed class, and act as soldiers, defending the working
+community (like soldier Termites) against all comers. Whenever I
+made a breach in one of their covered ways, all the ants
+underneath were set in commotion, but the worker-minors remained
+behind to repair the damage, while the large-heads issued forth
+in a most menacing manner, rearing their heads and snapping their
+jaws with an expression of the fiercest rage and defiance.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA
+
+Steamboat Travelling on the Amazons--Passengers--Tunantins--
+Caishana Indians--The Jutahi--The Sapo--Maraua Indians--Fonte
+Boa--Journey to St. Paulo--Tucuna Indians--Illness--Descent to
+Para--Changes at Para--Departure for England
+
+November 7th, 1856-Embarked on the Upper Amazons steamer, the
+Tabatinga, for an excursion to Tunantins, a small semi-Indian
+settlement, lying 240 miles beyond Ega. The Tabatinga is an iron
+boat of about 170 tons burthen, built at Rio de Janeiro, and
+fitted with engines of fifty horse-power. The saloon, with berths
+on each side for twenty passengers, is above deck, and open at
+both ends to admit a free current of air. The captain or
+"commandante," was a lieutenant in the Brazilian navy, a man of
+polished, sailor-like address, and a rigid disciplinarian-- his
+name, Senor Nunes Mello Cardozo. I was obliged, as usual, to take
+with me a stock of all articles of food, except meat and fish,
+for the time I intended to be absent (three months); and the
+luggage, including hammocks, cooking utensils, crockery, and so
+forth, formed fifteen large packages. One bundle consisted of a
+mosquito tent, an article I had not yet had occasion to use on
+the river, but which was indispensable in all excursions beyond
+Ega, every person, man, woman and child, requiring one, as
+without it existence would be scarcely possible. My tent was
+about eight feet long and five feet broad, and was made of coarse
+calico in an oblong shape, with sleeves at each end through which
+to pass the cords of a hammock. Under this shelter, which is
+fixed up every evening before sundown, one can read and write, or
+swing in one's hammock during the long hours which intervene
+before bedtime, and feel one's sense of comfort increased by
+having cheated the thirsty swarms of mosquitoes which fill the
+chamber.
+
+We were four days on the road. The pilot, a Mameluco of Ega, whom
+I knew very well, exhibited a knowledge of the river and powers
+of endurance which were quite remarkable. He stood all this time
+at his post, with the exception of three or four hours in the
+middle of each day, when he was relieved by a young man who
+served as apprentice, and he knew the breadth and windings of the
+channel, and the extent of all the yearly-shifting shoals from
+the Rio Negro to Loreto, a distance of more than a thousand
+miles. There was no slackening of speed at night, except during
+the brief but violent storms which occasionally broke upon us,
+and then the engines were stopped by the command of Lieutenant
+Nunes, sometimes against the wish of the pilot. The nights were
+often so dark that we passengers on the poop deck could not
+discern the hardy fellow on the bridge, but the steamer drove on
+at full speed, men being stationed on the look-out at the prow,
+to watch for floating logs, and one man placed to pass orders to
+the helmsman; the keel scraped against a sand-bank only once
+during the passage.
+
+The passengers were chiefly Peruvians, mostly thin, anxious,
+Yankee-looking men, who were returning home to the cities of
+Moyobamba and Chachapoyas, on the Andes, after a trading trip to
+the Brazilian towns on the Atlantic seaboard, whither they had
+gone six months previously, with cargoes of Panama hats to
+exchange for European wares. These hats are made of the young
+leaflets of a palm tree, by the Indians and half-caste people who
+inhabit the eastern parts of Peru. They form almost the only
+article of export from Peru by way of the Amazons, but the money
+value is very great compared with the bulk of the goods, as the
+hats are generally of very fine quality, and cost from twelve
+shillings to six pounds sterling each; some traders bring down
+two or three thousand pounds' worth, folded into small compass in
+their trunks. The return cargoes consist of hardware, crockery,
+glass, and other bulky or heavy goods, but not of cloth, which,
+being of light weight, can be carried across the Andes from the
+ports on the Pacific to the eastern parts of Peru. All kinds of
+European cloth can be obtained at a much cheaper rate by this
+route than by the more direct way of the Amazons, the import
+duties of Peru being, as I was told, lower than those of Brazil,
+and the difference not being counter-balanced by increased
+expense of transit, on account of weight, over the passes of the
+Andes.
+
+There was a great lack of amusement on board. The table was very
+well served, professed cooks being employed in these Amazonian
+steamers, and fresh meat insured by keeping on deck a supply of
+live bullocks and fowls, which are purchased whenever there is an
+opportunity on the road. The river scenery was similar to that
+already described as presented between the Rio Negro and Ega:
+long reaches of similar aspect, with two long, low lines of
+forest, varied sometimes with cliffs of red clay, appearing one
+after the other. an horizon of water and sky on some days
+limiting the view both up stream and down. We travelled, however,
+always near the bank, and, for my part, I was never weary of
+admiring the picturesque grouping and variety of trees, and the
+varied mantles of creeping plants which clothed the green wall of
+forest every step of the way. With the exception of a small
+village called Fonte Boa, retired from the main river, where we
+stopped to take in firewood, and which I shall have to speak of
+presently, we saw no human habitation the whole of the distance.
+The mornings were delightfully cool; coffee was served at
+sunrise, and a bountiful breakfast at ten o'clock; after that
+hour the heat rapidly increased until it became almost
+unbearable. How the engine-drivers and firemen stood it without
+exhaustion I cannot tell; it diminished after four o'clock in the
+afternoon, about which time dinner-bell rung, and the evenings
+were always pleasant.
+
+November 11th to 30th.--The Tunantins is a sluggish black-water
+stream, about sixty miles in length, and towards its mouth from
+100 to 200 yards in breadth. The vegetation on its banks has a
+similar aspect to that of the Rio Negro, the trees having small
+foliage of a sombre hue, and the dark piles of greenery resting
+on the surface of the inky water. The village is situated on the
+left bank, about a mile from the mouth of the river, and contains
+twenty habitations, nearly all of which are merely hovels, built
+of lath-work and mud. The short streets, after rain, are almost
+impassable on account of the many puddles, and are choked up with
+weeds--leguminous shrubs, and scarlet-flowered asclepias. The
+atmosphere in such a place, hedged in as it is by the lofty
+forest, and surrounded by swamps, is always close, warm, and
+reeking; and the hum and chirp of insects and birds cause a
+continual din. The small patch of weedy ground around the village
+swarms with plovers, sandpipers, striped herons, and scissor-
+tailed fly-catchers; and alligators are always seen floating
+lazily on the surface of the river in front of the houses.
+
+On landing, I presented myself to Senor Paulo Bitancourt, a good-
+natured half-caste, director of Indians of the neighbouring river
+Issa, who quickly ordered a small house to be cleared for me.
+This exhilarating abode contained only one room, the walls of
+which were disfigured by large and ugly patches of mud, the work
+of white ants. The floor was the bare earth, dirty and damp, the
+wretched chamber was darkened by a sheet of calico being
+stretched over the windows, a plan adopted here to keep out the
+Pium-flies, which float about in all shady places like thin
+clouds of smoke, rendering all repose impossible in the daytime
+wherever they can effect an entrance. My baggage was soon landed,
+and before the steamer departed I had taken gun, insect-net, and
+game-bag, to make a preliminary exploration of my new locality.
+
+I remained here nineteen days, and, considering the shortness of
+the time, made a very good collection of monkeys, birds, and
+insects. A considerable number of the species (especially of
+insects) were different from those of the four other stations,
+which I examined on the south side of the Solimoens, and as many
+of these were "representative forms" [Species or races which take
+the place of other allied species or races.] of others found on
+the opposite banks of the broad river, I concluded that there
+could have been no land connection between the two shores during,
+at least, the recent geological period. This conclusion is
+confirmed by the case of the Uakari monkeys, described in the
+last chapter. All these strongly modified local races of insects
+confined to one side of the Solimoens (like the Uakaris), are
+such as have not been able to cross a wide treeless space such as
+a river. The acquisition which pleased me most, in this place,
+was a new species of butterfly (a Catagramma), which has since
+been named C. excelsior, owing to its surpassing in size and
+beauty all the previously-known species of its singularly
+beautiful genus. The upper surface of the wings is of the richest
+blue, varying in shade with the play of light, and on each side
+is a broad curved stripe of an orange colour. It is a bold flyer,
+and is not confined, as I afterwards found, to, the northern side
+of the river, for I once saw a specimen amidst a number of
+richly-coloured butterflies, flying about the deck of the steamer
+when we were anchored off Fonte Boa, 200 miles, lower down the
+river.
+
+With the exception of three Mameluco families and a stray
+Portuguese trader, all the inhabitants of the village and
+neighbourhood are semi-civilised Indians of the Shumana and Passe
+tribes. The forests of the Tunantins, however, are inhabited by a
+tribe of wild Indians called Caishanas, who resemble much, in
+their social condition and manners, the debased Muras of the
+Lower Amazons, and have, like them, shown no aptitude for
+civilised life in any shape. Their huts commence at the distance
+of an hour's walk from the village, along gloomy and narrow
+forest paths. My first and only visit to a Caishana dwelling was
+accidental. One day, having extended my walk further than usual,
+and followed one of the forest-roads until it became a mere
+picada, or hunters' track, I came suddenly upon a well-trodden
+pathway, bordered on each side with Lycopodia of the most elegant
+shapes, the tips of the fronds stretching almost like tendrils
+down the little earthy slopes which formed the edge of the path.
+The road, though smooth, was narrow and dark, and in many places
+blocked up by trunks of felled trees, which had been apparently
+thrown across by the timid Indians on purpose to obstruct the way
+to their habitations. Half-a-mile of this shady road brought me
+to a small open space on the banks of a brook or creek, on the
+skirts of which stood a conical hut with a very low doorway.
+There was also an open shed, with stages made of split palm-
+stems, and a number of large wooden troughs. Two or three dark-
+skinned children, with a man and woman, were in the shed; but,
+immediately on espying me, all of them ran to the hut, bolting
+through the little doorway like so many wild animals scared into
+their burrows. A few moments after, the man put his head out with
+a look of great distrust; but, on my making the most friendly
+gestures I could think of, he came forth with the children. They
+were all smeared with black mud and paint; the only clothing of
+the elders was a kind of apron made of the inner bark of the
+sapucaya-tree, and the savage aspect of the man was heightened by
+his hair hanging over his forehead to the eyes. I stayed about
+two hours in the neighbourhood, the children gaining sufficient
+confidence to come and help me to search for insects. The only
+weapon used by the Caishanas is the blow-gun, and this is
+employed only in shooting animals for food. They are not a
+warlike people, like most of the neighbouring tribes on the
+Japura and Issa.
+
+The whole tribe of Caishanas does not exceed 400 souls in number.
+None of them are baptised Indians, and they do not dwell in
+villages, like the more advanced sections of the Tupi stock; but
+each family has its own solitary hut. They are quite harmless, do
+not practise tattooing, or perforate their ears and noses in any
+way. Their social condition is of a low type, very little
+removed, indeed, from that of the brutes living in the same
+forests. They do not appear to obey any common chief, and I could
+not make out that they had Pajes, or medicine-men, those rudest
+beginnings of a priest class. Symbolical or masked dances, and
+ceremonies in honour of the Jurupari, or demon, customs which
+prevail among all the surrounding tribes, are unknown to the
+Caishanas. There is among them a trace of festival keeping; but
+the only ceremony used is the drinking of cashiri beer, and
+fermented liquors made of Indian-corn, bananas, and so forth.
+These affairs, however, are conducted in a degenerate style, for
+they do not drink to intoxication, or sustain the orgies for
+several days and nights in succession, like the Juris Passes, and
+Tucunas. The men play a musical instrument, made of pieces of
+stem of the arrow-grass cut in different lengths and arranged
+like Pan-pipes. With this they wile away whole hours, lolling in
+ragged, bast hammocks slung in their dark, smoky huts. The
+Tunantins people say that the Caishanas have persecuted the wild
+animals and birds to such an extent near their settlements that
+there is now quite a scarcity of animal food. If they kill a
+Toucan, it is considered an important event, and the bird is made
+to serve as a meal for a score or more persons. They boil the
+meat in earthenware kettles filled with Tucupi sauce, and eat it
+with beiju, or mandioca-cakes. The women are not allowed to taste
+of the meat, but forced to content themselves with sopping pieces
+of cake in the liquor.
+
+November 30th--I left Tunantins in a trading schooner of eighty
+tons burthen belonging to Senor Batalha, a tradesman of Ega,
+which had been out all the summer collecting produce, and was
+commanded by a friend of mine, a young Paraense, named Francisco
+Raiol. We arrived, on the 3rd of December, at the mouth of the
+Jutahi, a considerable stream about half a mile broad, and
+flowing with a very sluggish current. This is one of the series
+of six rivers, from 400 to 1000 miles in length, which flow from
+the southwest through unknown lands lying between Bolivia and the
+Upper Amazons, and enter this latter river between the Madeira
+and the Ucayali. We remained at anchor four days within the mouth
+of the Sapo, a small tributary of the Jutahi flowing from the
+southeast; Senor Raiol having to send an igarite to the Cupatana,
+a large tributary some few miles farther up the river, to fetch a
+cargo of salt-fish. During this time we made several excursions
+in the montaria to various places in the neighbourhood. Our
+longest trip was to some Indian houses, a distance of fifteen or
+eighteen miles up the Sapo, a journey made with one Indian
+paddler, and occupying a whole day. The stream is not more than
+forty or fifty yards broad; its waters are darker in colour than
+those of the Jutahi, and flow, as in all these small rivers,
+partly under shade between two lofty walls of forest. We passed,
+in ascending, seven habitations, most of them hidden in the
+luxuriant foliage of the banks; their sites being known only by
+small openings in the compact wall of forest, and the presence of
+a canoe or two tied up in little shady ports. The inhabitants are
+chiefly Indians of the Maraua tribe, whose original territory
+comprised all the small by-streams lying between the Jutahi and
+the Jurua, near the mouths of both these great tributaries. They
+live in separate families or small hordes, have no common chief,
+and are considered as a tribe little disposed to adopt civilised
+customs or be friendly with the whites. One of the houses
+belonged to a Juri family, and we saw the owner, an erect, noble-
+looking old fellow, tattooed, as customary with his tribe, in a
+large patch over the middle of his face, fishing under the shade
+of a colossal tree in his port with hook and line. He saluted us
+in the usual grave and courteous manner of the better sort of
+Indians as we passed by.
+
+We reached the last house, or rather two houses, about ten
+o'clock, and spent several hours there during the great heat of
+midday. The houses, which stood. on a high clayey bank, were of
+quadrangular shape, partly open like sheds, and partly enclosed
+with rude mud-walls, forming one or more chambers. The
+inhabitants, a few families of Marauas, comprising about thirty
+persons, received us in a frank, smiling manner-- a reception
+which may have been due to Senor Raiol being an old acquaintance
+and somewhat of a favourite. None of them were tattooed; but the
+men had great holes pierced in their earlobes, in which they
+insert plugs of wood, and their lips were drilled with smaller
+holes. One of the younger men, a fine strapping fellow nearly six
+feet high, with a large aquiline nose, who seemed to wish to be
+particularly friendly with me, showed me the use of these lip-
+holes, by fixing a number of little white sticks in them, and
+then twisting his mouth about and going through a pantomime to
+represent defiance in the presence of an enemy. Nearly all the
+people were disfigured by dark blotches on the skin, the effect
+of a cutaneous disease very prevalent in this part of the
+country. The face of one old man was completely blackened, and
+looked as though it had been smeared with black lead, the
+blotches having coalesced to form one large patch. Others were
+simply mottled; the black spots were hard and rough, but not
+scaly, and were margined with rings of a colour paler than the
+natural hue of the skin.
+
+I had seen many Indians and a few half-castes at Tunantins, and
+afterwards saw others at Fonte Boa, blotched in the same way. The
+disease would seem to be contagious, for I was told that a
+Portuguese trader became disfigured with it after cohabiting some
+years with an Indian woman. It is curious that, although
+prevalent in many places on the Solimoens, no resident of Ega
+exhibited signs of the disease: the early explorers of the
+country, on noticing spotted skins to be very frequent in certain
+localities, thought they were peculiar to a few tribes of
+Indians. The younger children in these houses on the Sapo were
+free from spots; but two or three of them, about ten years of
+age, showed signs of their commencement in rounded yellowish
+patches on the skin, and these appeared languid and sickly,
+although the blotched adults seemed not to be affected in their
+general health. A middle-aged half-caste at Fonte Boa told me he
+had cured himself of the disorder by strong doses of
+sarsaparilla; the black patches had caused the hair of his beard
+and eyebrows to fall off, but it had grown again since his cure.
+
+When my tall friend saw me, after dinner, collecting insects
+along the paths near the houses, he approached, and, taking me by
+the arm, led me to a mandioca shed, making signs, as he could
+speak very little Tupi, that he had something to show. I was not
+a little surprised when, having mounted the girao, or stage of
+split palm-stems, and taken down an object transfixed to a post,
+he exhibited, with an air of great mystery, a large chrysalis
+suspended from a leaf, which he placed carefully in my hands,
+saying, "Pana-pana curi " (Tupi: butterfly by-and-by). Thus I
+found that the metamorphoses of insects were known to these
+savages; but being unable to talk with my new friend, I could not
+ascertain what ideas such a phenomenon had given rise to in his
+mind. The good fellow did not leave my side during the remainder
+of our stay; but, thinking apparently that I had come here for
+information, he put himself to considerable trouble to give me
+all he could. He made a quantity of Hypadu or Coca powder that I
+might see the process; going about the task with much action and
+ceremony, as though he were a conjuror performing some wonderful
+trick.
+
+We left these friendly people about four o'clock in the
+afternoon, and in descending the umbrageous river, stopped, about
+half-way down, at another house, built in one of the most
+charming situations I had yet seen in this country. A clean,
+narrow, sandy pathway led from the shady port to the house,
+through a tract of forest of indescribable luxuriance. The
+buildings stood on an eminence in the middle of a level cleared
+space-- the firm sand soil, smooth as a floor, forming a broad
+terrace around them. The owner was a semi-civilised Indian, named
+Manoel; a dull, taciturn fellow, who, together with his wife and
+children, seemed by no means pleased at being intruded on in
+their solitude. The family must have been very industrious, for
+the plantations were very extensive, and included a little of
+almost all kinds of cultivated tropical productions: fruit trees,
+vegetables, and even flowers for ornament. The silent old man had
+surely a fine appreciation of the beauties of nature, for the
+site he had chosen commanded a view of surprising magnificence
+over the summits of the forest; and, to give finish to the
+prospect, he had planted a large quantity of banana trees in the
+foreground, thus concealing the charred and dead stumps which
+would otherwise have marred the effect of the rolling sea of
+greenery. The only information I could get out of Manoel was,
+that large flocks of richly-coloured birds came down in the fruit
+season and despoiled his trees. The sun set over the treetops
+before we left this little Eden, and the remainder of our journey
+was made slowly and pleasantly, under the chequered shades of the
+river banks, by the light of the moon.
+
+December 7th--Arrived at Fonte Boa; a wretched, muddy, and
+dilapidated village situated two or three miles within the mouth
+of a narrow by-stream called the Cayhiar-hy, which runs almost as
+straight as an artificial canal between the village and the main
+Amazons. The character of the vegetation and soil here was
+different from that of all other localities I had hitherto
+examined; I had planned, therefore, to devote six weeks to the
+place. Having written beforehand to one of the principal
+inhabitants, Senor Venancio, a house was ready for me on landing.
+The only recommendation of the dwelling was its coolness. It was,
+in fact, rather damp; the plastered walls bore a crop of green
+mold, and a slimy moisture oozed through the black, dirty floor;
+the rooms were large, but lighted by miserable little holes in
+place of windows. The village is built on a clayey plateau, and
+the ruinous houses are arranged round a large square, which is so
+choked up with tangled bushes that it is quite impassable, the
+lazy inhabitants having allowed the fine open space to relapse
+into jungle. The stiff clayey eminence is worn into deep gullies
+which slope towards the river, and the ascent from the port in
+rainy weather is so slippery that one is obliged to crawl up to
+the streets on all fours. A large tract of round behind the place
+is clear of forest, but this, as well as the streets and gardens,
+is covered with a dense, tough carpet of shrubs, having the same
+wiry nature as our common heath. Beneath its deceitful covering
+the soil is always moist and soft, and in the wet season the
+whole is converted into a glutinous mud swamp. There is a very
+pretty church in one corner of the square, but in the rainy
+months of the year (nine out of twelve) the place of worship is
+almost inaccessible to the inhabitants on account of the mud, the
+only means of getting to it being by hugging closely the walls
+and palings, and so advancing sideways step by step.
+
+I remained in this delectable place until the 25th of January,
+1857. Fonte Boa, in addition to its other amenities, has the
+reputation throughout the country of being the headquarters of
+mosquitoes, and it fully deserves the title. They are more
+annoying in the houses by day than by night, for they swarm in
+the dark and damp rooms, keeping, in the daytime, near the floor,
+and settling by half-dozens together on the legs. At night the
+calico tent is a sufficient protection; but this is obliged to be
+folded every morning, and in letting it down before sunset, great
+care is required to prevent even one or two of the tormentors
+from stealing in beneath, their insatiable thirst for blood, and
+pungent sting, making these enough to spoil all comfort. In the
+forest the plague is much worse; but the forest-mosquito belongs
+to a different species from that of the town, being much larger,
+and having transparent wings; it is a little cloud that one
+carries about one's person every step on a woodland ramble, and
+their hum is so loud that it prevents one hearing well the notes
+of birds. The town-mosquito has opaque speckled wings, a less
+severe sting, and a silent way of going to work; the inhabitants
+ought to be thankful the big, noisy fellows never come out of the
+forest. In compensation for the abundance of mosquitoes, Fonte
+Boa has no piums; there was, therefore, some comfort outside
+one's door in the daytime; the comfort, however, was lessened by
+their being scarcely any room in front of the house to sit down
+or walk about, for, on our side of the square, the causeway was
+only two feet broad, and to step over the boundary, formed by a
+line of slippery stems of palms, was to sink up to the knees in a
+sticky swamp.
+
+Notwithstanding damp and mosquitoes, I had capital health, and
+enjoyed myself much at Fonte Boa; swampy and weedy places being
+generally more healthy than dry ones in the Amazons, probably
+owing to the absence of great radiation of heat from the ground.
+The forest was extremely rich and picturesque, although the soil
+was everywhere clayey and cold, and broad pathways threaded it
+for many a mile over hill and dale. In every hollow flowed a
+sparkling brook, with perennial and crystal waters. The margins
+of these streams were paradises of leafiness and verdure; the
+most striking feature being the variety of ferns, with immense
+leaves, some terrestrial, others climbing over trees, and two, at
+least, arborescent. I saw here some of the largest trees I had
+yet seen; there was one especially, a cedar, whose colossal trunk
+towered up for more than a hundred feet, straight as an arrow; I
+never saw its crown, which was lost to view, from below, beyond
+the crowd of lesser trees which surrounded it. Birds and monkeys
+in this glorious forest were very abundant; the bear-like
+Pithecia hirsuta being the most remarkable of the monkeys, and
+the Umbrella Chatterer and Curl-crested Toucans amongst the most
+beautiful of the birds. The Indians and half-castes of the
+village have made their little plantations, and built huts for
+summer residence on the banks of the rivulets, and my rambles
+generally terminated at one or other of these places. The people
+were always cheerful and friendly, and seemed to be glad when I
+proposed to join them at their meals, contributing the contents
+of my provision-bag to the dinner, and squatting down among them
+on the mat.
+
+The village was formerly a place of more importance than it now
+is, a great number of Indians belonging to the most industrious
+tribes, Shumanas, Passes, and Cambevas, having settled on the
+site and adopted civilised habits, their industry being directed
+by a few whites, who seem to have been men of humane views as
+well as enterprising traders. One of these old employers, Senor
+Guerreiro, a well-educated Paraense, was still trading on the
+Amazons when I left the country in 1859: he told me that forty
+years previously Fonte Boa was a delightful place to live in. The
+neighbourhood was then well cleared, and almost free from
+mosquitoes, and the Indians were orderly, industrious, and happy.
+What led to the ruin of the settlement was the arrival of several
+Portuguese and Brazilian traders of a low class, who in their
+eagerness for business taught the easy-going Indians all kinds of
+trickery and immorality. They enticed the men and women away from
+their old employers, and thus broke up the large establishments,
+compelling the principals to take their capital to other places.
+At the time of my visit there were few pure-blood Indians at
+Fonte Boa, and no true whites. The inhabitants seemed to be
+nearly all Mamelucos, and were a loose-living, rustic, plain-
+spoken and ignorant set of people. There was no priest or
+schoolmaster within 150 miles, and had not been any for many
+years: the people seemed to be almost without government of any
+kind, and yet crime and deeds of violence appeared to be of very
+rare occurrence. The principal man of the village, one Senor
+Justo, was a big, coarse, energetic fellow, sub-delegado of
+police, and the only tradesman who owned a large vessel running
+directly between Fonte Boa and Para. He had recently built a
+large house, in the style of middle-class dwellings of towns,
+namely, with brick floors and tiled roof, the bricks and tiles
+having been brought from Para, 1500 miles distant, the nearest
+place where they are manufactured in surplus. When Senor Justo
+visited me he was much struck with the engravings in a file of
+Illustrated London News, which lay on my table. It was impossible
+to resist his urgent entreaties to let him have some of them, "to
+look at," so one day he carried off a portion of the papers on
+loan. A fortnight afterwards, on going to request him to return
+them, I found the engravings had been cut out, and stuck all over
+the newly whitewashed walls of his chamber, many of them upside
+down. He thought a room thus decorated with foreign views would
+increase his importance among his neighbours, and when I yielded
+to his wish to keep them, was boundless in demonstrations of
+gratitude, ending by shipping a boat-load of turtles for my use
+at Ega.
+
+These neglected and rude villagers still retained many religious
+practices which former missionaries or priests had taught them.
+The ceremony which they observed at Christmas, like that
+described as practised by negroes in a former chapter, was very
+pleasing for its simplicity, and for the heartiness with which it
+was conducted. The church was opened, dried, and swept clean a
+few days before Christmas Eve, and on the morning all the women
+and children of the village were busy decorating it with festoons
+of leaves and wild flowers. Towards midnight it was illuminated
+inside and out with little oil lamps, made of clay, and the image
+of the "menino Deus," or Child-God, in its cradle, was placed
+below the altar, which was lighted up with rows of wax candles,
+very lean ones, but the best the poor people could afford. All
+the villagers assembled soon afterwards, dressed in their best,
+he women with flowers in their hair, and a few simple hymns,
+totally irrelevant to the occasion, but probably the only ones
+known by them, were sung kneeling; an old half-caste, with black-
+spotted face, leading off the tunes. This finished, the
+congregation rose, and then marched in single file up one side of
+the church and down the other, singing together a very pretty
+marching chorus, and each one, on reaching the little image,
+stooping to kiss the end of a ribbon which was tied round its
+waist. Considering that the ceremony was got up of their own free
+will, and at considerable expense, I thought it spoke well for
+the good intentions and simplicity of heart of these poor,
+neglected villagers.
+
+I left Fonte Boa, for Ega, on the 25th of January, making the
+passage by steamer, down the middle of the current, in sixteen
+hours. The sight of the clean and neat little town, with its open
+spaces, close-cropped grass, broad lake, and white sandy shores,
+had a most exhilarating effect, after my trip into the wilder
+parts of the country. The district between Ega and Loreto, the
+first Peruvian village on the river, is, indeed, the most remote,
+thinly-peopled, and barbarous of the whole line of the Amazons,
+from ocean to ocean. Beyond Loreto, signs of civilisation, from
+the side of the Pacific, begin to be numerous, and, from Ega
+downwards, the improvement is felt from the side of the Atlantic.
+
+September 5th, 1857--Again embarked on the Tabatinga, this time
+for a longer excursion than the last, namely to St. Paulo de
+Olivenca, a village higher up than any I had yet visited, being
+260 miles distant, in a straight line, from Ega, or about 400
+miles following the bends of the river.
+
+The waters were now nearly at their lowest point; but this made
+no difference to the rate of travelling, night or day. Several of
+the Parana mirims, or by-channels, which the steamer threads in
+the season of full-water, to save a long circuit, were now dried
+up, their empty beds looking like deep sandy ravines in the midst
+of the thick forest. The large sand-islands, and miles of sandy
+beach, were also uncovered, and these, with the swarms of large
+aquatic birds; storks, herons, ducks, waders, and spoon-bills,
+which lined their margins in certain places, made the river view
+much more varied and animated than it is in the season of the
+flood. Alligators of large size were common near the shores,
+lazily floating, and heedless of the passing steamer. The
+passengers amused themselves by shooting at them from the deck
+with a double-barrelled rifle we had on board. The sign of a
+mortal hit was the monster turning suddenly over, and remaining
+floating, with its white belly upwards. Lieutenant Nunes wished
+to have one of the dead animals on board, for the purpose of
+opening the abdomen, and, if a male, extracting a part which is
+held in great estimation among Brazilians as a "remedio," charm
+or medicine. The steamer was stopped, and a boat sent, with four
+strong men, to embark the beast; the body, however, was found too
+heavy to be lifted into the boat; so a rope was passed round it,
+and the hideous creature towed alongside, and hoisted on deck by
+means of the crane, which was rigged for the purpose. It had
+still some sparks of life, and when the knife was applied, lashed
+its tail, and opened its enormous jaws, sending the crowd of
+bystanders flying in all directions. A blow with a hatchet on the
+crown of the head gave him his quietus at last. The length of the
+animal was fifteen feet; but this statement can give but an
+imperfect idea of its immense bulk and weight. The numbers of
+turtles which were seen swimming in quiet shoaly bays passed on
+the road, also gave us much amusement. They were seen by dozens
+ahead, with their snouts peering above the surface of the water;
+and, on the steamer approaching, turning round to stare, but not
+losing confidence till the vessel had nearly passed, when they
+appeared to be suddenly smitten with distrust, diving like ducks
+under the stream.
+
+We had on board, among our deck-passengers, a middle-aged Indian,
+of the Juri tribe; a short, thickset man, with features
+resembling much those of the late Daniel O'Connell. His name was
+Caracara-i (Black Eagle), and his countenance seemed permanently
+twisted into a grim smile, the effect of which was heightened by
+the tattooed marks--a blue rim to the mouth, with a diagonal
+pointed streak from each corner towards the ear. He was dressed
+in European-style black hat, coat, and trousers--looking very
+uncomfortable in the dreadful heat which, it is unnecessary to
+say, exists on board a steamer, under a vertical sun, during mid-
+day hours. This Indian was a man of steady resolution, ambitious
+and enterprising; very rare qualities in the race to which he
+belonged, weakness of resolution being one of the fundamental
+defects in the Indian character. He was now on his return home to
+the banks of the Issa from Para, whither he had been to sell a
+large quantity of sarsaparilla that he had collected, with the
+help of a number of Indians, whom he induces, or forces, to work
+for him. One naturally feels inclined to know what ideas such a
+favourable specimen of the Indian race may have acquired after so
+much experience amongst civilised scenes. On conversing with our
+fellow-passenger, I was greatly disappointed in him; he had seen
+nothing, and thought of nothing, beyond what concerned his little
+trading speculation, his mind being, evidently, what it had been
+before, with regard to all higher subjects or general ideas, a
+blank. The dull, mean, practical way of thinking of the Amazonian
+Indians, and the absence of curiosity and speculative thought
+which seems to be organic or confirmed in their character,
+although they are improvable to a certain extent, make them, like
+commonplace people everywhere, most uninteresting companions.
+Caracara-i disembarked at Tunantins with his cargo, which
+consisted of a considerable number of packages of European wares.
+
+The river scenery about the mouth of the Japura is extremely
+grand, and was the subject of remark among the passengers.
+Lieutenant Nunes gave it as his opinion, that there was no
+diminution of width or grandeur in the mighty stream up to this
+point, a distance of 1500 miles from the Atlantic; and yet we did
+not here see the two shores of the river on both sides at once;
+lines of islands, or tracts of alluvial land, having by-channels
+in the rear, intercepting the view of the northern mainland, and
+sometimes also of the southern. Beyond the Issa, however, the
+river becomes evidently narrower, being reduced to an average
+width of about a mile; there were then no longer those
+magnificent reaches, with blank horizons, which occur lower down.
+We had a dark and rainy night after passing Tunantins, and the
+passengers were all very uneasy on account of the speed at which
+we were travelling, twelve miles an hour, with every plank
+vibrating with the force of the engines. Many of them could not
+sleep, myself among the number. At length, a little after
+midnight, a sudden shout startled us: "Back her!" (English terms
+being used in matters relating to steam-engines). The pilot
+instantly sprung to the helm, and in a few moments we felt our
+paddle-box brushing against the wall of forest into which we had
+nearly driven headlong. Fortunately, the water was deep close up
+to the bank. Early in the morning of the 10th of September we
+anchored in the port of St. Paulo, after five days' quick
+travelling from Ega.
+
+St. Paulo is built on a high hill, on the southern bank of the
+river. The hill is formed of the same Tabatinga clay, which
+occurs at intervals over the whole valley of the Amazons, but
+nowhere rises to so great an elevation as here, the height being
+about 100 feet above the mean level of the river. The ascent from
+the port is steep and slippery; steps and resting-places have
+been made to lighten the fatigue of mounting, otherwise the
+village would be almost inaccessible, especially to porters of
+luggage and cargo, for there are no means of making a circuitous
+road of more moderate slope, the hill being steep on all sides,
+and surrounded by dense forests and swamps. The place contains
+about 500 inhabitants, chiefly half-castes and Indians of the
+Tucuna and Collina tribes, who are very little improved from
+their primitive state. The streets are narrow, and in rainy
+weather inches deep in mud; many houses are of substantial
+structure, but in a ruinous condition, and the place altogether
+presents the appearance, like Fonte Boa, of having seen better
+days. Signs of commerce, such as meet the eye at Ega, could
+scarcely be expected in this remote spot, situate 1800 miles, or
+seven months' round voyage by sailing-vessels, from Para, the
+nearest market for produce. A very short experience showed that
+the inhabitants were utterly debased, the few Portuguese and
+other immigrants having, instead of promoting industry, adopted
+the lazy mode of life of the Indians, spiced with the practice of
+a few strong vices of their own introduction.
+
+The head-man of the village, Senor Antonio Ribeiro, half-white
+half-Tucuna, prepared a house for me on landing, and introduced
+me to the principal people. The summit of the hill is grassy
+table-land, of two or three hundred acres in extent. The soil is
+not wholly clay, but partly sand and gravel; the village itself,
+however, stands chiefly on clay, and the streets therefore after
+heavy rains, become filled with muddy puddles. On damp nights the
+chorus of frogs and toads which swarm in weedy back-yards creates
+such a bewildering uproar that it is impossible to carry on a
+conversation indoors except by shouting. My house was damper even
+than the one I occupied at Fonte Boa, and this made it extremely
+difficult to keep my collections from being spoilt by mould. But
+the general humidity of the atmosphere in this part of the river
+was evidently much greater than it is lower down; it appears to
+increase gradually in ascending from the Atlantic to the Andes.
+It was impossible at St. Paulo to keep salt for many days in a
+solid state, which was not the case at Ega, when the baskets in
+which it is contained were well wrapped in leaves. Six degrees
+further westward, namely, at the foot of the Andes, the dampness
+of the climate of the Amazonian forest region appears to reach
+its acme, for Poeppig found at Chinchao that the most refined
+sugar, in a few days, dissolved into syrup, and the best
+gunpowder became liquid, even when enclosed in canisters. At St.
+Paulo refined sugar kept pretty well in tin boxes, and I had no
+difficulty in keeping my gunpowder dry in canisters, although a
+gun loaded overnight could very seldom be fired off in the
+morning.
+
+The principal residents at St. Paulo were the priest, a white
+from Para, who spent his days and most of his nights in gambling
+and rum-drinking, corrupting the young fellows and setting the
+vilest example to the Indians; the sub-delegado, an upright,
+open-hearted, and loyal negro, whom I have before mentioned,
+Senor Jose Patricio; the Juiz de Paz, a half-caste named Geraldo,
+and lastly, Senor Antonio Ribeiro, who was Director of the
+Indians. Geraldo and Ribeiro were my near neighbours, but they
+took offence at me after the first few days, because I would not
+join them in their drinking bouts, which took place about every
+third day. They used to begin early in the morning with Cashaca
+mixed with grated ginger, a powerful drink, which used to excite
+them almost to madness. Neighbour Geraldo, after these morning
+potations, used to station himself opposite my house and rave
+about foreigners, gesticulating in a threatening manner towards
+me by the hour. After becoming sober in the evening, he usually
+came to offer me the humblest apologies, driven to it, I believe,
+by his wife, he himself being quite unconscious of this breach of
+good manners. The wives of the St. Paulo worthies, however, were
+generally as bad as their husbands; nearly all the women being
+hard drinkers, and corrupt to the last degree. Wifebeating
+naturally flourished under such a state of things. I found it
+always best to lock myself indoors after sunset, and take no
+notice of the thumps and screams which used to rouse the village
+in different quarters throughout the night, especially at
+festival times.
+
+The only companionable man I found in the place, except Jose
+Patricio, who was absent most part of the time, was the negro
+tailor of the village, a tall, thin, grave young man, named
+Mestre Chico (Master Frank), whose acquaintance I had made at
+Para several years previously. He was a free negro by birth, but
+had had the advantage of kind treatment in his younger days,
+having been brought up by a humane and sensible man, one Captain
+Basilio, of Pernambuco, his padrinho, or godfather. He neither
+drank, smoked, nor gambled, and was thoroughly disgusted at the
+depravity of all classes in this wretched little settlement,
+which he intended to quit as soon as possible.
+
+When he visited me at night he used to knock at my shutters in a
+manner we had agreed on, it being necessary to guard against
+admitting drunken neighbours, and we then spent the long evenings
+most pleasantly, working and conversing. His manners were
+courteous, and his talk well worth listening to, for the
+shrewdness and good sense of his remarks. I first met Mestre
+Chico at the house of an old negress of Para, Tia Rufina (Aunt
+Rufina), who used to take charge of my goods when I was absent on
+a voyage, and this affords me an opportunity of giving a few
+further instances of the excellent qualities of free negroes in a
+country where they are not wholly condemned to a degrading
+position by the pride or selfishness of the white race. This old
+woman was born a slave, but, like many others in the large towns
+of Brazil, she had been allowed to trade on her own account, as
+market-woman, paying a fixed sum daily to her owner, and keeping
+for herself all her surplus gains. In a few years she had saved
+sufficient money to purchase her freedom, and that of her grown-
+up son. This done, the old lady continued to strive until she had
+earned enough to buy the house in which she lived, a considerable
+property situated in one of the principal streets. When I
+returned from the interior, after seven years' absence from Para,
+I found she was still advancing in prosperity, entirely through
+her own exertions (being a widow) and those of her son, who
+continued, with the most regular industry, his trade as
+blacksmith, and was now building a number of small houses on a
+piece of unoccupied land attached to her property. I found these
+and many other free negroes most trustworthy people, and admired
+the constancy of their friendships and the gentleness and
+cheerfulness of their manners towards each other. They showed
+great disinterestedness in their dealings with me, doing me many
+a piece of service without a hint at remuneration; but this may
+have been partly due to the name of Englishman, the knowledge of
+our national generosity towards the African race being spread far
+and wide amongst the Brazilian negroes.
+
+I remained at St. Paulo five months; five years would not have
+been sufficient to exhaust the treasures of its neighbourhood in
+Zoology and Botany. Although now a forest-rambler of ten years'
+experience, the beautiful forest which surrounds this settlement
+gave me as much enjoyment as if I had only just landed for the
+first time in a tropical country. The plateau on which the
+village is built extends on one side nearly a mile into the
+forest, but on the other side the descent into the lowland begins
+close to the streets; the hill sloping abruptly towards a boggy
+meadow surrounded by woods, through which a narrow winding path
+continues the slope down to a cool shady glen, with a brook of
+icy-cold water flowing at the bottom. At mid-day the vertical sun
+penetrates into the gloomy depths of this romantic spot, lighting
+up the leafy banks of the rivulet and its clean sandy margins,
+where numbers of scarlet, green, and black tanagers and brightly-
+coloured butterflies sport about in the stray beams. Sparkling
+brooks, large and small, traverse the glorious forest in almost
+every direction, and one is constantly meeting, while rambling
+through the thickets, with trickling rills and bubbling springs,
+so well-provided is the country with moisture. Some of the
+rivulets flow over a sandy and pebbly bed, and the banks of all
+are clothed with the most magnificent vegetation conceivable. I
+had the almost daily habit, in my solitary walks, of resting on
+the clean banks of these swift-flowing streams, and bathing for
+an hour at a time in their bracing waters; hours which now remain
+among my most pleasant memories. The broad forest roads continue,
+as I was told, a distance of several days' journey into the
+interior, which is peopled by Tucunas and other Indians, living
+in scattered houses and villages nearly in their primitive state,
+the nearest village lying about six miles from St. Paulo. The
+banks of all the streams are dotted with palm-thatched dwellings
+of Tucunas, all half-buried in the leafy wilderness, the
+scattered families having chosen the coolest and shadiest nooks
+for their abodes.
+
+I frequently heard in the neighbourhood of these huts, the
+"realejo" or organ bird (Cyphorhinus cantans), the most
+remarkable songster, by far, of the Amazonian forests. When its
+singular notes strike the ear for the first time, the impression
+cannot be resisted that they are produced by a human voice. Some
+musical boy must be gathering fruit in the thickets, and is
+singing a few notes to cheer himself. The tones become more fluty
+and plaintive; they are now those of a flageolet, and
+notwithstanding the utter impossibility of the thing, one is for
+the moment convinced that somebody is playing that instrument. No
+bird is to be seen, however closely the surrounding trees and
+bushes may be scanned, and yet the voice seems to come from the
+thicket close to one's ears. The ending of the song is rather
+disappointing. It begins with a few very slow and mellow notes,
+following each other like the commencement of an air; one listens
+expecting to hear a complete strain, but an abrupt pause occurs,
+and then the song breaks down, finishing with a number of
+clicking unmusical sounds like a piping barrel organ out of wind
+and tune. I never heard the bird on the Lower Amazon, and very
+rarely heard it even at Ega; it is the only songster which makes
+an impression on the natives, who sometimes rest their paddles
+whilst travelling in their small canoes, along the shady by-
+streams, as if struck by the mysterious sounds.
+
+The Tucuna Indians are a tribe resembling much the Shumanas,
+Passes, Juris, and Mauhes in their physical appearance and
+customs. They lead, like those tribes, a settled agricultural
+life, each horde obeying a chief of more or less influence,
+according to his energy and ambition, and possessing its paje or
+medicine-man who fosters its superstitions; but, they are much
+more idle and debauched than other Indians belonging to the
+superior tribes. They are not so warlike and loyal as the
+Mundurucus, although resembling them in many respects, nor have
+they the slender figures, dignified mien, and gentle disposition
+of the Passes; there are, however, no trenchant points of
+difference to distinguish them from these highest of all the
+tribes. Both men and women are tattooed, the pattern being
+sometimes a scroll on each cheek, but generally rows of short
+straight lines on the face. Most of the older people wear
+bracelets, anklets, and garters of tapir-hide or tough bark; in
+their homes they wear no other dress except on festival days,
+when they ornament themselves with feathers or masked cloaks made
+of the inner bark of a tree. They were very shy when I made my
+first visits to their habitations in the forest, all scampering
+off to the thicket when I approached, but on subsequent days they
+became more familiar, and I found them a harmless, good-natured
+people.
+
+A great part of the horde living at the first Maloca or village
+dwell in a common habitation, a large oblong hut built and
+arranged inside with such a disregard of all symmetry that it
+appeared as though constructed by a number of hands, each working
+independently, stretching a rafter or fitting in a piece of
+thatch, without reference to what his fellow-labourers were
+doing. The walls as well as the roof are covered with thatch of
+palm leaves-- each piece consisting of leaflets plaited and
+attached in a row to a lath many feet in length. Strong upright
+posts support the roof, hammocks being slung between them,
+leaving a free space for passage and for fires in the middle, and
+on one side is an elevated stage (girao) overhead, formed of
+split palm-stems. The Tucunas excel over most of the other tribes
+in the manufacture of pottery. They make broad-mouthed jars for
+Tucupi sauce, caysuma or mandioca beer, capable of holding twenty
+or more gallons, ornamenting them outside with crossed diagonal
+streaks of various colours. These jars, with cooking-pots,
+smaller jars for holding water, blow-guns, quivers, matiri bags
+[These bags are formed of remarkably neat twine made of Bromelia
+fibres elaborately knitted, all in one piece, with sticks; a belt
+of the same material, but more closely woven, being attached to
+the top to suspend them by. They afford good examples of the
+mechanical ability of these Indians. The Tucunas also possess the
+art of skinning and stuffing birds, the handsome kinds of which
+they sell in great numbers to passing travellers.] full of small
+articles, baskets, skins of animals, and so forth, form the
+principal part of the furniture of their huts both large and
+small. The dead bodies of their chiefs are interred, the knees
+doubled up, in large jars under the floors of their huts.
+
+The semi-religious dances and drinking bouts usual among the
+settled tribes of Amazonian Indians are indulged in to greater
+excess by the Tucunas than they are by most other tribes. The
+Jurupari or Demon is the only superior being they have any
+conception of, and his name is mixed up with all their
+ceremonies, but it is difficult to ascertain what they consider
+to be his attributes. He seems to be believed in simply as a
+mischievous imp, who is at the bottom of all those mishaps of
+their daily life, the causes of which are not very immediate or
+obvious to their dull understandings. It is vain to try to get
+information out of a Tucuna on this subject; they affect great
+mystery when the name is mentioned, and give very confused
+answers to questions: it was clear, however, that the idea of a
+spirit as a beneficent God or Creator had not entered the minds
+of these Indians. There is great similarity in all their
+ceremonies and mummeries, whether the object is a wedding, the
+celebration of the feast of fruits, the plucking of the hair from
+the heads of their children, or a holiday got up simply out of a
+love of dissipation. Some of the tribe on these occasions deck
+themselves with the bright-coloured feathers of parrots and
+macaws. The chief wears a headdress or cap made by fixing the
+breast-feathers of the Toucan on a web of Bromelia twine, with
+erect tail plumes of macaws rising from the crown. The cinctures
+of the arms and legs are also then ornamented with bunches of
+feathers. Others wear masked dresses; these are long cloaks
+reaching below the knee, and made of the thick whitish-coloured
+inner bark of a tree, the fibres of which are interlaced in so
+regular a manner that the material looks like artificial cloth.
+The cloak covers the head; two holes are cut out for the eyes, a
+large round piece of the cloth stretched on a rim of flexible
+wood is stitched on each side to represent cars, and the features
+are painted in exaggerated style with yellow, red, and black
+streaks. The dresses are sewn into the proper shapes with thread
+made of the inner bark of the Uaissima tree. Sometimes grotesque
+head-dresses, representing monkeys' busts or heads of other
+animals, made by stretching cloth or skin over a basketwork
+frame, are worn at these holidays. The biggest and ugliest mask
+represents the Jurupari. In these festival habiliments the
+Tucunas go through their monotonous see-saw and stamping dances
+accompanied by singing and drumming, and keep up the sport often
+for three or four days and nights in succession, drinking
+enormous quantities of caysuma, smoking tobacco, and snuffing
+parica powder.
+
+I could not learn that there was any deep symbolical meaning in
+these masked dances, or that they commemorated any past event in
+the history of the tribe. Some of them seem vaguely intended as a
+propitiation of the Jurupari, but the masker who represents the
+demon sometimes gets drunk along with the rest, and is not
+treated with any reverence. From all I could make out, these
+Indians preserve no memory of events going beyond the times of
+their fathers or grandfathers. Almost every joyful event is made
+the occasion of a festival-- weddings among the best. A young man
+who wishes to wed a Tucuna girl has to demand her hand of her
+parents, who arrange the rest of the affair, and fix a day for
+the marriage ceremony. A wedding which took place in the
+Christmas week while I was at St. Paulo was kept up with great
+spirit for three or four days, flagging during the heats of mid-
+day, but renewing itself with increased vigour every evening.
+During the whole time the bride, decked out with feather
+ornaments, was under the charge of the older squaws whose
+business seemed to be, sedulously, to keep the bridegroom at a
+safe distance until the end of the dreary period of dancing and
+boosing. The Tucunas have the singular custom, in common with the
+Collinas and Mauhes, of treating their young girls, on their
+showing the first signs of womanhood, as if they had committed
+some crime. They are sent up to the girao under the smoky and
+filthy roof, and kept there on very meagre diet, sometimes for a
+whole month. I heard of one poor girl dying under this treatment.
+
+The only other tribe of this neighbourhood concerning which I
+obtained any information were the Majeronas, whose territory
+embraces several hundred miles of the western bank of the river
+Jauari, an affluent of the Solimoens, 120 miles beyond St. Paulo.
+These are a fierce, indomitable, and hostile people, like the
+Araras of the river Madeira; they are also cannibals. The
+navigation of the Jauari is rendered impossible on account of the
+Majeronas lying in wait on its banks to intercept and murder all
+travellers, especially whites.
+
+Four months before my arrival at St. Paulo, two young half-castes
+(nearly white) of the village went to trade on the Jauari; the
+Majeronas having shown signs of abating their hostility for a
+year or two previously. They had not been long gone, when their
+canoe returned with the news that the two young fellows had been
+shot with arrows, roasted, and eaten by the savages. Jose
+Patricio, with his usual activity in the cause of law and order,
+despatched a party of armed men of the National Guard to the
+place to make inquiries, 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
+Senor 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 goodwill by extracting the grub of an
+Oestrus fly from her back, and thus cured her of a painful
+tumour. She was decidedly the best-humoured and, to all
+appearance, the kindest-hearted specimen of her race I had yet
+seen. She was tall and very stout; in colour much lighter than
+the ordinary Indian tint, and her ways altogether were more like
+those of a careless, laughing country wench, such as might be met
+with any day amongst the labouring class in villages in our own
+country, than a cannibal. I heard this artless maiden relate, in
+the coolest manner possible, how she ate a portion of the bodies
+of the young men whom her tribe had roasted. But what increased
+greatly the incongruity of this business, the young widow of one
+of the victims, a neighbour of mine, happened to be present
+during the narrative, and showed her interest in it by laughing
+at the broken Portuguese in which the girl related the horrible
+story.
+
+In the fourth month of my sojourn at St. Paulo I had a serious
+illness, an attack of the "sizoens," or ague of the country,
+which, as it left me with shattered health and damped enthusiasm,
+led to my abandoning the plan I had formed of proceeding to the
+Peruvian towns of Pebas and Moyobamba, 250 and 600 miles further
+west, and so completing the examination of the Natural History of
+the Amazonian plains up to the foot of the Andes. I made a very
+large collection at St. Paulo, and employed a collector at
+Tabatinga and on the banks of the Jauari for several months, so
+that I acquired a very fair knowledge altogether of the
+productions of the country bordering the Amazons to the end of
+the Brazilian territory, a distance of 1900 miles from the
+Atlantic at the mouth of the Para; but beyond the Peruvian
+boundary I found now I should be unable to go. My ague seemed to
+be the culmination of a gradual deterioration of health, which
+had been going on for several years. I had exposed myself too
+much in the sun, working to the utmost of my strength six days a
+week, and had suffered much, besides, from bad and insufficient
+food. The ague did not exist at St. Paulo but the foul and humid
+state of the village was, perhaps, sufficient to produce ague in
+a person much weakened from other causes. The country bordering
+the shores of the Solimoens is healthy throughout; some endemic
+diseases certainly exist, but these are not of a fatal nature,
+and the epidemics which desolated the Lower Amazons from Para to
+the Rio Negro, between the years 1850 and 1856, had never reached
+this favoured land. Ague is known only on the banks of those
+tributary streams which have dark-coloured water.
+
+I always carried a stock of medicines with me; and a small phial
+of quinine, which I had bought at Para in 1851, but never yet had
+use for, now came in very useful. I took for each dose as much as
+would lie on the tip of a penknife-blade, mixing it with warm
+camomile tea. The first few days after my first attack I could
+not stir, and was delirious during the paroxysms of fever; but
+the worst being over, I made an effort to rouse myself, knowing
+that incurable disorders of the liver and spleen follow ague in
+this country if the feeling of lassitude is too much indulged. So
+every morning I shouldered my gun or insect-net, and went my
+usual walk in the forest. The fit of shivering very often seized
+me before I got home, and I then used to stand still and brave it
+out. When the steamer ascended in January, 1858, Lieutenant Nunes
+was shocked to see me so much shattered, and recommended me
+strongly to return at once to Ega. I took his advice, and
+embarked with him, when he touched at St. Paulo on his downward
+voyage, on the 2nd of February. I still hoped to be able to turn
+my face westward again, to gather the yet unseen treasures of the
+marvellous countries lying between Tabatinga and the slopes of
+the Andes; but although, after a short rest in Ega, the ague left
+me, my general health remained in a state too weak to justify the
+undertaking of further journeys. At length I left Ega, on the 3rd
+of February, 1859, en route for England.
+
+I arrived at Para on the 17th of March, after an absence in the
+interior of seven years and a half. My old friends, English,
+American, and Brazilian, scarcely knew me again, but all gave me
+a very warm welcome, especially Mr. G. R. Brocklehurst (of the
+firm of R. Singlehurst and Co., the chief foreign merchants, who
+had been my correspondents), who received me into his house, and
+treated me with the utmost kindness. I was rather surprised at
+the warm appreciation shown by many of the principal people of my
+labours; but, in fact, the interior of the country is still the
+"sertao" (wilderness)--a terra incognita to most residents of the
+seaport--and a man who had spent seven years and a half in
+exploring it solely with scientific aims was somewhat of a
+curiosity. I found Para greatly changed and improved. It was no
+longer the weedy, ruinous, village-looking place that it appeared
+to be when I first knew it in 1848. The population had been
+increased to 20,000 by an influx of Portuguese, Madeiran, and
+German immigrants, and for many years past the provincial
+government had spent their considerable surplus revenue in
+beautifying the city. The streets, formerly unpaved or strewn
+with loose stones and sand, were now laid with concrete in a most
+complete manner, all the projecting masonry of the irregularly-
+built houses had been cleared away, and the buildings made more
+uniform. Most of the dilapidated houses were replaced by handsome
+new edifices, having long and elegant balconies fronting the
+first floors, at an elevation of several feet above the roadway.
+The large, swampy squares had been drained, weeded, and planted
+with rows of almond and casuarina trees, so that they were now a
+great ornament to the city, instead of an eyesore as they
+formerly were. My old favourite road, the Monguba avenue, had
+been renovated and joined to many other magnificent rides lined
+with trees, which in a very few years had grown to a height
+sufficient to afford agreeable shade; one of these, the Estrada
+de Sao Jose, had been planted with cocoa-nut palms. Sixty public
+vehicles, light cabriolets (some of them built in Para), now
+plied in the streets, increasing much the animation of the
+beautified squares, streets, and avenues.
+
+I found also the habits of the people considerably changed. Many
+of the old religious holidays had declined in importance, and
+given way to secular amusements--social parties, balls, music,
+billiards, and so forth. There was quite as much pleasure seeking
+as formerly, but it was turned in a more rational direction, and
+the Paraenses seemed now to copy rather the customs of the
+northern nations of Europe than those of the mother country,
+Portugal. I was glad to see several new booksellers' shops, and
+also a fine edifice devoted to a reading-room supplied with
+periodicals, globes, and maps, and a circulating library. There
+were now many printing-offices, and four daily newspapers. The
+health of the place had greatly improved since 1850, the year of
+the yellow fever, and Para was now considered no longer dangerous
+to newcomers.
+
+So much for the improvements visible in the place, and now for
+the dark side of the picture. The expenses of living had
+increased about fourfold, a natural consequence of the demand for
+labour and for native products of all kinds having augmented in
+greater ratio than the supply, through large arrivals of
+nonproductive residents, and considerable importations of money
+on account of the steamboat company and foreign merchants. Para,
+in 1848, was one of the cheapest places of residence on the
+American continent; it was now one of the dearest. Imported
+articles of food, clothing, and furniture were mostly cheaper,
+although charged with duties varying from 18 to 80 percent,
+besides high freights and large profits, than those produced in
+the neighbourhood. Salt codfish was twopence per pound cheaper
+than the vile salt pirarucu of the country. Oranges, which could
+formerly be had almost gratis, were now sold in the streets at
+the rate of three for a penny; large bananas were a penny each;
+tomatoes were from two to three pence each, and all other fruits
+in this fruit-producing country had advanced in like proportion.
+Mandioca-meal, the bread of the country, had become so scarce and
+dear and bad that the poorer classes of natives suffered famine,
+and all who could afford it were obliged to eat wheaten bread at
+fourpence to fivepence per pound, made from American flour, 1200
+barrels of which were consumed monthly; this was now, therefore,
+a very serious item of daily expense to all but the most wealthy.
+House rent was most exorbitant; a miserable little place of two
+rooms, without fixtures or conveniences of any kind, having
+simply blank walls' cost at the rate of £18 sterling a year.
+Lastly, the hire of servants was beyond the means of all persons
+in moderate circumstances--a lazy cook or porter could not be had
+for less than three or four shillings a day, besides his board
+and what he could steal. It cost me half-a-crown for the hire of
+a small boat and one man to disembark from the steamer, a
+distance of 100 yards.
+
+In rambling over my old ground in the forests of the
+neighbourhood, I found great changes had taken place--to me,
+changes for the worse. The mantle of shrubs, bushes, and creeping
+plants which formerly, when the suburbs were undisturbed by axe
+or spade, had been left free to arrange itself in rich, full, and
+smooth sheets and masses over the forest borders, had been nearly
+all cut away, and troops of labourers were still employed cutting
+ugly muddy roads for carts and cattle, through the once clean and
+lonely woods. Houses and mills had been erected on the borders of
+these new roads. The noble forest-trees had been cut down, and
+their naked, half-burnt stems remained in the midst of ashes,
+muddy puddles, and heaps of broken branches. I was obliged to
+hire a negro boy to show me the way to my favourite path near
+Una, which I have described in the second chapter of this
+narrative; the new clearings having quite obliterated the old
+forest roads. Only a few acres of the glorious forest near Una
+now remained in their natural state. On the other side of the
+city, near the old road to the rice mills, several scores of
+woodsmen were employed under Government, in cutting a broad
+carriage-road through the forest to Maranham, the capital of the
+neighbouring province, distant 250 miles from Para, and this had
+entirely destroyed the solitude of the grand old forest path. In
+the course of a few years, however, a new growth of creepers will
+cover the naked treetrunks on the borders of this new road, and
+luxuriant shrubs form a green fringe to the path: it will then
+become as beautiful a woodland road as the old one was. A
+naturalist will have, henceforward, to go farther from the city
+to find the glorious forest scenery which lay so near in 1848,
+and work much more laboriously than was formerly needed to make
+the large collections which Mr. Wallace and I succeeded in doing
+in the neighbourhood of Para.
+
+June 2, 1859--At length, on the 2nd of June, I left Para,
+probably forever; embarking in a North American trading-vessel,
+the Frederick Demming, for New York, the United States route
+being the quickest as well as the pleasantest way of reaching
+England. My extensive private collections were divided into three
+portions and sent by three separate ships, to lessen the risk of
+loss of the whole. On the evening of the 3rd of June, I took a
+last view of the glorious forest for which I had so much love,
+and to explore which I had devoted so many years. The saddest
+hours I ever recollect to have spent were those of the succeeding
+night when, the Mameluco pilot having left us free of the shoals
+and out of sight of land though within the mouth of the river at
+anchor waiting for the wind, I felt that the last link which
+connected me with the land of so many pleasing recollections was
+broken. The Paraenses, who are fully aware of the attractiveness
+of their country, have an alliterative proverb, "Quem vai para
+(o) Para para," "He who goes to Para stops there," and I had
+often thought I should myself have been added to the list of
+examples. The desire, however, of seeing again my parents and
+enjoying once more the rich pleasures of intellectual society,
+had succeeded in overcoming the attractions of a region which may
+be fittingly called a Naturalist's Paradise. During this last
+night on the Para river, a crowd of unusual thoughts occupied my
+mind. Recollections of English climate, scenery, and modes of
+life came to me with a vividness I had never before experienced,
+during the eleven years of my absence. Pictures of startling
+clearness rose up of the gloomy winters, the long grey twilights,
+murky atmosphere, elongated shadows, chilly springs, and sloppy
+summers; of factory chimneys and crowds of grimy operatives, rung
+to work in early morning by factory bells; of union workhouses,
+confined rooms, artificial cares, and slavish conventionalities.
+To live again amidst these dull scenes, I was quitting a country
+of perpetual summer, where my life had been spent like that of
+three-fourths of the people-- in gipsy fashion-- on the endless
+streams or in the boundless forests. I was leaving the equator,
+where the well-balanced forces of Nature maintained a land-
+surface and climate that seemed to be typical of mundane order
+and beauty, to sail towards the North Pole, where lay my home
+under crepuscular skies somewhere about fifty-two degrees of
+latitude. It was natural to feel a little dismayed at the
+prospect of so great a change; but now, after three years of
+renewed experience of England, I find how incomparably superior
+is civilised life, where feelings, tastes, and intellect find
+abundant nourishment, to the spiritual sterility of half-savage
+existence, even though it be passed in the garden of Eden. What
+has struck me powerfully is the immeasurably greater diversity
+and interest of human character and social conditions in a single
+civilised nation, than in equatorial South America, where three
+distinct races of man live together. The superiority of the bleak
+north to tropical regions, however, is only in their social
+aspect, for I hold to the opinion that, although humanity can
+reach an advanced state of culture only by battling with the
+inclemencies of nature in high latitudes, it is under the equator
+alone that the perfect race of the future will attain to complete
+fruition of man's beautiful heritage, the earth.
+
+The following day, having no wind, we drifted out of the mouth of
+the Para with the current of fresh water that is poured from the
+mouth of the river, and in twenty-four hours advanced in this way
+seventy miles on our road. On the 6th of June, when in 7' 55' N.
+lat. and 52' 30' W. long., and therefore about 400 miles from the
+mouth of the main Amazons, we passed numerous patches of floating
+grass mingled with tree-trunks and withered foliage. Among these
+masses I espied many fruits of that peculiarly Amazonian tree the
+Ubussu palm; this was the last I saw of the Great River.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext The Naturalist on the River Amazons
+
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