LIFE AT MANAOS. 205 
oars, and seemingly haunted by waterfowl. In one we saw 
immense flocks of what looked at that distance either 
like red Ibises or red spoonbills, and also numbers of 
gulls. Our sportsmen looked longingly at them, and are 
impatient for the time when we shall be settled on land, 
and they can begin to make havoc among the birds. 
September \~tli. Last evening we took in wood from 
the shore some miles below the town of Tenanting. I sat 
watching the Indians on the bank, of whom there were 
some fifteen or twenty, men, women, and children ; the 
men loading the wood, the women and children being 
there apparently to look on. They had built a fire on 
the bank, and hung their nets or cotton tents, under which 
they sleep, on the trees behind. They made a wild group, 
passing to and fro in the light of the fire, the care of which 
seemed the special charge of a tall, gaunt, weird-looking 
woman, who would have made a good Meg Merrilies. 
She seemed to have but one garment, - - a long, brown, 
stuff robe, girt round the waist; as she strode about the 
fire, throwing on fresh logs and stirring the dying em- 
bers, the flames blazed up in her face, lighting her tawny 
skin and long, unkempt hair, flickering over the figures of 
women and children about her, and shedding a warm glow 
over the forest which made the setting to the picture. This 
is the only very tall Indian woman I have seen ; usually 
the women are rather short of stature. When the Indians 
had made their preparations for the night, they heaped 
damp fuel on the fire till it smouldered down and threw 
out thick clouds of smoke, enveloping the sleeping-tents, 
and no doubt driving off effectually the clouds of mosqui- 
toes, from which the natives seem as great sufferers as 
strangers. These upper stations on the Amazons are 
