282 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
the races which he lias begun, and for which the circum- 
stances here are unusually favorable. In the mean time 
the President has provided him with canoes and men for 
three separate expeditions, on which he sends off three par- 
ties this week : Mr. Talisman and Mr. Dexter to the Rio 
Negro and Rio Branco, to be absent six weeks ; Mr. Thayer 
and Mr. Bourget to Lake Cudajas, to be gone ten days ; 
Mr. James to Manacapuru, for about the same time. 
We feel the generosity of this conduct the more, know- 
ing how greatly the administration stands in need of men 
and of all the resources at its command in the present 
disturbed state of things. 
November ISth. One can hardly walk in any direction 
out of the town without meeting something characteristic 
of the people and their ways of living. At seven o'clock, 
to-day, I took my morning walk through the wood near 
the house to an igarape, which is the scene of much of 
the out-of-doors life here,- -fishing, washing, bathing, turtle- 
shooting. As I returned along the little path leading 
by the side of the stream, two naked Indian boys were 
shooting fish with bow and arrows from a fallen tree 
which jutted out into the stream. Like bronze statues 
they looked, as they stood quiet and watchful, in attitudes 
full of grace and strength, their bows drawn ready to let 
the arrow fly the moment they should catch sight of the 
fish. The Indian boys are wonderfully skilful in this 
sport, and also in shooting arrows through long blow-pipes 
(Sarabatanas) to kill birds. This is no bad way of shooting, 
for the report of the gun startles the game so effectually in 
these thick forests, that after a few shots the sportsman 
finds the woods in his immediate neighborhood deserted ; 
whereas the Indian boy creeps stealthily up to the spot 
