i8si.] A LARGE SNAKE. 23 



33 



All cultivated products of the soil are so scarce that they 

 meet with a ready sale at good prices, not only in the city of 

 Barra, but also to passing traders, who have no time or means 

 for cultivating them themselves. Tobacco, coffee, molasses, 

 cotton, castor-oil, rice, maize, eggs, poultry, salt-meat, and fish, 

 all kinds of oils, cheese, and butter, can always be sold, the 

 supply being invariably below the demand, and, besides 

 providing clothing and other extras, which in this climate are a 

 mere trifle, might be made to produce a handsome profit. To 

 do all this requires some experience and some industry ; but 

 not a tithe of either which are necessary to get a bare living at 

 home. 



Leaving this pleasant place about midday, we proceeded 

 slowly on. One of my best Indians fell ill of fever and ague ; 

 and, a few days after, another was attacked. It was in vain 

 attempting, at any sitio or village, to get men to help me on 

 the rest of my voyage ; no offer of extra wages would induce 

 them to leave their houses ; all had some excuse of occupation 

 or illness, so we were forced to creep on as well as we could. 

 Two days below the Falls I bought a smaller canoe of 

 a Portuguese trader, to ascend the Uaupes, and moved my 

 cargo into it, leaving that of Senhor Lima with the other canoe, 

 to be sent for afterwards. At Camanau, I with much difficulty, 

 and some delay, procured a pilot and another Indian, to go 

 with me to Sao Gabriel. There, after another day's delay, I 

 found two Indians, who agreed to go as far as Sao Joaquim ; 

 and after keeping me waiting three or four hours beyond the 

 time appointed, absconded at night from the sitio where we 

 slept, having been previously paid double wages for the whole 

 distance. Here, however, I was lucky enough to get three 

 more in place of the two rogues ; but as another of my Indians 

 had now fallen ill, we still had few enough for passing the 

 numerous rapids and rocks with which the river is obstructed. 



One day we found, coiled up on the bank, a large Sucuruju, 

 the first large snake I had met with, and as I was very anxious 

 to secure it, to preserve the skin, I loaded my gun, and telling 

 my Indians not to let it escape, fired. It remained motionless 

 some time, as if stunned by the shock, and then slowly 

 began to uncoil, turning its head down towards the water, 

 but evidently so much injured as to be unable to move 

 its body on land. In vain I cried to the Indians to secure it : 



