68 TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. {November, 



marsh, now parched up by the burning sun, and covered with 

 tufts of a wiry grass, with here and there rushes and prickly 

 sensitive plants, and a few pretty little flowers occasionally 

 growing up among them. The trees, which in some places 

 were abundant, did not much diminish the general dreariness 

 of the prospect, for many of the leaves had fallen off owing 

 to the continued drought, and those that were left were brown 

 and half-shrivelled. The ground was very disagreeable for 

 walking, being composed of numerous little clumps and ridges, 

 placed so closely together that you could neither step securely 

 upon nor between them : they appeared to be caused by the 

 rains and floods in the wet season washing away the earth 

 from between the roots of the grass-tufts, the whole being 

 afterwards hardened by the excessive heat of the sun, and the 

 grass almost entirely burnt away. 



After walking over four or five miles of such ground, we 

 arrived at the Lake just as it was getting dark. The only 

 building there was a small shed without any walls, under 

 which we hung our hammocks, while the Negroes used the 

 neighbouring trees and bushes for the same purpose. A 

 large fire was blazing, and round it were numerous wooden 

 spits, containing pieces of fresh fish and alligator's tail for our 

 supper. While it was getting ready, we went to look at some 

 fish which had just been caught, and lay ready for salting and 

 drying the next day : they were the pirarucii {Sudis gigas), a 

 splendid species, five or six feet long, with large scales of more 

 than an inch in diameter, and beautifully marked and spotted 

 with red. The Lake contains great quantities of them, and 

 they are salted and dried for the Para market. It is a very 

 fine-flavoured fish, the belly in particular being so fat and rich 

 that it cannot be cured, and is therefore generally eaten fresh. 

 This, with farinha and some coffee, made us an excellent 

 supper, and the alligator's tail, which I now tasted for the first ' 

 time, was by no means to be despised. We soon turned into 

 our hammocks, and slept soundly after the fatigue of the day. 

 Jaguars were abundant, and had carried off some fish a night 

 or two before ; the alligators too were plunging and snorting 

 within twenty yards of us : but we did not suffer such trifles 

 to disturb our slumbers. 



Before daybreak I had my gun upon my shoulder, eager 

 to make an attack upon the ducks and other aquatic birds 



