282 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



the races which he has 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 18th. 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 



