INTRODUCTIOX. 99 



dibly short time, a hut which proves impervious to 

 the rain. Some of these huts are square or oblong, 

 others arched, and below it he slings his hammock. 

 Our hut did not differ much in construction, only 

 in place of the roof of palm-leaves we used a curtain 

 of sail-cloth. In the course of an hour our camp 

 was in order, and offered the appearance of a little 

 village. Meanwhile the fishermen and hunters re- 

 turned, and brought frequently an accession to our 

 approaching dinner, which, after all, was best sea- 

 soned by a good appetite. 



During night commenced the fishing for laulau 

 and others of the family of siluridece. After the 

 hooks have been baited with fish or animal flesh, 

 they are carried out into the stream, the line to 

 which they are attached being about thirty to forty 

 fathoms long. If the Indian feels inclined, he keeps 

 the end on the land in his hand ; but frequently he 

 takes a forked stick, which he drives into the 

 ground, and after having tied some dry bushes to 

 the fork, he leads the stray line over it. If a fish 

 should bite, the line being drawn with rapidity 

 over the dry leaves, makes a rustling noise, and 

 the Indian hurries to seize it and to haul the fish 

 in. If it be a laulau (silurus) or a large paca- 

 ruima {Phractocephalus bicolor)^ some considerable 

 skill is necessary to land the fish without break- 

 ing the line or the hook. Many of the silurideee 

 issue a sound when taken out of the water, but 

 few so loud and so continued as the pacaruima. 

 I have somewhere else observed, that the Indian* 



