Cnap. IV. LIFE AT BAIAO. 65 
manufacture soap of burnt cacao shells and andiroba oil, and follow 
various other domestic employments. I asked why they allowed their 
plantations to run to waste. They said that it was useless trying to 
plant anything hereabout ; the Saiiba ant devoured the young coffee 
trees, and every one who attempted to contend against this universal 
ravager was sure to be defeated. The country, for many miles along 
the banks of the river, seemed to be well peopled. The inhabitants 
were nearly all of the tawny-white mameluco class. I saw a good 
many mulattos, but very few negroes and Indians, and none that could 
be called pure whites. 
When Senhor Seixas arrived, he acted very kindly. He provided us 
at once with two men, killed an ox in our honour, and treated us alto- 
gether with great consideration. We were not, however, introduced to 
his family. I caught a glimpse once of his wife, a pretty little Mameluco 
woman, as she was tripping with a young girl, whom I supposed to be 
her daughter, across the back yard. Both wore long dressing-gowns, 
made of bright-coloured calico print, and had long wooden tobacco-pipes 
in their mouths. The room in which we slept and worked had formerly 
served as a storeroom for cacao, and at night I was kept awake for 
hours by rats and cockroaches, which swarm in all such places. The 
latter were running about all over the walls ; now and then one would 
come suddenly with a whir full at my face, and get under my shirt if I 
attempted to jerk it off. As to the rats, they were chasing one another 
by dozens all night long, over the floor, up and down the edges of the 
doors, and along the rafters of the open roof. 
September 7th. —We started from Baiad at an early hour. One of our 
new men was a good-humoured, willing young mulatto, named José ; 
the other was a sulky Indian, called Manoel, who seemed to have been 
pressed into our service against his will. Senhor Seixas, on parting, 
sent a quantity of fresh provisions on board. A few miles above Baiad 
the channel became very shallow; we got aground several times, and 
the men had to disembark and shove the vessel off. Alexandro here 
shot several fine fish, with bow and arrow. It was the first time I had 
seen fish captured in this way. The arrow is a reed, with a steel 
barbed point, which is fixed in a hole at the end, and secured by fine 
twine made from the fibres of pine-apple leaves. It is only in the 
clearest water that fish can be thus shot: and the only skill required is 
to make, in taking aim, the proper allowance for refraction. 
The next day before sunrise a fine breeze sprang up, and the men 
awoke and set the sails. We glided all day through channels between 
islands with long white sandy beaches, over which, now and then, 
aquatic and wading birds were seen running. The forest was low, and 
had a harsh, dry aspect. Several palm trees grew here which we had 
not before seen. On low bushes, near the water, pretty red-headed 
tanagers (Tanagra gularis) were numerous, flitting about and chirping 
like sparrows. About half-past four p.m. we brought to at the mouth 
of a creek or channel, where there was a great extent of sandy beach. 
The sand had been blown by the wind into ridges and undulations, and 
over the moister parts large flocks of sandpipers were running about. 
Alexandro and I had a long ramble over the rolling plain, which came 
5 
