79 THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETA. Cuap. IV. 
where all other birds are exceedingly wary. One species of jacamar 
was not uncommon here (Galbula viridis); I sometimes saw two or 
three together seated on a slender branch silent and motionless with 
the exception of a slight movement of the head; when an insect flew 
past within a short distance, one of the birds would dart off, seize it, 
and return again to its sitting place. The trogons are found in the 
tropics of both hemispheres; the jacamars, which are clothed in 
plumage of the most beautiful golden-bronze and steel colours, are 
peculiar to tropical America. 
September 18th.—We stayed only twenty-four hours at Juquerapua, 
and then resumed our downward journey. I was sorry to be obliged to 
leave this beautiful, though almost uninhabited, country so soon, our 
journey through it having been a mere tourist’s gallop. Its vegetable 
and animal productions, of which we had obtained merely a glimpse, so 
to speak, were evidently different from those of the alluvial plains of 
the Amazons. The time we had spent, however, was too short for 
making a sufficient collection of specimens and facts to illustrate the 
amount and nature of the difference between the two faunas: a subject 
of no small importance, as being calculated to throw light on the 
migrations of species across the equator in South America. In the 
rocky pools near Juquerapua we found many species of fresh-water 
shells, and each of us, Mr. Leavens included, made a large collection of 
them. One was a turret-shaped univalve, a species of Melania, every 
specimen of which was worn at the apex; we tried in vain to geta 
perfect specimen. In the crystal waters the fishes could be seen as 
plainly as in an aquarium. One kind especially attracted our attention, 
a species of Diodon, which was not more than three inches long and of 
a pretty green colour, banded with black ; the natives call it Mamayacu. 
It is easily caught, and when in the hand distends itself, becoming as 
round as a ball. This fish amuses the people very much; when a 
person gets corpulent, they tell him he is as fat as a Mamayacu. 
At night I slept ashore as a change from the confinement of the canoe, 
having obtained permission from Senhor Joaquim to sling my hammock 
under his roof. The house, like all others in these out-of-the-way parts 
of the country, was a large, open, palm-thatched shed, having one end 
inclosed by means of partitions also made of palm-leaves, so as to form 
a private apartment. Under the shed were placed all the household 
utensils ; earthenware jars, pots, and kettles, hunting and fishing imple- 
ments, paddles, bows and arrows, harpoons, and so forth. One or two 
common wooden chests serve to contain the holiday clothing of the 
females ; there is no other furniture, except a few stools and a hammock, 
which answers the purposes of chair and sofa. When the visitor enters, 
he is asked to sit down in a hammock: persons who are on intimate 
terms with each other recline together in the same hammock, one at 
each end ; this is a very convenient arrangement for friendly conversa- 
tion. There are neither tables nor chairs ; the cloth for meals is spread 
on a mat, and the guests squat round in any position they choose. 
There is no cordiality of manners, but the treatment of the guests shows 
a keen sense of the duties of hospitality on the part of the host. There 
is a good deal of formality in the intercourse of these half-wild Mame- 
