Cuap. VIII. A REPUTED WITCH. 203 
prized by the natives, who apply it as a poultice to draw palm spines or 
even grains of shot from the flesh. Other lizards of repulsive aspect, 
about three feet in length when full grown, splashed about and swam 
in the water: sometimes emerging to crawl into hollow trees on the 
banks of the stream, where I once found a female and a nest of eggs. 
The lazy flapping flight of large blue and black morpho butterflies high 
in the air, the hum of insects, and many inanimate sounds, contributed 

The Jacuart (Teius teguexim). 
their share to the total impression this strange solitude produced. 
Heavy fruits from the crowns of trees, which were mingled together at 
a giddy height overhead, fell now and then with a startling “ plop” into 
the water. The breeze, not felt below, stirred in the topmost branches, 
setting the twisted and looped sipdés in motion, which creaked and 
groaned in a great variety of notes. To these noises was added the 
monotonous ripple of the brook, which had its little cascade at every 
score or two yards of its course. 
We frequently fell in with an old Indian woman, named Cecilia, who 
had a small clearing in the woods. She had the reputation of being a 
witch (feiticeira), and I found, on talking with her, that she prided her- 
self on her knowledge of the black art. Her slightly curled hair showed 
that she was not a pure-blood Indian: I was toid her father was a dark 
mulatto. She was always very civil to our party ; showing us the best 
paths, explaining the virtues and uses of different plants, and so forth. 
I was much amused at the accounts she gave of the place. Her solitary 
life and the gloom of the woods seemed to have filled her with super- 
stitious fancies. She said gold was contained in the bed of the brook, 
and that the murmur of the water over the little cascades was the voice 
of the ‘‘ water-mother” revealing the hidden treasure. A narrow pass 
between two hill sides was the portaO or gate; and all within, along 
the wooded banks of the stream, was enchanted ground. ‘The hill 
underneath which we were encamped was the enchanter’s abode, and 
she gravely told us she often had long conversations with him. These 
myths were of her own invention, and in the same way an endless 
number of other similar ones have originated in the childish imagina- 
tions of the poor Indian and half-breed inhabitants of different parts of 
