CHAPTER IX. 
VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. 
Preparations for voyage—First day’s sail—Mocdes of arranging money-matters, and 
remittance of collections in the interior—Loss of boat—Altar do Chao—Excursion 
in forest—Valuable timber—Modes of obtaining fish—Difficulties with crew-— 
Arrival at Aveyros—Excursions in the neighbourhood—White Cebus and habits 
and dispositions of Cebi monkeys—Tame parrot—Missionary settlement—Enter 
the River Cupari—Adventure with Anaconda—Smoke-dried monkey—Boa con- 
strictor—Village of Mundurucit Indians, and incursion of a wild tribe—Falls of 
the Cupari—Hyacinthine macaw—-Re-emerge into the broad Tapajos—Descent 
of river to Santarem. 
June, 1852.—I will now proceed to relate the incidents of my principal 
excursion up the Tapajos, which I began to prepare for, after residing 
about six months at Santarem. 
I was obliged, this time, to travel in a vessel of my own; partly be- 
cause trading canoes large enough to accommodate a naturalist very 
seldom pass between Santarem and the thinly-peopled settlements on 
the river, and partly because I wished to explore districts at my ease, 
far out of the ordinary track of traders. I soon found a suitable canoe ; 
a two-masted cuberta, of about six tons’ burthen, strongly built of 
Itaiiba or stone-wood, a timber of which all the best vessels in the 
Amazons country are constructed, and said to be more durable than 
teak. This I hired of a merchant at the cheap rate of 500 reis, or 
about one shilling and twopence per day. I fitted up the cabin, which, 
as usual in canoes of this class, was a square structure with its floor 
above the water-line, as my sleeping and working apartments. My 
chests, filled with store-boxes and trays for specimens, were arranged 
on each side, and above them were shelves and pegs to hold my little 
stock of useful books, guns, and gamebags, boards and materials for 
skinning and preserving animals, botanical press and papers, drying 
cages for insects and birds, and so forth. A rush mat was spread on 
the floor, and my rolled-up hammock, to be used only when sleeping 
ashore, served for a pillow. The arched covering over the hold in the 
fore part of the vessel contained, besides a sleeping place for the crew, 
- my heavy chests, stock of salt provisions and groceries, and an assortment 
of goods wherewith to pay my way amongst the half-civilised or savage 
inhabitants of the interior. ‘The goods consisted of cashaga, powder 
and shot, a few pieces of coarse checked-cotton cloth and prints, fish- 
hooks, axes, large knives, harpoons, arrow-heads, looking-glasses, beads, 
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