“Cuap. X. A MANATEE HARPOONED. 261 
long stick. Fires were made, and the spits stuck in the ground and 
slanted over the flames to roast. A drizzling rain fell all the time, and 
the ground around the fires swarmed with stinging ants, attracted by the 
entrails and slime which were scattered about. The meat has some- 
what the taste of very coarse pork ; but the fat, which lies in thick layers 
between the lean parts, is of a greenish colour, and of a disagreeable 
fishy flavour. The animal was a large one, measuring nearly ten feet in 
length, and nine in girth at the broadest part. The manatee is one of 
the few objects which excite the dull wonder and curiosity of the 
Indians, notwithstanding its commonness. The fact of its suckling its 
young at the breast, although an aquatic animal resembling a fish, 
seems to strike them as something very strange. The animal, as it lay 
on its back, with its broad rounded head and muzzle, tapering body, 
and smooth, thick, lead-coloured skin, reminded me of those Egyptian 
tombs which are made of dark, smooth stone, and shaped to the human 
figure. 
It rarely happened that we caught anything near the canoe; but one 
day, as we were slowly progressing along a vemanso, past a thick bed of 
floating grasses, the men caught sight of a large Pirarucu: the fish 
which, salted, forms the staple food of all classes in most parts of the 
Lower Amazons country. It darted past with great speed close to 
the surface of the water, exhibiting its ornamental coat of mail, the 
extremely large, broad scales being margined with bright red. One of 
the Indians seized a harpoon and, jumping into the montaria, was after 
it in a moment. He killed it at the distance of a few yards, as it was 
plunging amongst the entangled beds of grass. The fish was a nearly 
full-grown one, measuring eight feet in length and five in girth, and 
supplied us all with two plentiful meals. The best parts only were 
cooked, the rest being thrown most improvidently to the vultures. The 
Indian name Pirarucu, or Anatto fish (from Pira, fish; and uruct 
anatto or red), is in allusion to the red colour of the borders of its 
scales, and is a sample of the figurative style of nomenclature of the 
Tupi nation. 
Notwithstanding the hard fare, the confinement of the canoe, the 
trying weather,—frequent and drenching rains, with gleams of fiery 
sunshine,—and the woful desolation of the river scenery, I enjoyed the 
voyage on the whole. We were not much troubled by mosquitoes, and 
therefore passed the nights very pleasantly, sleeping on deck, wrapped 
in blankets or old sails. - When the rains drove us below, we were less 
comfortable, as there was only just room in the small cabin for three 
of us to lie close together, and the confined air was stifling. I became 
inured to the Piums in the course of the first week ; all the exposed 
parts of my body, by that time, being so closely covered with black 
punctures that the little bloodsuckers could not very easily find an 
unoccupied place to operate upon. Poor Miguel, the Portuguese, 
suffered horribly from these pests, his ankles and wrists being so much 
inflamed that he was confined to his hammock, slung in the hold, for weeks. 
At every landing-place I had a ramble in the forest, whilst the red skins 
made the fire and cooked the meal. The result was a large daily 
addition to my collection of insects, reptiles, and shells. Sometimes 
