652 



_HE NATURALIST OK 1 'HE RIVER AMAZONS. 



tance of fl ty to a hundred miles to the west 

 of Para ; but there are plenty of untapped 

 trees still growing in the wilds of the Tapa- 

 jos, Madeira, Jufua, and Jaurai, as far as 1800 

 miles from the Atlantic coast. The tree is 

 not remarkable in appearance ; in bark and 

 foliage it is not unlike th'e European ash ; 

 but the trunk, like that of all forest trees, 

 shoots up to an immense height before throw- 

 ing off branches. The trees seem to be no 

 man's property hereabout. The people we 

 met with told us they came every year to 

 collect rubber on these islands, as soon as 

 the waters had subsided, namely, in August, 

 and remained till January or February. The 

 process is very simple. Every morning each 

 person, man or woman, to whom is allotted 

 a certain number of trees, goes the round of 

 the whole, and collects in'a large vessel the 

 milky sap which trickles from gashes made 

 in the bark on the preceding evening and 

 which is received in little clay cups, or in 

 ampullaria shells stuck beneath the wounds. 

 The sap, which at first- is of the consistence 

 of cream, soon thickens ; the collectors are 

 provided with u great number of wooden 

 moulds of the shape in which the rubber is 

 wanted, and when they return to the camp 

 they dip them into the liquid lay ing on, in the 

 course of several days, one coat after another. 

 When this is done, the substance is white 

 and hard ; the proper color and consistency 

 are given by passing it repeatedly through a 

 thick black smoke obtained by burning the 

 nuts of certain palm-trees, after which pro- 

 cess the article is ready for sata India-rub- 

 ber is known throughout the province only 

 by the name of seringa, the Portuguese word 

 for syringe ; it owes this appellation to the 

 circumstance that it was in this form only 

 that the first Portuguese settlers not iced it to 

 be employed by the aborigines. It is said 

 that the Indians were first taught to make 

 syringes of rubber by seeing natural tubes 

 formed by it, when the spontaneously-flowing 

 sap gathered round projecting twigs. Bra- 

 zilians of all classes still "use it extensively in 

 the form of syringes, for injections form a 

 great feature in the popular system oi : cures ; 

 the rubber for this purpose is made into a 

 pear-shaped bottle, and a quill fixed in the 

 long neck. 



September 24^7*. Opposite Cameta the 

 islands are all planted with cacao, the tree 

 which yields the chocolate nut. The forest is 

 not cleared for the purpose, but the cacao 

 plants are stuck in here and there almost it 

 random among the trees. There are many 

 houses on the banks of the river, all elevated 

 above the swampy soil on wooden piles, and 

 furnished wi-th broad ladders by which to 

 mount to the ground floor. As we passed by 

 in our canoe we could see the people at thefr 

 occupations in the open verandas, and in 

 one place saw a ball going on in broad day- 

 light ; there were fiddles and guitars hard at 

 work, and a number of lads in while shirts 

 and trousers dancing with brown damsels 

 clad in showy print dresses. The cacao-tree 

 produces a curious impression, on account o 



the flowers and fruit growing directly out ot 

 the trunk and branches. There is a whole 

 group of wild-fruit trees which have the same 

 habit in this country. In the wildernesses 

 where the cacao is planted, the collecting of 

 the fruit is dangerous from the number of 

 poisonous snakes \vhich inhabit the places. 

 One day, when we were running our mou- 

 taria to a landing-place, we saw a large ser- 

 pent on the trees overhead, as we were about 

 to brush past ; the boat was stopped just in 

 the nick of time, and Mr. Leavens brought 

 the rep<ile dowa with a charge of shot. 



September 2Gtk. At length we got clear of 

 the islands, and saw once more before us the 

 sea-like expanse of waters which foims the 

 mouth of the Tocantins. The liver had now 

 sunk to its lowest point, and numbers of fresh- 

 water dolphins were rolling about in shoaly 

 places. There are here two species, one of" 

 which was new to science when I sent speci- 

 mens to England. It is called the Tucuxi 

 (Steno tucuxi of Gray). When it comes to 

 the surface to breathe, it rises horizontally, 

 showing first its back fin ; draws an inspira- 

 tion, and tnen dives gently down, head fore- 

 most. This mode of proceeding distinguishes 

 the Tucuxi at once from the other species,, 

 which is called Boulo or porpoise by the na- 

 tives (Tnia Geoff royi of Desmarest). When 

 this rises, the top of the head is the part first 

 seen ; it then blows, and immediately after- 

 ward dips head downward, its back curving: 

 over, exposing successively the whole doisal 

 ridge with its fin. It seems thus to pitch 

 heels over head, but does not show the tail 

 fin. Besides this peculiar motion, it is distin- 

 guished from the Tucuxi by its habit of gen- 

 erally going in pairs. Botli species are ex- 

 ceedingly numerous throughout the Ama- 

 zons, and its larger tributaries, but they are^ 

 nowhere more plentiful than in I he shoaly 

 water at the mouth of the Tocantins, espe- 

 cially in the dry season. In the Upper Ama- 

 zons a third pale flesh colored species is also 

 abundant (theDelphinuspalliduscf Gervais). 

 With the exception of a species found in t.h 

 Ganges, all other varieties of dolphin inhabit 

 exclusively the sea. In the broader parts of" 

 the Amazons, from its mouth to a distance? 

 of fifteen hundred miles in the interior, one-- 

 or other of the three kinds here mentioned, 

 are always heard rolling, blowing, and snort- 

 ing, especially at night, and these noises con- 

 tribute much to the impression of sea- wide 

 vastness and desolation which haunts the.- 

 traveller. Besides dolphins in the water, 

 frigate-birds in the air are characteristic of 

 this low r er part of the Tocantins. Flocks 

 of them were seen the last two or three days 

 of our journey, hovering about at an immense 

 height. Toward night we were obliged to 

 cast anchor over a shoal in the middle of the. 

 river to await the ebb tide. The wind blew 

 very strongly, and this, together with the in- 

 coming flow, caused such a heavy sea that it 

 was impossible to sleep. The vessel rolled 

 and pile-bed until every bone in our bodies- 

 ached with the bumps we received, and w& 

 were all mors or less sea-sick. On the fol- 



