THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



"but stin more picturesque road, which runs 

 1o Curima and Pacaja, two small settlements, 

 several miles distant, in the heart of the for- 

 est. The Curima road is beautiful in the ex- 

 treme. About half a mile from the house 

 where I lived it crosses a brook flowing 

 through a deep dell, by means of a long rus- 

 tic wooden bridge. The virgin forest is here 

 left untouched ; numerous groups of slender 

 palms, mingled with lofty trees overrun with 

 creepers and parasites, fill the shady glen 

 and arch over the bridge, forming one of the 

 most picturesque scenes imaginable. A lit- 

 tle beyond the bridge there was an extensive 

 grove of orange and other trees, which yield- 

 ed me a rich harvest. The Aldeia road runs 

 parallel to the river, the land from the border 

 of the road to the indented shore of the To- 

 cant ins forming a long slope, which was also 

 richly wooded ; this slope was threaded by 

 numerous shady paths, and abounded in beau- 

 tiful insects and birds. At the opposite or 

 southern end of the town there was a broad 

 road called the Estrada da Vacaria ; this ran 

 along the banks of the Tocantins at some 

 distance from the river, and continued over 

 hill and dale, through bamboo thickets and 

 palm swamps, for about fifteen miles. 



At Cameta I chanced to verify a fact relat- 

 ing to the habits of a large hairy spider of the 

 genus Mygale, in a manner worth recording. 

 The species was M. avicularia, or one very 

 closely allied to it ; the individual was nearly 

 two inches in length of body, but the legs 

 expanded seven inches, and the entire body 

 and legs were covered with coarse gray and 

 reddish hairs. I was attracted by a move- 

 ment of the monster on a tree-trunk ; it was 

 close beneath a deep crevice in the tree, across 

 which was stretched a dense white web. The 

 lower part of the web was broken, and two 

 small birds, finches, were entangled in the 

 pieces ; they were about the size of the Eng- 

 lish siskin, and I judged the two to be male 

 and female. One of them was quite dead : 

 ihe other lay under the body of the spider not 

 quite dead, and was smeared with the fi.thy 

 liquor or saliva exuded by the monster. 1 

 drove away the spider and took the birds, 

 but the second one soon died. The fact of 

 species of Mygale sallying forth at night, 

 mounting trees, and sucking the eggs and 

 young nf humming-birds, has been recorded 

 long ago by Madame Merian and Palisot de 

 Beauvois ; but, in the absence of any con- 

 firmation, it has come to be discredited. 

 From the way the fact has been related it 

 would appear that it had been merely derived 

 from the report of natives, and had not been 

 witnessed by the narrators. Count Langs- 

 dorff, in his'" Expedition into the Interior of 

 Brazil," states that he totally disbelieved the 

 story. 1 found the circumstance to be quite 

 a novelty to the residents hereabout. The 

 Mygales are quite common insects ; some 

 species make their cells under stones, others 

 form artistic tunnels in the earth, and some 

 build their dens in the thatch of houses. The 

 natives call them Aninhas carangueijeiras, 

 or crab-spiders. The hairs with which they 



are clothed come off when touched, and cause 

 a peculiar and almost maddening irritatiou. 

 The first specimen that I killed and prepared 

 was handled incautiously, and I suffered ter- 

 ribly for three days afterward. I think this 

 is not owing to any poisonous quality resid- 

 ing in the hairs, but to their being short and 

 hard, and thus getting into the fine creases 

 of the skin. Some Mygales are of immense 

 size. One day I saw the children belonging 

 to an Indian famity, who collected for me, 

 with one of these monsters secured by a corrl 

 round its waist, by which they were leading 

 it about the house as they would a dog. 



The only monkeys I observed at Cameta 

 were the Couxio (Pitheciu Satanas) a large 

 species, clothed with long brownish-black 

 hair and the tiny Midas argentatus. The 

 Couxio has a thick bushy tail, and the hair 

 of the head, which looks as if it had been 

 carefully combed, sits on it like a wig. It 

 inhabits only the most retired parts of the 

 forest, on the terra finna, and I observed 

 nothing of its habits. Ihe little Midas argen- 

 tatus is one of the rarest of the American 

 monkeys ; indeed, I have not heard of its 

 being found anywhere except near Cameta, 

 where I once saw three individuals, looking: 

 like so many white kittens, running along a 

 branch in a cacao grove ; in their motions 

 they resembled precisely the Midas ursulus 

 already described. I saw afterward a pet 

 animal of this species, and heard that thre 

 were many so kept, and that they were 

 esteemed as groat treasures. The one men- 

 tioned was full grown, although it measured 

 only seven inches in length of body. It was 

 covered with long white silky hairs, the tail 

 being blackish, and the face nearly naked and 

 flesh-colored. It was a most timid and sensi- 

 tive little thing. The woman who owned it 

 carried it constantly in her bosom, and no 

 money would induce her to part with her 

 pet. She called it Mico. It fed from her 

 tuouth, and allowed her to fondle it freely, 

 but the nervous little creature would not per 

 mit strangers to touch it. If any one at- 

 tempted to do so, it shrank back, the whole 

 body trembling with fear, and its teeth chat- 

 tered while it uttered its tremulous frightened 

 tones. The expression of its features was 

 like that of its more robust brother, Midas 

 ursulus ; the eyes which were black, were 

 full of curiosity and mistrust, ami were 

 always kept fixed on the person who attempt- 

 ed to advance toward it. 



In the orange groves and other parts hum- 

 ming-birds were plentiful, but 1 did not no- 

 tice more than three species. I saw one day 

 a little pygmy belonging to the genus Phae- 

 thornis in the act of washing itself in a brook, 

 perched on a thin branch, one end of which 

 was under water. It dipped itself, then flut- 

 tered its wings and preened its feathers, and 

 seemed thoroughly to enjoy itself, alone in 

 the shady nock which it had chosen a place* 

 overshadowed by broad leaves of ferns and 

 Helicon ire. I thought, as I watched it, that 

 there was no need for poets to invent elvea 

 aiid gnomes, while nature furnishes u 



