THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



performed in the dark. The forest in this 

 part is obscure even in broad dayrght, but I 

 was scarcely prepared for the intense opacity 

 of darkness which reigned here on this night, 

 and which prevented us from seeing each 

 other, although walking side by side. Noth- 

 ing occurred of a nature to alarm us, except 

 that now and then a sudden rush was heard 

 among the trees, and once a dismal shriek 

 startled us. Petzell tripped at one place, and 

 fell all his length into the thicket. With this 

 exception, we kept well to the pathway, L.*?d 

 in due time arrived safely at Caripi. 



One of my neighbors ai Murucupi was a 

 hunter of reputation in these parts. He was 

 a civilized Indian, married and settled, ramed 

 Raimundo, whose habit was to sally forth at 

 intervals to certain productive hunting- 

 grounds, the situation of which he kept se- 

 cret, and procure fresh provisions for his 

 family. I had found out by this time that 

 animal food was as much a necessary of life 

 in this exhausting climate as it is in the North 

 of Europe. An attempt which I made to 

 live on vegetable food was quite a failure, 

 and I could not eat the execrable salt fish 

 which Brazilians use. I had been many days 

 without meat of any kind, and nothing more 

 was to be found near Caripi, so I asked as a 

 favor of Senhor Raimundo permission to ac- 

 company him on one of his hunting trips, 

 and shoot a little game for my own use. He 

 consented, and appointed a day on which I 

 was to come over to his house to sleep, so as 

 to be ready for starting with the ebb-tide 

 shortly after midnight. 



The locality we were to visit was situated 

 near the extreme point of the land of Carua- 

 pijo, where it projects northwardly into the 

 middle of the Para estuary, and is broken 

 into a number of islands. On the afternoon 

 of January llth, 1849, I walked through the 

 woods to Raimundo's house, taking nothing 

 with me but the double-barrelled gun, a sup- 

 ply of ammunition, and a box for the recep- 

 tion of any insects I might capture. Rai- 

 mundo was a carpenter, and seemed to be a 

 very industrious man ; he had two appren- 

 tices, Indians like himself one a young lad, 

 and the other apparently about twenty years 

 of age.. His wife was of the same race. The 

 Indian women are not always of a taciturn 

 disposition like their husbands. Senhora 

 Dominga was very talkative ; there was 

 another old squaw at the house on a visit, 

 and the tongues of the two were going at a 

 great rate the whole evening, using only the 

 Tupi language. Raimundo and his appren- 

 tices were employed building a canoe. Not- 

 withstanding his industry, he seemed to be 

 very poflr, and this was the condition of most 

 of the residents on the banks of the Muru- 

 cupi. They have, nevertheless, considerable 

 plantations of mandioca and Indian corn, be- 

 sides small plots of cotton, coffee, and sugar- 

 cane ; the soil is very fertile ; they have no 

 rent to pay, and no direct taxes. There is, 

 moreover, always a market in Para, twen'v 

 miles distant, for their surplus producy t u* 



a ready communication with it by water. 



In the evening we had more visitors. The 

 sounds of pipe and tabor were heard, and- 

 presently a procession of villagers emerged 

 from a pathway through the mandioca fields. 

 They were on a begging expedition for SL 

 Thome, the patron saint of Indians and ma- 

 melucos. One carried a banner, on which 

 was rudely painted the figure of St. Tht m 

 with a glory round his head. The pipe and 

 tabor were of the simplest description. The 

 pipe was a reed pierced with four holes, by 

 means of which a few unmusical notes were 

 produced, and the tabor was a broad hoop- 

 with a skin stretched over each end. A de- 

 formed young man played both the instru- 

 ments. Senhor Raimundo received them 

 with the quiet politeness which comes so na- 

 tural to the Indian when occupying the posi- 

 tion of host. The visitors, who had come 

 from the Villa de Conde, five miles through 

 the forest, were invited to rest. Raimundo 

 then took the image of St. Thome from one 

 of the party, and placed it by the side of 

 Nossa Senhora in his own oratorio, a little 

 decorated box in which every family keeps 

 its household gods, finally lighting a couple 

 of wax candles before it. Shortly afterward 

 a cloth was laid on a mat, and all the guests 

 were invited to supper. The fare was very 

 scanty ; a boiled fowl with rice, a slice of 

 roasted piraructi, farinha, and bananas. 

 Each one partook very sparingly, some of 

 the young men contenting themselves with a 

 plateful of rice. One of the apprentices stood, 

 behind with a bowl of water and a towei 

 with which each guest washed hisfingeis anu 

 rinsed his mouth after the meal. TLey 

 stayed all night ; the large open sued was 

 filled with hammocks, which weresluug fiom 

 pole to pole ; andonretiiing, Raimuudo gave 

 orders for their breakfast in the morning. 



Raimundo called me at two o'clock, when 

 we embarked (he, his older apprentice, Joa- 

 quim, and myself) in a shady place where it 

 was so dark that I could see neither canoe 

 nor water, taking with us five dogs. We 

 glided down a winding creek where huge- 

 trunks of trees slanted across close overhead, 

 and presently emerged into the Muiucupi. 

 A few yards further on we entered the 

 broader channel of the Aitiluba. This we 

 crossed, and entered another narrow creek on 

 the opposite side. Here the ebb-tide was 

 against us, and we had great difficulty iri 

 making progress. After we had struggled 

 against the "powerful current a distance of 

 two miles, we came to a part where the ebb- 

 tide ran in the opposite direction, showing; 

 that we had crossed the water-shed. The 

 tide flows into this channel or cietk at both, 

 ends simultaneously, and meets in the mid- 

 dle, although there is apparently no differ- 

 ence of level, and the breadth of the water is 

 the same. The tides are extremely intricate 

 throughout all the infinite channels and creeks 

 which intersect the lands of the Amazon 

 delta. The moon now broke forth tind light- 

 ed up the trunks of colossal trees, the leaves 

 of monstrous Jupati palms which arched 



