THE NATURALIST Oil THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



were piled on them, and a good fire soon re- 

 sulted. He then singed and prepared the 

 cutia, finishing by running a spit through the 

 body, and fixing one end in the ground in a 

 Slanting position over the fire. We had 

 I brought with us a bag of f arinha and a cup 

 ! containing a lemon, a dozen or two of fiery 

 red peppers, and a few spoonfuls of salt. 

 We breakfasted heartily when our cutia wa3 

 roasted, and washed the meal down with a 

 i calabash full of the pure water of the river. 

 f After breakfast the dogs found another 

 cutia, which was hidden in its burrow two 

 or three feet beneath the roots of a large tree, 

 and took Raimundo nearly an hour to disin- 

 ter it. Soon afterward we left this place^ 

 crossed the channel, and, paddling past twol 

 3t ibtiined a glimpse of the broad river 

 ft-, tt.em, witli a long sandy spit, ofi 

 if ioai several scared ibises and snoW| 

 i crets. One of the islands was krtp 

 and Lat-dy, and half of it was covered with 

 gigantic arum-trees, the often-mentioned 

 Caladium arborescens, which presented a 

 Strange sight. Most people are acquainted 

 with the little British species, Arum macula- 

 turn, which grows in hedge-bottoms, and 

 many, doubtless, have admired the largei 

 kinds grown in hot-houses ; they can there-; 

 fore form some idea of a forest of arums. 

 On this islet the woody stems of the plants 

 i near the bottom were eight to ten inches in 

 ) diameter, and the trees were twelve to fifteen 

 (feet high, all growing together in such a 

 manner that there was just room for a maa 

 io walk freely between them. There was $ 

 canoe in-shore, with a man and a woman ;j 

 the man, who was hooting with all his mightj,' 

 told us in passing that his son was lost iQ 

 the " aningal" (arum-grove). He had strayed 

 I while walking ashore, and the father *iad, 

 been an hour waiting for him in vain. 



About one o'clock we again stopped al die 

 mouth of a little creek. It was now intense* 

 iy hot. Raimundo said deer were found 

 here ; so he borrowed my gun, as being a 

 more effective weapon thaoi the wretched 

 arms called Lazarinos, which he, in common, 

 with all the ^native hunters, used, and which ! , 

 sell at Para for seven or eight shillings' 

 apiece. Raimundo and Joaquim now stripped i 

 themselves quite naked, and started off in 

 different directions through the forest, going 

 naked in order to move with less noise over 

 the carpet of dead leaves, among which they 

 stepped so^ stealthily that not the slightest 

 HL3H ) .^b". bQ heard. The dogs remained 

 & tf 3 |^t'* f $A the neighborhood of which I 

 ern(LO]Q^V iyself two hours entomologizing. 

 At the3B& of that time my two companions 

 returned, having met with no game whatever. 

 We now embarked on our return voyage, 

 Raimundo cut two slender poles, one for 3 

 mast and the other for a sprit : to these he 

 rigged a sail we had brought in the boat, foy 

 we were to return by the open river, and ex- 

 pected a good wind to carry us to Caripio As 

 soon as we got out of the channel we* began 

 to feel the wind the sea-breeze, wh;ch ber3 

 ttiakes a clean sweep from the AtlariJ 3. Out 



tooat was very small i^d heavily to.ien ; and 

 when, after rounding a point, I saw the great 

 breadth we had to traverse (seven miles), I 

 thought the attempt tc eros&in such a slight 

 vessel foolhardy in. the extreme. The waves 

 ran very high: there was no rudder; Rai- 

 mundo steered with a mddle, and all we bud 

 to rely upon to save tj from falling Into the 

 trough of the sea and b>ing instantly e-vamped s 

 were his nerve and /Mil. There :vas just 

 room in the boat for cur three se.ves, the 

 dogs, and the game w 3 had killed ; ? id when 

 between the swelling ridges of we ^ in so- 

 frail a shell, our destruction seemed inevita- 

 ble ; as it was, we shipped a little w*ter now 

 and then. Joaquim assisted with Kc paddle 

 to steady the boat ; n.y tune was ivlly occu- 

 pied in baling out tiie water and matching 

 the dogs, which were crowded together in. 

 the prow, yelling with fear, one or other of 

 them occasionally falling over the side and 

 causing great commotion in scrambling in. 

 again. Off the poirit was a ridge cf rocks, 

 over which the sun? 3 raged furiously. Rai- 

 mundo sat in the si ;rn, rigid and sihnt ; his- 

 eye steadily watch: tg the prow of rhe boat. 

 It was almost wort the risk and ci c com for ir- 

 of the passage tc witness the se. manlike - 

 ability displayed b\ Indians on tlie water. 

 The little boat rode beautifully, rising well, 

 with each wave, and in the course of an hour: 

 and a half we arrived at Caripi, tLoi Jughlj, 

 tired and wet through, to the skin. 



On the 16th of January the d*y seasor 

 came abruptly to an end. The seL-breezes 

 which had been increasing in force for some 

 days, suddenly ceased, and the atmosphere- 

 became misty ; at length heavy clouds collect- 

 ed where a uniform, blue sky had for uianyr 

 weeks prevailed, and down came a recession* 

 of heavy showers, the first of which . asted a* 

 whole day and night This seemed to give a- 

 new stimulus to animal life. On the firsfr, 

 night there was a -tremendous uprcai tree- 

 frogs, crickets, g -at- suckers, and owls all 

 joining to perforir a deafening conceit. One, 

 kind of goat-sucker kept repeating at inter- 

 vals throughout tie night a phrase ti-riiar to, 

 the Portuguese wads, ** Joao corta pao," 

 "John, cut wooc ;" a phrase which forms*. 

 ihe Brazilian nam j of the bird. An owl im 

 one of the Genipe,;)a trees muttered ZY w and: 

 then a succession of syllables resemb. ng the 

 word " MurucututiL Sometimes t'lecroak- 

 ? ng and hooting of fregs and toads "" ere so. 

 jkmd that we cculd not hear one another 's 

 voices within doo'Sv Swarms of dragon-flies- 

 appeared in the laytime about the p :>cls of 

 water created by fche rain, and ants ai.d ter- 

 mites came forth in the winged state In vast, 

 numbers. I noticed that the winged termites,, 

 or white ants, wLichcame by huudiec'stothe- 

 lamps at night when alighting on the table,. 

 often jerked off their wings by a 7 oluntaiy 

 movement. On examination. I fr*Jad that?- 

 the wings were not shed by the rools, for a*, 

 small portion of the stumps remained attached 

 to the thorax. The edge of the fracrure wasj 

 in all cases straight, not mptursrl there is,, 

 iu fact^ a natural seam rowing vb -- 



