636 



THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



of bii .Js on leaves, than on flowers. 



We were disappointed also in not meeting; 

 with any of the larger animals in the forest. 

 There was uo tumultuous movement, or 

 sound of life. "We did not see or hear mon- 

 keys, and no tapir or jaguar crossed our path. 

 Birds, also, appeared to be exceedingly 

 scarce. We heard, however, occasion- 

 ally the long-drawn, wailing note of the 

 Inambu, a kind of partridge (Crypturus cine- 

 reus ?) ; and, also, in the hollows on the 

 banks of the rivulets, the noisy notes of an- 

 other bird, which seemed to go in pairs, 

 among the tree-tops, calling to each other as 

 they went. These notes resounded through 

 the wilderness. Another solitary bird had a 

 most sweet and melancholy song ; it consisted 

 simply of a few notes, uttered in a plaintive 

 key, commencing high, and descending by 

 harmonic intervals. It was probably a spe- 

 cies of warbler of the genus Trshas. All 

 these notes of birds are very striking and 

 characteristic of the forest. 



I afterward saw reason to modify my 

 opinion, founded on these first impressions, 

 with regard to the amount and variety of an- 

 imal life in this and other parts of the Ama- 

 zonian forests. There is, in fact, a great va- 

 riety of mammals, birds, and reptiles, but 

 they are widely scattered, and all excessively 

 shy of man. The region is so extensile, and 

 uniform in the forest clothing of the surface, 

 that it is only at long intervals that animals 

 are seen in abundance, where some particu- 

 lar spot is found which is more attractive 

 than others. Brazil, moreover, is throughout 

 poor in terrestrial mammals, and the species 

 are of small size ; they do not, therefore, 

 form a conspicuous feature in its forests. 

 The huntsman would be disappointed who 

 expected to rind here flocks of animals simi- 

 lar to the buffalo herds of North America, 

 or the swarms of antelopes and herds of pon- 

 derous pachyderms of Southern Africa. The 

 largest and most interesting portion of the Bra- 

 zilian mammal fauna is arboreal in its hab- 

 its ; this feature of the animal denizens of 

 these forests I have already alluded to. The 

 most intensely arboreal animals in the world 

 are the South American monkeys of the fam- 

 ily Cebidse, many of which have a fifth hand 

 for climbing in their prehensile tails, adapted 

 for this function by their strong muscular 

 development, and the naked palms under 

 their tips. This seems to teach us that the 

 South American fauna has been slowly 

 adapted to a forest life, and, therefore, that 

 extensive forests must have always existed 

 since the region was first peopled by mam- 

 malia. But to this subject, and to the nat- 

 ural history of the monkeys, of which thirty- 

 eight species inhabit the Amazon region, J 

 shall have to return. 



We often read, in books of travels, of the 

 silence and gloom of the Brazilian forests. 

 They are realities, and the impression deep- 

 ens on a longer acquaintance. The few 

 sounds of birds are of that pensive or mys- 

 terious character which intensifies the feel- 

 ing of solitude rather than imparts a sense of 

 life and cheerfulness. Sometimes, in the 



midst of the stillness, a sudden yell or scream 

 will startle one ; this comes from some de 

 fenceless fruit - eating animal, which is 

 pounced upon by a tiger-cut or stealthy boa- 

 constrictor.. Morning and evening the howl' 

 ing monkeys make a most fearful and harrow- 

 ing noise, under which it is difficult to keep 

 up one's buoyancy of spirit. The feeling oi 

 inhospitable wildness which the forest is cal- 

 culated to inspire is increased tenfold under 

 this fearful uproar. Often, even in the still 

 hours of midday, a sudden crash will be 

 heard resounding nfar through the wilder- 

 ness, as some great bough or entire tree falls 

 to the ground. There are, besides, many 

 sounds which it is impossibe to account for. 

 I found the natives generally as much at a 

 loss in this respect as myself. Sometimes a 

 sound is heard like the clang of an iron bar 

 against a hard, hollow tiee, or a piercing cry 

 rends the air ; these are not repeated, and 

 the succeeding silence tends to heighten the 

 unpleasant impression which they make on 

 the mind. With the native it is always the 

 Curupira, the wild man or spirit of the for- 

 est, which produces all noises they are un- 

 able to explain. For myths are the rude 

 theories which mankind, in the infancy of 

 knowledge, invent to explain natural phe- 

 nomena. The Cuiupira is a mysterious be- 

 ing, whose attributes are uncertain, for they 

 vary according to locality. Sometimes he is 

 described as a kind of orang-otang, being 

 covered with long shaggy hair, and living 

 in trees. At others he is said to have clo- 

 ven feet and a bright red face. He has a wife 

 and children, and sometimes comes down to 

 the rocas to steal the mandioca. At one 

 time I had a mameluco youth in my service, 

 whose head was full of the legends and su- 

 perstitions of the country. He always went 

 with me into the forest ; in fact, I could not 

 get him to go aloue, and whenever we heard 

 any of the strange noises mentioned above, 

 he used to tremble with fear. He would 

 crouch down behind me, and beg of me to 

 turn back ; his alarm ceasing only after he 

 had made a charm to protect us from the 

 Curupira. For this purpose he took a young 

 palm-leaf, plaited it, and formed it into a 

 ring, which he hung to a branch on our track. 

 At length, after a six hours' walk, we arrived 

 at our ^destination, the last mile or two hav- 

 ing been again through second-growth for- 

 est. The mills formed a large pile of build- 

 ings, pleasantly situated in a cleared tract of 

 land, many acres in extent, and everywhere 

 surrounded by the perpeiua! forest. We 

 were received in the kindest manner by the 

 overseer, Mr. Leavens, who showed us all 

 that was interesting about the place, and took 

 us to the best spots in the neighborhood for 

 birds and insects. The mills were built & 

 loug time ago by a wealthy Brazilian. They 

 had belonged to Mr. Upton for many years. 

 I was told that when the dark-skinned revo- 

 lutionists were preparing for their attack on 

 Para, they occupied the place, but not the 

 slightest injury was done to the machinery or 

 building, for the leaders said it was against 

 the Portuguese and their party that they were 



