THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



caught a bough, in his descent, with his 

 powerful claws, and remained suspended. 

 Our Indian lad tried to climb the tree, but 

 was driven back by swarms of stinging 

 ants ; the poor little fellow slid down in a 

 sad predicament, and plunged into the brook 

 to free himself. Two days afterward I 

 found the hi>dy of the sloth on the ground : 

 the animal having dropped on the relaxation 

 of the muscles a few hours after death. In 

 one of our voyages Mr. Wallace and I saw 

 a sloth (B. infuscatus) swimming across a 

 river, at a place where it was probably 300 

 yards broad. I believe it is not generally 

 known that this animal takes to the water. 

 Our men caught the beast, cooked, and ate 

 him. 



In returning from these trips we were 

 sometimes benighted on the campos. We 

 did not care for this on moonlit nights, when 

 there was no danger of losing the path. The 

 great heat felt in the middle hours of the 

 day is much mitigated by four o'clock in the 

 afternoon ; a few birds then make their ap- 

 pearance ; small flocks of ground duves run 

 about the stony hillocks ; parrots pass over 

 and sometimes settle in the ilhas ; pretty 

 little finches of several species, especially one 

 kind, streaked with olive-brown and yellow, 

 and somewhat resembling our yellow-ham- 

 mer, but, I believe, not belonging to the 

 same genus, hop about the grass^ enlivening 

 the place with a few musical notes. The 

 Carashue (Mimtis) also then resumes its mel- 

 low blackbird-like song ; and two or three 

 species of humming-bird, none of which, 

 however, are peculiar to the district, flit 

 about from tree to tree. On the other hand, 

 the little blue and yellow-striped lizards, 

 which abound among the herbage during the 

 scorching heats of mid-day, retreat toward 

 this hour to their hiding-places ; together 

 with the day-flying insects and the numerous 

 campo-butterflies. Some of these latter re- 

 semble greatly our English species found in 

 healthy places, namely, a fritillary, Argyuuis 

 (Euptoieta) Hegesia, and two smaller kinds, 

 which are deceptively like the little Nemeo- 

 bius Luciua. After sunset the air becomes 

 delightfully cool and fragrant with the aroma 

 of fruits and flowers. The nocturnal ani- 

 mals then come forth. A monstrous hairy 

 spider, rive inches in expanse, of x brown 

 color, with yellowish lines along its stout 

 legs which is very common hf re, inhabit- 

 ing broad tubular galleries smoothly lined 

 with silken web may be then caught on 

 the wateL, fit the mouth of its burrow. It is 

 only seen at night, and I think does not wan- 

 der far' from its den ; the gallery is about 

 two inches in diameter, and runs in a slant- 

 ing direction, about two feet ftorn the sur- 

 face of the soil. As soon as it is night, 

 swaruis of goat-suckers suddenly make their 

 appearance, wheeling about in a no.iseless, 

 ,ghostly manner, in chase of night-flying in- 

 jsects. They sometimes descend and settle 

 on a low branch, or even on the pathway 

 rlos.e to where one i$ walking , and then, 

 squatting down on their heels, are difficult to 



distinguish from the surrounding soil. One 1 ? 

 kind lias a long forked tail. In the day-time- 

 they are concealed in the wooded ilhas, where 

 I very often saw them crouched and sleeping- 

 on the ground in the dense shade. They 

 make no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare 

 ground. Their breeding time is in tho rainy 

 season, and fresh eggs are found from De- 

 cember to June. Later in the evening tlio- 

 singular notes of the goat-suckers are heuid, 

 one species crying Quao, Quao, another 

 Chuck-co-co-cao ; and these are repeated at 

 intervals far into the night in the most mo 

 notonous manner. A great number of toads . 

 are seen on the bare sandy pathways soot, 

 after sunset. One of them was quite a coir 

 sus, about seven inches in length and three ir 

 height. This big fellow would never move 

 ou f , of the way until we were close to him. 

 If we jerked him out of the path with a stick, 

 he would slowly recover himself, and then 

 turn round to have a good impudent stare. 

 I have counted as many as thirty of ibese 

 monsters within a distance of half a mile. 

 CHAPTER IX. 



VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. 



Preparations for voyage -First day's sail Loss of 

 boat Altar do Chao Modes of obtaining fish Dif- - 

 flculties with crew Arrival at Aveyroa Excursions 

 in the neiirhborhood White Cebus and habits nd. 

 dispositions of Cebi monkeys Tame parrot Mis- 

 sionary settlement Knter the River Cupari Adven 

 lure with an anaconda Smoke-dried monkey Bo i 

 constric'or Village of Mnmlurueu Indians, and in- 

 cursiiHi of a wild tribe Palls of the Cupari -Hva 

 cintliine 'imcaw He-emerge into the broad Tapajof ' 

 Descent of river to Santarem. 



June, 1852. I will now proceed to re 

 late the incidents of my principal excursion 

 up the Tapajos. which I began to prepares 

 for after residing about six months at Sun- 

 tarem. 



I was obliged, this time, to travel in a 

 vessel of my own ; partly because trading- 

 canoes large enough to accommodate a natu- 

 ralist very seldom pass between Santarem. 

 and the thinly-peopled settlements on the 

 river, and paitly because I wished to ex- 

 plore districts at my ease far out of the 

 ordinary track of traders. I soon found a 

 suitable canoe a two-masted cuberta, of 

 about six tons' burden, strongly built of 

 Itaiiba or stonewood, a timber of which all 

 the best vessels in the Amazons country are 

 constructed, and said to be more durabi 

 than teak. This I hired of a merchant nt 

 the cheap rate of 500 reis, or about one shil- 

 ling and twopence per day. I fitted up the 

 cabin, which, as usual in canoes of this 

 class, was a square structure with its floor 

 above the water-line, as my sleeping and 

 working apartments. My chests, filled with 

 store-boxes and trays for specimens, were 

 arranged on each side, and above them were 

 shelves and pegs to hold my little stock of 

 useful books, guns, and game bags, boaids 

 and materials for skinning and preserving 

 animals, botanical press and papers, drying' 

 rages for insects and birds, and sj forth. A 

 rusJj.iiuU was spread OH. the floor, and my 

 iuiija-up hammock, to be u^ed only wheu. 



