700 



THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



on the w 

 en doors 



originally a settlement of the aborigines, and 

 was called Burari. As in all the semi-civil- 

 ized villages, where the original orderly and 

 industrious habits of the Indian have been 

 lost without anything being learned from the 

 whites to make amends, the inhabitants live 

 in the greatest poverty. The scarcity of fish 

 in the clear waters and rocky bays of the 

 neighborhood is no doubt partly the cause of 

 the poverty and perennial hunger which 

 reign here. When we arrived in the port 

 our canoe was crowded with the half-naked 

 villagers men, women, and children who 

 came to beg each a piece of salt pirarucu 

 " for the love of God." They are not quite 

 so badly off in the dry season. The shallow 

 lakes arid bays then contain plenty of fish, 

 and the boys and women go out at night to 



..s. Very few of them had wood- densely wooded, instead of an open campo 

 and locks. Altar do Chao was In no part of the country did I enjoy more 



1 the moonlit nights than here in the dry sea- 

 son. After the day's work was done I used 

 to go down to the shores of the bay and lie 

 fnll length on the cool sand for two or three 

 hours before bedtime. The soft pale light, 

 resting on broad sandy beaches and palm- 

 thatched huts, reproduced the effect of a 

 midwinter scene in the ccid north when a 

 coating of snow lies on the landscape. A 

 heavy shower falls about once a week, and 

 the shrubby vegetation never becomes 

 parched up as at Santarem. Between the 

 rains the heat and dryness increase from day 

 to day : the weather on the first day after the 

 rain is gleamy, with intervals of melting 

 sunshine and passing clouds ; the next day 

 is rather drier, and the east wind begins to 



__ _ blow ; then follow days of cloudless sky, 



spear them by torchlight, the torches being with gradually increasing strength of breeze 

 made of thin strips of green bark from the When this has continued about a week a, 

 leaf-stalks of palms, tied in bundles. Manv light mistiness begins to e-ather about the 

 excellent kinds of fish are thus obtained, horizon, clouds are formed "grumbling thun- 

 among them the Pescada, whose white and der is heard, and then, generally in the night- 

 flaky flesh, when boiled, has the appearance time, down falls the refreshing rain. The 

 and flavor of codfish ; and the Tucunare sudden chill caused by the rains produces 

 (Cichla temensis), a handsome species with a colds, which are accompanied by the same 

 large prettily-colored eye-like spot on its tail, symptoms as in our own climate ; with this 

 Many small Salmonidse are also met with, 

 and a kind of sole, called Aramassa, which 

 moves along the clear sandy bottom of the 

 bay. At these times a species of sting-ray is 

 common on the sloping beach, and bathers 

 are frequently stung most severely by it. 

 The weapon of this fish is a strong blade 

 with jagged edges, about three inches long, 



f rowing from the side of the long fleshy tail, 

 once saw a woman wounded by it while 

 bathing ; she shrieked frightfully, and was 

 obliged to be carried to her hammock, where 

 she lay for a week in great pain. I have 



exception , the place is very healthy. 



June \lth. The two young men returned 

 without meeting with my montaria, and I 

 found it impossible here to buy a new one. 

 The head-man could find me only one hand. 

 This was a blunt-spoken but willing young 

 Indian, named Manoel. He came on board 



known strong men to be lamed for many 

 months by the sting. 



There was a mode of taking fish here which 

 I had not before seen employed, but found 



this morning at eight o'clock, and we then 

 got up our anchor and resumed our voyage. 

 The wind was light and variable all day, 

 and we made only about fifteen miles by 

 seven o'clock in the evening. The coast 

 formed a succession of long shallow bays 

 with sandy beaches, on which the waves 

 broke in a long line of surf. Ten miles 

 above Altar do Chao is a conspicuous head- 

 land, called Point Cajetuba. During a lull 



afterward to, be very common on the Tapa- of the wind, toward mid-day, we ran the 

 jos. This 4s by using a poisonous liana cuberta aground in shallow water and waded 



called Timbo (Paullinia pinuata). It will 

 act only in the still waters of creeks and 

 pools. A few rods, a yard in length, are 



ashore, but the woods were scarcely pene- 

 trable, and not a bird was to be seen. The 

 only thing observed worthy of note was the 



mashed and soaked in the water, which quantity of drowned winged ants along the 



quickly becomes discolored with the milky, beach ; they were all of one species, the ter- 



deleterious juice of the plant. In about half rible formiga de fogo (Myrmica ssevissima) ; 



an hour all the smaller fishes ver a rather the dead or half -dead bodies of which were 



wide space around the spot rise to the sur- heaped up in a line an inch or two in height 



face, floating on their sides, and with the and breadth, the line continuing without in- 



gills wide open. The poison acts evidently terruption for miles at the edge of the water, 



by suffocating the fishes ; it spreads slowly The countless thousands had been doubtless 



in the water, and a very slight mixture cast into the river while flying during a sud- 



seems sufficient to stupefy them. I was sur- den squall the night before, and afterward 



prised, on beating the water in places where cast ashore by the waves. We found our- 



no fishes were visible in the clear depths, for selves at seven o clock near the mouth of a 



many yards round, to find, sooner or later, creek leading to a small lake, called Ara- 



aometimes twenty -four hours afterward, a mana-i ; and the wind having died away, we 



considerable number floating dead on the anchored, guided by the lights ashore, near 



surface. the house of a settler named Jeronymo, 



The climate is rather more humid than whom I knew, and who soon after showed 



that of Santarem. I suppose this is to be at- us a snug little harbor where we could re- 

 triubud to the neighboring country being main in safety for the night. The river her* 



