703 



THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



the Captain of the Trabalhadores. The dis- 

 trict includes Pinhel, which we passed about 

 twenty miles lower down on the left bank of 

 the river. Five miles beyond Aveyros, and 

 also on the left bank, is the missionary vil- 

 lage of Santa Cruz, comprising thirty or 

 forty families of baptized Mundurucu In- 

 dians, who are at present under the manage- 

 ment of a Capuchin Friar, and are indepen- 

 dent of the Captain of Trabalhadores of 

 Aveyros. The river view from this point 

 toward the south was very grand ; the 

 stream is from two to three miles broad, with 

 green islets resting on its surface, and on 

 each side a chain of hills stretches away in 

 long perspective. I resolved to stay here 

 for a few weeks to make collections. On 

 landing, my first care was to obtain a house 

 or room, that I might live ashore. This was 

 soon arranged, the head man of the place, 

 Captain Antonio, having received notice of 

 my coming, so that before night all the chests 

 and apparatus I required were housed and 

 put in order for working. 



I here dismissed Pinto, who again got 

 drunk and quarrelsome a few hours after he 

 came ashore. He left the next day, to my 

 great relief, in a small trading canoe that 

 touched at the place on its way to Santarern. 

 The Indian Maiioel took his leave at the 

 same time, having engaged to accompany me 

 only as far as Aveyros ; I was then depend- 

 ent on Captain Antonio for fresh hands. 

 The captains of Trabalhadores are appointed 

 by the Brazilian Government, to embody the 

 scattered Indian laborers and canoe-men of 

 their respective districts, to the end that they 

 may supply passing travellers with men 

 when required. A semi-military organiza- 

 tion is given to the bodies, some of the 

 steadiest among the Indians themselves being 

 nominated as sergeants, and all the members 

 mustered at the principal village of their dis- 

 trict twice a year. The captains, however, 

 universally abuse their authority, monopo- 

 lizing the service of the men for their own 

 purposes, so that it is only by favor that the 

 loan of a cano-hand can be wrung from 

 them. I was treated by Captain Antonio 

 with great consideration, and promised two 

 good Indians when I should be ready to con- 

 linue my voyage. 



Little happened worth narrating during 

 my forty days' stay at Aveyros. The time 

 was spent in the quiet, regular pursuit of 

 natural history ; every morning I had my 

 long ramble in the forest, which extended to 

 the back-doors of the houses, and the after- 

 noons were occupied in preserving and 

 studying the objects collected. The priest 

 was a lively old man, but rather a bore from 

 being able to talk of scarcely anything ex- 

 cept homo3opathy, having been smitten with 

 die mania during a recent visit to Santarem. 

 He had a Portuguese Homoeopathic Diction- 

 ary, and a little leather case containing glass 

 tuoes filled with globules, with which he 

 was doctoring the whole village. The 

 weather, during the month of July, was un- 

 interruptedly fine ; not a drop of rain fell, 



and the river sank rapidly. The mornings, 

 for two hours after sunrise, were very cold ; 

 we were glad to wrap ourselves in blankets 

 on turning out of our hammocks, and walk 

 about at a quick pace in the early sunshine. 

 But in the afternoons the heat was sicken- 

 ing, for the glowing sun then shone full on 

 the front of the row of whitewashed houses, 

 and there was seldom any wind to moderate 

 its effects. I began now to understand why 

 the branch rivers of the Amazons were so 

 unhealthy while the main stream was pretty 

 nearly free from diseases arising from mala- 

 ria. The cause lies, without doubt, in the 

 slack currents of the tributaries in the dry 

 season, and the absence of the cooling Ama- 

 zonian trade-wind, which purifies the air 

 along the banks of the main river. The 

 trade- wind does not deviate from its nearly 

 straight westerly course, so that the branch 

 streams, which run generally at right angles 

 to the Amazons, and have a slack current 

 for a long distance from their mouths, are 

 left to the horrors of nearly stagnant air and 

 water. 



Aveyros may be called the headquarters 

 of the fire-ant, which might be fittingly 

 termed the scourge of this fine river. The 

 Tapajos is nearly free from the insect pests 

 of other parts, mosquitoes, sand-flies, motiicas, 

 and piums ; but the formiga de fogo is per- 

 haps a greater plague than all the others put 

 together. It is found only en sandy soils in 

 open places, and seems to thrive most in the 

 neighborhood of houses and weedy villages 

 such as Aveyros : it does not occur at all in 

 the shades of the forest. I noticed it in most 

 places on the banks of the Amazons, but the 

 species is not very common on the main river, 

 and its presence is there scarcely noticed, be- 

 cause it does not attack man, and the sting is 

 not so virulent as it is in the same species on 

 the banks of the Tapajos. Aveyros was de- 

 serted a few years before my visit on account 

 of this little tormentor, and the inhabitants 

 had only recently returned to their houses, 

 thinking its numbers had decreased. It is a 

 small species, of a shining reddish color not 

 greatly differing from the common red sting- 

 ing ant of our own country (Myrmica rubra), 

 except that the pain and irritation caused by 

 its sting are much greater. The soil of the 

 whole village is undermined by it : the 

 ground is perforated with the entrances to 

 their subterranean galleries, and a little 

 sandy dome occurs here and there, where the 

 insects bring their young to receive warmth 

 near the surface. The houses are overrun 

 with them ; they dispute every fragment of 

 food with the inhabitants, and destroy cloth- 

 ing for the sake of the starch. All eatables 

 are obliged to be suspended in baskets from 

 the rafters, and the cords well soaked with 

 copaiiba balsam, which is the only means 

 known of preventing them from climbing. 

 They seem to attack persons out of sheer 

 malice : if we stood for a few moments in 

 the street, even at a distance from their nests, 

 we were sure to be overrun and severely 

 punished. f or the moment an unt i ached the 



