THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



71$ 



insignis, of Gttnther), came gliding through 

 at a slow pace, forming a very pretty sight. At 

 another time, little troops of needle-fish, eel- 

 like animals with excessively long and slen- 

 der-toothed jaws, sailed through the field, 

 scattering before them the hosts of smaller 

 fry ; and in the rear of the needle-fishes a 

 strangely-shaped kind called Sarapo came 

 wriggling along, one by one, with a slow 

 movement. We caught with hook and line, 

 baited with pieces of banana, several Curi- 

 maca (Anodus Amazonum) a most delicious 

 fish, which, next to the Tucunare and the 

 Pescada, is most esteemed by the natives. 

 The Curimata seemed to prefer the middle 

 of the stream, where the waters were agitated 

 beneath the little cascade. 



The weather was now settled and dry, and 

 the river sank rapidly six inches iu twenty- 

 four hours. In this remote and solitary spot 

 I can say that I heard for the first and almost 

 the only time the uproar of life at sunset, 

 which Humboldt describes as having wit- 

 nessed toward the sources of the Orinoco, but 

 which is unknown on the banks of the larger 

 rivers. The noises of animals began just as 

 the sun sank behind the trees, after a swel- 

 tering afternoon, leaving the sky above of the 

 intensest shade of blue. Two flocks of howl- 

 ing monkeys, one close to our canoe, the 

 other about a furlong distant, filled the echo- 

 ing forest with their dismal roaring. Troops 

 of parrots, including the hyacinthine macaw 

 we were in search of, began then to pass 

 over, the different styles of cawing and 

 screaming of the various species making a 

 terrible discord. Added to these noises were 

 the songs of strange Cicadas, one large kind 

 perched high on the trees around our little 

 haven setting up a most piercing chirp ; it 

 began with the usual harsh jarring tone of its 

 tiibe, but this gradually and rapidly became 

 shriller, until it ended in a long and loud note 

 resembling the steam-whistle of a locomotive 

 engine. Half a dozen of these wonderful 

 performers made a considerable item in the 

 evening concert. I had heard the same spe- 

 cies before at Para, but it was there very un- 

 common ; we obtained here one of them for 

 my collection by a lucky blow with a stone. 

 The uproar of beasts, birds, and insects 

 lasted but a short time : the sky quickly lost 

 its intense hue, and the night set in. Then 

 began the tree-frogs quack-quack, drum- 

 drum, hoo-hoo ; these, accompanied by a 

 melancholy night-jar, kept up their monoto- 

 nous cries until very late. 



My men encountered on the banks of the 

 stream a Jaguar and a black Tiger, and were 

 very much afraid of falling in with the Para- 

 rauates, so that I could not, after their return 

 on the fourth day, induce them to undertake 

 another journey. We began our descent of 

 the river in the evening of the 26th of Au- 

 gust. At night forest and river were again 

 enveloped in mist, aiid the air before sunrise 

 was quite cold. There is a'considerable cur- 

 rent from the falls to the house of John 

 Aracu, and we accomplished the distance, 

 with its aid and by rowing, in seventeen 



hours. 



September 21*tf. At five o'clock in the after- 

 noon we emerged from the confined and 

 stifling gully through which the Cupari flows, 

 into the broad Tapajos, and breathed freely 

 again. How I enjoyed the extensive view 

 utter being so long pent up : the mountainous; 

 coasts, the gray distance, the dark waters, 

 tossed by a refreshing breeze ! Heat, mos- 

 quitoes, insufficient and bad food, hard woik 

 and anxiety had brought me to a very low 

 Btate of health ; and I was now anxious to-- 

 make all speed back to Santarem. 



We touched at Aveyros, to embark some 

 chests I had left there, and to settle accounts , 

 with Captain Antonio : finding nearly all the 

 people sick with fever and vomit, against 

 which the Padre's homoeopathic globules 

 were of no avail. The Tapajos had been 

 pretty free from epidemics for some year& 

 past, although it was formerly a very un- 

 healthy river. A sickly time appeared to be* 

 now returning ; in fact, the year following; 

 my visit (1853) was the most fatal one ever 

 experienced in this part of the country. A... 

 kind of putrid fever broke out, which at- 

 tacked people of all races alike. The ac-- 

 counts we received at Santa rem were most 

 distressing : my Cupari friends especially 

 suffered very severely. John Aracu and hiV 

 family all fell victims, with the exception cf '. 

 his wife : my kind friend Antonio Malagueita 

 also died, and a great number of people in 

 the Muadurucu. village. 



The descent of the Tapajos in the height 

 of the dry season, which was now close at. 

 hand, is very hazardous on account of the 

 strong winds, absence of current, and shoaly 

 water far away from the coasts. The river- 

 toward the end of September is about thirty 

 feet shallower than in June ; and in many 

 places ledges of rock are laid bare, or covered 

 with only a small depth of water. I had been . 

 warned of these circumstances by my Cupaii 

 friends, but did not form an adequate idea of 

 what we should have to undergo. Canoes, 

 in descending, only travel at night, when the 

 terral, or light land breeze, blows off the; 

 eastern shore. In the daytime a strong wind 

 rages from down river, against which it ia 

 impossible to contend, as there is. no current, 

 and the swell raised by its sweeping over 

 scores of miles of shallow water is dangerous 

 to small vessels The coast for the greater 

 part of the distance affords no shelter : there 

 are, however, a number of little harbors, 

 called esperas, which the canoe-men calculate- 

 upon, carefully arranging each night voyage 

 so as to reach one of them before the wind 

 begins the next morning. 



We left Aveyros in the evening of the 21st, 

 and sailed gently down with the soft land- 

 breeze, keeping about a mile rom the east- 

 ern shore. It was a brilliant moonlit night, 

 and the men worked cheerfully at the oars, 

 when the wind was slack, the terral wafting 

 from the forest a pleasant perfume like that 

 of mignonette. At midnight we made a fire 

 and got a cup of coffee, and at three o'clock 

 in the morning reached the sitio of Kicardo's, 



