THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



731 



tuna a spacious shady grove. 1 rambled 

 daily, during many weeks of each successive 

 dry season, along this delightful road. The 

 trees, mny of which are myrtles and wild 

 guavas, with smooth yellow stems, were in 

 flower at this time ; and the rippling waters 

 of tne lake, under the cool shade, everywhere 

 bordered the path. The place was the resort 

 of kingfishers, green and blue tree-creepers, 

 purple-headed tanagers, and humming-birds. 

 Birds generally, however, were not numer- 

 ous. Every tree was tenanted by Cicadas, 

 the reedy notes of which produced that loud 

 jarring insect music which is the general ac- 

 companiment of a woodland ramble in a hot 

 climate. One species was very handsome, 

 having wings adorned with patches of bright 

 green and scarlet. It was very common, 

 sometimes three or four tenanting a single 

 tree, clinging as usual to the branches. On 

 approaching a tree thus peopled, a number 

 of little jets of a clear liquid would be seen 

 squirted from aloft. I have often received 

 the well-directed discharge full on my face ; 

 but the liquid isliarmless, having a sweetish 

 taste, and is ejected by the insect from the 

 anus, probably in self-defence, or from fear. 

 The number and variety of gayly tinted but- 

 terflies, sporting about in this grove on sunny 

 days, were so great that the bright moving 

 flakes of color gave quite a character to the 

 physiognomy of the place. It was impossi- 

 ble to walk far without disturbing flocks of 

 them from the damp sand at the edge of the 

 water, where they congregated to imbibe the 

 moisture. They were of almost all colors, 

 sizes, and shapes : 1 noticed here altogether 

 eighty species, belonging to twenty -two dif- 

 ferent genera. It is a singular fact that, 

 with very few exceptions, alt the individuals 

 of these various species thus sporting in 

 sunny places were of the male sex ; their 

 partners, which are much more soberly 

 dressed and immensely less numerous than 

 the males, being confined to the shades of the 

 woods. Every afternoon, as the sun was 

 getting low, I used to notice these gaudy sun- 

 shine-loving swains trooping off to the for- 

 est, where I suppose they would find their 

 sweethearts and wives. The most abundant, 

 next to the very common sulphur-yellow and 

 orange-colored kinds, were about a dozen 

 species of Eunica, which are of large size, 

 and are conspicuous from their liveries of 

 glossy dark blue/and purple. A superbly- 

 adorned creature, the Callithea Markii, hav- 

 ing wings of a thick texture, colored 

 sapphire- blue and orange, was only an occa- 

 sional visitor. On certain days, when tlit 

 weather was very calm, two small gilded 



green species (Symmachia Trochilus and 

 olubris) literally swarmed on the sands, 

 their glittering wings lying wide open on the 

 flat surface. The beach terminates, eight 

 miles beyond Ega, at the mouth of a rivulet ; 

 the character of the coast then changes, the 

 river banks being masked by a line of low 

 islets amid a labyrinth of channels. 



In all other directions my very numerous 

 excursions were by water ; the most interest- 



ing of those made in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood were to the houses of Indians on the 

 banks of retired creeks ; an account of one 

 of these trips will suffice. 



On the 23d of May, 1850, 1 visited, in com- 

 pany with Antonio Cardozo, the Delegado, a 

 family ot the Passe tribe, who live near thcj 

 head waters of the Igarape, which flow* 

 from the south into the Teffe, entering it at 

 Ega. The creek is more than a quaiter ( t 

 a mile broad near the town, but a few mill * 

 inland it gradually contracts, until it become * 

 a mere rivulet flowing through a broad dell 

 in the forest. When the river rises, it fills, 

 this dell ; the trunks of the lofty trees then 

 stand many feet deep in the water, and small 

 canoes are able to travel the distance of a 

 day's journey under the shade, regular path3 

 or alleys being cut through the branches anl 

 lower trees. This is the general character of 

 the country of the Upper Amazons ; a land 

 of small elevation and abruptly undulated, 

 the hollows forming narrow valleys in the 

 dry months, and deep navigable creeks in the 

 "Wet months. In retired nooks on the mar- 

 gins of these shady rivulets, a few families 

 or small hordes of aborigines still linger in 

 nearly their primitive state, the relics of their 

 once numerous tribes. The family we in- 

 tended to visit on this trip was that of Pedro- 

 uassu (Peter the Great, or tafll Peter), an old 

 chieftain or Tushaua of the Passes. 



We set out at sunrise, in a small igarite, 

 manned by six young Indian paddlers. After 

 travelling about three miles along the broad 

 portion of the creek which, being surround- 

 ed by woods, had the appearance of a large 

 pool we came to a part where our course 

 seemed to b.e stopped by an impenetrable 

 hedge of trees and bushes. We were some 

 time before finding the entrance, but when 

 fairly within the shades, a remarkable scene 

 presented itself. It was my first introduc- 

 tion to these singular water-paths. A nar- 

 row and tolerably straight alley stretched 

 away for a long distance before us : on each 

 side were the tops of bushes and young trees, 

 forming a kind of border to the path, and the 

 trunks of the tall forest trees rose at irregular 

 intervals from the water, their crowns intei- 

 Jocking far over our heads, and forming a 

 thick shade. Slender air roots hung down 

 in clusters, and looping sip6s dangled from 

 the lower branches ; bunches of grass, tilland- 

 sis6, and ferns, sat in the forks of the larger 

 boughs, and the trunks of trees near the water 

 had adhering to them round dried masses of 

 fresh- water .sponges. There was no current 

 perceptible, and the water was stained of a 

 dark olive-brown hue, but the submerged 

 stems could be seen throush it to a great 

 depth. We travelled at good speed for three 

 hours along this shady road, the distance of 

 Pedro's house from Egra being about twenty 

 miles. When the paddlers rested for a time, 

 the stillness and gloom of the place became 

 almost painful : our voices waked dull echoes 

 ns we conversed, and the noise made by 

 fishes occasionally whipping the surface of 

 l!.e water was Quite startling. A cool, moist, 



