THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



741 



drew a number of the reptiles of different 

 ages and sizes, some of them Jacare-tingas ; 

 the lake, in fact, swarmed with alligators. 

 After taking a very large quantity of fish we 

 prepared to return, and the Indians, at my 

 suggestion, secured one of the alligators with 

 the view of letting it loose among the swarms 

 of dogs in the village. An individual was 

 selected about eight feet long : one man hold- 

 ing his head and another Tils tail, while a 

 -Uhird took a few lengths of a flexible liana, 

 'and deliberately bound the jaws and the legs. 

 "Thus secured, the beast was laid across the 

 "^benches of the boat, on which we sat during 

 i the hour and a half's journey to the settle- 

 ment. We were rather crowded, but our 

 v amiable passenger gave us no trouble during 

 the transit. On reaching the village we took 

 the animal into the middle of the green, in 

 front of the church, where the dogs were 

 congregated, and there gave him his liberty, 

 two cf us arming ourselves with long poles 

 to intercept him if he should make for the 

 water, and the others exciting the dogs. The 

 alligator showed great terror, although the 

 dogs could not be made to advance, and made 

 off at the top of its speed for the water, wad- 

 dling like a duck. We tried to keep him 

 back wrth the poles, but he became enraged, 

 and seizing the end of the one I held, in his 

 jaws, nearly wrenched it from my grasp. We 

 were obliged, at length, to kill him to prevent 

 his escape. 



These little incidents show the timidity or 

 cowardice of the alligator. He never attacks 

 man when his intended victim is on his 

 guard ; but he is cunning enough to know 

 when this may be done with impunity : of 

 this we had proof at Cai<?ara, a few days 

 afterward. The river had sunk to a very 

 low point, so that the port and bathing-place 

 of the village now lay at the foot of a long 

 sloping bank, and a large cayman made his 

 appearance in the shallow and muddy water. 

 We were all obliged to be very careful in 

 taking our bath ; most of the people simply 

 using a calabash, pouring the water over 

 themselves while standing on the brink. A 

 large trading canoe, belonging to a Barra 

 merchant named Scares, arrived at this 

 time, and the Indian crew, as usual, spent 

 the first day or two after their coming 

 into port in drunkenness and debauchery 

 ashore. One of the men, during the 

 greatest heat of the day, when almost 

 every one was enjoying his afternoon's nap, 

 took it into his head while in a tipsy state to 

 go down alone to bathe. He was seen only 

 by the Juiz de Paz, a feeble old man who 

 was lying in his hammock, in the open ver- 

 anda at the rear of his house on the top of 

 the bank, and who shouted to the besotted 

 Indian to beware of the alligator. Before he 

 could repeat his warning the man stumbled, 

 and a pair of gaping jaws, appearing sud- 

 denty above the surface, seized him round 

 the waist and drew him under the water. A 

 cry of agony, " Ai Jesus !" was the last sign 

 u sde by the wretched victim. The village 



was aroused: the young men with praise- 

 worthy readiness seized their harpoons and 

 hurried down to the bank : but of course it 

 was too late ; a winding track of blood on - 

 the surface of the water was all that could . 

 be seen. They embarked, however, in mon- 

 tarias, determined on vengeance : the mon- 

 ster was traced, and when, after a short lapse 

 of time, he came up to breathe one leg of 

 the man sticking out from his jaws was 

 dispatched with bitter curses. 



The last of these minor excursions which 

 I shall narrate, was made (again In company 

 of Senhor Cardozo, with the addition of his 

 housekeeper, Senhora Felippa) in the season 

 when all the population of the villages turns 

 out to dig up turtle eggs, and revel on the 

 praias. Placards were posted on the church 

 doors at Ega, announcing that the excavation, 

 on Shimuni would commence on the 17lii 

 of October, and on Catua, sixty miles below 

 Shimuui, on the 25th. We set out on the 

 16th, and passed on the road, in our well- 

 manned igarite, a large number of people, 

 men, women, and children, in canoes of all 

 sizes, wending their way as if to a great holi- 

 day gathering. By the morning of the 17th 

 some 400 persons were assembled on the bor- 

 ders of the sand-batik, each family having 

 erected a rude temporary shed of poles and . 

 palm-leaves to protect themselves from the 

 sun and rain. Large copper kettles to pre- 

 pare the oil, and hundreds of red earthenware 

 jars, were scattered about on the sand. 



The excavation of the taboleirp, collecting 

 the eggs, and purifying the oil occupied 

 four days. All was done on a system estab- 

 lished by the old Portugue e governors, 

 probably more than a century ago. The 

 commandante first took down the names of 

 all the masters of households, with the num- 

 ber of persons each intended to employ in 

 digging ; he then exacted a payment of 140 

 reis (about f ourpence) a head toward defray- 

 ing the expense of sentinels. The whole was 

 then allowed to go to the taboleiro. They 

 ranged themselves round the circle, each per- 

 son armed with a paddle, to be used as a 

 spade, and then all betran simultaneously to 

 dig on a signal being given the roll of drums 

 by order of the commandante. It was an 

 animating sight to behold the wide circle of 

 rival diggers throwing up clouds of sand in 

 their energetic labors, and working gradually 

 toward the centre of the ring. A little rest 

 was taken during the great heat of mid -day, 

 and in the evening the eggs were carried to 

 the huts in baskets. By the end of the sec- 

 ond day the taboleiro was exhausted : large 

 mounds of eggs, some of them four or five 

 feet in height, were then seen by the side of 

 each hut, the produce of the labors of the 

 family 



In thn hurry of digging some of the deeper 

 nests are passed over ; to find these out the 

 people go about provided with a long steel 

 or wooden probe, the presence of the eggs 

 being discoverable by the ease with which 

 the spit enters the sand. When no more eggs 



