THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



74* 



tus), a species which resembles in size, color, 

 and appearance our common crow, but is 

 decorated with a crest of long curved hairy 

 feathers, having long bare quills, which, 

 when raised, spread themselves out in the 

 form of a fringed sunshade over the head. 

 A strange ornament, like a pelerine, is also 

 suspended from the neck, formed by a thick 

 pad of glossy steel-blue feathers, which grow 

 on a long fleshy lobe or excrescence. This 

 lobe is connected (as I found on skinning 

 specimens) with an unusual development of 

 the trachea and vocal organs, to which the 

 bird doubtless owes its singularly deep, loud, 

 and long-sustained fluty note. The Indian 

 name of this strange creature is Uira-mim- 

 beu, or fife-bird, in allusion to the tone of 

 its voice. We had the good luck, after re- 

 maining quiet a short time, to hear its per, 

 formance. It drew itself up on its perch, 

 spread widely the umbrella-formed crest, 

 dilated and waved its glossy breast-lappet, 

 and then, in giving vent to its loud piping 

 note, bowed its head slowly forward. We 

 obtained a pair, male and female : tue female 

 has only the rudiments of the crest and lap- 

 pet, and is duller colored altogether than the 

 male. The range of this bird appeals to be 

 quite confined to the plains ^of the Upper 

 Amazons (especially the Ygapo forests), not 

 having been found to the east of the Rio 

 Negro. 



Ben to and our other friends, being disap- 

 pointed in finding no more Curassows, or in- 

 deed any other species of game, now resolved 

 to turn back. On reaching the edge of the 

 forest we sat down and ate our dinners under 

 the shade, each man having brought a little 

 bag containing a few handfuls of fariuha, 

 and a,piece of fried fish or roast turtle. We 

 expected our companions of the other divi- 

 sion to join us at mid-day, but after waiting 

 till past one o'clock, without seeing anything 

 of them (in fact, they had returned to the 

 huts an hour or two previously), we struck 

 off across the praia toward the encampment. 

 An obstacle here presented itself on which 

 we had not counted. The sun had shone all 

 day through a cloudless sky untempered by 

 a tireath of wind, and the sands had become 

 heated by it to a degree that rendered walk- 

 ing over them with our bare feet impossible. 

 The most hardened footsoles of the party 

 could not endure the burning soil. We made 

 several attempts ; we tried tunning ; wrapped 

 the cool leaves of Heliconiae round our feet, 

 but in no way could we step forward many 

 yards. There was no means of getting back 

 to our friends before night, except going 

 round the praia, a circuit of about four 

 miles, and walking through the water or on 

 the moist sand. To get to the water-side 

 from the place where we then stood was not 

 difficult, as & thick bed of a flowering shrub, 

 called tintarana, an infusion of the leaves of 

 which is used to dye black, lay on that side 

 of the sand-bank Footsore and wearied, 

 burdened with our guns, and walking for 

 miles through the tepid shallow watei under 

 the brain- scorching veitical sun. we had, as 



may be imagined, anything but a pleasant 

 time of it. I did not, however, feel any in- 

 convenience afterward. Every one enjoys 

 the most lusty health while living this free: 

 and wild life on the rivers. 



The ether hunting trip which I have al- 

 luded to was undertaken in company witli 

 three friendly young half-castes. Two of 

 them were brothers, namely JoaO (John) and 

 Zephj'rino- Jabuti ; Jabuti, or tortoise, being 

 a nickname which their father had earned 

 for his slow gait, and which, as is usual in 

 this country, had descended as the surname, 

 of the family. The other was Jose FrazaO, 

 a nephew of Senhor Chrysostomo, of ga, 

 an active, clever, and manly young fellow, 

 whom I much esteemed. He was almost a 

 white, his father being a Portuguese and hia 

 mother a Mameluco. We were accompanied 

 by an Indian named Lino, and a mulatto 

 boy, whose office was to carry our game. 



Our proposed hunting-ground on this occa- 

 sion lay across the water, about fifteen miles 

 distant. We set out in a small mpntaria, at 

 four o'clock in the morning, again leaving 

 the encampment asleep, and travelled at a 

 good pace up the northern channel of the 

 Solimoens, or that lying between the island 

 of Catua and the left bank of the river. The 

 northern shore of the island had a broad 

 sandy beach reaching to its western ex- 

 tremity. We gained our destination a little 

 after daybreak this was the banks of the 

 Carapanatuba,* a channel some 150 yards in 

 width, which, like the Anana, already men- 

 tioned, communicates with the Cupijo. To 

 reach this we had to cross the river, here* 

 nearly two miles wide. Just as the day 

 dawned we saw a cayman seize a laige fish, 

 a Tambaki, near the surface ; the reptile 

 seemed to have a difficulty in securing its p y, 

 for it reared itself above the water, tossing 

 the fish in its jaws, and making a tremendous 

 commotion. I was much struck also by the 

 singular appearance presented by certain div 

 ing birds having very long and snaky necki* 

 (the Plotus Anhinga). Occasionally a long 

 serpentine form would suddenly wriggle it- 

 self to a height of a foot and a half above the 

 glassy surface of the water, producing such 

 a deceptive imitation of a snake that at first 

 I had some difficulty in believing it to be the 

 neck of a bird ; it did not remain long in 

 view, but soon plunged again beneath the 

 stream. 



We ran ashore in a most lonely and gloomy 

 place, on a low sand-bank covered willi 

 bushes, secured the montaria to a tree, anil 

 then, : fter making a very sparing breakfast 

 on fried fish and mandioca meal, roller! up 

 our trousers and plunged into the thick for- 

 est, which here, as everywhere else, rose lika 

 a lofty wall of foliage from the narrow strip 

 of beach. We made straight for the heart 

 of the land, John Jabuti leading, and break- 

 ing off at every few steps a branch of the 



* Meaning in Tupf, the river of many mosquitoes 

 from carapaua, inusquiio, and ituba, many. 



