THE XATUHALI5T OS THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



lower trees, so that we might recognize the 

 path on our return. The district was quite 

 new to all my companions, and being on a 

 <joast almost totally uninhabited by human 

 beings for some 300 miles, to lose our way 

 would have beeen to perish helplessly. I did 

 not think at the time of the risk we ran of 

 having otir canoe stolen by passing Indians, 

 unguarded montarias bein^ never safe even 

 in the ports of the villages, Indians appar- 

 ently considering them common property, 

 and stealing them without any compunction. 

 Jtfo misgivings clouded the lightness of heart 

 with which we trod forward in warm antici- 

 pation of a good day's sport. 



The tract of forest through which we 

 passed was Ygapo, but the higher parts of 

 the land formed areas which went 'only a 

 very few inches under water in the flood sea- 

 son. It consisted of a most bewildering 

 diversity of grand and beautiful trees, 

 draped, festooned, corded, matted, and rib- 

 boned with climbing plants, woody and suc- 

 culent, in endless variety. The most preva- 

 lent palm was the tall Astryocaryuni Jauari, 

 whose fallen spines made it necessary to pick 

 our way carefully over the ground, as we 

 were all barefoot. There was not much 

 ^green underwood, except in places where 

 bamboos grew ; these formed impenetrable 

 thickets of plumy foliage and thorny jointed 

 stems, which always compelled us to make 

 a circuit to avoid them. The earth else- 

 where was incuiabered with rotting fruits, 

 gigantic bean-pods, leaves, limbs, and trunks 

 of trees, fixing the impression of its being 

 the cemetery as well as the birthplace of the 

 great world of vegetation overhead. Some 

 of the trees were of prodigious height. We 

 passed many specimens of the Moiatin^a, 

 whose cylindrical trunks, I dare not say how 

 many feet in circumference, towered up and 

 were lost amid the crowns of the lower trees, 

 their lower branches, in some cases, being 

 hidden from our view. Another very large 

 and remarkable tree was the Assacu (sapium. 

 aucuharium). A traveller on the Amazons, 

 mingling with the people, is sure to hear 

 much of the poisonous qualities of the juices 

 of this tree. Its bark exudes, when hacked 

 with a knife, a milky sap, which is not only 

 a fatal poison when taken internally, but is 

 said to cause incurable sores if simply sprin- 

 kled on the skin. My companions always 

 gave the Assacu a wide berth when we 

 passed one. The tree looks ugly enough to 

 merit a bad name, for the bark is of a dingy 

 olive color, and is studded with short and 

 sharp venomous-looking spines. 



After walking about half a mile we came 

 - upon a dry water-course, where we observed, 

 first, the old footmarks of a tapir, and, 

 soon after, on the margin of a curious circu^ 

 Jar hole full of muddy water, the fresh tracks 

 of a jaguar. This latter discovery was 

 hardly made when a rush was heard amid 

 the bushes on the top of a sloping bank on 

 the opposite side of the dried creek. We 

 Abounded forward ; it was, however, too late, 

 3for the animal had sped in a few minutes fgr 



out of our reach. It was clear wo had dis- 

 turbed, on our approach, the jaguar, wh.le 

 quenching his thirst at the water-hole. A 

 few steps farther on we saw the mangled re- 

 mains of an alligator (the Jacaretinga). The 

 head, forequarters, and bony shell were the 

 only parts which remained ; but the meat 

 was quite fresh, and there were many foot- 

 marks of the jaguar around the carcass ; so 

 that there was no doubt this had formed the 

 solid part of the animal's breakfast. My 

 companions now began to search for the alli- 

 gator's nest, the presence of the reptile so far 

 from the river being accountable for on na 

 other ground than its mnterual solicitude for 

 its eggs. We found, in fact, the nest at tho 

 distance of a few yards from the place. It 

 was a conical pile of dead leaves, in the mi<l- 

 dle of which twenty eggs were buried. 

 These were of elliptical shape, considerably 

 larger than those of a duck, and having a 

 hard shell of the texture of porcelain, but 

 very rough on the outside. They make a 

 loud sound when rubbed together, and it is 

 said that it is easy to find a mother alligator 

 in the Ygapo forests by rubbing together two 

 eggs in this way, she being never far off, and 

 attracted by the sounds. 



I put half a do/en of the alligator's eggs in 

 my game-bag for specimens, and we then 

 continued on our way. Lino, who was now 

 first, presently mude a start backward, call- 

 ing out " Jararaca !" This is the name of a 

 poisonous snake (genus Craspedocephalus), 

 which is far more dreaded by the natives 

 than jaguar or alligator. The individual 

 seen by Lino lay coiled up at the foot of a 

 tree, and was scarcely distinguishable, on 

 account of the colors of its body being as- 

 similated to those of the fallen leaves. Its 

 .hideous flat triangular head, connected with 

 ;the body by a thin neck, was reared and 

 turned toward us: Frazao killed it with a 

 charge of shot, shattering it completely, and 

 destroying, to my regret, its value as a speci- 

 men. In conversing on the subject of Jara- 

 racas as we walked onward, every one of the 

 party was ready to swear that this snake at- 

 tacks man without provocation, leaping tow- 

 ard him from a considerable distance when 

 he approaches. I met, in the course of my 

 daily rambles in the woods, many Jaraiacas, 

 and once or twice very narrowly escaped 

 treading on them, but never saw them at- 

 tempt to spring. On some subjects the Us- 

 timony of the natives of a wild country U 

 utterly worthless. The bite of the Jararaca 

 is generally fatal. I knew of four ot five in- 

 stances of death from it, and oily of one 

 clear case of recovery after being bitten ; 

 but in that case the person was lamed for 

 life. 



We walked over moderately elevated and 

 dry ground for about a mile, and then de- 

 scended (three or four feet only) to the dry 

 bed of another creek. This was pierced in 

 the same way as the former water-course, with 

 round holes full of muddy water. Thry oc- 

 curred at intervals of a few yards, and had 

 the appearance of having been made by tha 



