Chap. IV. ALTERATION OF PLANS. 133 



first time, the splendid Hyacinthine macaw (Macrocercus 

 hyacinthinus, Lath., the Araruna of the natives), one of 

 the finest and rarest species of the Parrot family. It 

 only occurs in the interior of Brazil, from 16° S. lat. to 

 the southern border of the Amazons valley. It is three 

 feet long from the beak to the tip of the tail, and is 

 entirely of a soft hyacinthine blue colour, except round 

 the eyes, where the skin is naked and white. It flies in 

 pairs, and feeds on the hard nuts of several palms, but 

 especially of the Mucuja (Acrocomialasiospatha). These 

 nuts, which are so hard as to be difficult to break with 

 a heavy hammer, are crushed to a pulp by the powerful 

 beak of this macaw. 



Mr. Leavens was thoroughly disgusted with the 

 people of Patos. Two men had come from below with 

 the intention, I believe, of engaging with us, but they 

 now declined. The inspector, constable, or governor 

 of the place appeared to be a very slippery customer, 

 and I fancy discouraged the men from going, whilst 

 making a great show of forwarding our views. These 

 outlying settlements are the resort of a number of idle 

 worthless characters. There was a kind of festival 

 going on, and the people fuddled themselves with 

 caxiri, an intoxicating drink invented by the Indians. 

 It is made by soaking mandioca cakes in water until 

 fermentation takes place, and tastes like new beer. 



Being unable to obtain men, Mr. Leavens now gave 

 up his project of ascending the river as far as the 

 Araguaya. He assented to our request, however, to 

 ascend to the cataracts near Arroyos. We started 

 therefore from Patos with a more definite aim before 



