142 THE TOCANTmS. Chap. IV. 



asleep ; others, however, kept awake until a very late 

 hour telling stories. Some related adventures which had 

 happened to them whilst hunting or fishing ; others 

 recounted myths about the Curupira, and other demons 

 or spirits of the forest. They were all very appropriate to 

 the time and place, for now and then a yell or a shriek 

 resounded through the gloomy wilderness around the 

 shed. One old parchment-faced fellow, with a skin 

 the colour of mahogany, seemed to be a capital story- 

 teller ; but I was sorry I did not know enough of the 

 language to follow him in all the details which he gave. 

 Amongst other things he related an adventure he had 

 once had with a jaguar. He got up from his hammock 

 in the course of the narrative to give it the greater 

 effect by means of gestures ; he seized a bow and a large 

 taquara arrow to show how he slew the beast, imitated 

 its hoarse growl, and danced about the fire like a 

 demon. 



In descending the river we landed frequently, and 

 Mr. Wallace and I lost no chance of adding to our 

 collections ; so that before the end of our journey we 

 had got together a very considerable number of birds, 

 insects, and shells chiefly taken, however, in the low 

 country. Leaving Baia5 we took our last farewell 

 of the limpid waters and varied scenery of the upper 

 river, and found ourselves again in tlie humid flat region 

 of the Amazons valley. We sailed down this lower 

 part of the river by a different channel from the one 

 we travelled along in ascending, and frequently went 

 ashore on the low islands in mid-river. As already 

 stated, these are covered with water in the wet season ; 



