110 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. Chap. II. 



The next morning one of the brothers brought me a 

 beautiful opossum which had been caught in the fowl- 

 house a little before sunrise. It was not so large as a 

 rat, and had soft brown fur, paler beneath and on the 

 face, with a black stripe on each cheek. This made 

 the third species of marsupial rat I had so far obtained : 

 but the number of these animals is very considerable in 

 Brazil, where they take the place of the shrews of 

 Europe, shrew mice and, indeed, the whole of the in- 

 sectivorous order of mammals, being entirely absent 

 from Tropical America. One kind of these rat-like 

 opossums is aquatic, and has webbed feet. The terres- 

 trial species are nocturnal in their habits, sleeping 

 during the day in hollow trees, and coming forth at 

 night to prey on birds in their roosting places. It is 

 very difficult to rear poultry in this country on account 

 of these small opossums, scarcely a night passing in 

 some parts in which the fowls are not attacked by 

 them. 



August 5th. — The river reminds me of some parts 

 of the Jaburu channel, being hemmed in by two walls 

 of forest rising to the height of at least 100 feet, and 

 the outlines of the trees being concealed throughout by 

 a dense curtain of leafy creepers. The impression of 

 vegetable profusion and overwhelming luxuriance in- 

 creases at every step. The deep and narrow valley of 

 the Cupari has a moister climate than the banks of the 

 Tapajos. We have now frequent showers, whereas we 

 left everything parched up by the sun at Aveyros. 



After leaving the last sitio we advanced about eight 

 miles and then stopped at the house of Senhor Antonio 



