Chap. II. FISHES. 139 



side of the body, black. The men ascended to the 

 second falls, which form a cataract several feet in 

 height, about fifteen miles beyond our anchorage. The 

 macaws were found feeding in small flocks on the fruit 

 of the Tucuma palm (Astryocaryum Tucuma), the exces- 

 sively hard nut of which is crushed into pulp by the 

 powerful beak of the bird. I found the craws of all the 

 specimens filled with the sour paste to which the stone- 

 like fruit had been reduced. Each bird took me three 

 hours to skin, and I was occupied with these and my 

 other specimens every evening until midnight, after my 

 own laborious day's hunt ; working on the roof of my 

 cabin by the light of a lamp. 



The place where the cuberta was anchored formed a 

 little rocky haven, with a sandy beach sloping to the 

 forest, within which were the ruins of the Indian 

 Maloca, and a large weed-grown plantation. The port 

 swarmed with fishes, whose movements it was amusing 

 to watch in the deep, clear water. The most abundant 

 were the Piranhas. One species, which varied in length, 

 according to age, from two to six inches, but was recog- 

 nisable by a black spot at the root of the tail, was 

 always the quickest to seize any fragment of meat 

 thrown into the water. When nothing was being given 

 to them, a few only were seen scattered about, their 

 heads all turned one way in an attitude of expectation ; 

 but as soon as any offal fell from the canoe, the water was 

 blackened with the shoals that rushed instantaneously 

 to the spot. Those who did not succeed in securing a 

 fragment, fought with those who had been more suc- 

 cessful, and many contrived to steal the coveted morsels 



