ClIAP. II. 



UPROAR OF LIFE. 



141 



zonum), a most delicious fish, which, next to the 

 Tucunare and the Pescada, is most i 



esteemed by the natives. The Curi- 

 mata seemed to prefer the middle of 

 the stream, where the waters were 

 agitated beneath the little cascade. 



The weather was now settled and 

 dry, and the river sank rapidly — six 

 inches in twenty-four hours. In this 

 remote and solitary spot I can say that 

 I heard for the first and almost the 

 only time the uproar of life at sun- 

 set, which Humboldt de- 

 scribes as having witnessed 

 towards the sources of the 

 Orinoco, but which is un- 

 known on the banks of the ^ 

 larger rivers. The noises of 

 animals began just as the 

 sun sank behind the trees 

 after a sweltering afternoon, 

 leaving the sky above of 

 the intensest shade of blue. 

 Two flocks of howling 

 monkeys, one close to our 

 canoe, the other about a 

 furlong distant, filled the 

 echoing forests with their 

 dismal roaring. Troops of 

 parrots, including the hya- 

 cinthine macaw we were 



Sarapo (Carapus.) 



Needle-fish 

 (Hemaramphus). 



