264 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 



poles, the rest stretching themselves on the sand round 

 a large fire. We lay awake conversing until past mid- 

 night. It was a real pleasure to listen to the stories 

 told by one of the older men, they were given with so 

 much spirit. The tales always related to struggles with 

 some intractable animal — jaguar, manatee, or alligator. 

 Many interjections and expressive gestures were used, 

 and at the end came a sudden "Pa! terra!" when 

 the animal was vanquished by a shot or a blow. Many 

 mysterious tales were recounted about the Bouto, as the 

 large Dolphin of the Amazons is called. One of them 

 was to the effect that a Bouto once had the habit of 

 assuming the shape of a beautiful woman, with hair 

 hanging loose to her heels, and walking ashore at night 

 in the streets of Ega, to entice the young men down to 

 the water. If any one was so much smitten as to follow 

 her to the water-side, she grasped her victim round the 

 waist and plunged beneath the waves with a triumphant 

 cry. No animal in the Amazons region is the subject 

 of so many fables as the Bouto ; but it is probable these 

 did not originate with the Indians but with the Portu- 

 guese colonists. It was several years before I could 

 induce a fisherman to harpoon Dolphins for me as speci- 

 mens, for no one ever kills these animals voluntarily, 

 although their fat is known to yield an excellent oil for 

 lamps. The superstitious people believe that blindness 

 would result from the use of this oil in lamps. I suc- 

 ceeded at length with Carepira, by offering him a high 

 reward when his finances were at a very low point ; but 

 he repented of his deed ever afterwards, declaring that 

 his luck had forsaken him from that day. 



