Chap. IV. RETURN TO CATUA. 295 



We had to wait two hours for the return of our compa- 

 nions ; during part of this time I was left quite alone, 

 Lino having started off into the jungle after a peccary 

 (a kind of wild hog) which had come near to where we 

 sat, but on seeing us had given a grunt and bounded off 

 into the thickets. At length our friends hove in sight, 

 loaded with game ; having shot twelve curassows and 

 two cujubims (Penelope Pipile), a handsome black 

 fowl with a white head, which is arboreal in its habits 

 like the rest of this group of Gallinaceous birds in- 

 habiting the South American forests. They had dis- 

 covered a third pool containing plenty of turtles. Lino 

 rejoined us at the same time, having missed the pec- 

 cary, but in compensation shot a Quandu, or porcupine. 

 The mulatto boy had caught alive in the pool a most 

 charming little water-fowl, a species of grebe. It was 

 somewhat smaller than a pigeon, and had a pointed 

 beak ; its feet were furnished with many intricate folds 

 or frills of skin instead of webs, and resembled very 

 much those of the gecko lizards. The bird was kept 

 as a pet in Jabuti's house at Ega for a long time after- 

 wards, where it became accustomed to swim about in 

 a common hand-basin full of water, and was a great 

 favourite with everybody. 



We now retraced our steps towards the water-side, a 

 weary walk of five or six miles, reaching our canoe by 

 half-past five o'clock, or a little before sunset. It was 

 considered by every one at Catua that we had had an 

 unusually good day's sport. I never knew any small 

 party to take so much game in one day in these 

 forests, over which animals are everywhere so widely 



