212 NOCTURNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



indifferently that we were several times able to catch individuals 

 from among the numerous herds which presented themselves. 



Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna we passed the 

 night as usual, under the open sky, on a sandy flat on the bank of 

 the Rio Apure, closely bordered by the impenetrable forest. It was 

 not without difficulty that we succeeded in finding dry wood to kindle 

 the fire with which it is always customary in that country to surround 

 a bivouac, in order to guard against the attacks of the jaguar. The 

 night was humid, mild, and moonlight. Several crocodiles approached 

 the shore ; I think I have observed these animals to be attracted by 

 fire, like our cray-fish and many other inhabitants of the water. The 

 oars of our boat were placed upright and carefully driven into the 

 ground, to form poles from which our hammocks could be suspended. 

 Beep stillness prevailed; only from time to time we heard the blow- 

 ing of the fresh-water dolphins ( 5 ) which are peculiar to the Orinoco 

 net-work of rivers (and, according to Colebrooke, to the Granges as 

 far as Benares), which followed each other in long lines. 



Soon after 11 o'clock such a disturbance began to be heard in the 

 adjoining forest, that for the remainder of the night all sleep was 

 impossible. The wild cries of animals appeared to rage throughout 

 the forest. Among the many voices which resounded together, the 

 Indians could only recognize those which, after short pauses in the 

 general uproar, were first heard singly. There was the monotonous 

 howling of the aluates (the howling monkeys); the plaintive, soft, 

 and almost flute-like tones of the small sapajous; the snorting grum- 

 blings of the striped nocturnal monkey ( 6 ) (the Nyctipithicus trivir- 

 gatus, which I was the first to describe) ; the interrupted cries of the 

 great tiger, the cuguar or maneless American lion, the peccary, the 

 sloth, and a host of parrots, of parraquas, and other pheasant-like 

 birds. When the tigers came near the edge of the forest, our dog, 

 which had before barked incessantly, -came howling to seek refuge 

 under our hammocks. Sometimes the cry of the tiger was heard to 

 proceed from amidst the high branches of a tree, and was in such 

 case always accompanied by the plaintive piping of the monkeys, 

 who were seeking to escape from the unwonted pursuit. -^i& 



If one asks the Indians why this incessant noise and disturbance 

 arises on particular nights ; they answer, with a smile ; that " the 



