

162 THE WOODS AT NIGHT. 



facts of the Orinoco, we shall soon find, among the Piraoas, 

 the Macos, and the Maquiritaras, milder manners, a love 

 of agriculture, and great cleanliness in the interior of their 

 huts. On mountain ridges, in the midst of impenetrable 

 forests, man is compelled to fix himself, and cultivate a 

 small spot of land. This cultivation requires little care; 

 while, in a country where there are no other roads than 

 rivers, the life of the hunter is laborious and difficult. The 

 Q-uamos of the mission of Santa Barbara could not furnish 

 us with the provision we wanted. They cultivate only a 

 little cassava. They appeared hospitable; and when we 

 entered their huts, they offered us dried fish, and water 

 cooled in porous vessels. 



Beyond the Vuelta del Cochino Roto, in a spot where 

 the river has scooped itself a new bed, we passed the night 

 on a bare and very extensive strand. The forest being 

 impenetrable, we had the greatest difficulty to find dry 

 wood to light fires, near which the Indians believe them- 

 selves in safety from the nocturnal attacks of the tiger. 

 Our own experience seems to bear testimony in favour of 

 this opinion; but Azara asserts that, in his time, a tiger 

 in Paraguay carried off" a man who was seated near a fire 

 lighted in the savannah. 



The night was calm and serene, and there was a beautiful 

 moonlight. The crocodiles, stretched along the shore, 

 placed themselves in such a manner as to be able to see the 

 fire. We thought we observed that its blaze attracted 

 them, as it attracts fishes, crayfish, and other inhabitants of 

 the water. The Indians showed us the tracks of three tigers 

 in the sand, two of which were very young. A female had 

 no doubt conducted her little ones to drink at the river. 

 Finding no tree on the strand, we stuck our oars in the, 

 ground, and to these we fastened our hammocks. Every- 

 thing passed tranquilly till eleven at night ; and then a noise 

 so terrific arose in the neighbouring forest, that it was 

 almost impossible to close our eyes. Amid the cries of so 

 many wild beasts howling at once, the Indians discriminated 

 such only as were at intervals heard separately. These 

 were the little soft cries of the sapajous, the moans of the 

 alouate apes, the bowlings of the jaguar and couguar, the 

 peccary, and the sloth, and the cries of the curassao, the 



