A DAY AND NIGHT OX THE AMAZON. 325 



feeling of solitude, rather than imparts a sense of life and 

 cheerfulness. Sometimes, in the midst of the stillness, a 

 sudden yell or scream will startle one. This comes from 

 some defenceless fruit-eating animal, which is pounced upon 

 by a tiger-cat or stealthy boa-constrictor. Morning and 

 evening howling monkeys make a most fearful and harrowing- 

 noise, under which it is difficult to keep up one's buoyancy 

 of spirit. The feeling of inhospitable wildness which the 

 forest is calculated to inspire, is increased tenfold under this 

 fearful uproar. Often, even in the still hours of mid-day, 

 there is a sudden crash, resounding afar through the wilder- 

 ness, as some grreat bou^h or entire tree falls to the sround. 

 Sometimes a sound is heard like the clanor of an iron bar ao-ainst 

 a hard hollow tree, or a piercing cry rends the air. These 

 are not repeated, and the succeeding silence tends to heighten 

 the unpleasant impression which they make on the mind. 

 The natives believe it is the curupira — the wild man of the 

 forest — who produces all the noises they are unable to ex- 

 })lain. He is a mysterious being, — sometimes described as 

 a kind of orang-outang, covered with long shaggy hair, and 

 living in trees ; at others, he is said to have cloven feet 

 and a bright red face. He has a wife and children, who, as 

 well as himself, come down to the plantations to steal the 

 mandioca." 



Such is a faint outline of some of the more prominent 

 features of the great Amazonian Valley — the most interesting 

 portion of the southern half of the New World. No verbal 

 descriptions can do justice to the reality — although drawn, 

 as some of the above are, by master hands. We will next 

 range along the mighty Cordilleras to the ancient kingdom 



