594 PIRANHA— THE DIODON. 



lamps, tliey believe that blindness would result from its 

 use. 



The bonto is supposed to possess the characteristic of the 

 malign water-nymphs of the Old World. They have a legend 

 that a bonto was in the custom of assuming the shape of a 

 beautiful woman, with hair hanging loose down to her heels ; 

 who, going on shore, endeavoured to entice young men to 

 the river. When any unhappy youth, smitten with her 

 charms, was induced to follow her to the water's edo-e, she 

 would grasp her victim round the waist, and plunging beneath 

 the waves with a triumphant shriek, disappeared with him 

 for ever. 



PIRANHA. 



There are several kinds of piranha, many of which abound 

 in the waters of the Tapajos. The piranha, called also the 

 caribe, is a kind of salmon (Tetragonopterus). They are 

 caught with any kind of bait, their taste being indiscriminate, 

 and their appetite most ravenous. They frequently attack 

 the legs of bathers near the shore, inflicting severe wounds 

 with their strono; triano-ular teeth. 



THE DIODON. 



The smaller inhabitants of the ocean are also represented 

 in these fresh waters. The little mamayacu, a species of diodon, 

 which in the ocean attains a foot in length, is found in the 

 Amazon three or four inches long, of a pretty green colour, 

 banded with black. On being caught— which it easily is — it 

 becomes in the hand as round as a ball. The natives, when 

 a person gets corpulent, tell him that he has grown as fat as a 

 mamayacu. 



The ocean species, from having the skin about the abdomen 



