170 ATABAPO AND UPPER EIO NEGRO. 



At Morua we saw, for the first time, the beautiful bird 

 called ffallo de piedra, cock of the rock, which is the size 

 of a pigeon, with a bright-orange color, and a large feath- 

 ered crest of the same brilliant hue upon its head. They 

 are highly prized by the Indians of the Ilio Negro, who 

 capture the gorgeously-colored birds of the forests with 

 their cerbatanas and poisoned arrows, for the sake of their 

 beautiful plumage, which they use in adorning their ham- 

 mocks. These are manufactured from the palm-leaf, the 

 fibres of which are twisted by hand into threads and dyed 

 of various colors, then closely woven on rudely-constructed 

 hand-looms. A border of the same material ten or twelve 

 inches broad is added, ornamented with designs of birds 

 and flowers, beautifully wrought with feathers, constituting 

 an exceedingly rich embroidery. The manner of weaving 

 hammocks, as well as the material which enters into their 

 construction, varies with different tribes. The Indians of 

 the Rio Negro and Upper Orinoco use, as we have ob- 

 served, the fibres of the palm-trees, and make a coarse 

 cloth-like fabric ; those of the Apure and Lower Orinoco 

 generally employ a species of grass of great strength and 

 durability, which is woven with large, net-like meshes. 



We could procure, at Moroa, only maiioca with which 

 to provision ourselves for our long voyage to the Ama- 

 zons, while the towns and conucos * along the river, we 

 were told, would be found equally destitute, which our 

 experiences afterward fully corroborated. It was also the 

 wet season, in which we could depend but little upon game 

 or fish, as during the time of high water the forest animals 

 are driven from the inundated plains of the river, and the 

 fishes are less easily taken on account of the deepening 

 waters, from which also many species migrate to the 

 swollen tributaries. Our vessel was one of the roughly. 



* The same as rancho ; a rude hut constructed of palm-leaves for 

 temporary rcsidente. 



