COUNTRY QUARTERS. 115 



"Sobrado," or upper-storied house, being the only one of 

 the kind out of Barra. It was, however, in rather a dilapidated 

 condition, the ladder which served for stairs wanting two steps, 

 and requiring a great exertion of the muscles of the leg to 

 ascend it. This, Senhor Henrique afterwards informed me, 

 had been in the same state for several years, though Balbino 

 has always a carpenter at work making canoes, who might put 

 in a couple of boards in an hour. 



An Indian living near now arrived, and we accompanied 

 him to his house, where I was to find a lodging. It was about 

 half a mile further up the river, at the mouth of a small stream, 

 where there was a little settlement of two or three families. 

 The part which it was proposed I should occupy was a small 

 room with a very steep hill for a floor, and three doorways, 

 two with palm-leaf mats and the other doing duty as a window. 

 No choice being offered me, I at once accepted the use of 

 this apartment, and, my men having now brought on my canoe, 

 I ordered my boxes on shore, hung up my hammock, and at 

 once took possession. The Indians then left me ; but a boy 

 lent me by Senhor Henrique remained with me to light a fire 

 and boil my coffee, and prepare dinner when we were so 

 fortunate as to get any. I borrowed a table to work at, but, 

 owing to the great inclination of the ground, nothing that had 

 not a very broad base would stay upon it. The houses here 

 were imbedded in the forest, so that although there were four 

 not twenty yards apart, they were not visible from each other, 

 the space where the forest had been cut down being planted 

 with fruit-trees. 



Only one of the men here could speak Portuguese, all the 

 rest using the Indian language, called Lingoa Geral, which I 

 found very difficult to get hold of without any books, though 

 it is an easy and simple language. The word igaripe^ applied 

 to all small streams, means "path of the canoe"; tatatinga^ 

 smoke, is literally " white fire." Many of the words sound like 

 Greek, as sapucaia, a fowl ; apegdua, a man. In the names 

 of animals the same vowel is often repeated, producing a very 

 euphonious effect ; as parawd^ a parrot ; maracajd, a tiger-cat ; 

 sucuruju, a poisonous snake. My Indian boy spoke Lingoa Geral 

 and Portuguese, and so with his assistance I got on very well. 



The next morning my hunter arrived, and immediately went 

 out in his canoe among the islands, where the umbrella-birds 



