I 4 8 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [November 



that it can be inverted in wet weather to keep the arrows dry. 

 The blow-pipe, or gravatana, is the principal weapon here. 

 Every Indian has one, and seldom goes into the forest, or on 

 the rivers, without it. 



I soon found that the Cocks of the Rock, to obtain which 

 was my chief object in coming here, were not to be found near 

 the village. Their principal resort was the Serra de Cobati, 

 or mountain before mentioned, situated some ten or twelve 

 miles off in the forest, where I was informed they were very 

 abundant. I accordingly made arrangements for a trip to the 

 Serra, with the intention of staying there a week. By the 

 promise of good payment for every " Gallo " they killed for 

 me, I persuaded almost the whole male population of the 

 village to accompany me. As our path was through a dense 

 forest for ten miles, we could not load ourselves with much 

 baggage : every man had to carry his gravatana, bow and 

 arrows, rede, and some farinha ; which, with salt, was all the 

 provisions we took, trusting to the forest for our meat ; and I 

 even gave up my daily and only luxury of coffee. 



We started off, thirteen in number, along a tolerable path. 

 In about an hour we came to a mandiocca-field and a house, 

 the last on the road to the Serra. Here we waited a short 

 time, took some " mingau," or gruel, made of green plantains, 

 and got a volunteer to join our company. I was much struck 

 with an old woman whose whole body was one mass of close 

 deep wrinkles, and whose hair was white, a sure sign of very 

 great age in an Indian ; from information I obtained, I believe 

 she was more than a hundred years old. There was also a 

 young " mameliica," very fair and handsome, and of a particu- 

 larly intelligent expression of countenance, very rarely seen in 

 that mixed race. The moment I saw her I had little doubt of 

 her being a person of whom I had heard Senhor L. speak 

 as the daughter of the celebrated German naturalist, Dr. 

 Natterer, by an Indian woman. I afterwards saw her at Guia, 

 and ascertained that my supposition was correct. She was 

 about seventeen years of age, was married to an Indian, and 

 had several children. She was a fine specimen of the noble 

 race produced by the mixture of the Saxon and Indian blood. 



Proceeding onwards, we came to another recently-cleared 

 mandiocca-field. Here the path was quite obliterated, and we 

 had to cross over it as we could. Imagine the trees of a virgin 



