INDIAN SUPEKSTITION. 45 



thus the mighty air-current forces its prey into the wide mouth 

 of tlie monster lurking in the thicket. For this reason an 

 Indian will never venture to enter an unknown lagune without 

 blowing his horn, as the yacu-mama is said to answer, and thus 

 to give him time for a speedy flight. The ' mother of the 

 waters ' is said to be at least fifty paces long, and to measure 

 ten or twelve yards in circumference. Thus fancy is as busy 

 in creating imaginary terrors in the lagunes of the Maranon 

 as on the rocky shores of Scandinavia. 



Infinitely more dangerous than this fabulous serpent, more 

 dreadful even than the cayman or the anaconda, are the pirangas, 

 a small species of salmon, which in many places attack the 

 unfortunate swimmer with their sharp teeth, and taint the 

 waters with his blood. Castelnau saw how a stag, which threw 

 itself in the river to avoid the hunter's pursuit, was soon killed 

 by the pirangas. The Eoman knight that cast his slaves to 

 the mursenas,"^ would, no doubt, have been rejoiced to people 

 his ponds with fish like these ; and Tiberius would have been 

 delighted to have possessed them at Caprsea ! 



A night encampment in the Amazons is, however, not always 

 so pleasant as the foregoing description might lead one to 

 suppose ; for many islands are so infested with mosquitos that 

 they are quite intolerable, and the growl of a jaguar or tlie 

 sight of a crocodile (for this animal is by no means afraid of 

 fire) not unfrequently disturbs the company. Complete security 

 from these persecutions and visits is only to be found in the 

 centre of the stream ; for here a cayman is seldom seen, and 

 the wings of the insects are too weak to carry them to such a 

 distance from the shore. 



The most striking features of the Amazons, besides its vast 

 expanse of smooth water, generally from three to six miles 

 wide, are the great beds of aquatic grass which line its shores, 

 large masses of which are often detached and form floating 

 islands ; the quantity of fruits and leaves and great trunks of 

 trees which it carries down, and its level banks clad with high 

 unbroken masses of verdure. In places the white stems and 

 leaves of the Cecropias give a peculiar aspect, and in others 

 the straight dark trunks of lofty forest trees form a living wall 



* 'The Sea and its Living Wonders,' p. 195. 



