54 ASPECTS OP TROPICAL NATURE 



" 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 into the river to avoid the hunters' 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 how delighted 

 Tiberius would have been to have possessed them at Caprsea ! 



The pirangas frequently lacerate the tails of the alligators, 

 but no animal in the world is without its enemies, and the 

 pirangas in their turn suffer much from large crustaceous 

 parasites. The flesh of the pirangas is delicate, and their 

 voracity facilitates their capture 



A night encampment in the Amazon 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 the 

 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. 



In more than one respect the Amazon reminds one of the 

 ocean, from whose bosom its waters originally arose. Like 

 the sea, it forms a barrier between various species of animals ; 

 for the monkeys on its northern bank are difi'erent from those 

 of the forests on its southern side, and many an insect — nay, 

 even many a bird, — finds an impassable barrier in the enormous 

 width of the river. Like the sea, it has a peculiar species of 

 dolpliin, and hundreds of miles up the stream, sea-mews and 

 petrels, deceived by its grandeur, screech or shoot in arrowy 



♦ " The Sea and its Living Wonders," p. 195. 



