of an Orchid Hunter 



iqi 



wasted. These, with the bread-fruit, provide the 

 means of living for herds of wild pigs and tapirs, 

 which swarm the forest. 



As we journeyed up the river through the floating 

 Limnocharis and Pontederias, we came to another 

 lake about six miles lono\ The thick forest cominsf 

 right to the water's edge made it very beautiful. A 

 company of natives had taken up fishing-quarters here 

 for a week or two to lay in a stock of fish for the 

 winter, and a description of their means of catching 

 them may be interesting. The kind of fish most 

 sought after, and which abounds the most, is the 

 Pimelodous tigrinus, or cat-fish, which often attains a 

 very large size. The natives go out in canoes, pro- 

 vided with about half-a-dozen harpoons, which are 

 made in two sections. A sharp, barbed piece of iron 

 is fixed to a piece of wood about two inches long, and 

 this piece with the barb fits into a socket made in the 

 end of a stout rod. The barbed piece is further 

 attached to the long shaft by a stout cord. The 

 native, as he moves about the lake or river in his 

 canoe, makes a thumping noise to disturb the fish ; 

 this brings them to the top of the water, and their 

 size, and the velocity with which they swim, make 

 stream enough for the native who stands in the prow 

 of the canoe to discern them ; the moment he gets a 

 good sight of the position of the fish he throws the 



