About and Above the Great Falls. 123 



of the early stages of the drinking, Later on this seems 

 to give place to a6lual vomiting in proportion to the 

 quantity taken, and repeated with successive potations, 

 as we found to our cost during the succeeding 

 night, when one of the Indian huntsmen who seemed 

 at least to equal the greatest drinkers of the settle- 

 ment, constantly, in spite of repeated protests, came 

 in the near neighbourhood of our house to disgorge, 

 thus relieving, and at the same time fitting, himself for 

 further draughts. 



Now and then a few clapped their hands, at the same 

 time stamping and bursting out into a sort of chant; but 

 there was only a running chaff with frequent laughter 

 during the greater part of the time. This seemed 

 to be at its loudest when, on entering the house, 

 I either refused the drink or but touched it with my lips 

 after having once partaken of it, while the women still 

 held it to my lips as though to compel the draught. 

 Their proceedings were evidently most irregular, owing 

 to our presence, and the distra6lions which we introduced, 

 evidenced by their breaking up at intervals to watch the 

 catching of butterflies with the net, the shooting of wood- 

 peckers in the trees around with the breechloader, the 

 placing out of the prepared specimens in the sun to dry 

 when the rain held over, and more especially the skin- 

 ning of birds by the taxidermist — seeing us off when we 

 set out in the morning to shoot beyond their cassava 

 field, and later on when some of us started for the higher 

 part of the river. 



The cassava field was of enormous extent, and plan- 

 tain, banana, yams and sweet-potato, were scattered 

 about it. Large macaws and the quow-birds were 



Q2 



