194 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



They gave us for dinner boiled ant-bear and red 

 monkey; two dishes unknown even at Beau- 

 villiers in Paris, or at a London city feast. 

 The monkey was very good indeed, but the ant-bear 

 had been kept beyond its time — it stunk as our venison 

 does in England; and so, after tasting it, I preferred 

 dining entirely on monkey. After resting here, we went 

 back to the river. The Indians, three in number, ac- 

 companied us in their own curial, and, on entering the 

 river, pointed to a place, a little way above, well calcu- 

 lated to harbour a cayman. The w r ater was deep and 

 still, and flanked by an immense sand-bank ; there was 

 also a little shallow creek close by. 



On this sand-bank, near the forest, the people made 

 a shelter for the night. My own was already made ; for 

 I always take with me a painted sheet, about twelve 

 feet by ten. This, thrown over a pole, supported be- 

 twixt two trees, makes you a capital roof with very 

 little trouble. 



"We showed one of the Indians the shark-hook. He 

 shook his head, and laughed at it, and said it would not 

 do. When he was a boy, he had seen his father catch 

 the caymen, and on the morrow he would make some- 

 thing that would answer. 



In the mean time, we. set the shark-hook ; but it 

 availed us nought : a cayman came and took it, but 

 would not swallow it. Seeing it was useless to attend 

 the shark-hook any longer, we left it for the night, and 

 returned to our hammocks. 



Ere I fell asleep, a reflection or two broke in upon 

 me. I considered that, as far as the judgment of civi- 

 lized man went, everything had been procured and done 

 to ensure success. We had hooks, and lines, and baits 



