MONKEY SOUP. 



154 



versaries, capsizing two Indians as he went, and took to the water. This 

 animal is amphibious, about the size of a half-grown hog, and reminded 

 me, in his appearance and movements, of the rhinoceros. He is also 

 red, and I thought it remarkable that the only animals we had seen — 

 the deer, the monkeys, and the hog — should be all of this color. It is 

 called ronsoco here, and capiuara in Brazil. In these Brazilian names 

 I follow the spelling of Baeria. 



We also heard the barking of dogs on the right or Infidel side of the 

 river, in contradistinction to the other, which is called La parte de la 

 cristiandad, supposed to be the dogs of the Caskibos Indians of the 

 Pachitea. 



Parrots and other birds were also more numerous than before. 



We found the river to-day much choked with islands, shoals, and 

 grounded drift-wood ; camped at half-past five, and supped upon mon- 

 key soup. The monkey, as it regards toughness, was monkey still ; but 

 the liver, of which I ate nearly the whole, was tender and good. Jocko , 

 however, had his revenge, for I nearly perished of nightmare. Some 

 devil, with arms as nervous as the monkey's, had me by the throat, and, 

 staring on me with his cold, cruel eye, expressed his determination to 

 hold on to the death. I thought it hard to die by the grasp of this 

 fiend on the banks of the strange river, and so early in my course ; and 

 upon making a desperate effort, and shaking him off, I found that I had 

 forgotten to take off my cravat, which was choking me within an inch 

 of my life. 



August 7. — We got off at half-past eight ; at a quarter to ten passed 

 the port of Uchiza. This is a village nine miles from the river. The 

 port itself, like that of Tingo Maria, is a shed for the accommodation of 

 canoes and passengers. Nearly all the towns on the river are built six 

 or eight miles from the banks, on account of the overflow of the country 

 when the river is full. Some hill on the bank is generally selected as 

 the port, and a road is made thence to the town. This hill is sometimes 

 forty feet out of water, and sometimes covered, and the whole land be- 

 tween it and the town overflowed. At a quarler past ten we passed the 

 Quebrada, or ravine of Huinagua 1 on the right. A small stream comes 

 down this ravine, the water of which is salt. The people of Uchiza 

 ascend it — a day's journey — to a salt hill, where they supply themselves 

 with this indispensable article. At twenty minutes past eleven we 

 passed another ; and at 1 p. m. another, where the people of Tocache get 

 their salt. It is a day's journey from Tocache to the mouth of the 

 Quebrada, and another to the salt hills. 



To-day presented a remarkable contrast to yesterday for sportsmen. 

 10 



