322 



VOYAGE ON THE TAPAJOS. 



day, they would abandon me without pity. Already they answered me 

 insolently. 



. " After a moment passed in the saddest reflections, I called to the 

 hunter to bring me my travelling case. I took from it the entire 

 preparation of parica of the Mosse chief, and a flask of arsenical soap, 

 which I would not use except as the last resource. I took the parica 

 and did as I had seen the old Indian do. I instantly fell drunk in my 

 hammock, but with a peculiar intoxication, and which acted upon my 

 limbs like electric shocks. On rising, I put my foot to the ground, and, to 

 my great surprise, felt no pain. At first I thought I dreamed. I even 

 walked without being convinced. At length, positively sure that I was 

 awake, and there still remaining two hours of daylight, I detached my 

 hammock, and forced the Indians, by striking them, to follow me. 



"When further on we stopped to rest, they brought me the roast 

 monkey, which they had not touched. I snatched a leg and ate it with 

 voracity. The next day, constantly compelling myself to take the gua- 

 rana, I had but slight fever ; and towards the evening, after a toilsome 

 journey, we arrived at a miserable Malocca, composed of about four or 

 five Indian cabins," 



