424 



FOREST AND STREAM SUPPLEMENT. 



[DEC. 19, 1889. 



The Dom gathered the fish on a hooked stick and led 

 the way to camp, where he took the liberty to explain 

 that it was not at all necessary for me to fish, as the crew 

 could take a week's supply in an hour by stunning them 

 with a paddle; in proof of which three of them paddled 

 out near the foot of the rapids, and returned in half an 

 hour with more than 501bs. of fine, large fish. They had 

 a way of dropping some sort of lure overboard, and as 

 the fish rose eagerly to it, they would select the finest at 

 a glance and kill him with a sharp clip of the paddle. 

 Such a plethora of large, handsome fish, allowing them- 

 selves to be slaughtered so foolishly, rather cooled my 

 ardor as an angler; though I still claimed the prerogative 

 of taking what we needed with hook and line. But the 

 sport would have been much better had they been scarcer 

 and harder to take. 



It had been agreed that the montaria should go as far 

 up the river as she could be taken in a month, or should 

 stop at any point on the river I might chose, as long as I 

 wished to stay , and I had intended to ascend for some 

 two weeks, go into camp for a few days, and take one 

 week for the return. But the 28ft. canoe of green wood 

 proved too heavy for carrying, and it was such a man- 

 killing job to truck or tow her up the caxoeiras that I 

 gave it up at the first trial, and contented myself with 

 making trips up the river on foot. On these trips I was 

 always accompanied by Diego, whether I chose or not, 

 for it was useless to order him not to follow me. He 

 would mildly say (l Si s?«o/\" as we say yes, to please a 

 child: and when I was out of sight, pick up his old shot- 

 gun and stick to my wake all day. Sometimes I would 

 not see him for hours, but I always knew he was not far 

 off, and that if needed a shrill whistle or halloo would 

 bring him to my side in less than two minutes. Oftener, 

 however, I would have him along and let him precede 

 me as guide. 



Very interesting, very pleasant, were these foot excur- 

 sions, sometimes up the river, sometimes into the deep, 

 gloomy forest, at other times climbing one of the moun- 

 tains that Prof. Agassiz says nowhere rise to an alti- 

 tude of much more than 700ft, They looked much higher, 

 and climbing one with the thermometer at 90° in the 

 shade did not detract from the altitude. Once on the 

 summit, however, one was well paid for the hot, toil- 

 some climb. To the west and south the view was only 

 limited by the power of vision, one vast, unbroken, mo- 

 notonous forest, not of Jiving green, as most people sup- 

 pose, for a Brazilian forest is mainly composed of decid- 

 uous trees, and there is not a month in the year in which 

 a portion of these are nOt bare and leafless. This gives, 

 on a broad and distant view, a sort of dingy, brown fore- 

 ground that is not pleasant, and as the endless dead-level 

 landscape recedes into dim, smoky haziness, the scenery 

 becomes absolutely depressing and dreary. Standing on 

 the highest point of one of those mountains, I have gazed 

 at the stupendous waste of wilderness until my senses 

 seemed leaving me and drifting away to the bewildering 

 labyrinths of these never-to-be-ex plored, mysterious 

 regions, and it was with a feeling of relief that I turned 

 to the northward and westward, where the monotony 

 was relieved by successions of hills and mountain spurs. 



There has been a deal of nonsense, written and spoken, 

 concerning the wonders of tropical scenery. Mashallah! 

 it is bosh. A bright June or October morning, viewed 

 from a high spur of the Alleghanies or Adirondacks, is 

 worth all the dull- dead-level scenery between Para and 

 Peru. 



I soon tired of climbing and took to long daily walks 

 up the river or hunting about the cainpos and in the for- 

 est. (A campo is a small or large Tu-airie-like meadow.) 

 I haunted and hunted the campo* a great deal because it 

 was there that the beautiful little Brazilian deer came to 

 feed in the evening or early morning, and I was anxious 

 to secure a specimen. They are the neatest and most 

 graceful members of the deer family it has been my good 

 fortune to fall in with, and I think they are less than 

 half the size of the Virginia deer, which they nearly re- 

 semble in every point except size. They were very wary 

 and not to be had easily. Moreover, on the level dead- 

 grass colored meadows my judgment proved faulty on 

 distance, and my first shot fell far short. I amended 

 this one morning when Diego drove a buck and two does 

 within 30yds. of my stand, having made a detour of more 

 than a mile to get on the far side of them. As they were 

 loping leisurely past I sent a bullet through the buck's 

 vitals and he subsided at once. A splendid little fellow 

 he was, with a set of five pronged antlers, very symmet- 

 rical and very light— a similar pair of antlers from the 

 head of a Virginia deer would weigh thrice as much. He 

 was scarcely heavier than a black sheep, and Diego, 

 wrapping the deer around his neck and bringing the legs 

 forward, carried it whole to camp. 



The buck was plump for that climate, but there was no 

 fat on him, and the meat, though sweet and juicy, was 

 tough, as is the case with all wild meat in the tropics. 

 By dint of much hard pounding with the hatchet head I 

 managed some excellent broiled steak; but the bulk of 

 the meat was used by the crew in making a sort of hotch- 

 potch stew, of which the basis seemed to be the fiery 

 little peppers of the country. It was many degrees too 

 hot for a northern palate. 



# 



Above the lower rapids, and two or three miles from 

 the barrata, there was a fine, clear stretch of river, some 

 two miles long by half a mile wide. The banks were 

 rather open, rocky, and mainly free from jungle; and 

 here it was that peccaries, deer, and even the lordly 

 jaguar delighted to resort at night. The two first came 

 to feed on the banks, drink and bathe. The jaguar came 

 to fish. Now, if there was anything for which I was 

 hankering, it was a fan- shot at a'jaguar: and I explained 

 this fully to Diego, who siniply threw cold water on all 

 my plan3 in that direction. If I were to believe him, 

 the jaguar was the most dangerous animal that roamed 

 the forest. He could seldom be killed with a single shot, 

 and always attacked the hunter who wounded him! 

 Then, he was so powerful! Why, he could kill and drag 

 QP a psixt uoy weighing more than a thousand pounds; 

 and one could only get a shot at night, when the aim was 

 uncertain. Much of which was true. All the same, I 

 ordered my crew, who were mostly idling about camp, 

 i • -uild a new barrata on the west bank of the still- water, 

 about half a mile above the rapids. People work very 

 leisurely in that climate. Four pairs of strong hands 



were two days getting up and thatching a paula 10 X 

 But when done it was fresh and rain-proof. It was als° 

 a more pleasant camp than the one below, and I came to 

 pass more than half the nights in it. 



And here a word about my crew. Dom Diego, who 

 liked to be called by his full title, is already sufficiently 

 outlined. He was strong, active and faithful. Manoel, 

 a light, tall Mameluco, a good paddler, but, after the 

 manner of his race, indolent. Pedro, a Muri Indian, 

 short, strong, a good worker, but surly and reticent. 

 Lastly, Antone, a brisk little Cabozo from the Rio Bianco; 

 the best axeman of the crew, good-natured and a. tireless 

 paddler. On the whole, my crew was a good one. Per- 

 haps decent treatment, good pay and no attempt to take 

 unfair advantages of them made some difference. At all 

 events, if I were about to make a canoe voyage in the 

 Amazon valley, I would be glad to take my chances with 

 the old crew. 



In a general way we may reckon the grand valley of 

 the Amazon at a length of 2,000 miles and a breadth of 

 500. Not reckoning the smaller streams, there are over 

 twenty affluents, each of which is a large river, besides 

 the three large streams which give the Amazon its grand 

 inaugural from the base of the Andes. There are more 

 than fifty smaller rivers, all of which are navigable by 

 common river steamers many miles from their mouths. 



Let us assume that the valley of the Amazon proper is 

 that low -lying portion through which, in the rainy sea- 

 son, water will set back from the main river to the higher 

 lands beyond. The distance will vary greatly at dif- 

 ferent points. On the Madeira we shall have over -100 

 miles of navigable river before reaching the caxoeiras or 

 rapids, and the rapids extend for over 300 miles. Once 

 past the rapids, there is more than 1,000 miles of naviga- 

 ble river among the plateau lands of Bolivia. The 

 caxoeiras of other rivers, notably the Trombetas, are 

 scarcely more than fifty miles from the mouth, and the 

 rapids may not cover more than a score of miles. 



Now, a northerner, making a canoe voyage through the 

 low, swampy lands of the valley, is apt to consider him- 

 self in a very unhealthy region. But, on arriving at the 

 caxoeiras, where bright water dashes and foams over 

 clean, cool-looking rocks, with high, dry banks on either 

 side, he infers that he has reached a much healthier 

 region . The exact reverse is the case. With proper care 

 one may live a boat-life along the Amazon for months, 

 with no especial danger to health. 



But every vaxoeira is a Pandora's box for malarial 

 d iseases. 



A little reflection will make this plain. All the larger 

 affluents rise on the higher lands, far back from the 

 Amazon, and as a rule, flow for a long distance through 

 regions nearly kivel. Tu such a climate and country it 

 goes without saying, that a deep, calm river, having a 

 run of from one hundred to a thousand miles without 

 break of surface — save from the ruffling of the breeze— 

 must of necessity receive and retain an incalculable 

 amount of minute vegetable and animal matter, which, 

 being of about the same specific gravity as water, is 

 quietly carried along with the current to the point where 

 the plateau ends in a steep decline to the valley. Here 

 the water is dashed and tumbled over a succession of 

 rocky cascades and rapids until the whole volume has 

 been aerated over and over, and all that it holds of mala- 

 rial evil has been set free. Hence it is that the most un- 

 healthy localities of northern Brazil are found near the 

 caxoeiras of the larger streams. 



I was well aware of all this, but I chose to consider 

 myself exempt, and was not in the least surprised when 

 the tall, graceful Manoel succumbed to a mild attack of 

 sezoengs, and announced himself a subject for medical 

 treatment. I dosed him with caehdea (raw cane rum) 

 and quinine, which is the orthodox treatment: but he 

 got no better and wanted to go home. All my crew com- 

 plained bitterly of insect bites, and with good reason. 

 The Dioqnivis, saiieudos, flies, etc., were a constant quan- 

 tity, active and venomous, and the scanty clothing of t he 

 natives affords little protection against them. None of 

 the men had mosquito netting or any preventive. I had 

 both and suffered comparatively little. 



As regards these pests I cannot do better than quote 

 from Herndon's "Valley of the Amazon," page 309: 

 "From the rising to the setting of the sun clouds of in- 

 sects blind the traveler, and render him frantic by the 

 torments they cause. Take a handful of the finest sand 

 and throw it above your head, and you would then have 

 but a faint idea of the number of these demons who tear 

 the skin to pieces." It is hardly exaggerated. I have 

 seen northerners who had spent a season on the Amazon, 

 whose faces and hands were turned to a dingy blue color 

 by the bites of poisonous insects, and this in spite of the 

 fact that they had mosquito nets, which afforded partial 

 protection at night. 



The comparative immunity I enjoyed from the bites 

 and stings of these pests was attributable to the copious 

 use of a "fly medicine," that I had found effective in the 

 swamps of the north, where mosquitoes and gnats are 

 nearly as bad as in the tropics. As it is cheap, simple, 

 wholesome and inoffensive, I will give the recipe for the 

 benefit of future travelers. It is as follows Three parts 

 pine tar, two parts castor oil, one part oil of pennyroyal. 

 Simmer and mix thoroughly. Bottle for use and shake 

 before using. Apply copiously at firgt until a good glaze 

 or varnish is established, and don't wash it off, but add 

 to it from day to day. Cleanliness may be next to godli- 

 ness, but poisonous insects are simply diabolical. 



It was in the new of the moon that the new camp was 

 made above the rapids, and there was scarcely an eve- 

 ning on which I did not get out before sundown to hunt 

 and haunt the banks of that placid river stretch for two 

 or three hours. Tracks of the peccary, deer and even the 

 jaguar were numerous and fresh, but the animals had a 

 knack of keeping well out of sight. A week of pretty 

 faithful hunting resulted in shooting one little deer and 

 a stray peccary. I could do better at home. 



It was not until the moon was nearly full that I man- 

 aged to strike anything like an adventure— the party of 

 the second part being a huge alligator, which was lving 

 flat directly across my path. Mistaking him for a log, 1 

 was just raising a foot to step on or over him, when he 

 suddenly raised up breast high, and, as I instinctively 

 squatted to the ground, his powerful tail swept over me 

 with a force that would have killed an ox. 



I squattled away on all fours with more speed than 

 grace, got an offing of some thirty feet, and gave him a 

 couple of bullets just back of the foreleg in much less 

 time than it takes to tell it. It altered his belligerent 

 notions very sensibly. He scrambled down the bank and 

 plunged into the river with a guttural, savage bellowing 

 noise, like a strangling hog. And there, at my side, was 

 Dom Diego. I had not seen him in two hours, but he had 

 never lost sight of me. He was following the padre's 

 injunctions — to bring me back safely. Just as he was 

 giving me a mild scolding in bad Portuguese, the wounded 

 cayman ro3e to the surface and commenced swimming 

 aimlessly about in a zigzag manner, all the time keeping 

 up a low, grunting, bellowing noise. Diego said he was 

 mortally wounded. As my nerves were too much rattled 

 for rifle shooting, we went to camp. 



On the following day we made a canoe excursion sev- 

 eral miles back from the river. Pedro, the Muri, was the 

 only one of the crew who could use the pueima or blow- 

 gun ; and he had one with him at my request, for I wanted 

 to see it perform on game. Hitherto he had only killed 

 small birds with it, but on this occasion he had a 

 fair shot at a large howler, distance about 30yds. On 

 receiving the slight missile the monkey quietly disap- 

 peared in the thick foliage, and for several minutes all 

 was still. Then he came tumbling to the ground, stiff 

 and helpless. He looked at us with a wild, terrified look, 

 that I thought showed intelligence; and I judged that 

 while the nerves of motion were paralyzed by the won- 

 rail poison, eyesight and consciousness were compara- 

 tively unaffected, It was half an hour before he was 

 fairly dead. The crew converted him into a stew. I did 

 not partake of it. 



That evening I went again to the still water and met 

 with another incident. It was hardly an adventure, but 

 may be worth relating. Let me premise that a m i 1 e above 

 the rapids there was a strip of clean, sandy beach, and 

 in the edge of the river there were large rocks, several 

 of them flat, and rising only a few inches above the sur- 

 face at low water. Here it was that the jaguar came to 

 fish. We saw his fresh tracks everyday; but, though I 

 had watched every evening for a week, I had not caught 

 a glimpse of his spotted hide. Now that the moon only 

 lacked one day of being full, I decided to watch until 

 after midnight, or until the moon was low enough to 

 throw the shade of trees over the western bank. 



It was a tiresome vigil. The sancudos and mosquitoes 

 drifted into one's face in a way to suggest a sifting of 

 coarse sand; and though they did not bite through the 

 glaze, they were quite capable of getting into ears, eyes 

 and noses. 1 stood watch about two hours, when, having 

 seen nothing to shoot at, I became tired, and started up 

 the bank for a walk of a few hundred yards, then to re- 

 turn to camp. Some eighty rods above the l-ocks there 

 was a clean grassy bank of some forty yards long by half 

 as much in width. It was of a light, dead-grass color in 

 the moonlight, and 1 had come to look on it as a land 

 mark. On the present occasion I noticed as I approached 

 it a dark brown patch right across the path, that I was 

 certain I had never seen before. Still I walked on, and 

 was within twenty yards of the patch when a voice be- 

 hind me said tremulouslv. "Oh, senor ! come back, wild 



pig r 



It struck me like a revelation. 



There they were, a solid, silent, close-packed drove of 

 peccaries, all heading toward me. their sharp noses 

 and lance-like tusks ready for fight or flight, as circum- 

 stances might dictate. 



Quietly and silently I changed step to backward 

 march, cocking the rifle as I did so, in case of a sudden 

 charge. There was a slight rustling and changing of 

 positions in the closely-packed, brown mass, and my hair 

 fairly stood on end as I thought they were about to 

 charge, but they kept the peace. And I never saw a 

 crowd I was so glad to get away from. An attack by a 

 drove of peccaries, with no available tree at hand, means 

 a horrible death. 



It was on the very next eveniug that these vigils were 

 at last rewarded by my first and last chance at a jaguar. 

 I was watching near the rocks just after sundown", stand- 

 ing in the shadow of a palm tree, when a long, yell.nvi h 

 animal came gliding into the grassy open within twent y- 

 five yards of me. My heart gave a hard thump and t 1 en 

 stood still as I realized that I had a large jaguar at L.sc 

 within easy range. 



Silently and quickly the cocked rifle came to i f s pl;-ce 

 as the practiced eye got the perfect bead; a m >m» rt 

 more and the bullet would have done its deadly work, 

 when a shadowy brown hand seized the rifle, elevated 

 the barrels to an angle of 45°, and a powerful arm was 

 wound about my waist with a vise-like grip, dragging 

 me rapidly backward. 



Diego, the faithful Diego, was there! 



Disregarding orders and objurgations, he kept up a 

 steady quick retrograde movement until we were out of 

 the animal's sight. It was the culmination of cool cow- 

 ardice. 



The jaguar calmly raised its head and gazed after us 

 with a wild wondering look, not at all "as if in fear 

 rather as if debating whether this new game might no 

 be preferable to fish. 



When Diego had dragged me to a safe distance he 

 released his hold, only remarking that he had saved iny 

 life. 



I said nothing on the way to camp, but put in the time 

 mentally arranging my scant stock of Portuguese and 

 Ungoa geral in the most abusive forms, mixed with some 

 terse Saxon expressions that I thought might hurt his 

 feelings. On arriving in camp I let him have it. I 

 showered abuse on him in a jumble of three dialects for a 

 quarter of an hour, but he was imperturbable, listening 

 indulgently, as to a spoiled child. I grew pathetic, and 

 explained that I had journeyed nearly 4,000 miles, my 

 chief objects being the shooting of the jaguar and peixe- 

 boy. or Paca morina. And his cursed meddling coward- 

 ice had defeated the prime object of the expedition. He 

 listened patiently and acquiesced with a polite "8t 

 senor," I was beaten. 



* 



I had half a notion of ordering a return on the follow- 

 ing morning, but we had plenty of supplies, and one of 

 the leading points of the trip had hitherto been neglected. 

 i. e., a search for the fine, dark, ornamental woods of 

 Brazil. Some of these were said to be quite plenty on 

 the Trombetas; and I issued orders for a raid on the 



