314 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS 



it for many miles and in various directions. I could make 

 no use here of our two men as hunters, so, to keep them 

 employed whilst Jose and I worked daily in the woods, I 

 set them to make a montaria under Joao Aracu's direc- 

 tions. The first day a suitable tree was found for the shell 

 of the boat, of the kind called Itaiiba amarello, the yellow 

 variety of the stone-wood. They felled it, and shaped out 

 of the trunk a log nineteen feet in length : this they 

 dragged from the forest, with the help of my host's men, 

 over a road they had previously made with pieces of round 

 wood to act as rollers. The distance was about half a 

 mile, and the ropes used for drawing the heavy load were 

 tough lianas cut from the surrounding trees. This part 

 of the work occupied about a week : the log had then to 

 be hollowed out, which was done with strong chisels 

 through a slit made down the whole length. The heavy 

 portion of the task being then completed, nothing remained 

 but to widen the opening, fit two planks for the sides and 

 the same number of semicircular boards for the ends, 

 make the benches, and caulk the seams. 



The expanding of the log thus hollowed out is a critical 

 operation, and not always successful, many a good shell 

 being spoilt by its splitting or expanding irregularly. It 

 is first reared on tressels, with the slit downwards, over 

 a large fire, which is kept up for seven or eight hours, the 

 process requiring unremitting attention to avoid cracks 

 and make the plank bend with the proper dip at the two 

 ends. Wooden straddlers, made by cleaving pieces of 

 tough elastic wood and fixing them with wedges, are in- 

 serted into the opening, their compass being altered 

 gradually as the work goes on, but in different degree 

 according to the part of the boat operated upon. Our 

 casca turned out a good one : it took a long time to cool, 

 and was kept in shape whilst it did so by means of wooden 

 cross-pieces. When the boat was finished it was launched 

 with great merriment by the men, who hoisted coloured 

 handkerchiefs for flags, and paddled it up and down the 

 stream to try its capabilities. My people had suffered 

 as much inconvenience from the want of a montaria as 

 myself, so this was a day of rejoicing to all of us. 



I was very successful at this place with regard to the 

 objects of my journey. About twenty new species of 

 fishes and a considerable number of small reptiles were 

 added to my collection ; but very few birds were met 



