330 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS 



first and almost the only time the uproar of life at sunset, 

 which Humboldt describes as having witnessed towards 

 the sources of the Orinoco, but which is unknown on the 

 banks of the larger rivers. The noises of animals began 

 just as the sun sank behind the trees after a sweltering 

 afternoon, leaving the sky above of the in tensest shade 

 of blue. Two flocks of howling monkeys, one close to 

 our canoe, the other about a furlong distant, filled the 

 echoing forests with their dismal roaring. Troops of 

 parrots, including the hyacinthine macaw we were in 

 search of, began then to pass over ; the different styles 

 of cawing and screaming of the various species making 

 a terrible discord. Added to these noises were the songs 

 of strange Cicadas, one large kind perched high on the 

 trees around our little haven setting up a most piercing 

 chirp : it began with the usual harsh jarring tone of its 

 tribe, but this gradually and rapidly became shriller, 

 until it ended in a long and loud note resembling the 

 steam-whistle of a locomotive engine. Half-a-dozen of 

 these wonderful performers made a considerable item in 

 the evening concert. I had heard the same species before 

 at Para, but it was there very uncommon : we obtained 

 here one of them for my collection by a lucky blow with a 

 stone. The uproar of beasts, birds, and insects lasted 

 but a short time : the sky quickly lost its intense hue, 

 and the night set in. Then began the tree-frogs — quack- 

 quack, drum-drum, hoo-hoo ; these, accompanied by a 

 melancholy night- jar, kept up their monotonous cries 

 until very late. 



My men encountered on the banks of the stream a 

 Jaguar and a black Tiger, and were very much afraid 

 of falling in with the Pararauates, so that I could not 

 after their return on the fourth day, induce them to 

 undertake another journey. We began our descent of 

 the river in the evening of the 26th of August. At 

 night forest and river were again enveloped in mist, 

 and the air before sunrise was quite cold. There is a 

 considerable current from the falls to the house of Joa5 

 Aracu, and we accomplished the distance, with its aid 

 and by rowing, in seventeen hours. 



Sept. 21 St. — At five o'clock in the afternoon we emerged 

 from the confined and stifling gully through which the 

 Cupari flows, into the broad Tapajos, and breathed freely 

 again. How I enjoyed the extensive view after being so 



