34<5 



THE UPPER AMAZONS 



animal, as it lay on its back, with its broad rounded head 

 and muzzle, tapering body, and smooth, thick, lead- 

 coloured skin, reminded me of those Egyptian tombs 

 which are made of dark, smooth stone, and shaped to the 

 human figure. 



It rarely happened that we caught anything near the 

 canoe ; but one day, as we were slowly progressing along 

 a remanso past a thick bed of floating grasses, the men 

 cauglit sight of a large Pirarucu : the fish which, salted, 

 forms the staple food of all classes in most parts of the 

 Lower Amazons country. It darted past with great speed 

 close to the surface of the water, exhibiting its ornamental 

 coat of mail, the extremely large, broad scales, being 

 margined with bright red. One of the Indians seized a 

 harpoon and, jumping into the montaria, was after it in 

 a moment. He killed it at the distance of a few yards, 

 as it was plunging amongst the entangled beds of grass. 

 The fish was a nearly full-grown one, measuring eight feet 

 in length and five in girth, and supplied us all with two 

 plentiful meals. The best parts only were cooked, the 

 rest being thrown most improvidently to the vultures. 

 The Indian name Pirarucu, or Anatto fish (from Pira, 

 fish ; and urucii, anatto or red), is in allusion to the red 

 colour of the borders of its scales, and is a sample of the 

 figurative style of nomenclature of the Tupi nation. 



Notwithstanding the hard fare, the confinement of the 

 canoe, the trying weather, — frequent and drenching rains 

 with gleams of fiery sunshine, — and the woful desolation 

 of the river scenery, I enjoyed the voyage on the whole. 

 We were not much troubled by mosquitoes, and therefore 

 passed the nights very pleasantly, sleeping on deck wrapped 

 in blankets or old sails. When the rains drove us below 

 we were less comfortable, as there was only just room in 

 the small cabin for three of us to lie close together, and 

 the confined air was stifling. I became inured to the 

 Piums in the course of the first week ; all the exposed 

 parts of my body, by that time, being so closely covered 

 with black punctures that the little bloodsuckers could 

 not very easily find an unoccupied place to operate upon. 

 Poor Miguel, the Portuguese, suffered horribly from 

 these pests, his ankles and wrists being so much inflamed 

 that he was confined to his hammock, slung in the hold, 

 for weeks. At every landing-place I had a ramble in the 

 forest whilst the red skins made the fire and cooked the 



