SEASONS 



383 



flood season, begin to report, on returning from their 

 morning bath, the cessation of the flow : as ago as est ad 

 paradas, ' the waters have stopped The muddy streets, 

 in a few days, dry up : groups of young fellows are now 

 seen seated on the shady sides of the cottages making 

 arrows and knitting fishing nets with tucum twine ; 

 others are busy patching up and caulking their canoes, 

 large and small : in fact, preparations are made on all 

 sides for the much longed for * veiao or summer, and 

 the ' migration as it is called, of fish and turtle ; that 

 is, their descent from the inaccessible pools in the forest 

 to the main river. Towards the middle of July the sand- 

 banks begin to reappear above the surface of the waters, 

 and with this change come flocks of sandpipers and gulls, 

 which latter make known the advent of the fine season, 

 as the cuckoo does of the European spring ; uttering 

 almost incessantly their plaintive cries as they fly about 

 over the shallow waters of sandy shores. Most of the 

 gaily-plumaged birds have now finished moulting, and 

 begin to be more active in the forest. 



The fall continues to the middle of October, with the 

 interruption of a partial rise called * repiquet of a few 

 inches in the midst of very dry weather in September, 

 caused by the swollen contribution of some large affluent 

 higher up the river. The amount of subsidence also varies 

 considerably, but it is never so great as to interrupt 

 navigation by large vessels. The greater it is the more 

 abundant is the season. Every one is prosperous when 

 the waters are low ; the shallow ba^^s and pools being 

 then crowded with the concentrated population of fish 

 and turtle. All the people, men, women, and children, 

 leave the villages and spend the few weeks of glorious 

 weather rambling over the vast undulating expanses of 

 sand in the middle of the Solimoens, fishing, hunting, 

 collecting eggs of turtle and plovers, and thoroughly 

 enjoying themselves. The inhabitants pray always for 

 a * vasante grande or great ebb. 



From the middle of October to the beginning of January, 

 the second wet season prevails. The rise is sometimes 

 not more than about fifteen feet, but it is, in some years, 

 much more considerable, laying the large sand islands 

 under water before the turtle eggs are hatched. In one 

 year, whilst I resided at Ega, this second annual inunda- 

 tion reached to within ten feet of the highest water point 



