RETURN TO EGA 



moments afterwards a dark body appeared to be moving 

 in another direction on the opposite slope of the sandy 

 ravine where we lay, We prepared to fire, but luckily 

 took the precaution of first shouting * Quern va la ? ' 

 ('Who goes there?'). It turned out to be the taciturn 

 sentinel, Daniel, who asked us mildly whether we had 

 heard a ' raposa ' pass our way. The raposa is a kind 

 of wild dog, with very long, tapering muzzle, and black 

 and white speckled hair ^. Daniel could distinguish all 

 kinds of animals in the dark by their footsteps. It now 

 began to thunder, and our position was getting very un- 

 comfortable. Daniel had not seen anything of the other 

 Indians, and thought it was useless waiting any longer 

 for Tracajas ; we therefore sent him to call in the whole 

 party, and made off, ourselves, as quickly as we could for 

 the canoe. The rest of the night was passed most miser- 

 ably ; as indeed were very many of my nights on the Soli- 

 moens. A furious squall burst upon us ; the wind blew 

 away the cloths and mats we had fixed up at the ends of 

 the arched awning of the canoe to shelter ourselves, and 

 the rain beat right through our sleeping-place. There we 

 lay, Cardozo and I, huddled together and wet through, 

 waiting for the morning. 



A cup of strong and hot coffee put us to rights at sun- 

 rise ; but the rain was still coming down, having changed 

 to a steady drizzle. Our men were all returned from the 

 pool, having taken only four Tracajas. The business 

 which had brought Cardozo hither being now finished, we 

 set out to return to Ega, leaving the sentinels once more 

 to their solitude on the sands. Our return route was by 

 the rarely frequented north-easterly channel of the Soli- 

 moens, through which flows part of the waters of its great 

 tributary stream, the Japura. We travelled foi five hours 

 along the desolate, broken, timber-strewn shore of Baria. 

 The channel is of immense breadth, the opposite coast 

 being visible only as a long, low line of forest. At three 

 o'clock in the afternoon we doubled the upper end of the 

 island, and then crossed towards the mouth of the Teffe 



^ I had once only an opportunity of examining a specimen 

 of this kind. It is probably new to science, at least I have 

 not been able to find a published description that suits the 

 species. The one mentioned was taken from a burrow in 

 the earth in the forests bordering the Teffe, near Ega. 



