BIVOUAC ON SAND-BANK 411 



miles distant, where we passed the night. Cardozo and 

 I slept in our hammocks slung between upright poles, the 

 rest stretching themselves on the sand round a large fire. 

 We lay awake conversing until past midnight. It was a 

 real pleasure to listen to the stories told by one of the older 

 men ; they were given with so much spirit. The tales 

 always related to struggles with some intractable animal — 

 jaguar, manatee, or alligator. Many interjections and 

 expressive gestures were used, and at the end came a 

 sudden * Pa ! terra ! ' when the animal was vanquished 

 by a shot or a blow. Many mysterious tales were re- 

 counted about the Bouto, as the large Dolphin of the 

 Amazons is called. One of them was to the effect that 

 a Bouto once had the habit of assuming the shape of a 

 beautiful woman, with hair hanging loose to her heels, 

 and walking ashore at night in the streets of Ega, to entice 

 the young men down to the water. If any one was so 

 much smitten as to follow her to the water-side, she 

 grasped her victim round the waist and plunged beneath 

 the waves with a triumphant cry. No animal in the 

 Amazons region is the subject of so many fables as the 

 Bouto ; but it is probable these did not originate with 

 the Indians but with the Portuguese colonists. It was 

 several years before I could induce a fisherman to harpoon 

 Dolphins for me as specimens, for no one ever kills these 

 animals voluntarily, although their fat is known to yield 

 an excellent oil for lamps. The superstitious people 

 believe that blindness would result from the use of this 

 oil in lamps. I succeeded at length with Carepira, by 

 offering him a high reward when his finances were at a very 

 low point ; but he repented of his deed ever afterwards, 

 declaring that his luck had forsaken him from that day. 



The next day we again beat the pool. Although we 

 had proof of there being a great number of turtles yet 

 remaining, we had very poor success. The old Indians 

 told us it would be so, for the turtles were * ladino ' 

 ('cunning'), and would take no notice of the beating 

 a second day. When the net was formed into a circle, 

 and the men had jumped in, an alligator was found to be 

 inclosed. No one was alarmed, the only fear expressed 

 being that the imprisoned beast would tear the net. First 

 one shouted ' I have touched his head ' ; then another 

 * he has scratched my leg ' ; one of the men, a lanky 

 Miranha, was thrown off his balance, and then there was 



