438 



ANIMALS OF EGA 



at sunset, and then made all speed to Curubaru, fifteen 

 miles distant, to encamp for the night on the sands. 

 We reached the praia at lo o'clock. The waters were 

 now mounting fast upon the sloping beach, and we found 

 on dragging the net next morning that fish was begin- 

 ning to be scarce. Cardozo and his friends talked quite 

 gloomily at breakfast time over the departure of the 

 joyous verady and the setting in of the dull, hungry winter 

 season. 



At 9 o'clock in the morning of the loth of November 

 a light wind from down river sprang up, and all who 

 had sails hoisted them. It was the first time during 

 our trip that we had had occasion to use our sails : so 

 continual is the calm on this upper river. We bowled 

 along merrily, and soon entered the broad channel lying 

 between Baria and the mainland on the south bank. 

 The wind carried us right into the mouth of the TefEe, 

 and at 4 o'clock p.m. we cast anchor in the port of Ega. 



CHAPTER XII 



ANIMALS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA 



As may have been gathered from the remarks already 

 made, the neighbourhood of Ega was a fine field for a 

 Natural History collector. With the exception of what 

 could be learnt from the few specimens brought home, 

 after transient visits, by Spix and Martins and the Count 

 de Castelnau, whose acquisitions have been deposited in 

 the public museums of Munich and Paris, very little was 

 known in Europe of the animal tenants of this region ; 

 the collections that I had the opportunity of making 

 and sending home attracted, therefore, considerable at- 

 tention. Indeed, the name of my favourite village has 

 become quite a household word amongst a numerous 

 class of Naturalists, not only in England but abroad, in 

 consequence of the very large number of new species 

 (upwards of 3000) which they have had to describe, 

 with the locality * Ega ' attached to them. The dis- 

 covery of new species, however, forms but a small item in 

 the interest belonging to the study of the living creation. 

 The structure, habits, instincts, and geographical distri- 

 bution of some of the oldest-known forms supply inex- 



