46 TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON, {September, 



often settled in great numbers on the beach, and when dis- 

 turbed rose in a body, forming a complete yellow and orange 

 fluttering cloud. Shells were tolerably plentiful, and we 

 added some new ones to our small stock. Since leaving 

 Baiao, a small fly, with curiously marked black and white 

 wings, had much annoyed us, setting on our hands and faces 

 in the quietest manner, and then suddenly piercing them like 

 the prick of a needle. The people call it the Mutuca, and say 

 it is one of the torments of the interior, being in many parts 

 much more abundant than it is here. 



Mr. Leavens having ascertained that there was no cedar 

 within a mile of the water, we arranged to proceed the next 

 day, when a pilot and two men from Patos had agreed to 

 accompany us to the Falls. In the morning we waited till 

 eight o'clock, and no one making their appearance, we sent 

 to them, when they replied, they could not come ; so after 

 having waited a day, w^e were at last obliged to go on without 

 them, hoping to be able to get as far as the Falls, and then 

 return. Cedar was quite out of the question, as men could 

 not be got to work the canoe, much less to cut timber. We 

 had now altogether been delayed nine or ten days waiting for 

 men, and in only one instance had got them after all. This is 

 one of the greatest difficulties travellers here have to encounter. 

 All the men you want must be taken from Para, and if they 

 choose to run away, as they are almost sure to do, others 

 cannot be procured. 



At ten in the morning we reached Troquera, on the west 

 bank of the river, where there is a small igaripe, on which 

 there are some falls. There were several families living here, 

 yet they had not a house among them, but had chosen a nice 

 clear space under some trees, between the trunks and from 

 the branches of which they hung their redes. Numbers of 

 children were rolling about naked in the sand, while the 

 women and some of the men were lounging in their hammocks. 

 Their canoes were pulled up on the beach, their guns were 

 leaning against the trees, a couple of large earthen pots wxre 

 on the fire, and they seemed to possess, in their own estima- 

 tion, every luxury that man can desire. As in the winter the 

 place is all under water, it is only a summer encampment ; 

 during which season they collect seringa, grow a little cotton, 

 mandiocca, and maize, catch fish and hunt. All they wanted 



