52 



TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON, 



[Sepfembery 



bleached, and though we searched repeatedly we could find no 

 living specimens. The feathers of the blue macaw were lying 

 about the ground where the people had been feasting off their 

 flesh, but we could not succeed in obtaining any specimens. 



Every night, while in the upper part of the river, we had a 

 concert of frogs, which made most extraordinary noises. 

 There are three kinds, which can frequently be all heard at 

 once. One of these makes a noise something like what one 

 would expect a frog to make, namely a dismal croak, but the 

 sounds uttered by the others were Hke no animal noise that 

 I ever heard before. A distant railway-train approaching, and 

 a blacksmith hammering on his anvil, are what they exactly 

 resemble. They are such true imitations, that when lying 

 half-dozing in the canoe I have often fancied myself at home, 

 hearing the familiar sounds of the approaching mail-train, and 

 the hammering of the boiler-makers at the iron-works. Then 

 we often had the " guarhibas,'' or howling monkeys, with their 

 terrific noises, the shrill grating whistle of the cicadas and 

 locusts, and the peculiar notes of the suacilras and other 

 aquatic birds ; add to these the loud unpleasant hum of the 

 mosquito in your immediate vicinity, and you have a pretty 

 good idea of our nightly concert on the Tocantms. 



On the morning of the 19th, at Panaja, where we had passed 

 the night, I took my gun and went into the forest, but found 

 nothing. I saw, however, an immense silk-cotton-tree, one of 

 the buttresses of which ran out twenty feet from the trunk. 

 On the beach was a pretty yellow CEnothera^ which is common 

 all along this part of the river, as well as a small white passion- 

 flower. Mr. Leavens here bought some rubber, and we then 

 rowed or sailed on for the rest of the day. In the afternoon I 

 took the montaria, with Isidora, to try and shoot some of the 

 pretty yellow orioles. I killed one, but it stuck in a thick 

 prickly tree, and we were obliged to come away without it. 

 We passed Patos in the afternoon ; near it was a tree covered 

 with a mass of bright yellow blossoms, more brilliant than 

 laburnum, and a really gorgeous sight. 



The next day we left the land of the blue macaw without a 

 single specimen. From this place to the Falls we had seen 

 them every day, morning and evening, flying high over the 

 river. At almost every house feathers were on the ground, 

 showing that this splendid bird is often shot for food. Alex- 



