54 



TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON, 



[September^ 



shoes or bottles, on moulds of clay, or into flat cakes. It 

 hardens in a few hours, and is blackened with a smoke pro- 

 duced by burning the nuts of the Urucuri palm, and is then 

 india-rudder. Just before leaving this place I met with an 

 accident, which might have been very serious. My gun was 

 lying loaded on the top of the canoe, and wishing to shoot 

 some small birds near the house, I drew it towards me by the 

 muzzle, which, standing on the steps of the landing-place, was 

 the only part I could reach. The hammer, however, lay in a 

 joint of the boards, and as I drew the gun towards me it was 

 raised up, and let fall on the cap, firing off the gun, the charge 

 carrying off a small piece of the under-side of my hand near 

 the wrist, and, passing under my arm within a few inches of 

 my body luckily missed a number of people who were behind 

 me. I felt my hand violently blown away, and looking at it, 

 saw a stream of blood, but felt no pain for some minutes. As 

 we had nothing to put to it, I tied it up with a quantity of 

 cotton ; and about twelve o^clock, the tide serving, we bade 

 adieu to Senhor Seixus, who had treated us very kindly both 

 here and at Baiao. 



On the 24th we stayed for the tide, at a house on an island 

 abounding in cacao and seringa. The water of the river had 

 become muddy, but not ill-tasted. On the 25th we stayed at a 

 sugar estate, where there was a tree full of the hanging nests 

 of the japims, or yellow troupials. Seeing a number of the 

 large frigate-bird pelican over the river, I went out with 

 Alexander in the montaria to try and shoot one, and, after a 

 few ineffectual shots, Alexander succeeded in doing so. It 

 measured seven feet from wing to wing; the feet were very 

 small and webbed, and the bill long and hooked at the end. 

 They appear almost to live upon the wing, going in small 

 flocks over the river, and darting down to seize any fish which 

 may appear near the surface. The neck is partly bare, and 

 very extensible, like that of the true pelicans. There are two 

 kinds, which fly together, one with the body entirely black, 

 the other with the head and neck white, which are said to be 

 the male and female of the same species. 



On the 26th we stayed for the tide at a low island covered 

 with palms and underwood. Just as we were going to step on 

 shore we saw a large snake twisted on a branch overhead, so 

 we hung back a little till Mr. Leavens shot it. It was about 



