THE COW-FISH. 



127 



of it. For this purpose all the household — men, women, and 

 children — are called up at four in the morning, and are set to 

 work tearing out the midrib, before the heat of the day makes 

 the leaves too brittle to allow of the operation. A few of the 

 best leaves are sometimes selected to make cigars, but the 

 whole is generally manufactured into rolls of two or four pounds 

 each. The proper quantity is weighed out, and placed 

 regularly in layers on a table in a row about a yard long, rather 

 thicker in the middle. Beginning at one end, this is carefully 

 rolled up and wound round with a cord as tightly as possible. 

 In a few days these rolls are opened out, to see if there is any 

 tendency to heat or mould, and if all is right they are again 

 made up with greater care. Every day they are rebound 

 tighter and tighter, the operator sitting on the ground with the 

 cord twisted round a post, and winding and tightening with all 

 his strength, till at length the roll has become compressed into 

 a solid mass about an inch in diameter, and gradually tapering 

 towards each end. It is then wound closely from end to end 

 with a neat strip of the rind of the Uaruma (a water-rush), and 

 tied up in bundles of an arroba and half an arroba (thirty-two 

 and sixteen pounds), and is ready for sale. When the tobacco 

 is good, or has, as they term it, " much honey in it," it will cut 

 as smooth and solid as a piece of Spanish liquorice, and can be 

 bent double without cracking. The price varies according to 

 the quality and the supply, from 4^. to i^. per pound. 



One day the fisherman brought us in a fine " peixe boi," or 

 cow-fish, a species of Manatus^ which inhabits the Amazon, 

 and is particularly abundant in the lakes in this part of the 

 river. It w^as a female, about six feet long, and near five in 

 circumference in the thickest part. The body is perfectly 

 smooth, and without any projections or inequalities, gradually 

 changing into a horizontal semicircular flat tail, with no 

 appearance whatever of hind limbs. There is no distinct neck ; 

 the head is not very large, and is terminated by a large mouth 

 and fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. There 

 are stifl" bristles on the lips, and a few distantly scattered hairs 

 over the body. Behind the head are two powerful oval fins, 

 and just beneath them are the breasts, from which, on pressure 

 being applied, flows a stream of beautiful white milk. The 

 ears are minute holes, and the eyes very small. The dung 

 resembles that of a horse. The colour is a dusky lead, with 



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