i6o 



TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO, 



[January^y 



On the 28th, in the afternoon, we arrived at the Httle village 

 of Mabe, which we reached in very good time, for the inhabit- 

 ants had just returned from a fishing expedition : they had 

 procured a great quantity of fish by poisoning an igaripe near, 

 and I purchased enough for our supper and breakfast. I found 

 several which I had not seen before; among them, a most 

 curious little species allied to CentrarcuSy called the butterfly 

 fish, from the extraordinary development of its fins, and pretty 

 banded markings. 



On the 29th, about noon, we passed the mouth of the 

 river Xie, a black-water stream of moderate size and no great 

 length. There is little trade up it, and the Indians inhabiting 

 it are uncivilised and almost unknown. 



On the 30th we came in sight of the Serras of the Caba- 

 buris, and the long row of hills called Pirapuco (the long 

 fish) : they consist of lofty and isolated granite peaks, like 

 those generally found in this district. The next day we reached 

 Marabitanas, the frontier fort of Brazil : there is now only the 

 remnant of a mud entrenchment, and a small detachment of 

 soldiers. As the Commandante was not there, we did not stay, 

 except to purchase a few plantains. 



On the I St of February we reached the Serra of Cocoi, which 

 marks the boundary between Brazil and Venezuela. This is a 

 granite rock, very precipitous and forming nearly a square 

 frustum of a prism, about a thousand feet high. It rises at 

 once out of the forest plain, and is itself, on the summit and 

 the less precipitous portions, covered with thick wood. Here 

 the piums, or little biting flies, swarm and made us very 

 uncomfortable for the rest of the day. We had now beautiful 

 weather, and in the evening slept on a fine granite beach very 

 comfortably. The next night we stayed at a rock on which we 

 found some curious figures engraven below high-water mark. 

 Here having a clear horizon up the river to the north, I saw 

 my old friend the pole-star, though I was only in 20' north 

 latitude. We had now every day fine rocky beaches, along 

 which I often walked, while young Luiz would shoot fish for 

 us with his bow and arrow. He was very skilful, and always 

 had his bow by his side, and as we approached a rock or 

 shallow would fit his arrow and send it into some glittering 

 acarra or bright-coloured tucunare. 



At length, on the afternoon of the 4th of February, we 



