220 



TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 



[September t 



legs to be cleaned the next day in the canoe. The animal was 

 nearly six feet long, and the scales of the belly could only be 

 cut by heavy blows with a hammer on a large knife. It was 

 caught with a line, to which was attached, by the middle, a 

 short strong pointed stick baited with fish ; when swallowed, 

 the stick remains firmly fixed across the stomach of the animal. 

 The flesh has a very strong but rather agreeable odour, like 

 guavas or some musky fruit, and is much esteemed by Indians 

 and many whites ; but it requires to be young, fat, and well 

 dressed, to form, in my opinion, a palatable meal. I had 

 plenty of work the next day, cleaning the head and limbs, and 

 these furnished a supply of meat for my Indians' supper. 



I called at the sitio of Senhor Chagas, whom I had met at 

 Guia, and from him I again received the most positive infor- 

 mation of the existence, on the river Uaupes, of a white 

 umbrella-bird, having himself seen a specimen, which one of 

 his Indians had killed. 



On the 6th I reached the sitio of Senhor Joao Cordeiro, the 

 Subdelegarde, where I stopped to breakfast ; and arranged 

 with him to remain a few days at his house, on my return 

 voyage, in order to skin and prepare the skeleton of a cow-fish, 

 which he promised to procure for me, as they are very abundant 

 in the river Urubaxf, which enters the Rio Negro just above his 

 house, and where he, every year, takes great numbers with the 

 net and harpoon. At breakfast we had some of the meat, — 

 preserved, by being boiled or fried in its own oil ; it is then 

 put into large pots, and will keep many months. On taking 

 my leave, he sent me a plate of the meat, and some sausages 

 for my voyage. 



I here finished stuffing my Jacare, and was obliged to 

 borrow a drill to make the holes to sew up the skin. I had no 

 box to put it in, and no room for it in the canoe, so I tied it 

 on a board, and had a palm-leaf mat made to cover it from 

 rain, on the top of the tolda. Senhor Joao told us to visit his 

 " cacoarie," or fish-weir, on our way down, and take what we 

 found in it. We did so, and of fish only got one, — a curious 

 mailed species, quite new to me, and which gave me an 

 afternoon's work to figure and describe. There were also five 

 small red-headed turtles, which were very acceptable, and 

 furnished us with dinner for several days. 



We proceeded pleasantly on our voyage, sometimes with rain 



