TAME PARROTS, 



221 



and sometimes with sunshine, and often obh'ged to make a 

 supper of farinha and water, on account of there being no land 

 on which to make a fire ; but to all these inconveniences I was 

 by this time well inured, and thought nothing of what, a year 

 before, was a very great hardship. At the different sitios 

 where I called, I often received orders for Barra ; for everybody 

 whom I had once seen was, on a second encounter, an old 

 friend, and would take a friend's privilege. One requested me 

 to bring him a pot of turtle oil, — another, a garafao of wine; 

 the Delegarde wanted a couple of cats, and his clerk a couple 

 of ivory small-tooth combs ; another required gimlets, and 

 another, again, a guitar. For all these articles I received not 

 a vintem of payment, but was promised the money certain on 

 my return, or an equivalent in coffee or tobacco, or some 

 other article current in the Rio Negro. To many persons, 

 with whom I had never spoken, I was nevertheless well known, 

 and addressed by name ; and these would often hint that such 

 and such an article they were much in want of, and, without 

 directly requesting me to get it for them, would intimate that 

 if I should bring it, they would be happy to purchase it of me. 



The only live animals I had with me were a couple of parrots, 

 which were a never-failing source of amusement. One was a 

 little " Marianna," or Macai of the Indians, a small black- 

 headed, white-breasted, orange-neck and thighed parrot ; the 

 other, an Anaca, a most beautiful bird, banded on the breast 

 and belly with blue and red, and the back of the neck and 

 head covered with long bright red feathers margined with 

 blue, which it would elevate when angry, forming a hand- 

 some crest somewhat similar to that of the harpy eagle ; its 

 ornithological name is Derotypus accipitrinus^ the hawk-headed 

 parrot. There was a remarkable difference in the characters of 

 these birds. The Anaca was of a rather solemn, morose, and 

 irritable disposition ; while the Marianna was a lively little 

 creature, inquisitive as a monkey, and playful as a kitten. It 

 was never quiet, running over the whole canoe, climbing into 

 every crack and cranny, diving into all the baskets, pans, and 

 pots it could discover, and tasting everything they contained. 

 It was a most omnivorous feeder, eating rice, farinha, every kind 

 of fruit, fish, meat, and vegetable, and drinking coffee too as well 

 as myself ; and as soon as it saw me with basin in hand, would 

 climb up to the edge, and not be quiet without having a share, 



