234 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



monitions of youth, and shows them to have been not mere 

 guesses, but founded upon an insight into the true relations 

 of things. Wearied after a while with watching the fish- 

 ing in the sun, I went 'back into the forest, where I found 

 the coffee-pot already boiling over the fire. It was pleas- 

 ant to sit down on a fallen, moss-grown trunk, and break- 

 fast in the shade. Presently the fishermen came back from 

 the lake, and we found our way to the boats again, laden 

 with an immense number of fishes. The gentlemen re- 

 turned to the house in one of the smaller montarias, taking 

 the specimens with them, and leaving me to return in the 

 larger canoe with the Senhoras. It seemed to me strange 

 on this Sunday morning, when the bells must be ringing 

 and the people trooping to church under the bright October 

 sky, in our far-off New England home, to be floating down 

 this quiet igarap^, in a boat full of half-naked Indians, their 

 wild, monotonous chant sounding in our ears as they kept 

 time to their oars. In these excursions one learns to un- 

 derstand the fascination this life must have for a people 

 among whom civilization is as yet but very incomplete ; 

 it is full of physical enjoyment, without any mental ef- 

 fort. Up early in the morning and off on their fishing 

 or hunting excursions long before dawn, they return by 

 the middle of the day, lie in their hammocks and smoke 

 during the hours of greatest heat ; cook the fish they 

 have brought with them, and, unless sickness comes to 

 them, know neither want nor care. We reached the house 

 in time for a twelve o'clock breakfast of a more solid char- 

 acter than the lighter one in the forest, and by no means 

 unacceptable after our long row. In the course of the day 

 two " Peixe-bois " (Manatees) were brought in, also a Boto 

 (porpoise), and some large specimens of Pirarucu (Sudis). 



