536 



indispensable against the attacks. of the jaguar. 

 About sunrise the monkeys in our cages an- 

 swered the cries of the monkeys of the forest. 

 These communications between animals of the 

 same species sympathizing with one another, 

 though unseen, one party enjoying that liberty, 

 which the other regrets, have in them something 

 melancholy and affecting. 



In a canoe not three feet wide, and so incum- 

 bered, there remained no other place for the 

 dried plants, trunks, a sextant, a dipping needle, 

 and the meteorological instruments, than the 

 space below the lattice-work of branches, on 

 which we were compelled to remain stretched 

 the greater part of the day. To take the least 

 object out of a trunk, or to use an instrument, it 

 was necessary to gain the shore and disembark. 

 To these inconveniencies were joined the tor- 

 ment of the moschettoes, that abounded under 

 this low roof, and the heat that radiated from the 

 leaves of the palm-trees, the upper surface of 

 which was continually exposed to the solar rays. 

 We attempted every instant, and always without 

 success, to amend our situation. While one of 

 us hid himself under a sheet, to ward off the in- 

 sects, the other insisted on having green wood 

 lighted beneath the toldo, in order to drive away 

 the moschettoes by the smoke. The painful sen- 

 sations of the eyes, and the increase of heat, 

 already stifling, rendered both these means alike 



