194 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
day through, sitting on some overhanging branch 
or projecting stump, with looks intent on the water, 
into which they would occasionally plunge to secure 
a passing fish, and sometimes we could shoot them 
on the wing ; but dry subjects like these were only 
eatable in default of other game. At early dawn 
we could sit at the entrance of the cabin, gun in 
hand, and (as we coasted slowly along) pot the 
birds as they woke up in the tree-tops ; and the same 
in the evening, when they came to roost. In this 
way we would sometimes get a curassow or wild 
turkey, which was capital eating ; and sometimes a 
macaw, which was tougher and less savoury, but 
still not to be despised. Besides these, a fat duck 
or a delicate quail (Inambii) would sometimes find 
its way into our pot ; not to speak of several other 
kinds of fowls, whose native names would convey 
no idea to English ears. And game was equally 
as abundant on the Amazon as on the Ramos, 
although not quite so accessible. 
On this voyage, as on other subsequent ones, I 
had occasion to note that the indigenous inhabitants 
of the Amazon valley have no idea of a habitable 
country, save as of land bordering a navigable river. 
I was often asked, "Is the river of your country 
large ? " I once took some pains to describe the 
ocean to a lot of Indians, telling them of its immense 
extent and almost fathomless depth — how long it 
took to cross it, and how it had the Old World on 
one side of it and the New World on the other. 
They listened eagerly, giving vent to occasional 
grunts of admiration, and I thought them intelli- 
gent. When I had done, a venerable Indian 
turned to the rest, and said in a tone of wonder 
