VOYAGE UP THE RIO NEGRO 271 
with many people who have visited Esmeralda, on 
the Orinoco, and all confirm Humboldt's account of 
the unceasing torment of mosquitoes at that place. 
They tell me it is impossible to do any sort of 
work by day. 
The crew of my canoe were all of pure Indian 
extraction — a great advantage, for the least streak 
of white blood in an Indian's veins increases ten- 
fold his insolence and insubordination. Four of 
them were Barres, one Uaupe, and one Manioa. 
The last had been some years in the Barra, and 
took it into his head to revisit his native forests, 
his mother and sisters being established at Sao 
Pedro, below the falls of Sao Gabriel. On the 
voyage I found that he was an excellent shot, and 
I therefore invited him to stay with me as hunter. 
He accepted the offer, and has been a very great 
aid to me, for I am now in a country where every 
article of food (save farinha) must be sought for in 
the rivers and forests. Sao Gabriel is a wretched 
place — never is there so much as an egg or a banana 
to be had either for love or money. This Indian, 
besides keeping my table supplied with game, was 
of great use to me in my excursions, not only for 
rowing my montaria, but also for climbing and 
cutting down trees ; but though an exceedingly 
strong, active fellow, he was subject every now and 
then to attacks of acute pain in the chest and spine, 
resulting from a strain received in Para in unloading 
a vessel ; and when he had been with me about six 
months he had an attack so violent, attended with 
considerable fever, as to baffle my small skill in 
medicine ; so that, after being confined several days 
to his hammock and showing no signs of improve- 
