392 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
We stayed here all Sunday to kill and salt a pig. 
My men caught a large fish, a tambaki (muruciito, 
Venez.), in the port. It is the first I have seen 
since leaving Barra, and seems to be quite un- 
known in black waters — even at San Carlos it is 
never taken. In the Orinoco, as in the Amazon, it 
is abundant. 
Dec. 5. — On this day we passed the mouth of 
the Siapa a little past noon. . . . There is a raudal 
on the opposite side, and a little way farther up is 
another raudal at an angle where the river is much 
contracted ; this extends across the river, and was 
passed with some risk and trouble. 
The Siapa enters by a single narrow mouth 
(perhaps not 150 yards wide), yet it is a much 
larger river than the Pacimoni. The water is 
whitish, and the water of the Casiquiari was whiter 
towards its mouth than below Quirabuena. 
Dec. 6. — Passed another raudal this day, and 
also two points where there are raudals in the 
height of the dry season. Above this there is a 
marked change in the margin of the river, which is, 
besides, considerably narrower. The land is low 
and inundated, often with beds of Jara-assu palm, 
and with small lakes opening out of it in places. . . . 
I saw within the gapo a Sassafras tree, about 
4 feet in diameter, and certainly over 100 feet 
high. It had been tapped last year by cutting out 
a wedge with an axe reaching to the very heart, 
where there was a hollow as large as an arm. A 
small quantity of gum was coagulated within the 
wound. 
At nightfall there were a good many birds crying 
