90 
VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. 
Chap. 11. 
creek, on whose banks an industrious white settler had 
located himself. I resolved to pass the rest of the day 
and night here, and endeavour to obtain a fresh supply 
of provisions, our stock of salt beef being now nearly 
exhausted. The situation of the house was beautiful ; 
the little harbour being gay with water plants, Ponte- 
derige, now full of purple blossom, from which flocks of 
Piosocas started up screaming as we entered. The 
owner sent a boy with my men to show them the best 
place for fish up the creek, and in the course of the 
evening sold me a number of fowls, besides baskets of 
beans and farinha. The result of the fishing was a good 
supply of Jandia, a handsome spotted Siluride fish, 
and Piranha, a kind of Salmonidge (Tetragonopterus) . 
Piranhas are of several kinds, many of w^hich abound 
in the waters of the Tapajos. They are caught with 
almost any kind of bait, for their taste is indiscriminate 
and their appetite most ravenous. They often attack 
the legs of bathers near the shore, infiicting severe 
wounds with their strong triangular teeth. At Paquia- 
tuba and this place I added about twenty species of 
small fishes to my collection ; caught by hook and line, 
or with the hand in shallow pools under the shade of 
the forest. 
My men slept ashore, and on their coming aboard in 
the morning Pinto was drunk and insolent. According 
to J ose, who had kept himself sober, and was alarmed 
at the other's violent conduct, the owner of the house 
and Pinto had spent the greater part of the night toge- 
ther, drinking aguardente de beiju, — a spirit distilled 
from the- mandioca root. We knew nothing of the 
