ClIAP. II. 
FISHES. 
139 
side of the body, black. The men ascended to the 
second falls, which form a cataract several feet in 
height, about fifteen miles beyond our anchorage. The 
macaws were found feeding in small flocks on the fruit 
of the Tucuma palm (Astryocaryum Tucuma), the exces- 
sively hard nut of which is crushed into pulp by the 
powerful beak of the bird. I found the craws of all the 
specimens filled with the sour paste to which the stone- 
like fruit had been reduced. Each bird took me three 
hours to skin^ and I was occupied with these and my 
other specimens every evening until midnight, after my 
own laborious day's hunt ; working on the roof of my 
cabin by the light of a lamp. 
The place where the cuberta was anchored formed a 
little rocky haven, with a sandy beach sloping to the 
forest, within which were the ruins of the Indian 
Maloca, and a large weed-grown plantation. The port 
swarmed with fishes, whose movements it was amusing 
to watch in the deep, clear water. The most abundant 
were the Piranhas. One species, which varied in length, 
according to age, from two to six inches, but was recog- 
nisable by a black spot at the root of the tail^ was 
always the quickest to seize any fragment of meat 
thrown into the water. When nothing was being given 
to them, a few only were seen scattered about, their 
heads all turned one way in an attitude of expectation ; 
but as soon as any offal fell from the canoe, the water was 
blackened with the shoals that rushed instantaneously 
to the spot. Those who did not succeed in securing a 
fragment, fought with those who had been more suc- 
cessful, and many contrived to steal the coveted morsels- 
