142 
VOYAGE UF THE TAPAJOS. 
Chap. II. 
in search of, began then to pass over ; the different 
styles of cawing and screaming of the various species 
making a terrible discord. Added to these noises 
were the songs of strange Cicadas, one large kind 
perched high on the trees around our little haven 
setting up a most piercing chirp : it began with the 
usual harsh jarring tone of its tribe, but this gradually 
and rapidly became shriller, until it ended in a long 
and loud note resembling the steam-whistle of a loco- 
motive engine. Half-a-dozen of these wonderful per- 
formers made a considerable item in the evening 
concert. I had heard the same species before at Para, 
but it was there very uncommon : we obtained here 
one of them for my collection by a lucky blow with a 
stone. The uproar of beasts, birds, and insects lasted 
but a short time : the sky quickly lost its intense hue, 
and the night set in. Then began the tree-frogs — 
quack-quack, drum-drum, hoo-hoo ; these, accompanied 
by a melancholy night-jar, kept up their monotonous 
cries until very late. 
My men encountered on the banks of the stream a 
Jaguar and a black Tiger, and were very much afraid 
of falling in with the Pararauates, so that I could not 
after their return on the fourth day, induce them to 
undertake another journey. We began our descent of 
the river in the evening of the 26th of August. At 
night forest and river were again enveloped in mist, 
and the air before sunrise was quite cold. There is a 
considerable current from the falls to the house of Joao 
Aracu, and we accomplished the distance, with its aid 
and by rowing, in seventeen hours. 
