286 
EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IY. 
as the surname of the family. The other was Jose 
Frazao, a nephew of Senhor Chrysostomo, of Ega, an 
active, clever, and manly young fellow whom I much 
esteemed. He was almost a white, his father being a 
Portuguese and his mother a Mameluco. We were 
accompanied by an Indian named Lino, and a Mulatto 
boy, whose office was to carry our game. 
Our proposed hunting-ground on this occasion lay 
across the water, about fifteen miles distant. We set out 
in a small montaria, at four o'clock in the morning, again 
leaving the encampment asleep, and travelled at a 
good pace up the northern channel of the Solimoens, 
or that lying between the island Catua and the left 
bank of the river. The northern shore of the island 
had a broad sandy beach reaching to its western extre- 
mity. We reached our destination a little after day- 
break ; this was the banks of the Carapanatuba,* a 
channel some 150 yards in width, which^ like the Anana 
already mentioned, communicates with the Cupiyd To 
reach this we had to cross the river, here nearly two 
miles wide. Just as day dawned we saw a Cayman 
seize a large fish, a Tambaki, near the surface ; the reptile 
seemed to have a difficulty in securing its prey, for it 
reared itself above the water, tossing the fish in its 
jaws and making a tremendous commotion. I was much 
struck also by the singular appearance presented by 
certain diving birds having very long and snaky necks 
(the Plotus Anhinga). Occasionally a long serpentine 
form would suddenly wriggle itself to a height of a 
* Meaning in Tupi, the river of many mosquitoes : from carapana,, 
mosquito, and ituba, many. 
