124 
Swarms of Butterflies. 
They were still continually increasing. In the coloration of their 
wings they resembled our "Cabbage White," but the thoracic segment 
showed up more yellow, and a black border tipped the colouring. During 
the midday hour and shortly before sunset they would settle down in 
endless numbers to rest on the muddy heaps along the bank, or on the 
sandbanks at tlie edge of the water. According to the statement of 
tlie Indians it was the developed insect of the caterpillar and chrysa- 
lis of which they Avere so fond. 
304. The vaqueiros of Friar Jose's fazenda faithfully kept their 
word and brought us every day large vessels full of milk which with the 
daily increasing heat proved a veritable restorative for us. After 
delivering the milk they usually went fishing, and after a short interval 
returned Avith a canoeful of Sud is, Osteoglossidii . PJaty stoma, Piinelodas, 
and other kinds. Under the Pitiidodus Avere to be met two species 
liitherto unknown to me. One was the Pimelodus arakahna Schomb., or 
Tiger-fish, so called by the coloured people on account of its dark black 
spots, the Jantia of the vaqueiros, the Arakahna of the Macusis, whence 
tlie name of the species that was first made known by my brother. Like 
that of almost all the SilKroids, its flesh Avas uncommonly tasty. It is 
only extremely I'arely found on tlie coast and lielow the cataracts. The 
colouring of its skin makes it onei of the most lieautifuUy marked of 
fishes. Along the l)ack and sides a number of black spots are set on a 
ground colour of reddish-brown, while the belly is lighter and the dark 
dots less noticeable. Tlie other was a Plafj/stonui, which came pretty 
near Plafj/sfoina ihii inum except that it liad the lilack stripes! running 
longways instead of crossAvays. Associated Avith these fish was yet a 
species of sting-ray with a veiy short tail, but a more dangerous saw-like 
spine: it was Tncnuira moforn Müll. Hen. Unfortunately, T lost not 
only these interesting fish, but also the large number of others that T had 
found opportunity of collecting throughout the trip: this was due to the 
dishonesty of the inrlividual w1io supplied me with the spirit liecause 
wlien I opened the casks on my return to Pirara, the whole of the contents 
were spoilt. 
30.5. However lucky the vaqueiros were in their fishing, they only 
obtained poor results in harpooning the porpoises that were sporting 
around here. In their pointed snout these diftered essentially from Dcl- 
phinus phocaena Linn, and w^ere either a new species or else the 
JJclphiiius nmazonicus of von Martins. I saw specimens amounting to 
quite 7 or 8 feet in length. The vaqueiros say that they live on fruit and 
small fish. 
306. Our activities on the sandbank and the tempting smell of the 
meat had attracted the attentions of a large kaiman which, with head 
half out of Avater, stuck there Avatching us all day long: a comj)anion 
far from pleasant Avhich we did our l)est to rid ourselves of as quickly 
as possible. But as our bullets were of no use, only glancing off its hard 
skull without doing any damage while the beast AA'ould leisurely and 
contemptuously swim out of reach, the Indians had recourse to strategy. 
After cutting the two ends of a piece of hardwood about a foot long into 
sharp points, they tied a rope to its centre, surrounded it with strips of 
