236 
Long Rolls of Tobacco. 
the pens was 4,000, tliat of the wild oues, but distinguished by the 
Government brand, (3,000 : besides these, 000 horses must also have been 
here. The Jierds are in charge of 40 vaqueiros who receive the same pay 
and rations as the soldiers. At eight o'clock in the evening the whole 
garrison, as Avell as the vaqueiros, assembled in the sleeping quarters to 
say their prayers and sing their even-song in the Latin tongue. We 
slept with the Major in a room in which the whole furniture consisted 
of a table, roughly nailed together, a seat similarly (.onstrueted, and a 
bed. 
535. At 6 oVluek in the morning the unusual sound of 
the Reveille woke me out of my deep sleep. The daily rations were 
just being iss;ued to the garrison : these consisted of lib. 
beef and a quantity of farinlm, for wliicli one Imlbnk was 
killed daily. The ])oc)r soldiers had not received pay for three 
years: they bothered us almost to death to buy the tobacco, 
which they seemed to ]>ossess in large quantities, in the form of 5 to 6 ft. 
long rolls of varying thickness, and at the same time of stony 
hardness, piepared in a peculiar fashion. After the leaves have been 
plucked, they are hung up in the shade for some time, and then rolled 
into 2 to 3 in. thick cylinders, which are tightly wound round with bast; 
a few days later the bandage is removed, and wound on again anew but 
still tighter : this is now repeated until the whole becomes laced up into 
a tight compact mass when it is corded round with the bast of a Maranta. 
The tobacco exported to Eui-ope is almost entirely manufactured into 
snuff, but here it is smoked, in si»ite of its strength, in cigarettes both 
by the men as well as l»y the ladies. It is one of the sui'est expressions 
of respect or one of yet tendei-er feelings foi- a seidiora to prepare such a 
cigarette, to light it, to take a feAV whiffs and tlien hand it to a senhor. 
53G. As we returned frf)m a morning visit to the Lord High 
TTonourables with whom we had become acquainted at the month of the 
Zuruma, the commandant's cook had just cut up for breakfast the last 
^Acantfiicus JiijstHir. From its external appearance, the fish belongs to 
the most interesting of the SiiJio'oids, and T regretted all the more that T 
had not come a minute earlier, and secured a specimen for my collection. 
The Rio Branco seems to harbour it in fair quantities, and up to the 
len.jjth of 4 feet. The most favourite spots it selects are excavations 
in the banks or under the roots of the! trees. The Indians of the Rio 
Branco call it Uacari. No animal could have a better right to its 
species name than this 'Acanthicufi, because its whole body, including 
tlie fins, is more or less thickly studded with spines and humps. However 
repulsive and unappetising its appearance may be, its flesh nevei-theless 
]>ossesses a very pleasant taste. 
537. All attempts designed to catcK a specimen to-day remained 
fruitless, and I had now to trust to Major Coelho's promise to send me a 
few of the fish to Pirara, a promise AvhicK unfortunately remained just 
as unfulfilled as that of rayitain Leal's concerniufj the delivery of the 
farinha we had pnrchased. Major Coelho took pity on us and sold us 
two arroba of farinha which at least protected us for the first time from 
our hollomeyed visitor. Hunger. 
