278 
A MuLLUSC-COLLECriMG ßlRU. 
liöG. In spite of every ellort to start ou our uew expedition as 
quickly as possible some eight weeks elapsed before this could be 
effected: the low, water iu the Eupuuuui, up which we intended 
travelling as far as Ave could, proved the chief cause for the delay. We 
had therefore to Avait for the commencement of the rainy season. I 
utilised the inter\^al in making many a botanical and zoological trip. 
That interesting method of taking fish in the now apparently dried-up 
swamps and lakes of the saA^annahs Avas again put into practice by 
whole caravans of Indians who almost, daily made their way here : the 
bounteous harvests of these poisoning expeditions iu the Pirara having 
to be smoked, the village resumed Its normal activities for a short 
while, I at the same time getting hold of many an; interesting sj^eci- 
men. Among the many laughalde and serious scenes that were for the 
most part connected Avith the fishing here, there is one especially that 
my memory still retains. In coni]iany Avith a large party of Indians 
I also Avent off one day to one. of those large sAA^amps, several miles from 
Pirara, the surface of Avhich Avns entirely covered with Nymphaca. The 
root of the Lonchocurpiift (Irnsifloriis Avas actively beaten and washed 
out in the Avat.ei', the effects of the ]ioison soon becoming evident. Old 
and young, everyl)odA' was busy collecting the spoil and bi^inging it to 
the banks, when, suddenly, a boy who had approached a thick covering 
of 'Nympharn gave a shriek, and the peculiar movement of the shallow 
water iu his neighbourhood betrayed the presence of a kaiman. The 
attack made by the creature on the boy had fortunately failed : witli 
open Jaws and bent tail, both raised above the water, the brute noAV 
came swimming towards us. EA'erybody tried to land as quickly as 
possible but owingj'to the thick mud this was Jnot at all easy to do. The 
resulting confusion must have l)eeu, yevy Jaughable indeed to those who 
were not personally, interested. Anyone encumbered with any weight 
threw it away: bows, arrows, and fish were discarded, the whole 
assemblage had but one goal, the land, which fortunately all of us 
reached: the monster had not followed us farther, but maintained its 
threatening position in the middle of the water. The hail of arrows 
directed at it from the water edge troubled it so little that it 
just remained where it was: no one having firearms the whole party 
was broken up. no one venturing to go liack into the pool. When, next 
morning, armed Avith a gun and accompanied by some Indians, I stroll- 
ed along the SAvamp, I came across several heaps of the shells of 
^Ampullaria gumnensis and papyracea, which were stacked either under 
one of the trees or at least close to a luish. From some of the shells the 
mollusc had been extracted only a short time l)efore, 1)ut the large 
proportion on the other hand must have been exposed for years to the 
weather. From what the Indians said it was a black ibis of which 
they shoAA'ed me several wading around in the swamp, that was the 
zealous collector. This peculiarity of eating its prey in a fixed spot I 
had never heard of before with, any bird, and hence it was all the more 
regrettable that its caution and shyness frustrated all our efforts to 
obtain a specimen. I found eight such heaps, each of which was four 
feeJt Mgh. Prfibably each bird had its own spot. 
