CANOE AND CAMP LIFE. 
91 
■ sti'oug-uervcd Seiioritas, who love a bull-fight above everythmg, 
1 Avho kiioAv how to roll the cigarito, and to dance the fandango Avith 
* matchless grace, hut who scarcely are able to Avrite their oAvn names. 
After .such a pleasant interlude of fishing or hunting, the paddles 
p are plied Avith rcncAved vigour until the evening, when sleeping quarters 
( are selected, either on a samlbank or in the forest. The canoes are 
moored by strong piassaba-ropes in some recess of the bank, Avhere 
they are protected against drifting trunks ; the tents are erected, and 
I preparations ensue for the principal meal. MeaiiAvhile, aft(w the very 
shoit interval of tAvilight usual in the tropics, Night almost suddenly 
throAAS her dark Amil OA^er the A’alley, and the bright constellations of 
the Southern sky in quiet majesty adorn the firmament. 
While Avc prepare to take astronomical observations, half-a-dozen 
: largo fires are lighted round about, in Avhosc fitful blaze the neigh- 
jl boAiiing foi’cst trees appear like huge phantoms, looking contemptuously 
doAvn on ns, poor tiny mortals. Om- Indians Avarm themselves in the 
cheerful gloAV, smoking, and chatting of the day’s adventures, or rather 
of AA'hat are regarded as such— unusual good or ill-luck at fishing and 
hunting; the casual meeting of .some canoe; or the sight of a serin- 
gueiio s poor cottage. Work oA'cr, they take off the rough cascara, 
I and ])ut on the camiseta, a cotton garment without sleeves, resembling 
I a A\ ido poncho soAVn together at the sides, and whose dazzling Avhiteness 
IS set off by two scarlet stripes along the seams. The ample folds and 
the simple cut of the garment, which is made by the Indian women 
of the Missions on very primitive looms, give quite a stately, classical 
appem-auce to the numerous groups round the fires. Such must have 
been the aspect presented by the halting-places of those daring seafarers, 
the I hocnicians, Avho Avore the first to call into life an international 
commerce, and Avhosc light-i-igged barques first ventured to distant 
shores, to bring home the precious amber and the useful tin. Only 
the dense swarms of mosquitos,. Avhich set in immediately after sunset, 
remind us rather unpleasantly that we are far off’ from those happy 
Northern regions, Avhore such a nnisauco can hardly bo well imagined. 
lAs2)ccially in the dense forest beneath cacao-bushes, or under the 
close, leafage of the large figueiras, Avhere no breath of air incommodes 
those. light-AAunged tormentor.s, it is quite impossible, for the European 
at least, to close tin eye Avithout the shelter of a mosquitciro (mosquito- 
net) ; and Ave could hut A>'onder at our Indians, mo.st of Avhom did 
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