02 
THE AMAZON ANT) MAm-HKA UT.VRUS. 
without it. After supper they simply spreud a hide ou the ground, on 
which, witli 110 covering otlier than the starry hrniaincnt above them, 
they slept undisturbed till the dawn, only occasionally brushing away, 
as if by way of diversion, the most obtrusive of the little fiends. The 
capitanos only, and one or other of the older rowers, allow themselves 
the luxury of good cotton hammocks, which are also made by their wives 
in the Missions. 
Such, with few variations, was the course of our daily life, until wo 
ri'ached the regions of the rapids, when, of course, the hundred little 
incidents connected with the dragging of the canoes through narrow, 
foaming channels, and with carrying the goods and the vessels themselves 
overland, disturbed the monotony of this rude forest life. 
