66 TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. [^September, 
denly piercing them like tlie prick of a needle. The 
people call it the Mutuca, and say it is one of the torments 
of the interior, being in many parts much more abun- 
dant than it is here. 
Mr, Leavens having ascertained that there was no 
cedar within a mile of the water, we arranged to proceed 
the next day, when a pilot and two men from Patos had 
agreed to accompany us to the Palls. In the morning 
we waited till eight o’clock, and no one making their 
appearance, we sent to them, when they replied, they 
could not come ; so after having waited a day, we were 
at last obliged to go on without them, hoping to be able 
to get as far as the Palls, and then return. Cedar was 
quite out of the question, as men could not be got to 
work the canoe, much less to cut timber. We had now 
altogether been delayed nine or ten days waiting for 
men, and in only one instance had got them after all. 
This is one of the greatest difficulties travellers here 
have to encounter. All the men you want must be 
taken from Para, and if they choose to run away, as they 
are almost sure to do, others cannot be procured. 
At ten in the morning we reached Troquera, on the 
west bank of the river, where there is a small igaripe, 
on which there are some falls. There were several fa- 
milies living here, yet they had not a house among them, 
but had chosen a nice clear space under some trees, 
between the trunks and from the branches of which 
they hung their redes. Numbers of children were roll- 
ing about naked in the sand, while the women and some 
of the men were lounging in their hammocks. Their 
canoes were pulled up on the beach, their guns were 
