1849.] 
VOYAGE TO THE RIO NEGRO. 
161 
him good pay and plenty to eat and drink, but to no 
purpose; he declared he would go back from the first 
place we stopped at, and kill the man who had struck 
him. At the same time he was very civil, assuring me 
that he felt no ill-will against me, as I had had nothing 
to do with it. It was afternoon when we started, and 
about sunset we staid to make supper ; and then the ill- 
used Indian politely wished me good-bye, and taking 
his bundle of clothes returned through the forest to the 
village. As I could not go on with two only, I sent one 
of them back early in the morning to get another in the 
place of the one who had rim away, which he did, and 
returning about ten o’clock, we pursued our journey. 
We went along slowly, now and then sailing, but 
generally rowing, and suffering much annoyance from 
the rain, which was almost incessant. The mosquitoes, 
too, were a great torture : night after night we were kept 
in a state of feverish irritation, unable to close our eyes 
for a moment. Our Indians suffered quite as much as 
ourselves : it is a great mistake to suppose that the 
mosquitoes do not bite them. You hear them, all night 
long, slapping on their bare bodies to drive their tor- 
mentors off ; or they will completely roll themselves up 
in the sail, suffering the pangs of semi- suffocation to 
escape from their irritating bites. There are particular 
spots along the banks of the river where there are no 
mosquitoes ; and no inducement would make our men 
paddle so hard as the probability of reaching one of these 
places before midnight, and being enabled to enjoy the 
comforts of sleep till morning. 
Towards the end of December, we reached the little 
M 
