1850.] 
A FISHING PARTY. 
191 
explodes with a noise similar to that produced by the 
bursting of an inflated paper bag. 
After two or three hours, we felt rather tired, so we 
made a fire, and cooked some of our fish for a meal, — 
which we might call supper or breakfast, as we pleased, 
for dawn was now appearing. We then again went on 
fishing, while others got their guns, and endeavoured to 
shoot some of the wild ducks. One gentleman, wdth a 
rifle, made an extraordinary shot, bringing down a single 
duck flying, at a long distance, with a bullet. Now it 
was daylight, I endeavoured to sketch some of the cu- 
rious fish, but they were so numerous, and the sun was 
so hot, that I could do but little ; and as they became 
putrid in a few hours, I could not keep them for the 
purpose till we returned home. About ten in the 
morning we left off fishing, and began cooking. We 
had roasted, broiled, and stewed fish, and with oil and 
vinegar, and plenty of pepper and salt, made a very 
excellent breakfast. We also had wine, bread, and fa- 
rinha, and coffee for those who preferred it. While we 
were at breakfast, our Indians lay down on the sand, in 
the sun, to take a nap, as they had been hard at work 
for two days without sleep. In about an hour they 
were roused to breakfast, and then at noon we started 
on our way home. 
At five in the afternoon we reached a place at the 
mouth of the Rio Negro, where there are some flat 
rocks, and generally abundance of fish. Here most of 
the party began fishing again with rod and line, and 
were pretty successful ; and a fisherman coming in with 
a fine pirarucu, weighing thirty or forty pounds, Senhor 
