270 
TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
[April, 
had invited me when at Guia. I however did little in 
the collecting way : there were no paths in the forest, 
and no insects, and very few birds worth shooting. I 
obtained some very curious half-spiny rodent animals, 
and a pretty white-marked bird, allied to the starlings, 
which appears here only once a year in flocks, and is 
called Ciuci uera’’ (the star-bird). 
The inhabitants of Marabitanas are celebrated for 
their festas : their lives are spent, half at their festas, 
and the other half in preparing for them. They consume 
immense quantities of raw spirit, distilled from cane- 
juice and from the mandiocca : at a festa which took 
place while I was here, there was about a hogshead of 
strong spirit consumed, all drunk raw. In every house, 
where the dancing takes place, there are three or four 
persons constantly going round with a bottle and glass, 
and no one is expected ever to refuse; they keep on 
the whole night, and the moment you have tasted one 
glass, another succeeds, and you must at least take a 
sip of it. The Indians empty the glass every time; 
and this continues for two or three days. When all is 
finished, the inhabitants return to their sitios, and com- 
mence the preparation of a fresh lot of spirit for the next 
occasion. ; 
About a fortnight before each festa — which is always 
on a Saint’s day of the Roman Catholic Church — a party | 
of ten or a dozen of the inhabitants go round, in a canoe, 
to all the sitios and Indian villages within fifty or a 
hundred miles, carrying the image of the saint, flags, and 
music. They are entertained at every house, the saint is 
kissed, and presents are made for the feast : one gives 
i; 
