310 
TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
\My, 
render it almost impossible to sit down during the day. 
It was most extraordinary that previously to this year 
they had never been known in the river. Senhor L. 
and the Indians, all agreed that a piuni had hitherto 
been a rarity, and now they were as plentiful as in their 
very worst haunts. Having long discarded the use of; 
stockings in these '' altitudes,'' and not anticipating any 
such pest, I did not bring a pair, which would have been 
useful to defend my feet and ankles in the house, as the 
piuiii, unlike the mosquito, does not penetrate any cover- 
ing, however thin. 
As it was, the torments I suffered when skinning a 
bird or drawing a fish, can scarcely be imagined by the 
unexperienced. My feet were so thickly covered with 
the little blood-spots produced by their bites, as to be 
of a dark purplish-red colour, and much swelled and in- 
flamed. My hands suffered similarly, but in a less de- 
gree, being more constantly in motion. The only means 
of taking a little rest in the day, was by wrapping up 
hands and feet in a blanket. The Indians close their 
houses, as these insects do not bite in the dark, but ours 
having no door, we could not resort to this expedient. 
Whence these pests could thus suddenly appear in such 
vast numbers is a mystery which I am quite unable to 
explain. 
When we had been here about a week, some Indians 
who had been sent to Guia with a small cargo of farinha, 
returned and brought us news of two deaths, which 
had taken place in the village since we had left. One 
was of Joze, a little Indian boy in Senhor L.'s house, 
who had killed himself by eating dirt, — a very common 
f' 
r 
i 
V ■ 
