FOOTNOTES:

On crossing the Rio Negro from the city of Barra, we entered into a tract of this description. Our canoe was forced under branches and among dense bushes, till we got into a part where the trees were loftier, and a deep gloom prevailed. Here the lowest branches of the trees were level with the surface of the water, and were many of them putting forth flowers. As we proceeded we sometimes came to a grove of small palms, the leaves being now only a few feet above us, and among them was the marajá, bearing bunches of agreeable fruit, which, as we passed, the Indians cut off with their long knives. Sometimes the rustling of leaves overhead told us that monkeys were near, and we would soon perhaps discover them peeping down from among the thick foliage, and then bounding rapidly away as soon as we had caught a glimpse ofthem. Presently we came out into the sunshine, in a grassy lake filled with lilies and beautiful water-plants, little yellow bladder-worts (Utricularia), and the bright-blue flowers and curious leaves with swollen stalks of thePontederias. Again in the gloom of the forest, among the lofty cylindrical trunks rising like columns out of the deep water: now a splashing of falling fruit around us would announce that birds were feeding overhead, and we could discover a flock of paroquets, or some bright-blue chatterers, or the lovely pompadour, with its delicate white wings and claret-coloured plumage; now with a whirr a trogon would seize a fruit on the wing, or some clumsy toucan make the branches shake as he alighted.But what lovely yellow flower is that suspended in the air between two trunks, yet far from either? It shines in the gloom as if its petals were of gold. Now we pass close by it, and see its stalk, like a slender wire a yard and a half long, springing from a cluster of thick leaves on the bark of a tree. It is anOncidium, one of the lovely orchis tribe, making these gloomy shades gay with its airy and brilliant flowers. Presently there are more of them, and then others appear, with white and spotted and purple blossoms, some growing on rotten logs floating in the water, but most on moss and decaying bark just above it. There is one magnificent species, four inches across, called by the natives St. Ann's flower (Flor de Santa Anna), of a brilliant purple colour, and emitting a most delightful odour; it is a new species, and the most magnificent flower of its kind in these regions; even the natives will sometimes deign to admire it, and to wonder how such a beautiful flower grows "atóa" (uselessly) in the Gapó.At length, after about eight hours' paddling, we came out again into the broad waters of the Solimões. How bright shone the sun! how gay flowed the stream! how pleasant it was again to see the floating grass islands, and the huge logs and trees, with their cargoes of gulls sitting gravely upon them! These, with the white-leaved and straggling umboöbas (Cecropia) give an aspect to the Amazon quite distinct from that of the Rio Negro, independently of their differently-coloured waters. Now, however, there was no land to be reached, and we feared we should have to sup on farinha and water, but luckily found a huge floating trunk fast moored amongst some grass near the side, and on it, with the assistance of a fewdead twigs, we soon made a fire, roasted our fish, and boiled some coffee. But we had intruded on a colony of stinging ants, who, not liking the vicinity of fire, and not choosing to take to the water, swarmed into our canoe and made us pay for our supper in a very unpleasant manner. Dusk soon came on, and we had to stay for the night; but the mosquitoes made their presence known, and we lay uncomfortable and feverish till the morning. By the next night we had reached the mouth of the small stream that leads us to Manaquery, and had few mosquitoes to annoy us. In the morning we went on, and soon plunged again into the Gapó, passing through some small lakes so choked up with grass that the canoe could hardly be forced over it. Again we emerged into the igaripé—here about a quarter of a mile wide—and at ten in the morning reached Manaquery.The estate is situated on the south side of the Solimões, about a hundred miles above its junction with the Rio Negro, The whole tract of country round it consists of igaripés, or small streams, lakes, gapó, and patches of high and dry land, so scattered and mixed together that it is very difficult to tell whether any particular portion is an island or not. The land, for a short distance on the banks of the stream, rises in an abrupt, rocky cliff, thirty or forty feet above high-water mark: the rocks are of a volcanic nature, being a coarse and often vitreous scoria. On ascending by some rude steps, I found myself in a flat grassy meadow, scattered over with orange-trees, mangoes, and some noble tamarind and calabash trees, and at the back a thicket of guavas.Cattle and sheep were grazing about, and pigs and poultry were seen nearer the house. This was a large thatched shed, half of which contained the cane-mill, and was only enclosed by a railing instead of a wall; the other half had coarse mud walls, with small windows and thatch shutters. The floor was of earth only, and very uneven, yet here resided Senhor Brandão and his daughter, whom I had met at Barra. The fact was that some ten or twelve years before, during the Revolution, a party of Indians burnt down his house, and completely destroyed his garden and fruit-trees, killing several of his servants and cattle, and would have killed his wife and children, had they not, at a moment's notice, escaped to the forest, where they remained three days, living on Indian cornand wild fruits. Senhor B. was at the time in the city, and while the Revolution lasted, which was several years, he was glad to have his family with him in safety, and could not think of rebuilding his house. Afterwards he was engaged as Delegarde de Policia for some years, and he had now only just returned to live on his estate with one unmarried daughter, and of course had plenty to do to get things a little in order. His wife being dead, he did not feel the pleasure he had formerly done in improving his place, and it is, I think, not improbable that, after having lived here a few years, he will get so used to it that he will think it quite unnecessary to go to the expense of rebuilding his house. Still it seemed rather strange to see a nicely-dressed young lady sitting on a mat on a very mountainous mud-floor, and with half-a-dozen Indian girls around her engaged in making lace and in needlework. She introduced me to an elder married sister who was staying with them, and soon Senhor B. came in from his cane-field, and heartily welcomed me. About twelve we sat down to dinner, consisting of tambakí, the most delicious of fish, with rice, beans, and Indian-meal bread, and afterwards orangesad libitum.I stayed here nearly two months, enjoying a regular country life, and getting together a tolerable collection of birds and insects.In a few days a hunter I had engaged in Barra arrived, and forthwith commenced operations. In the afternoon he generally brought me some birds or monkeys, which were very plentiful. We rose about half-past five, and by six had a cup of hot coffee; I then sat down to skin birds, if any had been brought late over-night, or, if not, took my gun and walked out in search of some. At seven or half-past we had a basin of Indian-meal porridge, or chocolate, with new milk, as a sort of breakfast. At twelve punctually we dined, the standing dish being tambakí, varied occasionally with fowl, cow-fish, deer, or other game. At four we had another cup of coffee, with biscuit or fruit, and at seven we took supper of fish like our dinner, if the fisherman had arrived. In the morning, for a couple of hours, I generally went with my net in search of insects. Several rare butterflies were found sitting on the river's side, on the margin of mud left by the retiring waters. Small toucans or araçaris of several species were very abundantthe rarest and most beautiful being the "curl-crested," whose head is covered with little glossy curls of a hard substance, more like quill or metallic shavings than feathers. These are at times plentiful, but did not appear till some weeks later than the other species, when I was at last rewarded for my patience by obtaining several beautiful specimens.The common black vultures were abundant, but were rather put to it for food, being obliged to eat palm-fruits in the forest when they could find nothing else. Every morning it was an amusing sight to see them run after the pigs the moment they got up, three or four following close at the heels of each animal, for the purpose of devouring its dung the moment it was dropped. The pigs seemed to be very much annoyed at such indecent behaviour, and would frequently turn round and take a run at the birds, who would hop out of the way or fly a short distance, but immediately resume their positions as soon as the pig continued his walk.I am convinced, from repeated observations, that the vultures depend entirely on sight, and not at all on smell, in seeking out their food. While skinning a bird, a dozen of them used to be always waiting attendance at a moderate distance. The moment I threw away a piece of meat they would all run up to seize it; but it frequently happened to fall in a little hollow of the ground or among some grass, and then they would hop about, searching within a foot of it, and very often go away without finding it at all. A piece of stick or paper would bring them down just as rapidly, and after seeing what it was they would quietly go back to their former places. They always choose elevated stations, evidently to see what food they can discover; and when soaring at an immense height in the air, they will descend into the forest where a cow has died or been killed, long before it becomes putrid or emits any strong smell. I have often wrapped a piece of half-putrid meat in paper and thrown it to them, and even then, after hopping up to it, they will retire quite satisfied that it is only paper, and nothing at all eatable.Senhor B. had two fine sows, very fat, and each was expected to bring forth a litter of pigs in a few days. There were no pig-sties or sheds of any kind; and all animals retire into the forest on such occasions, and in a few days return with their young family, just as cats do with us. These sows had bothdisappeared for some days, and had not returned, and we began to be afraid that a jaguar which had been heard near the house, and whose track had been seen, had destroyed them. A search was accordingly made, and the remains of a sow were discovered in a thicket not far from the house. The next night we heard the jaguar roaring within fifty yards of us, as we lay in our hammocks in the open shed; but there being plenty of cattle, pigs, and dogs about, we did not feel much alarmed. Presently we heard a report of a gun from an Indian's cottage near, and made sure the animal was dead. The next morning we found that it had passed within sight of the door, but the man was so frightened that he had fired at random and missed, for there are some Indians who are as much cowards in this respect as any one else. For two or three days more we heard reports of the animal at different parts of the estate, so my hunter went out at night to lie in wait for it, and succeeded in killing it with a bullet. It was an onça of the largest size, and was believed to have killed, besides the sow, a cow which had disappeared some weeks previously.The weather was now very dry: no rain had fallen for some time; the oranges were fully ripe, and the grass, so green and fresh when I arrived, was beginning to assume a brownish-yellow tinge. Tobacco-picking had begun, and I saw the process of the manufacture as carried on here. Tobacco is sown thickly on a small patch of ground, and the young plants are then set in rows, just as we do cabbages. They are much attacked by the caterpillar of a sphinx moth, which grows to a large size, and would completely devour the crop unless carefully picked off. Old men, and women, and children are therefore constantly employed going over a part of the field every day, and carefully examining the plants leaf by leaf till the insects are completely exterminated. When they show any inclination to flower, the buds are nipped off; and as soon as the leaves have reached their full size, they are gathered in strong wicker baskets, and are laid out in the house or a shed, on poles supported by uprights from the floor to the ceiling. In a few days they dry, and during the hot days become quite crisp; but the moisture of the night softens them, and early in the morning they are flaccid. When they are judged sufficiently dry, every leaf must have the strong fibrous midrib taken outof it. For this purpose all the household—men, women, and children—are called up at four in the morning, and are set to work tearing out the midrib, before the heat of the day makes the leaves too brittle to allow of the operation. A few of the best leaves are sometimes selected to make cigars, but the whole is generally manufactured into rolls of two or four pounds each. The proper quantity is weighed out, and placed, regularly in layers on a table in a row about a yard long, rather thicker in the middle. Beginning at one end, this is carefully rolled up and wound round with a cord as tightly as possible. In a few days these rolls are opened out, to see if there is any tendency to heat or mould, and if all is right they are again made up with greater care. Every day they are rebound tighter and tighter, the operator sitting on the ground with the cord twisted round a post, and winding and tightening with all his strength, till at length the roll has become compressed into a solid mass about an inch in diameter, and gradually tapering towards each end. It is then wound closely from end to end with a neat strip of the rind of the Uarumá (a water-rush), and tied up in bundles of an arroba and half an arroba (thirty-two and sixteen pounds), and is ready for sale. When the tobacco is good, or has, as they term it, "much honey in it," it will cut as smooth and solid as a piece of Spanish liquorice, and can be bent double without cracking. The price varies according to the quality and the supply, from 4d.to 1s.per pound.One day the fisherman brought us in a fine "peixe boi," or cow-fish, a species ofManatus, which inhabits the Amazon, and is particularly abundant in the lakes in this part of the river. It was a female, about six feet long, and near five in circumference in the thickest part. The body is perfectly smooth, and without any projections or inequalities, gradually changing into a horizontal semicircular flat tail, with no appearance whatever of hind limbs. There is no distinct neck; the head is not very large, and is terminated by a large mouth and fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. There are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few distantly scattered hairs over the body. Behind the head are two powerful oval fins, and just beneath them are the breasts, from which, on pressure being applied, flows a stream of beautiful white milk. The ears are minute holes, and the eyes very small. The dung resembles that of a horse. The colour is a dusky lead, withsome large pinkish-white marbled blotches on the belly. The skin is about an inch thick on the back, and a quarter of an inch on the belly. Beneath the skin is a layer of fat of a greater or less thickness, generally about an inch, which is boiled down to make an oil used for light and for cooking. The intestines are very voluminous, the heart about the size of a sheep's, and the lungs about two feet long, and six or seven inches wide, very cellular and spongy, and can be blown out like a bladder. The skull is large and solid, with no front teeth; the vertebræ extend to the very tip of the tail, but show no rudiments of posterior limbs; the fore limbs, on the contrary, are very highly developed, the bones exactly corresponding to those of the human arm, having even the five fingers, with every joint distinct, yet enclosed in a stiff inflexible skin, where not a joint can have any motion.The cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of the rivers and lakes, and swims quickly with the tail and paddles; and though the external organs of sight and hearing are so imperfect, these senses are said by the hunters to be remarkably acute, and to render necessary all their caution and skill to capture the animals. They bring forth one, or rarely two, young ones, which they clasp in their arms or paddles while giving suck. They are harpooned, or caught in a strong net, at the narrow entrance of a lake or stream, and are killed by driving a wooden plug with a mallet up their nostrils. Each yields from five to twenty-five gallons of oil. The flesh is very good, being something between beef and pork, and this one furnished us with several meals, and was an agreeable change from our fish diet.As I now expected a canoe shortly to arrive, bringing me letters and remittances from England, after which I was anxious to set off for the Upper Rio Negro as soon as possible, I determined to return to Barra, and having agreed for a passage in a canoe going there, I took leave of my kind host. I must, however, first say a few words about him. Senhor José Antonio Brandão had come over from Portugal when very young, and had married early and settled, with the intention of spending his life here. Very singularly for a Portuguese, he entirely devoted himself to agriculture. He built himself a country-house at Manaquery, on a lake near the main river, brought Indians from a distance to settle with him, cleared theforest, planted orange, tamarind, mango, and many other fruit-bearing trees, made pleasant avenues, gardens, and pastures, stocked them well with cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry, and set himself down to the full enjoyment of a country life. But about twenty years ago, while his family were yet young, disturbances and revolutions broke out, and he, as well as all natives of Portugal, though he had signed the constitution of the Empire, and was in heart a true Brazilian, became an object of dislike and suspicion to many of the more violent of the revolutionists. A tribe of Indians who resided near him, and to whom he had shown constant kindness, were incited to burn down his house and destroy his property. This they did effectually, rooting up his fruit-trees, burning his crops, killing his cattle and his servants, and his wife and family only escaped from their murderous arrows by timely flight to the forest. During the long years of anarchy and confusion which followed, he was appointed a magistrate in Barra, and was unable to look after his estate. His wife died, his children married, and he of course felt then little interest in restoring things to their former state.He is a remarkably intelligent man, fond of reading, but without books, and with a most tenacious memory. He has taught himself French, which he now reads with ease, and through it he has got much information, though of course rather tinged with French prejudice. He has several huge quarto volumes of Ecclesiastical History, and is quite learned in all the details of the Councils, and in the history of the Reformation. He can tell you, from an old work on geography, without maps, the length and breadth of every country in Europe, and the main particulars respecting it. He is about seventy years of age, thirsting for information, and has never seen a map! Think of this, ye who roll in intellectual luxury. In this land of mechanics' institutions and cheap literature few have an idea of the real pursuit of knowledge under difficulties,—of the longing thirst for information which there is no fountain to satisfy. In his conversation there was something racy and refreshing: such an absence of information, but such a fertility of ideas. He had read the Bible in Portuguese, as a forbidden book, though the priests make no very great objection to it here; and it was something new to hear a man's opinions of it who had first read it at a mature age, andsolely from a desire for information. The idea had not entered his mind that it was all inspired, so he made objections to any parts which he thought incredible, or which appeared to him to be capable of a simple explanation; and, as might have been expected, he found of his own accord confirmation of the doctrines of the religion in which he had been brought up from childhood.On arriving at Barra, the expected canoe had not arrived, and many weeks passed wearily away. The weather was fine, but Barra is a very poor locality for making collections. Insects were remarkably scarce and uninteresting, and I looked forward anxiously to the time when I could start for some distant and more promising district. The season was very dry and hot: the thermometer, at two, every afternoon, reaching 94° and 95° in the shade, and not often sinking below 75° during the night. The lowest which I observed, just before sunrise, was 70°, and the highest in the afternoon, 96°. There was scarcely any rain during the months of July and August, so the grass about the city was completely burnt up. The river was now falling rapidly, and the sandbanks in the Amazon were, some of them, just rising above the water.One day, Senhor Henrique made a party to go fishing, with a large drag-net, in the Solimões. We started in the afternoon in a good canoe, with a party of about a dozen, and eight or ten Indian rowers; and just before sunset, reached the mouth of the Rio Negro, and turned up into the strong and turbid waters of the Solimões. There was a bright moon, and we kept on talking and singing, while passing the narrow channels and green islands on the north side of the river which looked most picturesquely wild and solitary by the pale silvery moonlight, and amid the solemn silence of the forest. By about midnight, we reached a large sandbank, just rising out of the water. Most of the party turned up their trousers, and waded though the shallows, till they reached the bank, where they began searching for small turtles' eggs, and those of gulls and other water-birds, which lay them in little hollows scraped in the sand. Gulls, divers, ducks, and sandpipers flew screaming about as we landed, and the splash of fish in the shallow water told us that there was abundance of sport for us. Senhor Henrique soon ordered the Indians to get out the net, and commenced dragging. Every time the net was drawn on-shore we nearly filled a basket with numerous small fishes, and a few of larger size. There were quantities of little ones armed with spines, which inflict a serious wound if trodden on, so we had to be cautious with our bare feet. I was much interested in the great variety and the curious forms that every basketful contained. There were numbers of a little fish, peculiar to the Amazon, which inflates the fore part of the body into a complete ball, and when stamped upon 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, with 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 curious 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 farinha, 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 pirarucú, weighing thirty or forty pounds, Senhor Henrique bought it of him, in order to have something worth showing from our excursion.We then proceeded homewards, many of us dozing; and our Indians rowing hard, but hardly able to keep their eyes open. Now and then, one would regularly drop off to sleep, but keep on paddling mechanically, without pulling very hard.One of his companions would then tickle his nose, and rouse him up, and his look of astonishment to find he had been sleeping would set all in a roar of laughter at his expense. It was midnight when we reached Barra, and we were all pretty glad to seek our hammocks.Several weeks more passed wearily, till at length we had news of the long-expected canoe; one of the owners, having arrived beforehand in a montaria, informing us that it would be up in two days more. There was at this time in the city a trader from the upper Rio Negro, a Portuguese, and generally considered a very good sort of fellow. He was to start the next day, but on Senhor Henrique's representation, he agreed to stay till Senhor Neill Bradley's canoe arrived, and then give me a passage up to the Falls of the Rio Negro, or to any other place I might wish to go to. The next afternoon the expected vessel reached Barra; about six in the evening I got a long arrear of letters from Pará, from England, from California, and Australia, some twenty in number, and several dated more than a year back. I sat up till two in the morning reading them, lay down, but slept little till five in the morning; I then commenced answering the most important of them,—packing up—buying forgotten necessaries for the voyage—making up a box for England—giving instructions to my brother H., who was to stay in Barra, and, in six months, return to England,—and by noon was ready to start on a voyage of seven hundred miles, and, probably, for a year's absence. The Juiz de Direito, or Judge of the district, had kindly sent me a turkey and a sucking-pig; the former of which I took alive, and the latter roasted; so I had a stock of provisions to commence the voyage.FOOTNOTES:[3]Mingau is a kind of porridge made either of farinha or of the large plantain called pacova.CHAPTER VIII.THE UPPER RIO NEGRO.Quit Barra for the Upper Rio Negro—Canoe and Cargo—Great Width of the River—Carvoeiro and Barcellos—Granite Rocks—Castanheiro—A Polite Old Gentleman—S. Jozé—A New Language—The Cataracts—S. Gabriel—Nossa Senhora da Guia—Senhor L. and his Family—Visit to the River Cobati—An Indian Village—The Serra—Cocks of the Rock—Return to Guia—Frei Jozé dos Santos Innocentos.Itwas on the last day of August, 1850, at about two o'clock on a fine bright afternoon, that I bade adieu to Barra, looking forward with hope and expectation to the distant and little-known regions I was now going to visit. I found our canoe a tolerably roomy one, it being about thirty-five feet long and seven broad. The after-part had a rough deck, made of split palm-stems, covered with a tolda, or semicircular roof, high enough to sit up comfortably within it, and well thatched with palm-leaves. A part of the front opening was stopped up on each side, leaving a doorway about three feet wide. The forepart was covered with a similar tolda, but much lower, and above it was a flat deck, formed like the other, and supported by upright poles along the sides. This is called the jangáda, or raft, and serves for the Indians to stand on, while rowing with oars formed of paddle-blades fixed to long poles. The canoe was well loaded with all the articles most desired by the semi-civilised and savage inhabitants of the Upper Rio Negro. There were bales of coarse cotton cloth and of the commonest calico, of flimsy but brilliantly-coloured prints, of checked and striped cottons, and of blue or red handkerchiefs. Then there were axes and cutlasses, and coarse pointed knives in great profusion, fish-hooks by thousands, flints and steels, gunpowder, shot, quantities of blue,black, and white beads, and countless little looking-glasses; needles and thread, and buttons and tape were not forgotten. There was plenty of caxaça (the rum of the country), and wine for the trader's own use, as well as a little brandy for "medicine," and tea, coffee, sugar, vinegar, oil for cooking and for light, biscuits, butter, garlic, black pepper, and other little household luxuries, sufficient to last the family for at least six months, and supply the pressing wants of any famishing traveller.My host, Senhor João Antonio de Lima, was a middle-sized, grizzly man, with a face something like that of the banished lord in the National Gallery. He had, however, all the politeness of his countrymen, placed the canoe and everything in it "at my orders," and made himself very agreeable. Our tolda contained numerous boxes and packages of his and my own, but still left plenty of room for us to sit or lie down comfortably; and in the cool of the morning and evening we stood upon the plank at its mouth, or sat upon its top, enjoying the fresh air and the cool prospect of dark waters around us. For the first day or two we found no land, all the banks of the river being flooded, but afterwards we had plenty of places on which to go on shore and make our fire. Generally, as soon after daylight as we could discover a convenient spot, we landed and made coffee, into which we broke some biscuit and put a piece of butter, which I soon found to be a very great improvement in the absence of milk. About ten or eleven we stopped again for breakfast—the principal meal for the Indians. We now cooked a fowl, or some fish if we had caught any during the night. About six we again landed to prepare supper and coffee, which we sat sipping on the top of the tolda, while we proceeded on our way, till eight or nine at night, when the canoe was moored in a place where we could hang up our hammocks on shore, and sleep comfortably till four or five in the morning. Sometimes this was varied by stopping for the night at six o'clock, and then we would start again by midnight, or by one or two in the morning. We would often make our stoppages at a cottage, where we could buy a fowl or some eggs, or a bunch of bananas or some oranges; or at another time at a pretty opening in the forest, where some would start off with a gun, to shoot a curassow or a guan, and others would drop their line into the water, andsoon have some small but delicious fish to broil. Senhor L. was an old hand at canoe-travelling, and was always well provided with hooks and lines. Bait was generally carefully prepared during the day, and at night the lines would be thrown in; and we were often rewarded with a fine pirahíba of twenty or thirty pounds weight, which made us a breakfast and supper for the next day.A little above Barra the river spreads out into great bays on each side, so as to be from six to ten miles wide; and here, when there is much wind, a heavy sea rises, which is very dangerous for small canoes. Above this the river again narrows to about a mile and a half, and soon afterwards branches out into diverging channels, with islands of every size between them. For several hundred miles after this the two banks of the river can never be seen at once: they are probably from ten to twenty-five miles apart. Some of the islands are of great size, reaching to thirty or forty miles in length, and with others often intervening between them and the shore.On the second and third day after we left Barra, there were high, picturesque, gravelly banks to the river. A little further on, a few isolated rocks appear, and at the little village of Ayrão, which we reached in a week, there were broken ledges of sandstone rock of rather a crystalline texture. A little lower we had passed points of a soft sandstone, worn into caves and fantastic hollows by the action of the water. Further on, at Pedreiro, the rock was perfectly crystalline; while a little further still, at the mouth of the Rio Branco, a real granitic rock appears.At Pedreiro we stayed for the night with a friend of Senhor L.'s, where the news of the city was discussed, and the prices of fish, salsaparilha, piassaba, etc., communicated. The next day we passed some picturesque granite rocks opposite the mouth of the Rio Branco, where again the two shores of the river are seen at one view. On a little island there are some curious Indian picture-writings, being representations of numerous animals and men, roughly picked out of the hard granite. I made careful drawings of these at the time, and took specimens of the rock.The next day we reached Carvoeiro, a village desolate and half deserted, as are all those on the Rio Negro. We foundonly two families inhabiting it, a blacksmith, and a Brazilian, who bore the title of Capitão Vasconcellos, a good-humoured, civil man, who treated us very well the day we remained with him. For dinner we had turtle, with silver knives and forks, but our table was a mat on the ground. In the afternoon the Capitão got drunk with his old friend Senhor L., and then became very violent, and abused him as a vile, unworthy, skulking Portuguese villain, and used many more epithets, of which the language has a copious store. Senhor L., who prides himself on never getting intoxicated, took it very coolly, and the next morning the Capitão expressed his heartfelt contrition, vowed eternal friendship, and regretted much that he should have given the "estrangeiro" so much reason to think ill of his countrymen.Proceeding on our journey, we entered on a labyrinth of small islands, so flooded that they appeared like masses of bushes growing out of the water. Though Senhor L. is well acquainted with the river, we here almost lost our way, and met another canoe which had quite done so. As it was late, we stayed at a point of dry land for the night, and hung our hammocks under the trees. The next day we called at the house of a man who owed Senhor L. some money, and who paid him in turtles, eight or nine of which we embarked.The two shores of the river had only been seen for a moment. Again we plunged into a sea of islands, and channels opening among them often stretched out to the horizon. Sometimes a distant shore continued for days unbroken, but was at last found to be but a far-stretching island. All was now again alluvial soil, and we sometimes had a difficulty in finding dry land to cook our meals on. In a few days more we reached Barcellos, once the capital of the Rio Negro, but now depopulated and almost deserted. On the shore lie several blocks of marble, brought from Portugal for some public buildings which were never erected. The lines of the old streets are now paths through a jungle, where orange and other fruit-trees are mingled with cassias and tall tropical weeds. The houses that remain are mostly ruinous mud-huts, with here and there one more neatly finished and white-washed.We called on an old Italian, who has the reputation of being rich, but a great miser. He was, however, merry enough. He gave us coffee sweetened with molasses, and pressed us to staybreakfast with him,—which meal was served in an old storehouse filled with cables, anchors, cordage, casks, and demijohns. We had silver forks and spoons, and a dirty towel for a tablecloth, and raw spirits and tough curassow-bird was the fare placed upon it. He, however, gave us a basket of oranges to take to the canoe.In a day or two more we passed another decayed village, called Cabuqueno. About Barcellos had first appeared a very pretty little palm growing at the water's edge, a new species ofMauritia, which was afterwards abundant all the way up. Fish were now more plentiful than in the lower part of the river, and several species occurred not found below. Senhor L. often sent two men in a small canoe to fish early in the morning, and they would by ten o'clock generally come up with sufficient for our breakfast and supper. I began now to take a great interest in the beauty and variety of the species, and, whenever I could, made accurate drawings and descriptions of them. Many are of a most excellent flavour, surpassing anything I have tasted in England, either from the fresh or the salt waters; and many species have real fat, which renders the water they are boiled in a rich and agreeable broth. Not a drop of this is wasted, but, with a little pepper and farinha, is all consumed, with as much relish as if it were the most delicate soup. Our tolda was pretty hot during the day, generally being from 95°to 100° inside. Early in the morning the temperature was about 75°, the water at the same time being 85° and feeling quite warm; at noon or in the afternoon the water would be about 86°, and then feel delightfully cool from its contrast with the heated air.We had altogether very fine weather; but every afternoon, or at least four or five times in a week, we had a "trovoádo," or storm, which came on suddenly, with violent gusts of wind, and often thunder and rain, but passed over in about an hour or two, leaving the atmosphere beautifully mild and clear. A great luxury of this river is the absence of mosquitoes. Sunset, instead of being the signal for discomfort and annoyance, brought us the pleasantest part of the day. We could sit on the top of the tolda, enjoying the cool evening breeze, and sipping a cup of coffee—our greatest luxury—till the glories of sunset faded rapidly away and the stars shone brightly out above us. At this quiet hour the goat-suckers came out tohunt their insect prey over the stream, and amused us with their rapid evolutions; the tree-frogs commenced their mournful chants, a few lingering parrots would cross the river to their nests, and the guarhibas fill the air with their howling voices. When at length the dews of evening fell thick upon us, I would turn in beneath the tolda, while Senhor L., wrapping himself in a sheet, preferred taking his repose outside.On September 30th, just a month after we had left Barra, we again saw the opposite side of the river, and crossed over where it is about four miles wide. The next day we reached a part where the granitic rocks commence, and I was delighted to step out of the canoe on to a fine sloping table of granite, with quartz-veins running across it in various directions. From this point the river became more picturesque. Small rocky islands abounded, and fine granite beaches were frequent, offering delightful places to take our picnic meals. Fish too became yet more abundant, and we were seldom without this luxury.On the 3rd of October we reached a sitio, where resided a half-breed Brazilian named João Cordeiro (John Lamb), who was a friend of Senhor L. as well as a customer. We stayed here two days, while a good part of the cargo of the canoe was taken out for Senhor João to choose what he liked best. Here, for the second time since we left Barra, we saw a few cows, and had milk to our coffee. I amused myself by walking in the forest and catching some insects, of which I found many new species. At length, the gay cottons and gauzes, the beads and cutlery, wines and spirits, sugar and butter, having been selected, we went on our way, Senhor João promising to get plenty of piassaba, salsa, and other products, ready to pay Senhor L. by the time he next sent to the city.The following day we reached St. Isabel, a miserable village overgrown with weeds and thickets, and having at this time but a single inhabitant, a Portuguese, with whom we took a cup of coffee, sweetening it, however, with our own sugar, as he had no such luxury. He was one of the many decent sort of men who drag on a miserable existence here, putting up with hardships and deprivations which in a civilised community would be only the result of the most utter poverty.On the 8th we reached Castanheiro, and stayed a day with another Portuguese, one of the richest traders on the river.He owed his wealth principally to having steadily refused to take goods on credit, which is the curse of this country: he thus was always his own master, instead of being the slave of the Barra and Pará merchants, and could buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market. With economy and a character for closeness, he had accumulated some five or six thousand pounds, which went on rapidly increasing, as in this country living costs a man nothing, unless he drinks or gambles. He trades with the Indians, takes the product in his own canoe to Pará, buys the articles he knows are most saleable, and gets a profit of about a hundred per cent. on all the business he does. It may give some insight into the state of this country to know that, though this man is distinguished from almost all other traders by his strict integrity and fairness, which all allow, yet he is seldom spoken well of, because he does not enter into the extravagance and debauchery which it is thought he can well afford.A little further on we passed some more curious Indian picture-writings on a granite rock, of which I took a sketch. On the 11th we reached Wanawacá, the seat of a Brazilian from Pernambuco, banished to the Rio Negro for joining in some insurrection. I had heard the most horrible stories of this man's crimes. He had murdered the Indians, carried away their wives and daughters, and committed barbarities that are too disgusting to mention. Yet, as I had a letter of introduction to him, and he was a friend of Senhor L., we went to call upon him. I found him a mild, quiet, polite, white-haired old gentleman, who received us with great civility, gave us a very good breakfast, and conversed in an unusually rational manner. When we had gone, Senhor L. asked me if I was not surprised to see such a mild-looking man. "But," said he, "these soft-spoken ones are always the worst. He is a regular hypocrite, and he will stick at nothing. Among his friends he will boast of his crimes, and he declares there is nothing that he will not do for his own pleasure or profit."The next day we stayed at another village, São Jozé, where we were to leave our little vessel, and proceed in two smaller ones, as the stream was now so rapid that we could not make much way, and the Falls a little higher up were quite impassable for our larger canoe. Here we stayed two days, unloading and loading. I found plenty to do capturing the butterflies,several rare species of which were abundant on the hot rocks by the river's side. At length all was right, and we proceeded on our way in two heavily-laden canoes, and rather cramped for room compared to what we had been before. We had several little rapids to pass, round projecting points of rock, where the Indians had to jump into the water and push the canoe past the difficulty. In two days more we reached the village of São Pedro, where Senhor L. borrowed another canoe, much better and more convenient, so that we had again half a day's delay. The owner was a young Brazilian trader, a very hospitable and civil fellow, with whom we spent a pleasant evening. He and Senhor L. were old cronies, and began talking in a language I could not understand, though I knew it was some kind of Portuguese. I soon, however, found out what it was, and Senhor L. afterwards told me that he had learnt it when a boy at school. It consisted in adding to every syllable another, rhyming with it, but beginning with p; thus to say, "Venha ca" (come here), he would say, "Venpenhapa capa," or if in English "Comepum herepere;". and this, when spoken rapidly, is quite unintelligible to a person not used to it. This Senhor was a bit of a musician, and amused us with some simple tunes on the guitar, almost the only instrument used in this part of the country.Leaving this place, we passed the mouth of the small river Curicuriarí, from which we had a fine view of the Serras of the same name. These are the finest mountains I had yet seen, being irregular conical masses of granite about three thousand feet high. They are much jagged and peaked, clothed with forest in all the sloping parts, but with numerous bare precipices, on which shine huge white veins and masses of quartz, putting me in mind of what must be the appearance of the snow-capped Andes. Lower down, near St. Isabel, we had passed several conical peaks, but none more than a thousand feet high: these all rise abruptly from a perfectly level plain, and are not part of any connected range of hills.On the same day, the 19th of October, we reached the celebrated Falls of the Rio Negro. Small rocky islands and masses of bare rock now began to fill the river in every part. The stream flowed rapidly round projecting points, and the main channel was full of foam and eddies. We soon arrived at the commencement of the actual rapids. Beds and ledgesof rock spread all across the river, while through the openings between them the water rushed with terrific violence, forming dangerous whirlpools and breakers below. Here it was necessary to cross to the other side, in order to get up. We dashed into the current, were rapidly carried down, got among the boiling waves, then passed suddenly into still water under shelter of an island; whence starting again, we at length reached the other side, about a mile across. Here we found ourselves at the foot of a great rush of water, and we all got out upon the rocks, while the Indians, with a strong rope, partly in the water, and partly on land, pulled the canoe up, and we again proceeded. As we went on we constantly encountered fresh difficulties. Sometimes we had to cross into the middle of the stream, to avoid some impassable mass of rocks; at others, the canoe was dragged and pushed in narrow channels, which hardly allowed it to pass. The Indians, all naked, with their trousers tied round their loins, plunged about in the water like fishes. Sometimes a projecting crag had to be reached with the tow-rope. An Indian takes it in his hand, and leaps into the rapid current: he is carried down by its irresistible force. Now he dives to the bottom, and there swims and crawls along where the stream has less power. After two or three trials he reaches the rock, and tries to mount upon it; but it rises high and abruptly out of the water, and after several efforts he falls back exhausted, and floats down again to the canoe amid the mirth and laughter of his comrades. Another now tries, with the same result. Then another plunges in without the rope, and thus unencumbered mounts on the rock and gives a helping hand to his companion; and then all go to work, and we are pulled up past the obstacle.But a little ahead of us is an extensive mass of rocks. There is no passage for the canoe, and we must cross to yonder islet far in the middle of the stream, where, by the height of the water, Senhor L. and the pilot judge we shall find a passage. Every stone, even those under water, form eddies or returning currents, where a canoe can rest in its passage. Off we go, to try to reach one of them. In a moment we are in a stream running like a mill-race. "Pull away, boys!" shouts Senhor L. We are falling swiftly down the river. There is a strong rapid carrying us, and we shall be dashed against those blackmasses just rising above the foaming waters. "All right, boys!" cries Senhor L.; and just as we seemed in the greatest danger, the canoe wheels round in an eddy, and we are safe under the shelter of a rock. We are in still water, but close on each side of us it rages and bubbles, and we must cross again. Now the Indians are rested; and so off we go,—down drops the canoe,—again the men strain at their paddles,—again we are close on some foaming breakers: I see no escape, but in a moment we are in an eddy caused by a sunken mass above us; again we go on, and reach at length our object, a rocky island, round which we pull and push our canoe, and from the upper point cross to another, and so make a zigzag course, until, after some hours' hard work, we at length reach the bank, perhaps not fifty yards above the obstacle which had obliged us to leave it.Thus we proceeded, till, reaching a good resting-place about five in the afternoon, we stayed for the night to rest the Indians well, against the further fatigues to be encountered the following day.Most of the principal rapids and falls have names. There are the "Furnos" (ovens), "Tabocal" (bamboo), and many others. The next day we went on in a similar manner to the day before, along a most picturesque part of the river. The brilliant sun, the sparkling waters, the strange fantastic rocks, and broken woody islands, were a constant source of interest and enjoyment to me. Early in the afternoon we reached the village of São Gabriel, where are the principal falls. Here the river is narrower, and an island in the middle divides it into two channels, along each of which rolls a tremendous flood of water down an incline formed by submerged rocks. Below, the water boils up in great rolling breakers, and, a little further down, forms dangerous eddies and whirlpools. Here we could only pass by unloading the canoe almost entirely, and then pulling it up amidst the foaming water as near as possible to the shore. This done, Senhor L. and myself dressed, and proceeded up the hill to the house of the Commandante, who must give permission before any one can pass above the fort. He was a friend of Senhor L., and I brought him a letter of introduction; so he was pretty civil, gave us some coffee, chatted of the news of the river and the city for an hour or two, and invited us to breakfast with him before we left thenext morning. We then went to the house of an old Portuguese trader, whom I had met in Barra, with whom we supped and spent the evening.The next morning, after breakfasting with the Commandante, we proceeded on our way. Above São Gabriel the rapids are perhaps more numerous than below. We twisted about the river, round islands and from rock to rock, in a most complicated manner. On a point where we stayed for the night I saw the first tree-fern I had yet met with, and looked on it with much pleasure, as an introduction to a new and interesting district: it was a small, thin-stemmed, elegant species, about eight or ten feet high. At night, on the 22nd, we passed the last rapid, and now had smooth water before us for the rest of our journey. We had thus been four days ascending these rapids, which are about thirty miles in length. The next morning we entered the great and unknown river "Uaupés," from which there is another branch into the Rio Negro, forming a delta at its mouth. During our voyage I had heard much of this river from Senhor L., who was an old trader up it, and well acquainted with the numerous tribes of uncivilised Indians which inhabit its banks, and with the countless cataracts and rapids which render its navigation so dangerous and toilsome. Above the Uaupés the Rio Negro was calm and placid, about a mile, or sometimes two to three miles wide, and its waters blacker than ever.On the 24th of October, early in the morning, we reached the little village of Nossa Senhora da Guía, where Senhor L. resided, and where he invited me to remain with him as long as I felt disposed.The village is situated on high ground sloping down suddenly to the river. It consists of a row of thatched mud-huts, some of them whitewashed, others the colour of the native earth. Immediately behind are some patches of low sandy ground, covered with a shrubby vegetation, and beyond is the virgin forest. Senhor L.'s house had wooden doors, and shutters to the windows, as had also one or two others. In fact, Guía was once a very populous and decent village, though now as poor and miserable as all the others of the Rio Negro. Going up to the house I was introduced to Senhor L.'s family, which consisted of two grown-up daughters, two young ones, and a little boy of eight years old. A good-looking "mamelúca," orhalf-breed woman, of about thirty, was introduced as the "mother of his younger children." Senhor L. had informed me during the voyage that he did not patronise marriage, and thought everybody a great fool who did. He had illustrated the advantages of keeping oneself free of such ties by informing me that the mother of his two elder daughters having grown old, and being unable to bring them up properly or teach them Portuguese, he had turned her out of doors, and got a younger and more civilised person in her place. The poor woman had since died of jealousy, or "passion," as he termed it. When young, she had nursed him during an eighteen months' illness and saved his life; but he seemed to think he had performed a duty in turning her away,—for, said he, "She was an Indian, and could only speak her own language, and, so long as she was with them, my children would never learn Portuguese."The whole family welcomed him in a very cold and timid manner, coming up and asking his blessing as if they had parted from him the evening before, instead of three months since. We then had some coffee and breakfast; after which the canoe was unloaded, and a little house just opposite his, which happened to be unoccupied, was swept out for me. My boxes were placed in it, my hammock hung up, and I soon made myself comfortable in my new quarters, and then walked out to look about me.In the village were about a dozen houses belonging to Indians, all of whom had their sitios, or country-houses, at from a few hours' to some days' distance up or down the river, or on some of the small tributary streams. They only inhabit the village at times of festas, or on the arrival of a merchant like Senhor L., when they bring any produce they may have to dispose of or, if they have none, get what goods they can on credit, with the promise of payment at some future time.There were now several families in the village to welcome their sons and husbands, who had formed our crew; and for some days there was a general drinking and dancing from morning to night. During this time, I took my gun into the woods, in order to kill a few birds. Immediately behind the house were some fruit-trees, to which many chatterers and other pretty birds resorted, and I managed to shoot some every day. Insects were very scarce in the forest; but on the river-side there were often to be found rare butterflies, though not insufficient abundance to give me much occupation. In a few days, Senhor L. got a couple of Indians to come and hunt for me, and I hoped then to have plenty of birds. They used the gravatána, or blow-pipe, a tube ten to fifteen feet in length, through which they blow small arrows with such force and precision, that they will kill birds or other game as far off, and with as much certainty, as with a gun. The arrows are all poisoned, so that a very small wound is sufficient to bring down a large bird. I soon found that my Indians had come at Senhor L.'s bidding, but did not much like their task; and they frequently returned without any birds, telling me they could not find any, when I had very good reason to believe they had spent the day at some neighbouring sitio. At other times, after a day in the forest, they would bring a little worthless bird, which can be found around every cottage. As they had to go a great distance in search of good birds, I had no hold upon them, and was obliged to take what they brought me, and be contented. It was a great annoyance here, that there were no good paths in the forest, so that I could not go far myself, and in the immediate vicinity of the village there is little to be obtained.I found it more easy to procure fishes, and was much pleased by being frequently able to add to my collection of drawings. The smaller species I also preserved in spirits. The electrical eel is common in all the streams here; it is caught with a hook, or in weirs, and is eaten, though not much esteemed. When the water gets low, and leaves pools among the rocks, many fish are caught by poisoning the waters with a root called "timbo." The mouths of the small streams are also staked across, and large quantities of all kinds are obtained. The fish thus caught are very good when fresh, but putrefy sooner than those caught in weirs or hooked.Not being able to do much here, I determined to take a trip up a small stream to a place where, on a lonely granite mountain, the "Cocks of the Rock" are found. An Indian, who could speak a little Portuguese, having come from a village near it, I agreed to return with him. Senhor L. lent me a small canoe; and my two hunters, one of whom lived there, accompanied me. I took with me plenty of ammunition, a great box for my birds, some salt, hooks, mirrors, knives, etc., for the Indians, and left Guía early one morning. Justbelow the village we turned into the river Isanna, a fine stream, about half a mile wide, and in the afternoon reached the mouth of the small river Cobati (fish), on the south side, which we entered. We had hitherto seen the banks clothed with thick virgin forest, and here and there were some low hills covered entirely with lofty trees. Now the country became very bushy and scrubby; in parts sandy and almost open; perfectly flat, and apparently inundated at the high floods. The water was of a more inky blackness; and the little stream, not more than fifty yards wide, flowed with a rapid current, and turned and doubled in a manner that made our progress both difficult and tedious. At night we stopped at a little piece of open sandy ground, where we drove stakes in the earth to hang our hammocks. The next morning at daybreak we continued our journey. The whole day long we wound about, the stream keeping up exactly the same bleak character as before;—not a tree of any size visible, and the vegetation of a most monotonous and dreary character. At night we stayed near a lake, where the Indians caught some fine fish, and we made a good supper. The next day we wound about more than ever; often, after an hour's hard rowing, returning to within fifty yards of a point we had started from. At length, however, early in the afternoon, the aspect of the country suddenly changed; lofty trees sprang up on the banks, the characteristic creepers hung in festoons over them; moss-covered rocks appeared; and from the river gradually rose up a slope of luxuriant virgin forest, whose varied shades of green and glistening foliage were most grateful to the eye and the imagination, after the dull, monotonous vegetation of the previous days.In half an hour more we were at the village, which consisted of five or six miserable little huts imbedded in the forest. Here I was introduced to my conductor's house. It contained two rooms, with a floor of earth, and smoky thatch overhead. There were three doors, but no windows. Near one of these I placed my bird-box, to serve as a table, and on the other side swung my hammock. We then took a little walk to look about us. Paths led to the different cottages, in which were large families of naked children, and their almost naked parents. Most of the houses had no walls, but were mere thatched sheds supported on posts, and with sometimes a smallroom enclosed with a palm-leaf fence, to make a sleeping apartment. There were several young boys here of from ten to fifteen years of age, who were my constant attendants when I went into the forest. None of them could speak a single word of Portuguese, so I had to make use of my slender stock of Lingoa Geral. But Indian boys are not great talkers, and a few monosyllables would generally suffice for our communications. One or two of them had blow-pipes, and shot numbers of small birds for me, while others would creep along by my side and silently point out birds, or small animals, before I could catch sight of them. When I fired, and, as was often the case, the bird flew away wounded, and then fell far off in the forest, they would bound away after it, and seldom search in vain. Even a little humming-bird, falling in a dense thicket of creepers and dead leaves, which I should have given up looking for in despair, was always found by them.One day I accompanied the Indian with whom I lived into the forest, to get stems for a blow-pipe. We went, about a mile off, to a place where numerous small palms were growing: they were theIriartea setigeraof Martius, from ten to fifteen feet high, and varying from the thickness of one's finger to two inches in diameter. They appear jointed outside, from the scars of the fallen leaves, but within have a soft pith, which, when cleared out, leaves a smooth, polished bore. My companion selected several of the straightest he could find, both of the smallest and largest diameter. These stems were carefully dried in the house, the pith cleared out with a long rod made of the wood of another palm, and the bore rubbed clean and polished with a little bunch of roots of a tree-fern, pulled backwards and forwards through it. Two stems are selected of such a size, that the smaller can be pushed inside the larger; this is done, so that any curve in the one may counteract that in the other; a conical wooden mouthpiece is then fitted on to one end, and sometimes the whole is spirally bound with the smooth, black, shining bark of a creeper. Arrows are made of the spinous processes of the Patawá (Œnocarpus Batawa) pointed, and anointed with poison, and with a little conical tuft of tree cotton (the silky covering of the seeds of aBombax) at the other end, to fill up exactly, but not tightly, the bore of the tube: these arrows are carried in a wicker quiver, well covered with pitch at the lower part, sothat it can be inverted in wet weather to keep the arrows dry. The blow-pipe, or gravatána, is the principal weapon here. Every Indian has one, and seldom goes into the forest, or on the rivers, without it.I soon found that the Cocks of the Rock, to obtain which was my chief object in coming here, were not to be found near the village. Their principal resort was the Serra de Cobáti, or mountain before mentioned, situated some ten or twelve miles off in the forest, where I was informed they were very abundant. I accordingly made arrangements for a trip to the Serra, with the intention of staying there a week. By the promise of good payment for every "Gallo" they killed for me, I persuaded almost the whole male population of the village to accompany me. As our path was through a dense forest for ten miles, we could not load ourselves with much baggage: every man had to carry his gravatána, bow and arrows,rédé, and some farinha; which, with salt, was all the provisions we took, trusting to the forest for our meat; and I even gave up my daily and only luxury of coffee.We started off, thirteen in number, along a tolerable path. In about an hour we came to a mandiocca-field and a house, the last on the road to the Serra. Here we waited a short time, took some "mingau," or gruel, made of green plantains, and got a volunteer to join our company. I was much struck with an old woman whose whole body was one mass of close deep wrinkles, and whose hair was white, a sure sign of very great age in an Indian; from information I obtained, I believe she was more than a hundred years old. There was also a young "mamelúca," very fair and handsome, and of a particularly intelligent expression of countenance, very rarely seen in that mixed race. The moment I saw her I had little doubt of her being a person of whom I had heard Senhor L. speak as the daughter of the celebrated German naturalist, Dr. Natterer, by an Indian woman. I afterwards saw her at Guía, and ascertained that my supposition was correct. She was about seventeen years of age, was married to an Indian, and had several children. She was a fine specimen of the noble race produced by the mixture of the Saxon and Indian blood.Proceeding onwards, we came to another recently-cleared mandiocca-field. Here the path was quite obliterated, and we had to cross over it as we could. Imagine the trees of a virginforest cut down so as to fall across each other in every conceivable direction. After lying a few months they are burnt; the fire, however, only consumes the leaves and fine twigs and branches; all the rest remains entire, but blackened and charred. The mandiocca is then planted without any further preparation; and it was across such a field that we, all heavily laden, had to find our way. Now climbing on the top of some huge trunk, now walking over a shaking branch or creeping among a confused thicket of charcoal, few journeys require more equanimity of temper than one across an Amazonian clearing.Passing this, we got into the forest. At first the path was tolerable; soon, however, it was a mere track a few inches wide, winding among thorny creepers, and over deep beds of decaying leaves. Gigantic buttress trees, tall fluted stems, strange palms, and elegant tree-ferns were abundant on every side, and many persons may suppose that our walk must necessarily have been a delightful one; but there were many disagreeables. Hard roots rose up in ridges along our path, swamp and mud alternated with quartz pebbles and rotten leaves; and as I floundered along in the barefooted enjoyment of these, some overhanging bough would knock the cap from my head or the gun from my hand; or the hooked spines of the climbing palms would catch in my shirt-sleeves, and oblige me either to halt and deliberately unhook myself, or leave a portion of my unlucky garment behind. The Indians were all naked, or, if they had a shirt or trousers, carried them in a bundle on their heads, and I have no doubt looked upon me as a good illustration of the uselessness and bad consequences of wearing clothes upon a forest journey.After four or five hours' hard walking, at a pace which would not have been bad upon clear level ground, we came to a small stream of clear water, which had its source in the Serra to which we were going. Here we waited a few moments to rest and drink, while doing which we heard a strange rush and distant grunt in the forest. The Indians started up, all excitement and animation: "Tyeassú!" (wild hogs) they cried, seizing their bows and arrows, tightening the strings, and grasping their long knives. I cocked my gun, dropped in a bullet, and hoped to get a shot at a "porco;" but being afraid, if I went with them, of losing myself in the forest, I waited withthe boys in hopes the game would pass near me. After a little time we heard a rushing and fearful gnashing of teeth, which made me stand anxiously expecting the animals to appear; but the sound went further off, and died away at length in the distance.The party now appeared, and said that there was a large herd of fine pigs, but that they had got away. They, however, directed the boys to go on with me to the Serra, and they would go again after the herd. We went on accordingly over very rough, uneven ground, now climbing up steep ascents over rotting trunks of fallen trees, now descending into gullies, till at length we reached a curious rock—a huge table twenty or thirty feet in diameter, supported on two points only, and forming an excellent cave; round the outer edge we could stand upright under it, but towards the centre the roof was so low that one could only lie down. The top of this singular rock was nearly flat, and completely covered with forest-trees, and it at first seemed as if their weight must overbalance it from its two small supports; but the roots of the trees, not finding nourishment enough from the little earth on the top of the rock, ran along it to the edge, and there dropped down vertically and penetrated among the broken fragments below, thus forming a series of columns of various sizes supporting the table all round its outer edge. Here, the boys said, was to be our abode during our stay, though I did not perceive any water near it. Through the trees we could see the mountain a quarter or half a mile from us,—a bare, perpendicular mass of granite, rising abruptly from the forest to a height of several hundred feet.We had hung up ourrédésand waited about half an hour, when three Indians of our party made their appearance, staggering under the weight of a fine hog they had killed, and had slung on a strong pole. I then found the boys had mistaken our station, which was some distance further on, at the very foot of the Serra, and close to a running stream of water, where was a large roomy cave formed by an immense overhanging rock. Over our heads was growing a forest, and the roots again hung down over the edge, forming a sort of screen to our cave, and the stronger ones serving for posts to hang ourrédés. Our luggage was soon unpacked, ourrédéshung, a fire lighted, and the pig taken down to the brook,which ran at the lower end of the cave, to be skinned and prepared for cooking.The animal was very like a domestic pig, but with a higher back, coarser and longer bristles, and a most penetrating odour. This I found proceeded from a gland situated on the back, about six inches above the root of the tail: it was a swelling, with a large pore in the centre, from which exuded an oily matter, producing a most intense and unbearable pigsty smell, of which the domestic animal can convey but a faint idea. The first operation of the Indians was to cut out this part completely, and the skin and flesh for some inches all round it, and throw the piece away. If this were not done, they say, the "pitiú" (catinga, Port.), or bad smell, would render all the meat uneatable. The animal was then skinned, cut up into pieces, some of which were put into an earthen pot to stew, while the legs and shoulders were kept to smoke over the fire till they were thoroughly dry, as they can thus be preserved several weeks without salt.The greater number of the party had not yet arrived, so we ate our suppers, expecting to see them soon after sunset. However, as they did not appear, we made up our fires, put the meat on the "moqueen," or smoking stage, and turned comfortably into ourrédés. The next morning, while we were preparing breakfast, they all arrived, with the produce of their hunting expedition. They had killed three hogs, but as it was late and they were a long way off, they encamped for the night, cut up the animals, and partially smoked all the prime pieces, which they now brought with them carefully packed up in palm-leaves. The party had no bows and arrows, but had killed the game with their blow-pipes, and little poisoned arrows about ten inches long.After breakfast was over we prepared for an attack upon the "Gallos." We divided into three parties, going in different directions. The party which I accompanied went to ascend the Serra itself as far as practicable. We started out at the back of our cave, which was, as I have stated, formed by the base of the mountain itself. We immediately commenced the ascent up rocky gorges, over huge fragments, and through gloomy caverns, all mixed together in the most extraordinary confusion. Sometimes we had to climb up precipices by roots and creepers, then to crawl over a surface formed by angularrocks, varying from the size of a wheelbarrow to that of a house. I could not have imagined that what at a distance appeared so insignificant, could have presented such a gigantic and rugged scene. All the time we kept a sharp look-out, but saw no birds. At length, however, an old Indian caught hold of my arm, and whispering gently, "Gallo!" pointed into a dense thicket. After looking intently a little while, I caught a glimpse of the magnificent bird sitting amidst the gloom, shining out like a mass of brilliant flame. I took a step to get a clear view of it, and raised my gun, when it took alarm and flew off before I had time to fire. We followed, and soon it was again pointed out to me. This time I had better luck, fired with a steady aim, and brought it down. The Indians rushed forward, but it had fallen into a deep gully between steep rocks, and a considerable circuit had to be made to get it. In a few minutes, however, it was brought to me, and I was lost in admiration of the dazzling brilliancy of its soft downy feathers. Not a spot of blood was visible, not a feather was ruffled, and the soft, warm, flexible body set off the fresh swelling plumage in a manner which no stuffed specimen can approach. After some time, not finding any more gallos, most of the party set off on an excursion up a more impracticable portion of the rock, leaving two boys with me till they returned. We soon got tired of waiting, and as the boys made me understand that they knew the path back to our cave, I determined to return. We descended deep chasms in the rocks, climbed up steep precipices, descended again and again, and passed through caverns with huge masses of rocks piled above our heads. Still we seemed not to get out of the mountain, but fresh ridges rose before us, and more fearful fissures were to be passed. We toiled on, now climbing by roots and creepers up perpendicular walls, now creeping along a narrow ledge, with a yawning chasm on each side of us. I could not have imagined such serrated rocks to exist. It appeared as if a steep mountain-side had been cut and hacked by some gigantic force into fissures and ravines, from fifty to a hundred feet deep. My gun was a most inconvenient load when climbing up these steep and slippery places, and I did it much damage by striking its muzzle against the hard granite rock. At length we appeared to have got into the very heart of the mountain: no outlet was visible, and through the dense forest and mattedunderwood, with which every part of these rocks were covered, we could only see an interminable succession of ridges, and chasms, and gigantic blocks of stone, with no visible termination. As it was evident the boys had lost their way, I resolved to turn back. It was a weary task. I was already fatigued enough, and the prospect of another climb over these fearful ridges, and hazardous descent into those gloomy chasms, was by no means agreeable. However, we persevered, one boy taking my gun; and after about an hour's hard work we got back to the place whence we had started, and found the rest of the party expecting us. We then went down by the proper path, which they told me was the only known way of ascending and descending the mountain, and by which we soon arrived at our cave.

On crossing the Rio Negro from the city of Barra, we entered into a tract of this description. Our canoe was forced under branches and among dense bushes, till we got into a part where the trees were loftier, and a deep gloom prevailed. Here the lowest branches of the trees were level with the surface of the water, and were many of them putting forth flowers. As we proceeded we sometimes came to a grove of small palms, the leaves being now only a few feet above us, and among them was the marajá, bearing bunches of agreeable fruit, which, as we passed, the Indians cut off with their long knives. Sometimes the rustling of leaves overhead told us that monkeys were near, and we would soon perhaps discover them peeping down from among the thick foliage, and then bounding rapidly away as soon as we had caught a glimpse ofthem. Presently we came out into the sunshine, in a grassy lake filled with lilies and beautiful water-plants, little yellow bladder-worts (Utricularia), and the bright-blue flowers and curious leaves with swollen stalks of thePontederias. Again in the gloom of the forest, among the lofty cylindrical trunks rising like columns out of the deep water: now a splashing of falling fruit around us would announce that birds were feeding overhead, and we could discover a flock of paroquets, or some bright-blue chatterers, or the lovely pompadour, with its delicate white wings and claret-coloured plumage; now with a whirr a trogon would seize a fruit on the wing, or some clumsy toucan make the branches shake as he alighted.

But what lovely yellow flower is that suspended in the air between two trunks, yet far from either? It shines in the gloom as if its petals were of gold. Now we pass close by it, and see its stalk, like a slender wire a yard and a half long, springing from a cluster of thick leaves on the bark of a tree. It is anOncidium, one of the lovely orchis tribe, making these gloomy shades gay with its airy and brilliant flowers. Presently there are more of them, and then others appear, with white and spotted and purple blossoms, some growing on rotten logs floating in the water, but most on moss and decaying bark just above it. There is one magnificent species, four inches across, called by the natives St. Ann's flower (Flor de Santa Anna), of a brilliant purple colour, and emitting a most delightful odour; it is a new species, and the most magnificent flower of its kind in these regions; even the natives will sometimes deign to admire it, and to wonder how such a beautiful flower grows "atóa" (uselessly) in the Gapó.

At length, after about eight hours' paddling, we came out again into the broad waters of the Solimões. How bright shone the sun! how gay flowed the stream! how pleasant it was again to see the floating grass islands, and the huge logs and trees, with their cargoes of gulls sitting gravely upon them! These, with the white-leaved and straggling umboöbas (Cecropia) give an aspect to the Amazon quite distinct from that of the Rio Negro, independently of their differently-coloured waters. Now, however, there was no land to be reached, and we feared we should have to sup on farinha and water, but luckily found a huge floating trunk fast moored amongst some grass near the side, and on it, with the assistance of a fewdead twigs, we soon made a fire, roasted our fish, and boiled some coffee. But we had intruded on a colony of stinging ants, who, not liking the vicinity of fire, and not choosing to take to the water, swarmed into our canoe and made us pay for our supper in a very unpleasant manner. Dusk soon came on, and we had to stay for the night; but the mosquitoes made their presence known, and we lay uncomfortable and feverish till the morning. By the next night we had reached the mouth of the small stream that leads us to Manaquery, and had few mosquitoes to annoy us. In the morning we went on, and soon plunged again into the Gapó, passing through some small lakes so choked up with grass that the canoe could hardly be forced over it. Again we emerged into the igaripé—here about a quarter of a mile wide—and at ten in the morning reached Manaquery.

The estate is situated on the south side of the Solimões, about a hundred miles above its junction with the Rio Negro, The whole tract of country round it consists of igaripés, or small streams, lakes, gapó, and patches of high and dry land, so scattered and mixed together that it is very difficult to tell whether any particular portion is an island or not. The land, for a short distance on the banks of the stream, rises in an abrupt, rocky cliff, thirty or forty feet above high-water mark: the rocks are of a volcanic nature, being a coarse and often vitreous scoria. On ascending by some rude steps, I found myself in a flat grassy meadow, scattered over with orange-trees, mangoes, and some noble tamarind and calabash trees, and at the back a thicket of guavas.

Cattle and sheep were grazing about, and pigs and poultry were seen nearer the house. This was a large thatched shed, half of which contained the cane-mill, and was only enclosed by a railing instead of a wall; the other half had coarse mud walls, with small windows and thatch shutters. The floor was of earth only, and very uneven, yet here resided Senhor Brandão and his daughter, whom I had met at Barra. The fact was that some ten or twelve years before, during the Revolution, a party of Indians burnt down his house, and completely destroyed his garden and fruit-trees, killing several of his servants and cattle, and would have killed his wife and children, had they not, at a moment's notice, escaped to the forest, where they remained three days, living on Indian cornand wild fruits. Senhor B. was at the time in the city, and while the Revolution lasted, which was several years, he was glad to have his family with him in safety, and could not think of rebuilding his house. Afterwards he was engaged as Delegarde de Policia for some years, and he had now only just returned to live on his estate with one unmarried daughter, and of course had plenty to do to get things a little in order. His wife being dead, he did not feel the pleasure he had formerly done in improving his place, and it is, I think, not improbable that, after having lived here a few years, he will get so used to it that he will think it quite unnecessary to go to the expense of rebuilding his house. Still it seemed rather strange to see a nicely-dressed young lady sitting on a mat on a very mountainous mud-floor, and with half-a-dozen Indian girls around her engaged in making lace and in needlework. She introduced me to an elder married sister who was staying with them, and soon Senhor B. came in from his cane-field, and heartily welcomed me. About twelve we sat down to dinner, consisting of tambakí, the most delicious of fish, with rice, beans, and Indian-meal bread, and afterwards orangesad libitum.

I stayed here nearly two months, enjoying a regular country life, and getting together a tolerable collection of birds and insects.

In a few days a hunter I had engaged in Barra arrived, and forthwith commenced operations. In the afternoon he generally brought me some birds or monkeys, which were very plentiful. We rose about half-past five, and by six had a cup of hot coffee; I then sat down to skin birds, if any had been brought late over-night, or, if not, took my gun and walked out in search of some. At seven or half-past we had a basin of Indian-meal porridge, or chocolate, with new milk, as a sort of breakfast. At twelve punctually we dined, the standing dish being tambakí, varied occasionally with fowl, cow-fish, deer, or other game. At four we had another cup of coffee, with biscuit or fruit, and at seven we took supper of fish like our dinner, if the fisherman had arrived. In the morning, for a couple of hours, I generally went with my net in search of insects. Several rare butterflies were found sitting on the river's side, on the margin of mud left by the retiring waters. Small toucans or araçaris of several species were very abundantthe rarest and most beautiful being the "curl-crested," whose head is covered with little glossy curls of a hard substance, more like quill or metallic shavings than feathers. These are at times plentiful, but did not appear till some weeks later than the other species, when I was at last rewarded for my patience by obtaining several beautiful specimens.

The common black vultures were abundant, but were rather put to it for food, being obliged to eat palm-fruits in the forest when they could find nothing else. Every morning it was an amusing sight to see them run after the pigs the moment they got up, three or four following close at the heels of each animal, for the purpose of devouring its dung the moment it was dropped. The pigs seemed to be very much annoyed at such indecent behaviour, and would frequently turn round and take a run at the birds, who would hop out of the way or fly a short distance, but immediately resume their positions as soon as the pig continued his walk.

I am convinced, from repeated observations, that the vultures depend entirely on sight, and not at all on smell, in seeking out their food. While skinning a bird, a dozen of them used to be always waiting attendance at a moderate distance. The moment I threw away a piece of meat they would all run up to seize it; but it frequently happened to fall in a little hollow of the ground or among some grass, and then they would hop about, searching within a foot of it, and very often go away without finding it at all. A piece of stick or paper would bring them down just as rapidly, and after seeing what it was they would quietly go back to their former places. They always choose elevated stations, evidently to see what food they can discover; and when soaring at an immense height in the air, they will descend into the forest where a cow has died or been killed, long before it becomes putrid or emits any strong smell. I have often wrapped a piece of half-putrid meat in paper and thrown it to them, and even then, after hopping up to it, they will retire quite satisfied that it is only paper, and nothing at all eatable.

Senhor B. had two fine sows, very fat, and each was expected to bring forth a litter of pigs in a few days. There were no pig-sties or sheds of any kind; and all animals retire into the forest on such occasions, and in a few days return with their young family, just as cats do with us. These sows had bothdisappeared for some days, and had not returned, and we began to be afraid that a jaguar which had been heard near the house, and whose track had been seen, had destroyed them. A search was accordingly made, and the remains of a sow were discovered in a thicket not far from the house. The next night we heard the jaguar roaring within fifty yards of us, as we lay in our hammocks in the open shed; but there being plenty of cattle, pigs, and dogs about, we did not feel much alarmed. Presently we heard a report of a gun from an Indian's cottage near, and made sure the animal was dead. The next morning we found that it had passed within sight of the door, but the man was so frightened that he had fired at random and missed, for there are some Indians who are as much cowards in this respect as any one else. For two or three days more we heard reports of the animal at different parts of the estate, so my hunter went out at night to lie in wait for it, and succeeded in killing it with a bullet. It was an onça of the largest size, and was believed to have killed, besides the sow, a cow which had disappeared some weeks previously.

The weather was now very dry: no rain had fallen for some time; the oranges were fully ripe, and the grass, so green and fresh when I arrived, was beginning to assume a brownish-yellow tinge. Tobacco-picking had begun, and I saw the process of the manufacture as carried on here. Tobacco is sown thickly on a small patch of ground, and the young plants are then set in rows, just as we do cabbages. They are much attacked by the caterpillar of a sphinx moth, which grows to a large size, and would completely devour the crop unless carefully picked off. Old men, and women, and children are therefore constantly employed going over a part of the field every day, and carefully examining the plants leaf by leaf till the insects are completely exterminated. When they show any inclination to flower, the buds are nipped off; and as soon as the leaves have reached their full size, they are gathered in strong wicker baskets, and are laid out in the house or a shed, on poles supported by uprights from the floor to the ceiling. In a few days they dry, and during the hot days become quite crisp; but the moisture of the night softens them, and early in the morning they are flaccid. When they are judged sufficiently dry, every leaf must have the strong fibrous midrib taken outof it. For this purpose all the household—men, women, and children—are called up at four in the morning, and are set to work tearing out the midrib, before the heat of the day makes the leaves too brittle to allow of the operation. A few of the best leaves are sometimes selected to make cigars, but the whole is generally manufactured into rolls of two or four pounds each. The proper quantity is weighed out, and placed, regularly in layers on a table in a row about a yard long, rather thicker in the middle. Beginning at one end, this is carefully rolled up and wound round with a cord as tightly as possible. In a few days these rolls are opened out, to see if there is any tendency to heat or mould, and if all is right they are again made up with greater care. Every day they are rebound tighter and tighter, the operator sitting on the ground with the cord twisted round a post, and winding and tightening with all his strength, till at length the roll has become compressed into a solid mass about an inch in diameter, and gradually tapering towards each end. It is then wound closely from end to end with a neat strip of the rind of the Uarumá (a water-rush), and tied up in bundles of an arroba and half an arroba (thirty-two and sixteen pounds), and is ready for sale. When the tobacco is good, or has, as they term it, "much honey in it," it will cut as smooth and solid as a piece of Spanish liquorice, and can be bent double without cracking. The price varies according to the quality and the supply, from 4d.to 1s.per pound.

One day the fisherman brought us in a fine "peixe boi," or cow-fish, a species ofManatus, which inhabits the Amazon, and is particularly abundant in the lakes in this part of the river. It was a female, about six feet long, and near five in circumference in the thickest part. The body is perfectly smooth, and without any projections or inequalities, gradually changing into a horizontal semicircular flat tail, with no appearance whatever of hind limbs. There is no distinct neck; the head is not very large, and is terminated by a large mouth and fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. There are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few distantly scattered hairs over the body. Behind the head are two powerful oval fins, and just beneath them are the breasts, from which, on pressure being applied, flows a stream of beautiful white milk. The ears are minute holes, and the eyes very small. The dung resembles that of a horse. The colour is a dusky lead, withsome large pinkish-white marbled blotches on the belly. The skin is about an inch thick on the back, and a quarter of an inch on the belly. Beneath the skin is a layer of fat of a greater or less thickness, generally about an inch, which is boiled down to make an oil used for light and for cooking. The intestines are very voluminous, the heart about the size of a sheep's, and the lungs about two feet long, and six or seven inches wide, very cellular and spongy, and can be blown out like a bladder. The skull is large and solid, with no front teeth; the vertebræ extend to the very tip of the tail, but show no rudiments of posterior limbs; the fore limbs, on the contrary, are very highly developed, the bones exactly corresponding to those of the human arm, having even the five fingers, with every joint distinct, yet enclosed in a stiff inflexible skin, where not a joint can have any motion.

The cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of the rivers and lakes, and swims quickly with the tail and paddles; and though the external organs of sight and hearing are so imperfect, these senses are said by the hunters to be remarkably acute, and to render necessary all their caution and skill to capture the animals. They bring forth one, or rarely two, young ones, which they clasp in their arms or paddles while giving suck. They are harpooned, or caught in a strong net, at the narrow entrance of a lake or stream, and are killed by driving a wooden plug with a mallet up their nostrils. Each yields from five to twenty-five gallons of oil. The flesh is very good, being something between beef and pork, and this one furnished us with several meals, and was an agreeable change from our fish diet.

As I now expected a canoe shortly to arrive, bringing me letters and remittances from England, after which I was anxious to set off for the Upper Rio Negro as soon as possible, I determined to return to Barra, and having agreed for a passage in a canoe going there, I took leave of my kind host. I must, however, first say a few words about him. Senhor José Antonio Brandão had come over from Portugal when very young, and had married early and settled, with the intention of spending his life here. Very singularly for a Portuguese, he entirely devoted himself to agriculture. He built himself a country-house at Manaquery, on a lake near the main river, brought Indians from a distance to settle with him, cleared theforest, planted orange, tamarind, mango, and many other fruit-bearing trees, made pleasant avenues, gardens, and pastures, stocked them well with cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry, and set himself down to the full enjoyment of a country life. But about twenty years ago, while his family were yet young, disturbances and revolutions broke out, and he, as well as all natives of Portugal, though he had signed the constitution of the Empire, and was in heart a true Brazilian, became an object of dislike and suspicion to many of the more violent of the revolutionists. A tribe of Indians who resided near him, and to whom he had shown constant kindness, were incited to burn down his house and destroy his property. This they did effectually, rooting up his fruit-trees, burning his crops, killing his cattle and his servants, and his wife and family only escaped from their murderous arrows by timely flight to the forest. During the long years of anarchy and confusion which followed, he was appointed a magistrate in Barra, and was unable to look after his estate. His wife died, his children married, and he of course felt then little interest in restoring things to their former state.

He is a remarkably intelligent man, fond of reading, but without books, and with a most tenacious memory. He has taught himself French, which he now reads with ease, and through it he has got much information, though of course rather tinged with French prejudice. He has several huge quarto volumes of Ecclesiastical History, and is quite learned in all the details of the Councils, and in the history of the Reformation. He can tell you, from an old work on geography, without maps, the length and breadth of every country in Europe, and the main particulars respecting it. He is about seventy years of age, thirsting for information, and has never seen a map! Think of this, ye who roll in intellectual luxury. In this land of mechanics' institutions and cheap literature few have an idea of the real pursuit of knowledge under difficulties,—of the longing thirst for information which there is no fountain to satisfy. In his conversation there was something racy and refreshing: such an absence of information, but such a fertility of ideas. He had read the Bible in Portuguese, as a forbidden book, though the priests make no very great objection to it here; and it was something new to hear a man's opinions of it who had first read it at a mature age, andsolely from a desire for information. The idea had not entered his mind that it was all inspired, so he made objections to any parts which he thought incredible, or which appeared to him to be capable of a simple explanation; and, as might have been expected, he found of his own accord confirmation of the doctrines of the religion in which he had been brought up from childhood.

On arriving at Barra, the expected canoe had not arrived, and many weeks passed wearily away. The weather was fine, but Barra is a very poor locality for making collections. Insects were remarkably scarce and uninteresting, and I looked forward anxiously to the time when I could start for some distant and more promising district. The season was very dry and hot: the thermometer, at two, every afternoon, reaching 94° and 95° in the shade, and not often sinking below 75° during the night. The lowest which I observed, just before sunrise, was 70°, and the highest in the afternoon, 96°. There was scarcely any rain during the months of July and August, so the grass about the city was completely burnt up. The river was now falling rapidly, and the sandbanks in the Amazon were, some of them, just rising above the water.

One day, Senhor Henrique made a party to go fishing, with a large drag-net, in the Solimões. We started in the afternoon in a good canoe, with a party of about a dozen, and eight or ten Indian rowers; and just before sunset, reached the mouth of the Rio Negro, and turned up into the strong and turbid waters of the Solimões. There was a bright moon, and we kept on talking and singing, while passing the narrow channels and green islands on the north side of the river which looked most picturesquely wild and solitary by the pale silvery moonlight, and amid the solemn silence of the forest. By about midnight, we reached a large sandbank, just rising out of the water. Most of the party turned up their trousers, and waded though the shallows, till they reached the bank, where they began searching for small turtles' eggs, and those of gulls and other water-birds, which lay them in little hollows scraped in the sand. Gulls, divers, ducks, and sandpipers flew screaming about as we landed, and the splash of fish in the shallow water told us that there was abundance of sport for us. Senhor Henrique soon ordered the Indians to get out the net, and commenced dragging. Every time the net was drawn on-shore we nearly filled a basket with numerous small fishes, and a few of larger size. There were quantities of little ones armed with spines, which inflict a serious wound if trodden on, so we had to be cautious with our bare feet. I was much interested in the great variety and the curious forms that every basketful contained. There were numbers of a little fish, peculiar to the Amazon, which inflates the fore part of the body into a complete ball, and when stamped upon 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, with 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 curious 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 farinha, 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 pirarucú, weighing thirty or forty pounds, Senhor Henrique bought it of him, in order to have something worth showing from our excursion.

We then proceeded homewards, many of us dozing; and our Indians rowing hard, but hardly able to keep their eyes open. Now and then, one would regularly drop off to sleep, but keep on paddling mechanically, without pulling very hard.One of his companions would then tickle his nose, and rouse him up, and his look of astonishment to find he had been sleeping would set all in a roar of laughter at his expense. It was midnight when we reached Barra, and we were all pretty glad to seek our hammocks.

Several weeks more passed wearily, till at length we had news of the long-expected canoe; one of the owners, having arrived beforehand in a montaria, informing us that it would be up in two days more. There was at this time in the city a trader from the upper Rio Negro, a Portuguese, and generally considered a very good sort of fellow. He was to start the next day, but on Senhor Henrique's representation, he agreed to stay till Senhor Neill Bradley's canoe arrived, and then give me a passage up to the Falls of the Rio Negro, or to any other place I might wish to go to. The next afternoon the expected vessel reached Barra; about six in the evening I got a long arrear of letters from Pará, from England, from California, and Australia, some twenty in number, and several dated more than a year back. I sat up till two in the morning reading them, lay down, but slept little till five in the morning; I then commenced answering the most important of them,—packing up—buying forgotten necessaries for the voyage—making up a box for England—giving instructions to my brother H., who was to stay in Barra, and, in six months, return to England,—and by noon was ready to start on a voyage of seven hundred miles, and, probably, for a year's absence. The Juiz de Direito, or Judge of the district, had kindly sent me a turkey and a sucking-pig; the former of which I took alive, and the latter roasted; so I had a stock of provisions to commence the voyage.

FOOTNOTES:[3]Mingau is a kind of porridge made either of farinha or of the large plantain called pacova.

[3]Mingau is a kind of porridge made either of farinha or of the large plantain called pacova.

[3]Mingau is a kind of porridge made either of farinha or of the large plantain called pacova.

THE UPPER RIO NEGRO.

Quit Barra for the Upper Rio Negro—Canoe and Cargo—Great Width of the River—Carvoeiro and Barcellos—Granite Rocks—Castanheiro—A Polite Old Gentleman—S. Jozé—A New Language—The Cataracts—S. Gabriel—Nossa Senhora da Guia—Senhor L. and his Family—Visit to the River Cobati—An Indian Village—The Serra—Cocks of the Rock—Return to Guia—Frei Jozé dos Santos Innocentos.

Itwas on the last day of August, 1850, at about two o'clock on a fine bright afternoon, that I bade adieu to Barra, looking forward with hope and expectation to the distant and little-known regions I was now going to visit. I found our canoe a tolerably roomy one, it being about thirty-five feet long and seven broad. The after-part had a rough deck, made of split palm-stems, covered with a tolda, or semicircular roof, high enough to sit up comfortably within it, and well thatched with palm-leaves. A part of the front opening was stopped up on each side, leaving a doorway about three feet wide. The forepart was covered with a similar tolda, but much lower, and above it was a flat deck, formed like the other, and supported by upright poles along the sides. This is called the jangáda, or raft, and serves for the Indians to stand on, while rowing with oars formed of paddle-blades fixed to long poles. The canoe was well loaded with all the articles most desired by the semi-civilised and savage inhabitants of the Upper Rio Negro. There were bales of coarse cotton cloth and of the commonest calico, of flimsy but brilliantly-coloured prints, of checked and striped cottons, and of blue or red handkerchiefs. Then there were axes and cutlasses, and coarse pointed knives in great profusion, fish-hooks by thousands, flints and steels, gunpowder, shot, quantities of blue,black, and white beads, and countless little looking-glasses; needles and thread, and buttons and tape were not forgotten. There was plenty of caxaça (the rum of the country), and wine for the trader's own use, as well as a little brandy for "medicine," and tea, coffee, sugar, vinegar, oil for cooking and for light, biscuits, butter, garlic, black pepper, and other little household luxuries, sufficient to last the family for at least six months, and supply the pressing wants of any famishing traveller.

My host, Senhor João Antonio de Lima, was a middle-sized, grizzly man, with a face something like that of the banished lord in the National Gallery. He had, however, all the politeness of his countrymen, placed the canoe and everything in it "at my orders," and made himself very agreeable. Our tolda contained numerous boxes and packages of his and my own, but still left plenty of room for us to sit or lie down comfortably; and in the cool of the morning and evening we stood upon the plank at its mouth, or sat upon its top, enjoying the fresh air and the cool prospect of dark waters around us. For the first day or two we found no land, all the banks of the river being flooded, but afterwards we had plenty of places on which to go on shore and make our fire. Generally, as soon after daylight as we could discover a convenient spot, we landed and made coffee, into which we broke some biscuit and put a piece of butter, which I soon found to be a very great improvement in the absence of milk. About ten or eleven we stopped again for breakfast—the principal meal for the Indians. We now cooked a fowl, or some fish if we had caught any during the night. About six we again landed to prepare supper and coffee, which we sat sipping on the top of the tolda, while we proceeded on our way, till eight or nine at night, when the canoe was moored in a place where we could hang up our hammocks on shore, and sleep comfortably till four or five in the morning. Sometimes this was varied by stopping for the night at six o'clock, and then we would start again by midnight, or by one or two in the morning. We would often make our stoppages at a cottage, where we could buy a fowl or some eggs, or a bunch of bananas or some oranges; or at another time at a pretty opening in the forest, where some would start off with a gun, to shoot a curassow or a guan, and others would drop their line into the water, andsoon have some small but delicious fish to broil. Senhor L. was an old hand at canoe-travelling, and was always well provided with hooks and lines. Bait was generally carefully prepared during the day, and at night the lines would be thrown in; and we were often rewarded with a fine pirahíba of twenty or thirty pounds weight, which made us a breakfast and supper for the next day.

A little above Barra the river spreads out into great bays on each side, so as to be from six to ten miles wide; and here, when there is much wind, a heavy sea rises, which is very dangerous for small canoes. Above this the river again narrows to about a mile and a half, and soon afterwards branches out into diverging channels, with islands of every size between them. For several hundred miles after this the two banks of the river can never be seen at once: they are probably from ten to twenty-five miles apart. Some of the islands are of great size, reaching to thirty or forty miles in length, and with others often intervening between them and the shore.

On the second and third day after we left Barra, there were high, picturesque, gravelly banks to the river. A little further on, a few isolated rocks appear, and at the little village of Ayrão, which we reached in a week, there were broken ledges of sandstone rock of rather a crystalline texture. A little lower we had passed points of a soft sandstone, worn into caves and fantastic hollows by the action of the water. Further on, at Pedreiro, the rock was perfectly crystalline; while a little further still, at the mouth of the Rio Branco, a real granitic rock appears.

At Pedreiro we stayed for the night with a friend of Senhor L.'s, where the news of the city was discussed, and the prices of fish, salsaparilha, piassaba, etc., communicated. The next day we passed some picturesque granite rocks opposite the mouth of the Rio Branco, where again the two shores of the river are seen at one view. On a little island there are some curious Indian picture-writings, being representations of numerous animals and men, roughly picked out of the hard granite. I made careful drawings of these at the time, and took specimens of the rock.

The next day we reached Carvoeiro, a village desolate and half deserted, as are all those on the Rio Negro. We foundonly two families inhabiting it, a blacksmith, and a Brazilian, who bore the title of Capitão Vasconcellos, a good-humoured, civil man, who treated us very well the day we remained with him. For dinner we had turtle, with silver knives and forks, but our table was a mat on the ground. In the afternoon the Capitão got drunk with his old friend Senhor L., and then became very violent, and abused him as a vile, unworthy, skulking Portuguese villain, and used many more epithets, of which the language has a copious store. Senhor L., who prides himself on never getting intoxicated, took it very coolly, and the next morning the Capitão expressed his heartfelt contrition, vowed eternal friendship, and regretted much that he should have given the "estrangeiro" so much reason to think ill of his countrymen.

Proceeding on our journey, we entered on a labyrinth of small islands, so flooded that they appeared like masses of bushes growing out of the water. Though Senhor L. is well acquainted with the river, we here almost lost our way, and met another canoe which had quite done so. As it was late, we stayed at a point of dry land for the night, and hung our hammocks under the trees. The next day we called at the house of a man who owed Senhor L. some money, and who paid him in turtles, eight or nine of which we embarked.

The two shores of the river had only been seen for a moment. Again we plunged into a sea of islands, and channels opening among them often stretched out to the horizon. Sometimes a distant shore continued for days unbroken, but was at last found to be but a far-stretching island. All was now again alluvial soil, and we sometimes had a difficulty in finding dry land to cook our meals on. In a few days more we reached Barcellos, once the capital of the Rio Negro, but now depopulated and almost deserted. On the shore lie several blocks of marble, brought from Portugal for some public buildings which were never erected. The lines of the old streets are now paths through a jungle, where orange and other fruit-trees are mingled with cassias and tall tropical weeds. The houses that remain are mostly ruinous mud-huts, with here and there one more neatly finished and white-washed.

We called on an old Italian, who has the reputation of being rich, but a great miser. He was, however, merry enough. He gave us coffee sweetened with molasses, and pressed us to staybreakfast with him,—which meal was served in an old storehouse filled with cables, anchors, cordage, casks, and demijohns. We had silver forks and spoons, and a dirty towel for a tablecloth, and raw spirits and tough curassow-bird was the fare placed upon it. He, however, gave us a basket of oranges to take to the canoe.

In a day or two more we passed another decayed village, called Cabuqueno. About Barcellos had first appeared a very pretty little palm growing at the water's edge, a new species ofMauritia, which was afterwards abundant all the way up. Fish were now more plentiful than in the lower part of the river, and several species occurred not found below. Senhor L. often sent two men in a small canoe to fish early in the morning, and they would by ten o'clock generally come up with sufficient for our breakfast and supper. I began now to take a great interest in the beauty and variety of the species, and, whenever I could, made accurate drawings and descriptions of them. Many are of a most excellent flavour, surpassing anything I have tasted in England, either from the fresh or the salt waters; and many species have real fat, which renders the water they are boiled in a rich and agreeable broth. Not a drop of this is wasted, but, with a little pepper and farinha, is all consumed, with as much relish as if it were the most delicate soup. Our tolda was pretty hot during the day, generally being from 95°to 100° inside. Early in the morning the temperature was about 75°, the water at the same time being 85° and feeling quite warm; at noon or in the afternoon the water would be about 86°, and then feel delightfully cool from its contrast with the heated air.

We had altogether very fine weather; but every afternoon, or at least four or five times in a week, we had a "trovoádo," or storm, which came on suddenly, with violent gusts of wind, and often thunder and rain, but passed over in about an hour or two, leaving the atmosphere beautifully mild and clear. A great luxury of this river is the absence of mosquitoes. Sunset, instead of being the signal for discomfort and annoyance, brought us the pleasantest part of the day. We could sit on the top of the tolda, enjoying the cool evening breeze, and sipping a cup of coffee—our greatest luxury—till the glories of sunset faded rapidly away and the stars shone brightly out above us. At this quiet hour the goat-suckers came out tohunt their insect prey over the stream, and amused us with their rapid evolutions; the tree-frogs commenced their mournful chants, a few lingering parrots would cross the river to their nests, and the guarhibas fill the air with their howling voices. When at length the dews of evening fell thick upon us, I would turn in beneath the tolda, while Senhor L., wrapping himself in a sheet, preferred taking his repose outside.

On September 30th, just a month after we had left Barra, we again saw the opposite side of the river, and crossed over where it is about four miles wide. The next day we reached a part where the granitic rocks commence, and I was delighted to step out of the canoe on to a fine sloping table of granite, with quartz-veins running across it in various directions. From this point the river became more picturesque. Small rocky islands abounded, and fine granite beaches were frequent, offering delightful places to take our picnic meals. Fish too became yet more abundant, and we were seldom without this luxury.

On the 3rd of October we reached a sitio, where resided a half-breed Brazilian named João Cordeiro (John Lamb), who was a friend of Senhor L. as well as a customer. We stayed here two days, while a good part of the cargo of the canoe was taken out for Senhor João to choose what he liked best. Here, for the second time since we left Barra, we saw a few cows, and had milk to our coffee. I amused myself by walking in the forest and catching some insects, of which I found many new species. At length, the gay cottons and gauzes, the beads and cutlery, wines and spirits, sugar and butter, having been selected, we went on our way, Senhor João promising to get plenty of piassaba, salsa, and other products, ready to pay Senhor L. by the time he next sent to the city.

The following day we reached St. Isabel, a miserable village overgrown with weeds and thickets, and having at this time but a single inhabitant, a Portuguese, with whom we took a cup of coffee, sweetening it, however, with our own sugar, as he had no such luxury. He was one of the many decent sort of men who drag on a miserable existence here, putting up with hardships and deprivations which in a civilised community would be only the result of the most utter poverty.

On the 8th we reached Castanheiro, and stayed a day with another Portuguese, one of the richest traders on the river.He owed his wealth principally to having steadily refused to take goods on credit, which is the curse of this country: he thus was always his own master, instead of being the slave of the Barra and Pará merchants, and could buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market. With economy and a character for closeness, he had accumulated some five or six thousand pounds, which went on rapidly increasing, as in this country living costs a man nothing, unless he drinks or gambles. He trades with the Indians, takes the product in his own canoe to Pará, buys the articles he knows are most saleable, and gets a profit of about a hundred per cent. on all the business he does. It may give some insight into the state of this country to know that, though this man is distinguished from almost all other traders by his strict integrity and fairness, which all allow, yet he is seldom spoken well of, because he does not enter into the extravagance and debauchery which it is thought he can well afford.

A little further on we passed some more curious Indian picture-writings on a granite rock, of which I took a sketch. On the 11th we reached Wanawacá, the seat of a Brazilian from Pernambuco, banished to the Rio Negro for joining in some insurrection. I had heard the most horrible stories of this man's crimes. He had murdered the Indians, carried away their wives and daughters, and committed barbarities that are too disgusting to mention. Yet, as I had a letter of introduction to him, and he was a friend of Senhor L., we went to call upon him. I found him a mild, quiet, polite, white-haired old gentleman, who received us with great civility, gave us a very good breakfast, and conversed in an unusually rational manner. When we had gone, Senhor L. asked me if I was not surprised to see such a mild-looking man. "But," said he, "these soft-spoken ones are always the worst. He is a regular hypocrite, and he will stick at nothing. Among his friends he will boast of his crimes, and he declares there is nothing that he will not do for his own pleasure or profit."

The next day we stayed at another village, São Jozé, where we were to leave our little vessel, and proceed in two smaller ones, as the stream was now so rapid that we could not make much way, and the Falls a little higher up were quite impassable for our larger canoe. Here we stayed two days, unloading and loading. I found plenty to do capturing the butterflies,several rare species of which were abundant on the hot rocks by the river's side. At length all was right, and we proceeded on our way in two heavily-laden canoes, and rather cramped for room compared to what we had been before. We had several little rapids to pass, round projecting points of rock, where the Indians had to jump into the water and push the canoe past the difficulty. In two days more we reached the village of São Pedro, where Senhor L. borrowed another canoe, much better and more convenient, so that we had again half a day's delay. The owner was a young Brazilian trader, a very hospitable and civil fellow, with whom we spent a pleasant evening. He and Senhor L. were old cronies, and began talking in a language I could not understand, though I knew it was some kind of Portuguese. I soon, however, found out what it was, and Senhor L. afterwards told me that he had learnt it when a boy at school. It consisted in adding to every syllable another, rhyming with it, but beginning with p; thus to say, "Venha ca" (come here), he would say, "Venpenhapa capa," or if in English "Comepum herepere;". and this, when spoken rapidly, is quite unintelligible to a person not used to it. This Senhor was a bit of a musician, and amused us with some simple tunes on the guitar, almost the only instrument used in this part of the country.

Leaving this place, we passed the mouth of the small river Curicuriarí, from which we had a fine view of the Serras of the same name. These are the finest mountains I had yet seen, being irregular conical masses of granite about three thousand feet high. They are much jagged and peaked, clothed with forest in all the sloping parts, but with numerous bare precipices, on which shine huge white veins and masses of quartz, putting me in mind of what must be the appearance of the snow-capped Andes. Lower down, near St. Isabel, we had passed several conical peaks, but none more than a thousand feet high: these all rise abruptly from a perfectly level plain, and are not part of any connected range of hills.

On the same day, the 19th of October, we reached the celebrated Falls of the Rio Negro. Small rocky islands and masses of bare rock now began to fill the river in every part. The stream flowed rapidly round projecting points, and the main channel was full of foam and eddies. We soon arrived at the commencement of the actual rapids. Beds and ledgesof rock spread all across the river, while through the openings between them the water rushed with terrific violence, forming dangerous whirlpools and breakers below. Here it was necessary to cross to the other side, in order to get up. We dashed into the current, were rapidly carried down, got among the boiling waves, then passed suddenly into still water under shelter of an island; whence starting again, we at length reached the other side, about a mile across. Here we found ourselves at the foot of a great rush of water, and we all got out upon the rocks, while the Indians, with a strong rope, partly in the water, and partly on land, pulled the canoe up, and we again proceeded. As we went on we constantly encountered fresh difficulties. Sometimes we had to cross into the middle of the stream, to avoid some impassable mass of rocks; at others, the canoe was dragged and pushed in narrow channels, which hardly allowed it to pass. The Indians, all naked, with their trousers tied round their loins, plunged about in the water like fishes. Sometimes a projecting crag had to be reached with the tow-rope. An Indian takes it in his hand, and leaps into the rapid current: he is carried down by its irresistible force. Now he dives to the bottom, and there swims and crawls along where the stream has less power. After two or three trials he reaches the rock, and tries to mount upon it; but it rises high and abruptly out of the water, and after several efforts he falls back exhausted, and floats down again to the canoe amid the mirth and laughter of his comrades. Another now tries, with the same result. Then another plunges in without the rope, and thus unencumbered mounts on the rock and gives a helping hand to his companion; and then all go to work, and we are pulled up past the obstacle.

But a little ahead of us is an extensive mass of rocks. There is no passage for the canoe, and we must cross to yonder islet far in the middle of the stream, where, by the height of the water, Senhor L. and the pilot judge we shall find a passage. Every stone, even those under water, form eddies or returning currents, where a canoe can rest in its passage. Off we go, to try to reach one of them. In a moment we are in a stream running like a mill-race. "Pull away, boys!" shouts Senhor L. We are falling swiftly down the river. There is a strong rapid carrying us, and we shall be dashed against those blackmasses just rising above the foaming waters. "All right, boys!" cries Senhor L.; and just as we seemed in the greatest danger, the canoe wheels round in an eddy, and we are safe under the shelter of a rock. We are in still water, but close on each side of us it rages and bubbles, and we must cross again. Now the Indians are rested; and so off we go,—down drops the canoe,—again the men strain at their paddles,—again we are close on some foaming breakers: I see no escape, but in a moment we are in an eddy caused by a sunken mass above us; again we go on, and reach at length our object, a rocky island, round which we pull and push our canoe, and from the upper point cross to another, and so make a zigzag course, until, after some hours' hard work, we at length reach the bank, perhaps not fifty yards above the obstacle which had obliged us to leave it.

Thus we proceeded, till, reaching a good resting-place about five in the afternoon, we stayed for the night to rest the Indians well, against the further fatigues to be encountered the following day.

Most of the principal rapids and falls have names. There are the "Furnos" (ovens), "Tabocal" (bamboo), and many others. The next day we went on in a similar manner to the day before, along a most picturesque part of the river. The brilliant sun, the sparkling waters, the strange fantastic rocks, and broken woody islands, were a constant source of interest and enjoyment to me. Early in the afternoon we reached the village of São Gabriel, where are the principal falls. Here the river is narrower, and an island in the middle divides it into two channels, along each of which rolls a tremendous flood of water down an incline formed by submerged rocks. Below, the water boils up in great rolling breakers, and, a little further down, forms dangerous eddies and whirlpools. Here we could only pass by unloading the canoe almost entirely, and then pulling it up amidst the foaming water as near as possible to the shore. This done, Senhor L. and myself dressed, and proceeded up the hill to the house of the Commandante, who must give permission before any one can pass above the fort. He was a friend of Senhor L., and I brought him a letter of introduction; so he was pretty civil, gave us some coffee, chatted of the news of the river and the city for an hour or two, and invited us to breakfast with him before we left thenext morning. We then went to the house of an old Portuguese trader, whom I had met in Barra, with whom we supped and spent the evening.

The next morning, after breakfasting with the Commandante, we proceeded on our way. Above São Gabriel the rapids are perhaps more numerous than below. We twisted about the river, round islands and from rock to rock, in a most complicated manner. On a point where we stayed for the night I saw the first tree-fern I had yet met with, and looked on it with much pleasure, as an introduction to a new and interesting district: it was a small, thin-stemmed, elegant species, about eight or ten feet high. At night, on the 22nd, we passed the last rapid, and now had smooth water before us for the rest of our journey. We had thus been four days ascending these rapids, which are about thirty miles in length. The next morning we entered the great and unknown river "Uaupés," from which there is another branch into the Rio Negro, forming a delta at its mouth. During our voyage I had heard much of this river from Senhor L., who was an old trader up it, and well acquainted with the numerous tribes of uncivilised Indians which inhabit its banks, and with the countless cataracts and rapids which render its navigation so dangerous and toilsome. Above the Uaupés the Rio Negro was calm and placid, about a mile, or sometimes two to three miles wide, and its waters blacker than ever.

On the 24th of October, early in the morning, we reached the little village of Nossa Senhora da Guía, where Senhor L. resided, and where he invited me to remain with him as long as I felt disposed.

The village is situated on high ground sloping down suddenly to the river. It consists of a row of thatched mud-huts, some of them whitewashed, others the colour of the native earth. Immediately behind are some patches of low sandy ground, covered with a shrubby vegetation, and beyond is the virgin forest. Senhor L.'s house had wooden doors, and shutters to the windows, as had also one or two others. In fact, Guía was once a very populous and decent village, though now as poor and miserable as all the others of the Rio Negro. Going up to the house I was introduced to Senhor L.'s family, which consisted of two grown-up daughters, two young ones, and a little boy of eight years old. A good-looking "mamelúca," orhalf-breed woman, of about thirty, was introduced as the "mother of his younger children." Senhor L. had informed me during the voyage that he did not patronise marriage, and thought everybody a great fool who did. He had illustrated the advantages of keeping oneself free of such ties by informing me that the mother of his two elder daughters having grown old, and being unable to bring them up properly or teach them Portuguese, he had turned her out of doors, and got a younger and more civilised person in her place. The poor woman had since died of jealousy, or "passion," as he termed it. When young, she had nursed him during an eighteen months' illness and saved his life; but he seemed to think he had performed a duty in turning her away,—for, said he, "She was an Indian, and could only speak her own language, and, so long as she was with them, my children would never learn Portuguese."

The whole family welcomed him in a very cold and timid manner, coming up and asking his blessing as if they had parted from him the evening before, instead of three months since. We then had some coffee and breakfast; after which the canoe was unloaded, and a little house just opposite his, which happened to be unoccupied, was swept out for me. My boxes were placed in it, my hammock hung up, and I soon made myself comfortable in my new quarters, and then walked out to look about me.

In the village were about a dozen houses belonging to Indians, all of whom had their sitios, or country-houses, at from a few hours' to some days' distance up or down the river, or on some of the small tributary streams. They only inhabit the village at times of festas, or on the arrival of a merchant like Senhor L., when they bring any produce they may have to dispose of or, if they have none, get what goods they can on credit, with the promise of payment at some future time.

There were now several families in the village to welcome their sons and husbands, who had formed our crew; and for some days there was a general drinking and dancing from morning to night. During this time, I took my gun into the woods, in order to kill a few birds. Immediately behind the house were some fruit-trees, to which many chatterers and other pretty birds resorted, and I managed to shoot some every day. Insects were very scarce in the forest; but on the river-side there were often to be found rare butterflies, though not insufficient abundance to give me much occupation. In a few days, Senhor L. got a couple of Indians to come and hunt for me, and I hoped then to have plenty of birds. They used the gravatána, or blow-pipe, a tube ten to fifteen feet in length, through which they blow small arrows with such force and precision, that they will kill birds or other game as far off, and with as much certainty, as with a gun. The arrows are all poisoned, so that a very small wound is sufficient to bring down a large bird. I soon found that my Indians had come at Senhor L.'s bidding, but did not much like their task; and they frequently returned without any birds, telling me they could not find any, when I had very good reason to believe they had spent the day at some neighbouring sitio. At other times, after a day in the forest, they would bring a little worthless bird, which can be found around every cottage. As they had to go a great distance in search of good birds, I had no hold upon them, and was obliged to take what they brought me, and be contented. It was a great annoyance here, that there were no good paths in the forest, so that I could not go far myself, and in the immediate vicinity of the village there is little to be obtained.

I found it more easy to procure fishes, and was much pleased by being frequently able to add to my collection of drawings. The smaller species I also preserved in spirits. The electrical eel is common in all the streams here; it is caught with a hook, or in weirs, and is eaten, though not much esteemed. When the water gets low, and leaves pools among the rocks, many fish are caught by poisoning the waters with a root called "timbo." The mouths of the small streams are also staked across, and large quantities of all kinds are obtained. The fish thus caught are very good when fresh, but putrefy sooner than those caught in weirs or hooked.

Not being able to do much here, I determined to take a trip up a small stream to a place where, on a lonely granite mountain, the "Cocks of the Rock" are found. An Indian, who could speak a little Portuguese, having come from a village near it, I agreed to return with him. Senhor L. lent me a small canoe; and my two hunters, one of whom lived there, accompanied me. I took with me plenty of ammunition, a great box for my birds, some salt, hooks, mirrors, knives, etc., for the Indians, and left Guía early one morning. Justbelow the village we turned into the river Isanna, a fine stream, about half a mile wide, and in the afternoon reached the mouth of the small river Cobati (fish), on the south side, which we entered. We had hitherto seen the banks clothed with thick virgin forest, and here and there were some low hills covered entirely with lofty trees. Now the country became very bushy and scrubby; in parts sandy and almost open; perfectly flat, and apparently inundated at the high floods. The water was of a more inky blackness; and the little stream, not more than fifty yards wide, flowed with a rapid current, and turned and doubled in a manner that made our progress both difficult and tedious. At night we stopped at a little piece of open sandy ground, where we drove stakes in the earth to hang our hammocks. The next morning at daybreak we continued our journey. The whole day long we wound about, the stream keeping up exactly the same bleak character as before;—not a tree of any size visible, and the vegetation of a most monotonous and dreary character. At night we stayed near a lake, where the Indians caught some fine fish, and we made a good supper. The next day we wound about more than ever; often, after an hour's hard rowing, returning to within fifty yards of a point we had started from. At length, however, early in the afternoon, the aspect of the country suddenly changed; lofty trees sprang up on the banks, the characteristic creepers hung in festoons over them; moss-covered rocks appeared; and from the river gradually rose up a slope of luxuriant virgin forest, whose varied shades of green and glistening foliage were most grateful to the eye and the imagination, after the dull, monotonous vegetation of the previous days.

In half an hour more we were at the village, which consisted of five or six miserable little huts imbedded in the forest. Here I was introduced to my conductor's house. It contained two rooms, with a floor of earth, and smoky thatch overhead. There were three doors, but no windows. Near one of these I placed my bird-box, to serve as a table, and on the other side swung my hammock. We then took a little walk to look about us. Paths led to the different cottages, in which were large families of naked children, and their almost naked parents. Most of the houses had no walls, but were mere thatched sheds supported on posts, and with sometimes a smallroom enclosed with a palm-leaf fence, to make a sleeping apartment. There were several young boys here of from ten to fifteen years of age, who were my constant attendants when I went into the forest. None of them could speak a single word of Portuguese, so I had to make use of my slender stock of Lingoa Geral. But Indian boys are not great talkers, and a few monosyllables would generally suffice for our communications. One or two of them had blow-pipes, and shot numbers of small birds for me, while others would creep along by my side and silently point out birds, or small animals, before I could catch sight of them. When I fired, and, as was often the case, the bird flew away wounded, and then fell far off in the forest, they would bound away after it, and seldom search in vain. Even a little humming-bird, falling in a dense thicket of creepers and dead leaves, which I should have given up looking for in despair, was always found by them.

One day I accompanied the Indian with whom I lived into the forest, to get stems for a blow-pipe. We went, about a mile off, to a place where numerous small palms were growing: they were theIriartea setigeraof Martius, from ten to fifteen feet high, and varying from the thickness of one's finger to two inches in diameter. They appear jointed outside, from the scars of the fallen leaves, but within have a soft pith, which, when cleared out, leaves a smooth, polished bore. My companion selected several of the straightest he could find, both of the smallest and largest diameter. These stems were carefully dried in the house, the pith cleared out with a long rod made of the wood of another palm, and the bore rubbed clean and polished with a little bunch of roots of a tree-fern, pulled backwards and forwards through it. Two stems are selected of such a size, that the smaller can be pushed inside the larger; this is done, so that any curve in the one may counteract that in the other; a conical wooden mouthpiece is then fitted on to one end, and sometimes the whole is spirally bound with the smooth, black, shining bark of a creeper. Arrows are made of the spinous processes of the Patawá (Œnocarpus Batawa) pointed, and anointed with poison, and with a little conical tuft of tree cotton (the silky covering of the seeds of aBombax) at the other end, to fill up exactly, but not tightly, the bore of the tube: these arrows are carried in a wicker quiver, well covered with pitch at the lower part, sothat it can be inverted in wet weather to keep the arrows dry. The blow-pipe, or gravatána, is the principal weapon here. Every Indian has one, and seldom goes into the forest, or on the rivers, without it.

I soon found that the Cocks of the Rock, to obtain which was my chief object in coming here, were not to be found near the village. Their principal resort was the Serra de Cobáti, or mountain before mentioned, situated some ten or twelve miles off in the forest, where I was informed they were very abundant. I accordingly made arrangements for a trip to the Serra, with the intention of staying there a week. By the promise of good payment for every "Gallo" they killed for me, I persuaded almost the whole male population of the village to accompany me. As our path was through a dense forest for ten miles, we could not load ourselves with much baggage: every man had to carry his gravatána, bow and arrows,rédé, and some farinha; which, with salt, was all the provisions we took, trusting to the forest for our meat; and I even gave up my daily and only luxury of coffee.

We started off, thirteen in number, along a tolerable path. In about an hour we came to a mandiocca-field and a house, the last on the road to the Serra. Here we waited a short time, took some "mingau," or gruel, made of green plantains, and got a volunteer to join our company. I was much struck with an old woman whose whole body was one mass of close deep wrinkles, and whose hair was white, a sure sign of very great age in an Indian; from information I obtained, I believe she was more than a hundred years old. There was also a young "mamelúca," very fair and handsome, and of a particularly intelligent expression of countenance, very rarely seen in that mixed race. The moment I saw her I had little doubt of her being a person of whom I had heard Senhor L. speak as the daughter of the celebrated German naturalist, Dr. Natterer, by an Indian woman. I afterwards saw her at Guía, and ascertained that my supposition was correct. She was about seventeen years of age, was married to an Indian, and had several children. She was a fine specimen of the noble race produced by the mixture of the Saxon and Indian blood.

Proceeding onwards, we came to another recently-cleared mandiocca-field. Here the path was quite obliterated, and we had to cross over it as we could. Imagine the trees of a virginforest cut down so as to fall across each other in every conceivable direction. After lying a few months they are burnt; the fire, however, only consumes the leaves and fine twigs and branches; all the rest remains entire, but blackened and charred. The mandiocca is then planted without any further preparation; and it was across such a field that we, all heavily laden, had to find our way. Now climbing on the top of some huge trunk, now walking over a shaking branch or creeping among a confused thicket of charcoal, few journeys require more equanimity of temper than one across an Amazonian clearing.

Passing this, we got into the forest. At first the path was tolerable; soon, however, it was a mere track a few inches wide, winding among thorny creepers, and over deep beds of decaying leaves. Gigantic buttress trees, tall fluted stems, strange palms, and elegant tree-ferns were abundant on every side, and many persons may suppose that our walk must necessarily have been a delightful one; but there were many disagreeables. Hard roots rose up in ridges along our path, swamp and mud alternated with quartz pebbles and rotten leaves; and as I floundered along in the barefooted enjoyment of these, some overhanging bough would knock the cap from my head or the gun from my hand; or the hooked spines of the climbing palms would catch in my shirt-sleeves, and oblige me either to halt and deliberately unhook myself, or leave a portion of my unlucky garment behind. The Indians were all naked, or, if they had a shirt or trousers, carried them in a bundle on their heads, and I have no doubt looked upon me as a good illustration of the uselessness and bad consequences of wearing clothes upon a forest journey.

After four or five hours' hard walking, at a pace which would not have been bad upon clear level ground, we came to a small stream of clear water, which had its source in the Serra to which we were going. Here we waited a few moments to rest and drink, while doing which we heard a strange rush and distant grunt in the forest. The Indians started up, all excitement and animation: "Tyeassú!" (wild hogs) they cried, seizing their bows and arrows, tightening the strings, and grasping their long knives. I cocked my gun, dropped in a bullet, and hoped to get a shot at a "porco;" but being afraid, if I went with them, of losing myself in the forest, I waited withthe boys in hopes the game would pass near me. After a little time we heard a rushing and fearful gnashing of teeth, which made me stand anxiously expecting the animals to appear; but the sound went further off, and died away at length in the distance.

The party now appeared, and said that there was a large herd of fine pigs, but that they had got away. They, however, directed the boys to go on with me to the Serra, and they would go again after the herd. We went on accordingly over very rough, uneven ground, now climbing up steep ascents over rotting trunks of fallen trees, now descending into gullies, till at length we reached a curious rock—a huge table twenty or thirty feet in diameter, supported on two points only, and forming an excellent cave; round the outer edge we could stand upright under it, but towards the centre the roof was so low that one could only lie down. The top of this singular rock was nearly flat, and completely covered with forest-trees, and it at first seemed as if their weight must overbalance it from its two small supports; but the roots of the trees, not finding nourishment enough from the little earth on the top of the rock, ran along it to the edge, and there dropped down vertically and penetrated among the broken fragments below, thus forming a series of columns of various sizes supporting the table all round its outer edge. Here, the boys said, was to be our abode during our stay, though I did not perceive any water near it. Through the trees we could see the mountain a quarter or half a mile from us,—a bare, perpendicular mass of granite, rising abruptly from the forest to a height of several hundred feet.

We had hung up ourrédésand waited about half an hour, when three Indians of our party made their appearance, staggering under the weight of a fine hog they had killed, and had slung on a strong pole. I then found the boys had mistaken our station, which was some distance further on, at the very foot of the Serra, and close to a running stream of water, where was a large roomy cave formed by an immense overhanging rock. Over our heads was growing a forest, and the roots again hung down over the edge, forming a sort of screen to our cave, and the stronger ones serving for posts to hang ourrédés. Our luggage was soon unpacked, ourrédéshung, a fire lighted, and the pig taken down to the brook,which ran at the lower end of the cave, to be skinned and prepared for cooking.

The animal was very like a domestic pig, but with a higher back, coarser and longer bristles, and a most penetrating odour. This I found proceeded from a gland situated on the back, about six inches above the root of the tail: it was a swelling, with a large pore in the centre, from which exuded an oily matter, producing a most intense and unbearable pigsty smell, of which the domestic animal can convey but a faint idea. The first operation of the Indians was to cut out this part completely, and the skin and flesh for some inches all round it, and throw the piece away. If this were not done, they say, the "pitiú" (catinga, Port.), or bad smell, would render all the meat uneatable. The animal was then skinned, cut up into pieces, some of which were put into an earthen pot to stew, while the legs and shoulders were kept to smoke over the fire till they were thoroughly dry, as they can thus be preserved several weeks without salt.

The greater number of the party had not yet arrived, so we ate our suppers, expecting to see them soon after sunset. However, as they did not appear, we made up our fires, put the meat on the "moqueen," or smoking stage, and turned comfortably into ourrédés. The next morning, while we were preparing breakfast, they all arrived, with the produce of their hunting expedition. They had killed three hogs, but as it was late and they were a long way off, they encamped for the night, cut up the animals, and partially smoked all the prime pieces, which they now brought with them carefully packed up in palm-leaves. The party had no bows and arrows, but had killed the game with their blow-pipes, and little poisoned arrows about ten inches long.

After breakfast was over we prepared for an attack upon the "Gallos." We divided into three parties, going in different directions. The party which I accompanied went to ascend the Serra itself as far as practicable. We started out at the back of our cave, which was, as I have stated, formed by the base of the mountain itself. We immediately commenced the ascent up rocky gorges, over huge fragments, and through gloomy caverns, all mixed together in the most extraordinary confusion. Sometimes we had to climb up precipices by roots and creepers, then to crawl over a surface formed by angularrocks, varying from the size of a wheelbarrow to that of a house. I could not have imagined that what at a distance appeared so insignificant, could have presented such a gigantic and rugged scene. All the time we kept a sharp look-out, but saw no birds. At length, however, an old Indian caught hold of my arm, and whispering gently, "Gallo!" pointed into a dense thicket. After looking intently a little while, I caught a glimpse of the magnificent bird sitting amidst the gloom, shining out like a mass of brilliant flame. I took a step to get a clear view of it, and raised my gun, when it took alarm and flew off before I had time to fire. We followed, and soon it was again pointed out to me. This time I had better luck, fired with a steady aim, and brought it down. The Indians rushed forward, but it had fallen into a deep gully between steep rocks, and a considerable circuit had to be made to get it. In a few minutes, however, it was brought to me, and I was lost in admiration of the dazzling brilliancy of its soft downy feathers. Not a spot of blood was visible, not a feather was ruffled, and the soft, warm, flexible body set off the fresh swelling plumage in a manner which no stuffed specimen can approach. After some time, not finding any more gallos, most of the party set off on an excursion up a more impracticable portion of the rock, leaving two boys with me till they returned. We soon got tired of waiting, and as the boys made me understand that they knew the path back to our cave, I determined to return. We descended deep chasms in the rocks, climbed up steep precipices, descended again and again, and passed through caverns with huge masses of rocks piled above our heads. Still we seemed not to get out of the mountain, but fresh ridges rose before us, and more fearful fissures were to be passed. We toiled on, now climbing by roots and creepers up perpendicular walls, now creeping along a narrow ledge, with a yawning chasm on each side of us. I could not have imagined such serrated rocks to exist. It appeared as if a steep mountain-side had been cut and hacked by some gigantic force into fissures and ravines, from fifty to a hundred feet deep. My gun was a most inconvenient load when climbing up these steep and slippery places, and I did it much damage by striking its muzzle against the hard granite rock. At length we appeared to have got into the very heart of the mountain: no outlet was visible, and through the dense forest and mattedunderwood, with which every part of these rocks were covered, we could only see an interminable succession of ridges, and chasms, and gigantic blocks of stone, with no visible termination. As it was evident the boys had lost their way, I resolved to turn back. It was a weary task. I was already fatigued enough, and the prospect of another climb over these fearful ridges, and hazardous descent into those gloomy chasms, was by no means agreeable. However, we persevered, one boy taking my gun; and after about an hour's hard work we got back to the place whence we had started, and found the rest of the party expecting us. We then went down by the proper path, which they told me was the only known way of ascending and descending the mountain, and by which we soon arrived at our cave.

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