The Naturalist on the River Amazons

Raimundo called me at two o’clock, when we embarked (he, his older apprentice Joaquim, and myself) in a shady place where it was so dark that I could see neither canoe nor water, taking with us five dogs. We glided down a winding creek where huge trunks of trees slanted across close overhead, and presently emerged into the Murucupi. A few yards farther on we entered the broader channel of the Aitittiba. This we crossed, and entered another narrow creek on the opposite side. Here the ebb-tide was against us, and we had great difficulty in making progress. After we had struggled against the powerful current a distance of two miles, we came to a part where the ebb-tide ran in the opposite direction, showing that we had crossed the water-shed. The tide flows into this channel or creek at both ends simultaneously, and meets in the middle, although there is apparently no difference of level,

• Many useful vegetable products have been reclaimed, and it is to the credit of the Indians that they have discovered the use of the Mandioca plant, which is highly poisonous in the raw state, and requires a long preparation to fit it for use. It is cultivated throughout the whole of ‘lropical America, including Mexico and the West India Islands, but only in the plains, not being seen, according to Humboldt, higher than 600 or 800 metres, at which elevation it grows on the Mexican Andes. I believe it is not known in what region the plant originated; it is not found wild in the Amazons valley.

Cuap., V. LAND LAWS. IOI

and the breadth of the water is the same. The tides are extremely intricate throughout all the infinite channels and creeks which intersect the lands of the Amazons delta. The moon now broke forth and lighted up the trunks of colossal trees, the leaves of monstrous Jupatt palms which arched over the creek, and revealed groups of arborescent arums standing like rows of spectres on its banks. We had a glimpse now and then into the black depths of the forest, where all was silent except the shrill stridulation of wood-crickets. Now and then a sudden plunge in the water ahead would startle us, caused by heavy fruit or some nocturnal animal dropping from the trees. The two Indians here rested on their paddles, and allowed the canoe to drift with the tide. A pleasant perfume came from the forest, which Raimundo said proceeded from a cane-field. He told me that all this land was owned by large proprietors at Pard, who had received grants from time to time from the Government for political services. Raimundo was quite in a talkative humour; he related to me many incidents of the time of the “ Cabanagem,” as the revolutionary days of 1835-6 are popularly called. He said he had been much suspected himself of being a rebel, but declared that the suspicion was unfounded. The only complaint he had to make against the white man was that he monopolised the land without having any intention or prospect of cultivating it. He had been turned out of one place where he had squatted and cleared a large piece of forest. I believe the law of Brazil at this time was that the new lands should become the property of those who cleared and cultivated them, if their right was not disputed within a given term of years by some one who claimed the proprietorship. ‘This land-law has since been repealed, and a new one adopted, founded on that of the United States. Raimundo spoke of his race as the red-skins, “pelle vermelho ”; they meant well to the whites, and only begged to be let alone. ‘‘ God,” he said, “had given room enough for us all.” It was pleasant to hear the shrewd good-natured fellow talkin this strain. Our companion, Joaquim,had fallen asleep; the night air was cool, and the moonlight lit up the features of Raimundo, revealing a more animated expression than is usually observable in Indian countenances. I always noticed that Indians were more cheerful on a voyage, especially in the cool hours of night and morning, than when ashore. There is something in their constitution of body which makes them feel excessively depressed in the hot hours of the day, especially inside their houses. Their skin is always hot to the touch. They certainly do not endure the heat of their own climate so well as the whites. The negroes are totally different in this respect: the heat of mid-day has very little effect on them, and they dislike the cold nights on the river. We arrived at our hunting-ground about half-past four. The channel was here broader, and presented several ramifications. It yet wanted an hour and a half to daybreak, so Raimundo recommended me to have anap. We both stretched ourselves on the benches of the canoe and fell asleep, letting the boat drift with the tide, which was now slack. I slept well, considering the hardness of our bed, and when I awoke, in the middle of a dream about home-scenes, the day was beginning to

dawn. My clothes were quite wet with the dew. The birds were astir, the cicadas had begun their music, and the Urania Leilus, a strange and beautiful tailed and gilded moth, whose habits are those of a butterfly, commenced to fly in flocks over the tree-tops. Raimundo exclaimed, “‘ Clareia o dia! ”—“‘ The day brightens!” The change was rapid: the sky in the east assumed suddenly the loveliest azure colour, across which streaks of thin white clouds were painted. It is at such moments as this when one feels how beautiful our earth truly is! The channel on whose waters our little boat was floating was about two hundred yards wide; others branched off right and left, surrounding the group of lonely islands which terminate the land of Carnapij6. The forest on all sides formed a lofty hedge without a break: below, it was fringed with mangrove bushes, whose small foliage contrasted with the large glossy leaves of the taller trees, or the feather and fan-shaped fronds of palms.

Being now arrived at our destination, Raimundo turned up his trousers and shirt-sleeves, took his long hunting-knife, and leapt ashore with the dogs. He had to cut a gap in order to enter the forest. We expected to find Pacas and Cutias; and the method adopted to secure them was this: at the present early hour they would be seen feeding on fallen fruits, but would quickly, on hearing a noise, betake themselves to their burrows: Raimundo was then to turn them out by means of the dogs, and Joaquim and I were to remain in the boat with our guns, ready to shoot all that came to the edge of the stream—the habit of both animals, when hard pressed, being to take to the water. We had not long to wait. The first arrival was a Paca, a reddish, nearly tailless Rodent, spotted with white on the sides, and intermediate in size and appearance between a hog and a hare. My first shot did not take effect; the animal dived into the water and did not reappear. A second was brought down by my companion as it was rambling about under the mangrove bushes. A Cutia next appeared: this is also a Rodent, about one-third the size of the Paca; it swims, but does not dive, and I was fortunate enough to shoot it. We obtained in this way two more Pacas and another Cutia. All the time the dogs were yelping in the forest. Shortly afterwards Raimundo made his appearance, and told us to paddle to the other side of the island. Arrived there, we landed and prepared for breakfast. It was a pretty spot—a clean, white, sandy beach beneath the shade of wide-spreading trees. Joaquim made a fire. He first scraped fine shavings from the midrib of a Bacaba palm-leaf; these he piled into a little heap in a dry place, and then struck a light in his bamboo tinder-box with a piece of an old file and a flint, the tinder being a felt-like soft substance manufactured by an ant (Polyrhachis bispinosus). By gentle blowing the shavings ignited, dry sticks were piled on them, and a good fire soon resulted. He then. singed and prepared the Cutia, finishing by running a spit through the body, and fixing one end in the ground in a slanting position over the fire. We had brought with us a bag of farinha and a cup containing a lemon, a dozen or two of fiery red peppers, and a few spoonfuls of salt. We breakfasted heartily when our Cutia was roasted, and washed the meal down with a calabash full of the pure water of the river.

After breakfast the dogs found another Cutia, which was hidden in its

Cuap. V. ARUMS. 103

burrow two or three feet beneath the roots of a large tree, and took Raimundo nearly an hour to disinter it. Soon afterwards we left this place, crossed the channel, and, paddling past two islands, obtained a glimpse of the broad river between them, with a long sandy spit, on which stood several scarlet ibises and snow-white egrets. One of the islands was low and sandy, and half of it was covered with gigantic arum trees, the often-mentioned Caladium arborescens, which presented a strange sight. Most people are acquainted with the little British species, Arum maculatum, which grows in hedge-bottoms, and many, doubtless, have admired the larger kinds grown in hothouses; they can therefore form some idea of a forest of arums. On this islet the woody stems of the plants near the bottom were 8 to 1o inches in diameter, and the trees were 12 to 15 feet high; all growing together in such a manner that there was just room for a man to walk freely between them. There was a canoe inshore, with a man and a woman: the man, who was hooting with all his might, told us in passing that his son was lost in the “aningal” (arum-grove). He had strayed whilst walking ashore, and the father had now been an hour waiting for him in vain.

About one o'clock we again stopped at the mouth of a little creek. It was now intensely hot. Raimundo said deer were found here, so he borrowed my gun, as being a more effective weapon than the wretched arms called Lazarinos, which he, in common with all the native hunters, used, and which sell at Parad for seven or eight shillings apiece. Raimundo and Joaquim now stripped themselves quite naked, and started off in different directions through the forest, going naked in order to move with less noise over the carpet of dead leaves, amongst which they stepped so stealthily that not the slightest rustle could be heard. The dogs remained in the canoe, in the neighbourhood of which I employed myself two hours entomologising. At the end of that time my two companions returned, having met with no game whatever.

We now embarked on our return voyage. Raimundo cut two slender poles, one for a mast and the other for a sprit; to these he rigged a sail we had brought in the boat, for we were to return by the open river, and expected a good wind to carry us to Caripi. As soon as we got out of the channel we began to feel the wind—the sea-breeze, which here makes a clean sweep from the Atlantic. Our boat was very small and heavily laden; and when, after rounding a point, I saw the great breadth we had to traverse (seven miles), I thought the attempt to cross in such a slight vessel foolhardy in the extreme. The waves ran very high: there was no rudder; Raimundo steered with a paddle, and all we had to rely upon to save us from falling into the trough of the sea and being instantly swamped were his nerve and skill. There was just room in the boat for our three selves, the dogs, and the game we had killed; and whenever we fell in the hollow of a sea our instant destruction seemed inevitable; as it was, we shipped a little water now and then. Joaquim assisted with his paddle to steady the boat: my time was fully occupied in baling out the water and watching the dogs, which were crowded together in the prow, yelling with fear; one or other of them occasionally falling over the side, and causing great commotion in scrambling in again. Off the point was a ridge of