Travels on the Amazon

The paths in the forest here were not so good as those at Jauarité, and produced me very few insects; the Indians, however, were rather better in bringing me birds and fish. I obtained some very pretty little tanagers, and several new fish. In one lot of small fish brought to me in a calabash were seven different species, five of which were quite new to me. A species of Chalceus, called Jatuarána, was abundant here, and most delicious eating, almost, if not quite, equal to the Waracú, but like it very full of forked spines, which require practice and delicate handling to extract, or they may produce dangerous effects. Several Indians of the Coveu nation, from considerably higher up the river, were staying here. They are distinguished by the ear-lobe being pierced with so large a hole as to be plugged with a piece of wood the size of a common bottle-cork. When we entered their house they set before us, on the ground, smoked fish and madiocca-cake, which Senhor L. informs me is the general custom higher up the river, where the Indians have not lost any of their primitive customs by intercourse with the whites. Senhor L. had bought a quantity of "coroá" (the fibres of a species of Bromelia, very like flax), and he set these and several other Indians to twist it into thread, which they do by rolling it on their breasts, and form a fine well-twisted two-strand string, of which fine maqueiras are netted. Each one in two or three days produced a ball of string of a quarter of a pound weight, and they were well satisfied with a small basin of salt or half-a-dozen hooks in payment.

On one or two days of bright sunshine, a beautiful Papilio came about the house, settling on the ground in moist places: I succeeded in taking two specimens; it is allied to P. Thoas, and will probably prove a new species. This was my only capture worth mentioning at Jukeíra. I had seen the same species at Jauarité, but could not take a specimen. I purchased one of the red macaws painted as I have mentioned above. Senhor L. was here quite a martyr to the chegoes, frequently extracting ten or a dozen in a day, which made his feet so full of holes and wounds as to render walking painful, as I had experienced at Cobáti and Javíta. I, however, escaped pretty well, seldom having to take out more than two or three at a time, partly I believe owing to my being a good deal in the forest and to my always wearing slippers in the house. When a person has only one or two now and then, it is a trifling affair, and one is apt to think, as I for a long time did, that the dread of chegoes was quite unnecessary, and the accounts of their persecutions much exaggerated. Let any one, however, who still thinks so, take a trip into this part of the country, and live a month in an Indian's house, and he will be thoroughly undeceived.

After staying here six days, finding little to be done, we proceeded on our downward passage to São Jeronymo. On the second day, in the morning, we reached Urubuquárra, the malocca of Bernardo, situated just above the falls. There is a path from this place through the forest, about three miles, to the village; and as there were no Indians here to assist us in passing the falls, we set ours to work, carrying part of the cargo along it. In the afternoon Bernardo's son, who had returned before us with a canoe-load of farinha, came in, and we arranged to pass the falls the next morning. The river had risen considerably since we ascended, and had now reached a higher point than had been known for several years, and the rapids were proportionally more dangerous. I therefore preferred going through the forest, carrying with me two small boxes, containing the insects I had collected, and my drawings of fish,—the loss of which would have been irreparable. The morning was fine, and I had a pleasant walk, though the path was very rugged in places, with steep descents and ascents at the crossing of several small brooks. Arrived at São Jeronymo, I waited for Senhor L., at the house of Senhor Augustinho, the young Brazilian before mentioned, who had returned from Jauarité before us, with upwards of a hundred alqueires of farinha. About midday a tremendous storm of wind and rain came on, and in the afternoon Senhor L. arrived with the canoe, thoroughly soaked; and informed me that they had had a most dangerous passage, a portion of the path where the cargo had to be carried through the forest being breast-deep in water; and at some of the points, the violence of the current was so great that they narrowly escaped being carried down to the great fall, and dashed to pieces on the rocks.

Here was a good house for travellers, (though without doors,) and we took possession and settled ourselves for a week or ten days' stay. We nearly filled the house with farinha, pitch, baskets, stools, earthen pots and pans, maqueiras, etc.; we had also near a hundred fowls, which had been brought crammed into two huge square baskets, and were now much pleased to be set at liberty,—as well as a large collection of tame birds, parrots, macaws, paroquets, etc., which kept up a continual cawing and crying, not always very agreeable. All these birds were loose, flying about the village, but returning generally to be fed. The trumpeters and curassow-birds wandered about the houses of the Indians, and sometimes did not make their appearance for several days; but being brought up from the nest, or even sometimes from the egg, there was little danger of their escaping to the forest. We had nine pretty little black-headed parrots, which every night would go of their own accord into a basket prepared for them to sleep in.

From what I had seen on this river, there is no place equal to it for procuring a fine collection of live birds and animals; and this, together with the desire to see more of a country so interesting and so completely unknown, induced me, after mature deliberation, to give up for the present my intended journey to the Andes, and to substitute another voyage up the river Uaupés, at least to the Juruparí (Devil) cataract, the "ultima Thule" of most of the traders, and about a month's voyage up from its mouth. Several traders who had arrived at São Jeronymo on the way up, as well as the more intelligent Indians, assured me that in the upper districts there are many birds and animals not met with below. But what above all attracted me, was the information that a white species of the celebrated umbrella-chatterer was to be found there. The information on this point from several parties was so positive, that, though much inclined to doubt the existence of such a bird at all, I could not rest satisfied without one more trial, as, even if I did not find it, I had little doubt of obtaining many new species to reward me. The worst of it was, that I must go to Barra and return—a voyage of fifteen hundred miles—which was very disagreeable. But there was no remedy, for I had a considerable lot of miscellaneous collections here and at Guia, as well as what I left at Barra, which must be packed and sent off to England, or they might be destroyed by damp and insects. Besides which I could not undertake a voyage on this wild river for several months, without being well supplied with necessaries, and articles for barter with the Indians, which could only be obtained at Barra; moreover, the best season for ascending would not arrive for two or three months, so that I could do scarcely anything if I remained here. The months of November, December, January, and February, are the "vasante," or low water, and then is the summer-season, when the river presents a totally different and a much more agreeable aspect, being everywhere bordered with fine sandy or rocky beaches, on which one can eat and sleep with comfort at any hour. Fish are then much more abundant; turtles of a new species are said to be found on the sands, in the upper part of the river, and to lay abundance of eggs; the delicious fruit of the baccába and patawá palms are then ripe, and birds and insects of all kinds more easily procurable. These four months I hoped, therefore, to spend there, so as to be able to descend to Barra, and thence to Pará, in time to return to England by July or August, with a numerous and valuable collection of live animals. It was on account of these, principally, that I determined to return to England a year before the time I had fixed upon, as it was impossible to send them without personal care and attendance.

And so, having once made up my mind to this course, with what delight I thought upon the sweets of home! What a paradise did that distant land seem to me! How I thought of the many simple pleasures, so long absent,—the green fields, the pleasant woods, the flowery paths, the neat gardens,—all so unknown here! What visions of the fireside did I conjure up, of the social tea-table, with familiar faces around it! What a luxury seemed simple bread and butter!—and to think that, perhaps in one short year, I might be in the midst of all this! There was a pleasure in the mere thought, that made me leap over the long months, the weary hours, the troubles and annoyances of tedious journeys, that had first to be endured. I passed hours in solitary walks thinking of home; and never did I in former years long to be away in this tropic-land, with half the earnestness with which I now looked forward to returning back again.

Our stay at São Jeronymo was prolonged by the nonappearance of Bernardo. Insects were not so plentiful even as at Jauarité; but I generally found something in my walks, and obtained two fine species of Satyridæ quite new to me. In a little patch of open bushy campo, which occurs about a mile back from the village, I was delighted to find abundance of orchids. I had never seen so many collected in one place; it was a complete natural orchid-house. In an hour's ramble, I noticed about thirty different species;—some, minute plants scarcely larger than mosses, and one large semi-terrestrial species, which grew in clumps eight or ten feet high. There were but few in flower, and most of them were very small, though pretty. One day, however, I was much delighted to come suddenly upon a magnificent flower: growing out of a rotten stem of a tree, just level with my eye, was a bunch of five or six blossoms, which were three inches in diameter, nearly round, and varying from a pale delicate straw-colour to a rich deep yellow, on the basal portion of the labellum. How exquisitely beautiful did it appear in that wild, sandy, barren spot! A day or two afterwards I found another handsome species, the flowers of which, unlike those of most of the family, were of very short duration, opening in the morning, and lasting but a single day. The sight of these determined me to try and send some to England, as from such a distant and unexplored locality there would probably be many new species. I accordingly began bringing a few home every day, and, packing them in empty farinha-baskets, placed them under a rough stage, with some plantain-leaves to defend them from the heat of the sun, till we should be ready to embark. I was rather doubtful of the result, as they could not arrive in England before the winter, which might be injurious; but on my next voyage, I looked forward to bringing a larger collection of these beautiful and interesting plants, as they would then arrive in a good season of the year.

São Jeronymo is celebrated for its abundance of fish, but at this season they are in all places difficult to take. However, we had on most days enough for breakfast and supper, and scarcely a day passed but I had some new and strange kinds to add to my collection. The small fishes of these rivers are in wonderful variety, and the large proportion of the species here, different from those I had observed in the Rio Negro, led me to hope that in the upper parts of the river I should find them almost entirely new.

Here we were tolerably free from chegoes, but had another plague, far worse, because more continual. We had suffered more or less from pium͂s in all parts of the river, but here they were in such countless myriads, as to render it almost impossible to sit down during the day. It was most extraordinary that previously to this year they had never been known in the river. Senhor L. and the Indians all agreed that a pium͂ had hitherto been a rarity, and now they were as plentiful as in their very worst haunts. Having long discarded the use of stockings in these "altitudes," and not anticipating any such pest, I did not bring a pair, which would have been useful to defend my feet and ankles in the house, as the pium͂, unlike the mosquito, does not penetrate any covering, however thin.

As it was, the torments I suffered when skinning a bird or drawing a fish, can scarcely be imagined by the unexperienced. My feet were so thickly covered with the little blood-spots produced by their bites, as to be of a dark purplish-red colour, and much swelled and inflamed. My hands suffered similarly, but in a less degree, being more constantly in motion. The only means of taking a little rest in the day, was by wrapping up hands and feet in a blanket. The Indians close their houses, as these insects do not bite in the dark, but ours having no door, we could not resort to this expedient. Whence these pests could thus suddenly appear in such vast numbers is a mystery which I am quite unable to explain.

When we had been here about a week, some Indians who had been sent to Guia with a small cargo of farinha, returned and brought us news of two deaths, which had taken place in the village since we had left. One was of Jozé, a little Indian boy in Senhor L.'s house, who had killed himself by eating dirt,—a very common and destructive habit among Indians and half-breeds in the houses of the whites. All means had been tried to cure him of the habit; he had been physicked and whipped, and confined indoors, but when no other opportunity offered he would find a plentiful supply in the mud-walls of the house. The symptoms produced were swelling of the whole body, face, and limbs, so that he could with difficulty walk, and not having so much care taken of him after we left, he ate his fill and died.

The other was an old Indian, the Juiz of the festa of St. Antonio, which took place shortly after we left. He was poisoned with caxirí, into which had been put the juice of a root which produces the most dreadful effects: the tongue and throat swell, putrefy, and rot away, and the same effects seem to take place in the stomach and intestines, till, in two or three days, the patient dies in great agony. The poisoner was not known, but it was suspected to be a young woman, sister of an Indian who died in the village a short time before, and whose death they imagined to be caused by charms or witchcraft; and the present murder was probably in revenge for this supposed injury. Coroners' inquests are here unknown, and the poor old man was buried, and nothing more thought about the matter; perhaps, however, his friends may resort to the same means to repay the suspected parties.

A few days afterwards a boy died in São Jeronymo, and for several hours a great crying and wailing was made over the body. His maqueira, and bow and arrows, were burnt in a fire made at the back of the house, within which, according to the universal custom of these Indians, he was buried, and the mother continued her mournful wailing for several days.

The only additions I made to my collections during the time I stayed here, were a prehensile-tailed ant-eater, and one of the small nocturnal monkeys called "Juruparí Macaco," or Devil Monkey, a species very closely allied to that called "Iá," which inhabits the Solimões. After waiting anxiously a fortnight, Bernado made his appearance with three of his wives and a host of children: he had been unsuccessful in his projected attack, the parties having obtained notice of his motions and absconded. He had taken every precaution, by entering in a different river from that in which the attack was to be made, and penetrating through the forest; but his movements were, no doubt, thought suspicious, and it was considered safer to get out of his way; he was, however, confident of succeeding next time in another place, where he thought he could arrive unawares.

Having now no further cause for delay, we loaded our canoes, and the next morning left São Jeronymo, on our return to Guia, where we arrived on the morning of the 24th, having been absent on our trip fifty days.

The most important event that had occurred in the village was the arrival from Barra of Manoel Joaquim, a half-breed Brazilian, some time resident at Guia. This man was a specimen of the class of white men found in the Rio Negro. He had been a soldier, and had been engaged in some of the numerous revolutions which had taken place in Brazil. It was said he had murdered his wife, and for that, or some other crimes, had been banished to the Rio Negro, instead of being hung, as he deserved. Here he was accustomed to threaten and shoot at the Indians, to take their daughters and wives from them, and to beat the Indian woman who lived with him, so that she was obliged to hide for days in the forest. The people of Guia declared he had murdered two Indian girls, and had committed many other horrible crimes. He had formerly been friendly with Senhor L., but, a year or two ago, had quarrelled with him, and had attempted to set fire to his house; he had also attempted to shoot an old Mulatto soldier, who was friendly with Senhor L. For these and other crimes, the Subdelegarde de Policia of the district had indicted him, and after taking the depositions of the Indians and of Senhor L. against him, had wished to send him prisoner to Barra, but could not do so, because he had no force at his command. He therefore applied to the Commandante of Marabitánas, who was at Guia at the time; but he was Manoel Joaquim's "compadre," and took his part, and would not send him as a prisoner, but let him go in his own canoe, accompanied by two soldiers, bearing a recommendation from the Commandante in his favour.

This had happened shortly before we left for the Uaupés; and now we found that Manoel Joaquim had returned in great triumph—firing salutes and sending up rockets at every village he passed through. He had gone on to Marabitánas; but in a day or two more returned, and brought me some letters and papers from Barra. There also came a letter to Senhor L. from the Delegarde de Policia in Barra, saying, that Manoel Joaquim had presented himself, and that he (the Delegarde) had asked him if he came a prisoner; that he replied, "No; he came to attend to his own business." "Well, then," said the Delegarde, "as you have not been incommoded by this indictment, it is better to treat these slanders and quarrels with disdain;" and said he to Senhor L., "I would advise you to do the same." And so ended the attempt to punish a man who, if one-half the crimes imputed to him were true, ought, by the laws of Brazil, to have been hung, or imprisoned for life. The poor Subdelegarde, it seems, through pure ignorance, committed some informalities, and this was the reason why Manoel Joaquim so easily and gloriously escaped.

The best of it is that there is a special officer in Barra and in every other city, called the "Promotor Publico," whose sole duty it is to see that all the other officers of justice and of police do their duty, so that no criminal may escape or injustice be done, by the laxity or connivance of any of these parties. Yet, with all this, nothing is easier in the Rio Negro, than for any person possessed of friends or money, to defeat the ends of justice.

I now found another unavoidable delay in my projected voyage to Barra. A canoe that was making for me was not yet ready, and I did not know where to obtain one sufficiently capacious to take all my luggage and collections: but, a few days after, a Spaniard, or Venezuelano, arrived at Guia with a canoe for Manoel Joaquim; and as he was to return by Marabitánas, I took the opportunity of writing to the Commandante, asking the loan of his igarité, for the voyage to Barra and back. He very kindly consented, and in about a week I received it; but I was as badly off as ever, for a canoe without men was of no use; and the Indians, fearing the results of Manoel Joaquim's return, had all left Guia, and retired to their sitios in distant igaripés, and in the most inaccessible depths of the forest. The Commandante had sent orders to two Indians to go with me, but these were not sufficient to descend the falls with safety; so, as Senhor L. was about to remove to São Joaquim, at the mouth of the Uaupés, I agreed to go with him, and try and procure more men there. My Indians took nearly a fortnight to prepare the canoe with new toldas—about two days work; but then, though I was in a hurry, they were not.

Senhor L. had not a single man left with him, and had to take his canoe down himself, and bring back Indians to assist him to remove his goods and his family, when we went all together to São Joaquim, where he intended to reside some time. I now thought I should be able to leave immediately, but found it not such an easy matter, for every Indian I applied to had some business of his own to attend to, before he could possibly go with me to Barra. One said, his house was very much out of repair, and he must first mend it; another had appointed a dance to take place in a week or two, and when that was over, he was at my service; so I still had to wait a little longer, and try the Brazilian remedy for all such annoyances—"paciencia."

CHAPTER XI

ON THE RIO NEGRO

Difficulties of Starting—Descending the Falls—Catching an Alligator—Tame Parrots—A Fortnight in Barra—Frei Jozé's Diplomacy—Pickling a Cow-Fish—A River Storm—Brazilian Veracity—Wanawáca—Productiveness of the Country—A Large Snake—São Gabriel—São Joaquim—Fever and Ague.

At length, on the 1st of September, after another week's delay, having succeeded in procuring two more Indians and a pilot, I left on my long-desired voyage. One Indian I could only persuade to go, by sending four others to assist him for three days in clearing his mandiocca rhossa, without doing which he would not leave. My canoe went fully loaded, as I took a quantity of farinha and miscellaneous goods for Senhor L., and I had some little fear of the passage of the falls, which was not diminished by my pilot's being completely stupefied with his parting libations of caxirí. He was also rather fearful, saying, that the canoe was overloaded, and that he did not know the channel well below São Gabriel; and that from there to Camanaú I must get another pilot.

The rapids, before arriving at São Gabriel, are not very dangerous, and much to my satisfaction we arrived there in safety, about four in the afternoon. We there partially unloaded, to pass the narrow channel at the Fort, which was also accomplished with safety; though not without danger at one point, where the canoe got out of the proper course, and the waves dashed in rather fearfully. I then succeeded in agreeing with a good pilot to take us down the next morning, and was much relieved by his informing me, that, the river being very full, the falls were not dangerous, and the canoe would pass with perfect safety without more unloading. I therefore willingly paid him what he asked, four milreis (about nine shillings); and the next morning, having got the canoe properly reloaded, we bade adieu to the Commandante, and in two hours had passed safely down to Camanaú.

The navigation of these falls is of a character quite distinct from anything in our part of the world. A person looking at the river sees only a rapid current, a few eddies, swells, and small breakers, in which there appears nothing very formidable. When, however, you are in the midst of them, you are quite bewildered with the conflicting motions of the waters. Whirling and boiling eddies, which burst up from the bottom at intervals, as if from some subaqueous explosion, with short cross-waves, and smooth intervening patches, almost make one giddy. On one side of the canoe there is often a strong down-current; while, on the other, it flows in an opposite direction. Now there is a cross stream at the bows, and a diagonal one at the stern, with a foaming Scylla on one side and a whirling Charybdis on the other. All depends upon the pilot, who, well acquainted with every sunken rock and dangerous whirlpool, steers clear of all perils,—now directing the crew to pull hard, now to slacken, as circumstances require, and skilfully preparing the canoe to receive the impetus of the cross currents that he sees ahead. I imagine that the neighbourhood of the arches of Old London Bridge, at certain states of the tide, must have presented on a small scale somewhat similar dangers. When the river is low, the descent is more perilous; for, though the force of the waters is not so great, they are so crammed with rocks in all stages of submersion, that to avoid them becomes a work requiring the greatest knowledge and care on the part of the pilot. Having passed these much-dreaded rapids, we proceeded pleasantly to São Jozé, where I stayed a day, to take out part of Senhor L.'s cargo, and reload the canoe properly for the voyage to Barra.