Travels on the Amazon

On the morning previous to that on which we were to leave, two more of our Indians who had received full payment on starting, were discovered to have left us. They had taken possession of a canoe, and absconded in the night; leaving me no remedy, but the chance of finding them in their houses on my return, and the still more remote chance of their having anything to pay me with.

The Indians here have but little characteristic distinction from those below. The women wear more beads around their necks and arms. The lower lip is often pierced, and two or three little strings of white beads inserted; but as the nations are so mixed by inter-marriages, this custom is probably derived from the Tucanos. Some of the women and children wore two garters, one above the ankle and one below the knee—swelling out the calf enormously, which they consider a very great beauty. I did not see here so many long tails of hair; most of the men having probably been to the Rio Negro with some trader, and thence worn their hair like Christians; or perhaps because the last Tushaúa was a "homen muito civilizado" (a very well-bred person).

After four days' delay, we at length started, with a comparatively small complement of Indians, but with some extra men to assist us in passing several caxoeiras, which occur near at hand. These are the "Piréwa" (Wound), "Uacorouá" (Goat-sucker), "Maniwára" (White Ant), "Matapí" (Fish-trap), "Amána" (Rain), "Tapíracúnga" (Tapir's head), "Tapíra eura" (Tapir's mouth), and "Jacaré" (Alligator). Three of these were very bad, the canoe having to be unloaded entirely, and pulled over the dry and uneven rocks. The last was the highest; the river rushing furiously about twenty feet down a rugged slope of rock. The loading and unloading of the canoe three or four times in the course of as many hours, is a great annoyance. Baskets of farinha and salt, of mandiocca-cakes and pacovas, are strewn about. Panellas are often broken; and when there comes a shower of rain, everything has to be heaped together in a hurry,—palm-leaves cut, and the more perishable articles covered; but boxes, rédés, and numerous other articles are sure to be wetted, rendering us very uncomfortable when again hastily tumbled into the overcrowded canoe. If I had birds or insects out drying, they were sure to be overturned, or blown by the wind, or wetted by the rain, and the same fate was shared by my note-books and papers. Articles in boxes, unless packed tight, were shaken and rumpled by not being carried evenly; so that it was an excellent lesson in patience, to bear all with philosophical serenity. We had passed all these falls by midday; and at night slept on a rock, where there was a small rapid and a house without inhabitants.

On the 8th we had tolerably quiet water, with only two small rapids, the "Taiéna" (Child), and "Paroquet" caxoeiras. On the 9th, in the morning, we reached the "Pacu" fall, and then had a quiet stream, though full of rocks, till the afternoon, when we passed the "Macucú" (a tree), "Anacás" (Pineapple), and "Uacú" (a fruit) caxoeiras; all very bad and difficult ones. We had left Carurú with very little farinha, as none was to be had there, and we had seen no inhabited sitios where any could be purchased; so our Indians were now on short allowance of "beijú," which they had brought with them. Of a passing Indian I bought a basket of Ocokí, and some fish. The Ocokí is a large pear-shaped fruit, with a hard thick outer skin of almost a woody texture, then a small quantity of very sweet pulpy matter, and within a large black oval stone. The pulp is very luscious, but is so acrid as to make the mouth and throat sore, if more than two or three are eaten. When, however, the juice is boiled it loses this property; and when made into mingau with tapioca, is exceedingly palatable and very highly esteemed in the Upper Rio Negro, where it is abundant. It takes at least a peck of fruit to give one small panella of mingau.

On the next day, the 10th, in the afternoon, the Indians all suddenly sprang like otters into the water, swam to the shore, and disappeared in the forest. "Ocokí," was the answer to my inquiries as to the cause of their sudden disappearance; and I soon found they had discovered an ocokí-tree, and were loading themselves with the fruit to satisfy the cravings of hunger, for an Indian's throat and mouth seem invulnerable to all those scarifying substances which act upon civilised man. The tree is one of the loftiest in the forest, but the fruit falls as soon as ripe, and its hard woody coating preserves it from injury. Baskets, shirts, trousers, etc., were soon filled with the fruit and emptied into the canoe; and I made each of the Indians bring a small basketful for me; so that we had "mingau de ocokí" for three succeeding mornings.

The rocks from Carurú often present a scoriaceous appearance, as if the granite had been remelted. Sometimes they are a mass of burnt fragments, sometimes a honeycombed rock with a shining surface. In some places there are enclosed fragments of a finer-grained rock, apparently sandstone, and numerous veins and dykes, which often cross each other in three or four sets. The rocks are, in many places, so broken and cleft vertically, as to appear stratified and thrown up on end. The rounded form and concentric arrangement, observed in the Rio Negro, is here also constantly met with. The interstices of the rounded and angular masses of rock are often filled with a curious volcanic substance, which outwardly resembles pitch, but consists of scoriae, sand, clays, etc., variously cemented together.

On the 10th we passed the "Tapioca," "Tucáno" (Toucan), "Tucunaré" (a fish), "Uaracú piními" (a fish), and "Tyeassú" (Pig) caxoeiras. The first was very bad, and both difficult and dangerous to pass; it consisted of many distinct falls among huge masses of rock. At one place the canoe remained stuck fast, amidst foaming waters, on the very edge of a fall, for nearly an hour; all the efforts of the Indians could not move it forward. They heaved it over from one side to the other, but with no effect; till I began to despair of getting out of the difficulty before night. At last the canoe suddenly moved on, with apparently not so much force as had been before applied to it; but my Indians, being of several nations, did not understand any common language, and it was impossible to get them to act in concert, or obey any leader. It was probably some chance combination of forces, that at last extricated us from our unpleasant situation. At this fall, on the rocks, were very numerous figures, or picture-writings, and I stopped to make drawings of them; of which I had by this time a rather extensive collection.

The next three falls were small rapids; but the last, which we reached late in the evening, was fearful. The river makes a sudden bend, and is confined in a very narrow channel, which is one confused mass of rocks of every size and shape, piled on one another, and heaped up in the greatest possible confusion. Every stone which rises above high-water mark is covered with vegetation; and among the whole the river rushes and foams, so as to make the task of pilot one of no ordinary difficulty. Just as it was getting dark, we passed out of these gloomy narrows into a wider and more cheerful part of the river, and stayed at a rock to sup and sleep.

On the 11th, early, we reached Uarucapurí, where are a village and several maloccas. The first which we entered was inhabited by people of the Cobeu nation. There were about a dozen handsome men, all clean-limbed and well painted, with armlets and necklaces of white beads, and with the ears plugged with a piece of wood the size of a common bottle-cork, to the end of which was glued a piece of porcelain presenting a white shining surface. We agreed with these men to help to pass our canoe up the falls, and then proceeded on our walk through the village. My old friend Senhor Chagas was here, and with him I breakfasted off a fine pirahíba which his men had caught that morning, and which was the first I had eaten since my illness.

With some difficulty I succeeded in buying two or three baskets of farinha; and being anxious to get to my journey's end, which was now near at hand, about midday we proceeded. Our pilot and his son left us, and we had now only six paddles; but four or five additional men came with us to pass the remaining caxoeiras, which were near. Close to the village we passed the "Cururú" (a toad), and "Murucututú" (an owl) falls, both rather bad; and, soon after, arrived at the "Uacoroúa" (Goatsucker), the last great fall on the river below the "Juruparí," which is many days further up. Here the river is precipitated over a nearly vertical rock, about ten feet high, and much broken in places. The canoe had to be entirely unloaded, and then pulled up over the rocks on the margin of the fall, a matter of considerable difficulty. To add to our discomfort, a shower of rain came on while the canoe was passing; and the Indians, as usual, having scattered the cargo about in great confusion, it had to be huddled together and covered with mats and palm-leaves, till the shower, which was luckily a short one, passed over. Loading again and proceeding onwards, we passed three small rapids, the "Tatu" (Armadillo), "Ocokí" (a fruit), and "Piranterá" (a fish) caxoeiras; and our additional Indians here left us, with their payment of fish-hooks and arrow-heads, as we now had only smooth water before us. In the afternoon we passed a malocca, where one of the Indians wished to land to see his friends; and as we did not stay, at night he took his departure, and we saw no more of him.

Early the next morning we reached Mucúra, where two young Brazilians, whom I had met with below, were residing, trading for salsa. I was now in the country of the painted turtle and the white umbrella-bird, and I determined to make a stay of at least a fortnight, to try and obtain these much-desired rarities.

Messrs. Nicoláu and Bellarmine were both out, and their little palm-leaf huts were evidently quite inadequate to my accommodation. The only other house was a small Indian malocca, also made entirely of "palha;" and I agreed with the owner to let me have half of it, giving him a small knife and mirror in payment, with which he was well contented. We accordingly cleared and swept out our part of the house, unloaded and arranged our things, and I then sent my guardas to a malocca, in which there were said to be plenty of Indians, to see if they had any farinha or pacovas to dispose of; and also to let them know that I would purchase birds, or fish, or any other animals they could obtain for me. The men were all out; but the same afternoon they came in great force to see the "Branco," and make an attack on my fish-hooks and beads, bringing me fish, pacovas, farinha, and mandiocca-cake, for all of which one of these two articles was asked in exchange.

I was now settled at the limit of my expedition, for I could not think of going a week further up only to see Juruparí caxoeira,—wasting the little time I had to rest, before again descending. We had made a favourable voyage, without any serious accident, up a river perhaps unsurpassed for the difficulties and dangers of its navigation. We had passed fifty caxoeiras, great and small; some mere rapids, others furious cataracts, and some nearly perpendicular falls. About twenty were rapids, up which, by the help of a long sipó attached to the canoe, instead of a rope, we were pulled without much difficulty. About eighteen were very bad and dangerous, requiring the canoe to be partially unloaded where practicable, and all the exertions of my Indians, often with additional assistance, to pass; and twelve were so high and furious as to require the canoe to be entirely unloaded, and either pulled over the dry and often very precipitous rocks, or with almost equal difficulty up the margin of the fall. At Carurú, as I have said, four-and-twenty men were scarcely able to pull my empty canoe over the rock, though plentifully strewn with branches and bushes, to smooth the asperities which would otherwise much damage the bottom: this was the reason why I purchased the Tushaúa's smaller obá, to proceed; and it was well I did, or I might otherwise have had to return without ever reaching the locality I had at length attained.

The next day, the 13th, I was employed drawing some new fish brought me the preceding evening. My hunters went out and brought me nothing but a common hawk. In the afternoon, the father and brother of the Indian I had found in the house, arrived, with their wives and families; so now, with my six Indians and two hunters, we were pretty full; some of them, however, slept in a shed, and we were as comfortably accommodated as could be expected. The wives of the father and two sons were perfectly naked, and were, moreover, apparently quite unconscious of the fact. The old woman possessed a "saía," or petticoat, which she sometimes put on, and seemed then almost as much ashamed of herself as civilised people would be if they took theirs off. So powerful is the effect of education and habit!

Having been told by Senhor Chagas that there was an excellent hunter in the Codiarí, a river which enters from the north a short distance above Mucúra, I sent Philippe, one of my guardas, to try and engage him, and also to buy all the living birds and animals he could meet with. The following day he returned, bringing with him one "Macaco barrigudo" (Lagothrix Humboldtii), and a couple of parrots. On most days I had a new fish or two to figure, but birds and insects were very scarce. This day Senhor Nicoláu returned. On my first arrival I had been told that he had a "tataruga pintata" (painted turtle) for me, but that he would give it me himself on his arrival; so I did not meddle with it, though my Indians saw it in a "corrál," in a small stream near the house. On arriving, he sent to fetch it, but found it had escaped, though it had been seen in its cage on the preceding day. I thus lost perhaps my only chance of obtaining a much-desired and probably undescribed river turtle, as the time of egg-laying was past, and they had now retired into the lakes, and become very scarce and difficult to be met with.

As my Indians were here doing nothing, I sent three of them with Sebastião up the Codiarí, with beads, hooks, mirrors, etc., to buy monkeys, parrots, or whatever else they could meet with, as well as some farinha, which I did not wish to be in want of again. I sent them with instructions to go for five or six days, in order to reach the last sitio, and purchase all that was to be had. In two days, however, they returned, having been no further than Philippe had gone, Sebastião saying that his companions would not go on. He brought me some parrots and small birds, bows, bird-skins, and more farinha than my canoe would carry, all purchased very dearly, judging by the remnant of articles brought back.

Being now in a part of the country that no European traveller had ever before visited, I exceedingly regretted my want of instruments to determine the latitude, longitude, and height above the sea. The two last I had no means whatever of ascertaining, having broken my boiling-point thermometer, and lost my smaller one, without having been able to replace either. I once thought of sealing up a flask of air, by accurately weighing which on my return, the density of air at that particular time would be obtained, and the height at which a barometer would have stood might be deduced. But, besides that this would only give a result equal to that of a single barometer observation, there were insuperable difficulties in the way of sealing up the bottle, for whether sealing-wax or pitch were used, or even should the bottle be hermetically sealed, heat must be applied, and at the moment of application would, of course, rarefy the air within the bottle, and so produce in such a delicate operation very erroneous results. My observations, however, on the heights of the falls we passed, would give their sum as about two hundred and fifty feet; now if we add fifty for the fall of the river between them, we shall obtain three hundred feet, as the probable height of the point I reached above the mouth of the river; and, as I have every reason to believe that that is not five hundred feet above the sea, we shall obtain eight hundred feet as the probable limit of the height of the river above the sea-level, at the point I reached. Nothing, however, can accurately determine this fact, but a series of barometer or "boiling-point" observations; and to determine this height above the next great fall, and ascertain the true course and sources of this little-known but interesting and important river, would be an object worth the danger and expense of the voyage.

There is said to be a week's smooth water above this place, to the Juruparí caxoeira, which is higher than any below it; and above this no other fall has been found, though traders have been ten or fifteen days up. They say the river still keeps as wide or wider than below,—that the water is as "white," or muddy, as that of the Solimões,—that many trees, birds, and fish peculiar to the Solimões are there found,—that the Indians have Spanish knives, ponchos, and coins,—and relate that, higher up, there are extensive "campos," with cattle, and men on horseback. All these interesting particulars seem to show that the river has its sources in the great plains which extend to the base of the Andes, somewhere near where the sources of the Guaviare are placed in most maps; but the latter river, from all the information I can obtain, is much smaller, and has a much shorter course. Having only a pocket surveying sextant, without any means of viewing two objects much differing in brilliancy, I endeavoured to obtain the latitude as accurately as I could, first by means of the zenith-distance at noon, obtained by a plumb-line and image of the sun, formed by a lens of about fifteen inches focus; and afterwards, by the meridian altitude of a star, obtained on a calm night, by reflection in a cuya of water. I took much care to ensure an accurate result, and have every reason to believe that the mean of the two observations will not be more than two or three minutes from the truth.

My expectations of finding rare and handsome birds here were quite disappointed. My hunter and Senhor Nicoláu killed a few umbrella-birds of the Rio Negro species; but of the white bird such contradictory statements were given,—many knowing nothing whatever about it, others saying that it was sometimes, but very rarely seen,—that I am inclined to think it is a mere white variety, such as occurs at times with our blackbirds and starlings at home, and as are sometimes found among the curassow-birds and agoutis. Another bird, which I had been long searching for, the "anambé de catinga," a species of Cyanurus, was here shot; and before leaving, I obtained four or five specimens of it, and as many of the commoner black-headed species. One or two small birds, new to me, were also obtained; and these, with two or three scarce butterflies, and about a dozen new species of fish, composed my natural-history collections in this remote and unvisited district. This was entirely owing, however, to my unfortunate and unforeseen illness, for birds in great variety had been very abundant, but the time of the fruit was now over; fish and turtles, too, were in extraordinary plenty at the commencement of the fall of the river, two months back; and during that period, constituting the short summer in these districts, while I lay half dead at São Joaquim, insects were doubtless more numerous.

But as there was now no remedy I made myself as contented as I could, and endeavoured at least to complete my collection of the arms, implements, and ornaments of the natives. The Indians here were mostly "Cobeus," and I obtained several of their peculiar ornaments and dresses, to add to my collection. I also took advantage of the visit of a Tushaúa, or chief, who well understood the Lingoa Geral, to obtain a vocabulary of their language.

Just as I was about to leave on my voyage down, I received a note from Senhor Chagas, requesting, in the name of Tenente Jesuino, the loan of my canoe, to ascend higher up the river; which, as the time of his stay was very uncertain, I was obliged to refuse. This Tenente, an ignorant half-breed, was sent by the new Barra government to bring all the Tushaúas, or chiefs, of the Uaupés and Isanna rivers to Barra, to receive diplomas and presents. An Indian, sent by him, had arrived at Carurú caxoeira, and wished to buy the obá of the Tushaúa, after I had paid for and got possession of it, and even had the impudence to request me to give it back again, in order that he might purchase or borrow it; and my refusal was, of course, quite sufficient seriously to offend the said Tenente.

On the 25th, having been just a fortnight at Mucúra, I left, much disappointed with regard to the collections I had made there. The same day I reached Uarucapurí, whence I could not proceed without a pilot, as the falls below are very dangerous. There was hardly a male in the village, Messrs. Jesuino and Chagas having taken all with them up the river, to assist in an attack on an Indian tribe, the "Carapanás," where they hoped to get a lot of women, boys, and children, to take as presents to Barra. There was scarcely anything to be had to eat: fish were not to be caught, though we sent our Indians out every day; and though fowls were abundant, their owners were out, and those in charge of them would not sell them. At length, after four days, I succeeded in persuading the son of the Tushaúa to go with me as pilot to Jauarité, he not being able to resist the knives, beads, and mirror, which I spread out before him.

I had collected scarcely anything in this place, but a single specimen of the beautiful and rare topaz-throated hummer (Trochilus pyra) and a new butterfly of the genus Callithea. I heard of the handsome bronze Jacana being found here, but my hunters searched for it in vain.

On the morning after we left, we saw a fine deer on a sandbank near us, so I sent Manoel into the forest to get behind it, while we remained quietly watching from the canoe. After walking about the beach a short time, it took to the water to cross the river, when we followed in pursuit; and, notwithstanding its turnings and doublings, soon came up,—when the poor animal was despatched by a blow on the head, and pulled into the canoe. The Indians then went briskly on, rejoicing in the certainty of a dinner for the next day or two, in which I heartily joined them. At Tapioca caxoeira we stayed two hours, to cook and salt the deer, and descended the fall without any accident.

On April 1st we passed a host of falls, shooting most of them amidst fearful waves and roaring breakers, and arrived safely at Carurú, where the Tushaúa gave us his house; for, having two canoes, we were obliged to wait to get more Indians. I was still too weak to go out into the forest; and, besides, had my live stock to attend to, which now consisted of four monkeys, about a dozen parrots, and six or eight small birds. It was a constant trouble to get food for them in sufficient variety, and to prevent them from escaping. Most of the birds are brought up without being confined, and if placed in a cage, attempt constantly to get out, and refuse food till they die; if, on the other hand, they are loose, they wander about to the Indians' houses, or into the forest, and are often lost. I here had two new toldas made to my canoes, but all attempts to hire men were fruitless. Fowls and fish were tolerably abundant, so we were better off than at Uarucapurí.

On the 4th, in the afternoon, Senhors Jesuino and Chagas arrived with a whole fleet of canoes, and upwards of twenty prisoners, all, but one, women and children. Seven men and one woman had been killed; the rest of the men escaped; but only one of the attacking party was killed. The man was kept bound, and the women and children well guarded, and every morning and evening they were all taken down to the river to bathe. At night there was abundance of caxirí and caxaça drunk in honour of the new-comers, and all the inhabitants assembled in the great house. I spoke to Jesuino about obtaining some Indians for me, which he promised to do. Next morning, however, his first act was to summon my pilot, and scold him for coming with me at all,—frightening the poor fellow so, that he immediately went off with his father down the river. Before he had left, however, having been told by my guardas what was going on, I applied to Jesuino about the matter, when he denied having said anything to the pilot, but refused to call him back, or make him fulfil his engagement with me. Soon after Jesuino left, having first sent five Indians to take me to Jauarité; so I started immediately after him. The men, however, had had instructions to go with me only a short distance, and then leave me where I could not procure any more; and about noon, much to my surprise, they got into a little obá, and intimated their intention to return, saying that they had only been told to come so far. I had overtaken Jesuino at this place, and now appealed to him; but though the men would have immediately obeyed an order from him he refused to give it, telling me that he had put them in my canoe, and now I must arrange with them as well as I could. I accordingly told the Indians, that if they came on with me to Jauarité, I would pay them well, but that, if they left me at this place, they should not have a single fish-hook; but they knew very well what Senhor Jesuino wanted, so without another word they paddled off, leaving me to get on as I could. I had now only one man and one boy in each canoe, to pass rapids which required six or eight good paddles to shoot with safety; but staying here was useless, so we went on,—drifting down the stream after Senhor Jesuino, who, no doubt, rejoiced in the idea that I should probably lose my canoes, if not my life, in the caxoeiras, and thought himself well revenged on the stranger who had dared to buy the canoe he had wanted to purchase.