THE TOCANTÍNS.
Canoe, stores, and crew—River Mojú—Igaripé Miri—Cametá—Senhor
Gomez and his establishment—Search for a dinner—Jambouassú—Polite
letter—Baião and its inhabitants—A swarm of wasps—Enter the
rocky district—The Mutuca—Difficulty of getting men—A village
without houses—Catching an alligator—Duck-shooting—Aroyas, and
the Falls—A nocturnal concert—Blue Macaws—Turtles’ eggs—A slight
accident—Capabilities of the country—Return to Pará.
On the afternoon of the 26th of August, we left Pará for the Tocantíns.
Mr. Leavens had undertaken to arrange all the details of the voyage. He
had hired one of the country canoes, roughly made, but in some respects
convenient, having a tolda, or palm-thatched roof, like a gipsy’s
tent, over the stern, which formed our cabin; and in the forepart a
similar one, but lower, under which most of our provisions and baggage
were stowed. Over this was a rough deck of cedar-boards, where the
men rowed, and where we could take our meals when the sun was not too
hot. The canoe had two masts and fore and aft sails, and was about
twenty-four feet long and eight wide.
Besides our guns, ammunition, and boxes to preserve our collections
in, we had a three months’ stock of provisions, consisting of farinha,
fish, and caxaça for the men; with the addition of tea, coffee,
biscuits, sugar, rice, salt beef, and cheese, for ourselves. This, with
clothes, crockery, and about a bushel sack of copper money—the only
coin current in the interior—pretty well loaded our little craft. Our
crew consisted of old Isidora, as cook; Alexander, an Indian from the
mills, who was named Captain; Domingo, who had been up the river, and
was therefore to be our pilot; and Antonio, the boy before mentioned.
Another Indian deserted when we were about to leave, so we started
without him, trusting to get two or three more as we went along.
Though in such a small boat, and going up a river in the same province,
we were not allowed to leave Pará without passports and clearances
from the custom-house, and as much difficulty and delay as if we had
been taking a two hundred ton ship into a foreign country. But such
is the rule here, the very internal trade of the province, carried
on by Brazilian subjects, not being exempt from it. The forms to be
filled up, the signing and countersigning at different offices, the
applications to be made and formalities to be observed, are so numerous
and complicated, that it is quite impossible for a stranger to go
through them; and had not Mr. Leavens managed all this part of the
business, we should probably have been obliged, from this cause alone,
to have given up our projected journey.
Soon after leaving the city night came on, and the tide turning against
us, we had to anchor. We were up at five the next morning, and found
that we were in the Mojú, up which our way lay, and which enters the
Pará river from the south. The morning was delightful; the Suacuras,
a kind of rail, were tuning their melancholy notes, which are always
to be heard on the river-banks night and morning; lofty palms rose on
either side, and when the sun appeared all was fresh and beautiful.
About eight, we passed Jaguararí, an estate belonging to Count Brisson,
where there are a hundred and fifty slaves, engaged principally in
cultivating mandiocca. We breakfasted on board, and about two in the
afternoon reached Jighery, a very pretty spot, with steep grassy banks,
cocoa and other palms, and oranges in profusion. Here we staid for
the tide, and dined on shore, and Mr. B. and myself went in search
of insects. We found them rather abundant, and immediately took two
species of butterflies we had never seen at Pará. We had not expected
to find, in so short a distance, such a difference in the insects;
though, as the same thing takes place in England, why should it not
here? I saw a very long and slender snake, of a brown colour, twining
among the bushes, so that till it moved it was hardly distinguishable
from the stem of a climbing plant. Our men had caught a sloth in the
morning, as it was swimming across the river, which was about half a
mile wide; it was different from the species we had had alive at Pará,
having a patch of short yellow and black fur on the back. The Indians
stewed it for their dinner, and as they consider the meat a great
delicacy, I tasted it, and found it tender and very palatable.
In the evening, at sunset, the scene was lovely. The groups of elegant
palms, the large cotton-trees relieved against the golden sky, the
Negro houses surrounded with orange and mango trees, the grassy bank,
the noble river, and the background of eternal forest, all softened
by the mellowed light of the magical half-hour after sunset, formed a
picture indescribably beautiful.
At nine, A.M., on the 28th, we entered the Igaripé Mirí, which is a cut
made for about half a mile, connecting the Mojú river with a stream
flowing into the Tocantíns, nearly opposite Cametá; thus forming an
inner passage, safer than the navigation by the Pará river, where
vessels are at times exposed to a heavy swell and violent gales, and
where there are rocky shoals, very dangerous for the small canoes by
which the Cametá trade is principally carried on. When about half-way
through, we found the tide running against us, and the water very
shallow, and were obliged to wait, fastening the canoe to a tree. In a
short time the rope by which we were moored broke, and we were drifted
broadside down the stream, and should have been upset by coming against
a shoal, but were luckily able to turn into a little bay where the
water was still. On getting out of the canal, we sailed and rowed along
a winding river, often completely walled in with a luxuriant vegetation
of trees and climbing plants. A handsome tree with a mass of purple
blossoms was not uncommon, and a large aquatic _Arum_, with its fine
white flowers and curious fruits, grew on all the mud-banks along the
shores. The Miriti palm here covered extensive tracts of ground, and
often reached an enormous height.
At five P.M. we arrived at Santa Anna, a village with a pretty
church in the picturesque Italian architecture usual in Pará. We had
anticipated some delay here with our passports; but finding there was
no official to examine them, we continued our journey.
The 29th was spent in progressing slowly among intricate channels and
shoals, on which we several times got aground, till we at last reached
the main stream of the Tocantíns, studded with innumerable palm-covered
islands.
On the 30th, at daylight, we crossed over the river, which is five or
six miles wide, to Cametá, one of the principal towns in the province.
Its trade is in Brazil-nuts, cacao, India-rubber, and cotton, which
are produced in abundance by the surrounding district. It is a small
straggling place, and though there are several shops, such a thing
as a watch-key, which I required, was not to be obtained. It has a
picturesque appearance, being situated on a bank thirty or forty feet
high; and the view from it, of the river studded with island beyond
island, as far as the eye can reach, is very fine. We breakfasted here
with Senhor Le Roque, a merchant with whom Mr. Leavens is acquainted,
and who showed us round the place, and then offered to accompany us
in his boat to the sitio of Senhor Gomez, about thirty miles up the
river, to whom we had an introduction, and who we hoped would be able
to furnish us with some more men.
On going to our canoe however, one of our men, Domingo the pilot, was
absent; but the tide serving, Senhor Le Roque set off, and we promised
to follow as soon as we could find our pilot, who was, no doubt,
hidden in some _taverna_, or liquor-shop, in the town. But after making
every inquiry, and search for him in vain, waiting till the tide was
almost gone, we determined to start without him, and send back word by
Senhor Le Roque, that he was to come on in a montaria the next day.
If we had had more experience of the Indian character, we should have
waited patiently till the following morning, when we should, no doubt,
have found him. As it was, we never saw him during the rest of the
voyage, though he had left clothes and several other articles in the
canoe.
In consequence of our delay we lost the wind, and our remaining man
and boy had to row almost all the way, which put them rather out of
humour; and before we arrived, we met Senhor Le Roque returning. Senhor
Gomez received us kindly, and we staid with him two days, waiting for
men he was trying to procure for us. We amused ourselves very well,
shooting and entomologizing. Near the house was a large leguminous
tree loaded with yellow blossoms, which were frequented by paroquets
and hummers. Up the igaripé were numbers of the curious and handsome
birds, called ‘Ciganos,’ or Gipsies (_Opisthocomus cristatus_), which
are as large as a fowl, have an elegant moveable crest on their head,
and a varied brown and white plumage. I shot two, but they were not in
good condition; and as they are plentiful on all these streams, though
not found at Pará, it was with less regret that I threw them away.
They keep in flocks on low trees and bushes on the banks of the river,
feeding on the fruits and leaves of the large _Arum_ before mentioned.
They never descend to the ground, and have a slow and unsteady flight.
In the Campos, about a mile through the forest, I found waxbills,
pigeons, toucans, and white-winged and blue chatterers. In the forest,
we found some fine new _Heliconias_ and _Erycinidæ_, and I took two
_Cicadas_ sitting on the trunk of a tree: when caught they make a noise
almost deafening; they generally rest high up on the trees, and though
daily and hourly heard, are seldom seen or captured. As I was returning
to the house, I met a little Indian boy, and at the same time a large
iguana at least three feet long, with crested back and hanging dewlap,
looking very fierce, ran across the path. The boy immediately rushed
after it, and seizing the tail with both hands, dashed the creature’s
head against a tree, killing it on the spot, and then carried it home,
where it no doubt made a very savoury supper.
We here had an opportunity of seeing something of the arrangement and
customs of a Brazilian country-house. The whole edifice in this case
was raised four or five feet on piles, to keep it above water at the
high spring tides. Running out to low-water mark was a substantial
wooden pier, terminated by a flight of steps. This leads from a
verandah, opening out of which is a room where guests are received and
business transacted, and close by is the sugar-mill and distillery.
Quite detached is the house where the mistress, children, and servants
reside, the approach to it being through the verandah, and along a
raised causeway forty or fifty feet in length. We took our meals in the
verandah with Senhor Gomez, never once being honoured by the presence
of the lady or her grown-up daughters. At six A.M. we had coffee;
at nine, breakfast, consisting of beef and dried fish, with farinha,
which supplies the place of bread; and, to finish, coffee and farinha
cakes, and the rather unusual luxury of butter. We dined at three,
and had rice or shrimp soup, more variety of meat or fresh fish, and
terminating with fruit, principally pine-apples and oranges, cut up in
slices and served in saucers; and at eight in the evening we had tea
and farinha cakes. Two or three Negro and Indian boys wait at table,
constantly changing the plates, which, as soon as empty, are whipped
off the table, and replaced by clean ones, a woman just behind being
constantly at work washing them.
Our boy Antonio had here turned lazy, disobeyed orders, and was
discharged on the spot, going off with a party who were proceeding up
the Amazon after pirarucú. We now had but one man left, and with two
that Senhor Gomez lent us to go as far as Baião, we left Vista Alegre
on the morning of the 2nd of September. The river presented the same
appearance as below,—innumerable islands, most of them several miles
long, and the two shores never to be seen at once. As we had nothing
for dinner, I went with Mr. Leavens in the montaria, which our Indians
were to return in, to a house up an igaripé, to see what we could buy.
Cattle and sheep, fowls and ducks were in plenty, and we thought we
had come to the right place; but we were mistaken, for the following
conversation took place between Mr. Leavens and a Negro woman, the only
person we saw:—“Have you any fowls to sell?”—“No.” “Any ducks?”—“No.”
“Any meat?”—“ No.” “What do you do here then?”—“Nothing.” “Have
you any eggs to sell?”—“No, the hens don’t lay any eggs.” And
notwithstanding our declaration that we had nothing to eat, we were
obliged to go away as empty as we came, because her master was not at
home, and nothing was hers to sell. At another house we were lucky
enough to buy a small turtle, which made us an excellent meal.
We were to call at Jambouassú, a sitio about fifteen miles below Baião,
where Senhor Seixus, to whom we had a letter, sometimes resided. The
house is situated up a narrow igaripé, the entrance to which even our
Indians had much difficulty in discovering, as it was night when we
reached the place. Mr. Leavens and myself then went in the montaria up
the narrow stream, which the tall trees, almost meeting overhead, made
intensely dark and gloomy. It was but a few hundred yards to the house,
where we found Senhor Seixus, and delivered the letter from his partner
in Pará; and as it is a very good specimen of Portuguese composition
and politeness, I will here give a literal translation of it.
“_Senhor Jozé Antonio Correio Seixus & Co., Baião._
“FRIENDS AND GENTLEMEN,—
“Knowing that it is always agreeable for you to have an opportunity
of showing your hospitable and generous feelings towards strangers
in general, and more particularly to those who visit our country
for the purpose of making discoveries and extending the sphere
of their knowledge; I do not hesitate to take advantage of the
opportunity which the journey of Mr. Charles Leavens and his two
worthy companions presents, to recommend them to your friendship
and protection in the scientific enterprise which they have
undertaken, in order to obtain those natural productions which
render our province a classic land in the history of animals and
plants.
“In this laborious enterprise, which the illustrious (_elites_)
travellers have undertaken, I much wish that they may find in you
all that the limited resources of the place allows, not only that
whatever difficulties they encounter may be removed, but that
you may render less irksome the labours and privations they must
necessarily endure; and for men like them, devoted to science,
and whose very aliment is Natural History, in a country like ours
abounding in the most exquisite productions, it is easy to find
means to gratify them.
“I therefore hope, and above all pray you to fulfil my wishes in
the attentions you pay to Senhor Leavens and his companions, and
thus give me another proof of your esteem and friendship.
“Your friend and obedient servant,
“JOÃO AUGUSTO CORREIO.”
After reading the letter Senhor Seixus told us that he was going to
Baião in two or three days, and that we could either remain here,
or have the use of his house there till he arrived. We determined
therefore to proceed, as we wished to send back the men Senhor
Gomez had lent us, so returned to our canoe to be ready to start
the next tide. In the morning I went on ahead in the montaria, with
Alexander, to shoot some birds. We saw numbers of kingfishers and
small green-backed swallows, and some pretty red-headed finches
(_Tanagra gularis_), called here “marinheiros,” or sailors: they are
always found near the water, on low trees and bushes. We landed on an
extensive sandy beach, where many terns and gulls were flying about, of
which, after a good many ineffectual attempts, we shot two. We reached
the canoe again as she came to anchor at Baião, under a very steep bank
about a hundred feet high, which commences a few miles below. Here
we had about a hundred and twenty irregular steps to ascend, when we
found the village on level ground, and the house of Senhor Seixus close
at hand, which, though the floors and walls were of mud, was neatly
whitewashed. As the house was quite empty, we had to bring a great many
necessaries up from the canoe, which was very laborious work in the hot
sun. We did not see a floored house in the village, which is not to be
wondered at when it is considered that there is not such a thing as a
sawn board in this part of the country. A tree is cut longitudinally
down the middle with an axe, and the outside then hewn away, and the
surface finished off with an adze, so that a tree makes but two boards.
All the boarded floors at Cametá, and many at Pará, have been thus
formed, without the use of either saw or plane.
We remained here some days, and had very good sport. Birds were
tolerably plentiful, and I obtained a brown jacamar, a purple-headed
parrot, and some fine pigeons. All round the village, for some miles,
on the dry high land, are coffee-plantations and second-growth forest,
which produced many butterflies new to us, particularly the whites and
yellows, of which we obtained six or seven species we had not before
met with. While preparing insects or skinning birds in the house, the
window which opened into the street was generally crowded with boys and
men, who would wait for hours, watching my operations with the most
untiring curiosity. The constantly-repeated remark, on seeing a bird
skinned, was, “Oh, the patience of the whites!” Then one would whisper
to another, “Does he take all the meat out?” “Well, I never!” “Look,
he makes eyes of cotton!” And then would come a little conversation
as to what they could possibly be wanted for. “Para mostrar” (to
show) was the general solution; but they seemed to think it rather
unsatisfactory, and that the English could hardly be such fools as
to want to see a few parrot and pigeon skins. The butterflies they
settled much to their own satisfaction, deciding that they were for the
purpose of obtaining new patterns for printed calicoes and other goods,
while the ugly insects were supposed to be valuable for “remedios,” or
medicine. We found it best quietly to assent to this, as it saved us a
deal of questioning, and no other explanation that we could give would
be at all intelligible to them.
One day, while I was in the woods pursuing some insects, I was suddenly
attacked by a whole swarm of small wasps, whose nest, hanging from a
leaf, I had inadvertently disturbed. They covered my face and neck,
stinging me severely, while in my haste to escape, and free myself from
them, I knocked off my spectacles, which I did not perceive till I was
at some distance from the spot, and as I was quite out of any path,
and had not noticed where I was, it was useless to seek them. The pain
of the stings, which was at first very severe, went off altogether in
about an hour; and as I had several more glasses with me, I did not
suffer any inconvenience from my loss.
The soil here is red clay, in some places of so bright a colour as to
be used for painting earthenware. Igaripés are much rarer than they
were lower down, and where they occur form little valleys or ravines
in the high bank. When Senhor Seixus arrived, he insisted on our all
taking our meals with him, and was in every way very obliging to us.
His son, a little boy of six or seven, ran about the house completely
naked.
The neighbours would drop in once or twice a day to see how the
_brancos_ (white people) got on, and have a little conversation, mostly
with Mr. Leavens, who spoke Portuguese fluently. One inquired if in
America (meaning in the United States) there was any _terra firma_,
appearing to have an idea that it was all a cluster of islands. Another
asked if there were campos, and if the people had mandioca and seringa.
On being told they had neither, he asked why they did not plant them,
and said he thought it would answer well to plant seringa-trees, and
so have fresh milk every day to make India-rubber shoes. When told
that the climate was too cold for mandiocca or seringa to grow if
planted, he was quite astonished, and wondered how people could live
in a country where such necessaries of life could not be grown; and he
no doubt felt a kind of superiority over us, on account of our coming
to his country to buy India-rubber and cocoa, just as the inhabitants
of the Celestial Empire think that we must be very poor miserable
barbarians indeed, to be obliged to come so far to buy their tea.
Even Senhor Seixus himself, an educated Brazilian and the Commandante
of the district, inquired if the government of England were
constitutional or despotic, and was surprised to hear that our
Sovereign was a woman.
We at length procured two men, and proceeded on our journey up the
river, having spent four days very pleasantly at Baião. As we went
slowly along the shore, we saw on a tree an iguana, called here a
chameleon, which Mr. Leavens shot, and our men cooked for their supper.
In the evening, we anchored under a fine bank, where a large leguminous
tree was covered with clusters of pink and white flowers and large pale
green flat pods. Venus and the moon were shining brilliantly, and the
air was deliciously cool, when, at nine o’clock, we turned in under our
tolda, but mosquitoes and sand-flies would not allow us to sleep for
some hours. The next day we had a good wind and went along briskly; the
river was narrower and had fewer islands; palms were less abundant than
below, but the vegetation of the banks was equally luxuriant. Here were
plenty of porpoises, and we saw some handsome birds like golden orioles.
On the 9th, early in the morning, we arrived at Jutahí, a cattle
estate, where we expected to get more men; but the owner of the place
being out, we had to wait till he returned. We obtained here about
a gallon of delicious new milk, a great treat for us. We shot a few
birds, and found some small shells in the river, but none of any size
or beauty, and could see scarcely any insects.
As the man we wanted did not arrive, we left on the 10th, hoping
to meet him up the river. I walked across an extensive sand-bank,
where, about noon, it was decidedly hot. There were numerous little
Carabideous beetles on the sand, very active, and of a pale colour with
dark markings, reminding me of insects that frequent similar situations
in England. In the afternoon we reached a house, and made a fire on
the beach to cook our dinner. Here were a number of men and women, and
naked children. The house was a mere open shed,—a roof of palm-thatch
supported on posts, between which the _redes_ (hammocks) are hung,
which serve the purpose of bed and chair. At one end was a small
platform, raised about three feet above the floor, ascended by deep
notches cut in a post, instead of a ladder. This seemed to be a sort of
boudoir, or ladies’ room, as they alone occupied it; and it was useful
to keep clothes and food out of the way of the fowls, ducks, pigs, and
dogs, which freely ranged below. The head of the establishment was a
Brazilian, who had come down from the mines. He had in cultivation,
cotton, tobacco, cacao, mandiocca, and abundance of bananas. He wanted
powder and shot, which Mr. Leavens furnished him with in exchange for
tobacco. He said they had not had any rain for three months, and that
the crops were much injured in consequence. At Pará, from which we
were not distant more than 150 miles, there had never been more than
three days without rain. The proximity to the great body of water of
the Amazon and the ocean, together with the greater extent of lowland
and dense forest about the city, are probably the causes of this great
difference of climate in so short a distance.
Proceeding on our way, we still passed innumerable islands, the river
being four or five miles wide. About four in the afternoon, we came
in sight of the first rocks we met with on the river, on a projecting
point, rugged and volcanic in appearance, with little detached islands
in the stream, and great blocks lying along the shore. After so much
flat alluvial country, it had quite a picturesque effect. A mile
further, we reached Patos, a small village, where we hoped to get men,
and anchored for the night. I took a walk along the shore to examine
the rocks, and found them to be decidedly volcanic, of a dark colour,
and often as rugged as the scoriæ of an iron-furnace. There was also a
coarse conglomerate, containing blackened quartz pebbles, and in the
hollows a very fine white quartz sand.
We remained here two days; Mr. Leavens going up the igaripé to look for
cedar, while we remained hunting for birds, insects, and shells. I shot
several pretty birds, and saw, for the first time, the beautiful blue
macaws, which we had been told we should meet with up the Tocantíns.
They are entirely of a fine indigo-blue, with a whitish beak; but they
flew very high, and we could not find their feeding-place. The insects
most abundant were the yellow butterflies, which often settled in
great numbers on the beach, and when disturbed rose in a body, forming
a complete yellow and orange fluttering cloud. Shells were tolerably
plentiful, and we added some new ones to our small stock. Since leaving
Baião, a small fly, with curiously marked black and white wings, had
much annoyed us, settling on our hands and faces in the quietest
manner, and then suddenly piercing them like the prick of a needle.
The people call it the Mutúca, and say it is one of the torments of the
interior, being in many parts much more abundant than it is here.
Mr. Leavens having ascertained that there was no cedar within a mile of
the water, we arranged to proceed the next day, when a pilot and two
men from Patos had agreed to accompany us to the Falls. In the morning
we waited till eight o’clock, and no one making their appearance, we
sent to them, when they replied, they could not come; so after having
waited a day, we were at last obliged to go on without them, hoping to
be able to get as far as the Falls, and then return. Cedar was quite
out of the question, as men could not be got to work the canoe, much
less to cut timber. We had now altogether been delayed nine or ten days
waiting for men, and in only one instance had got them after all. This
is one of the greatest difficulties travellers here have to encounter.
All the men you want must be taken from Pará, and if they choose to run
away, as they are almost sure to do, others cannot be procured.
At ten in the morning we reached Troquera, on the west bank of the
river, where there is a small igaripé, on which there are some falls.
There were several families living here, yet they had not a house among
them, but had chosen a nice clear space under some trees, between the
trunks and from the branches of which they hung their redes. Numbers of
children were rolling about naked in the sand, while the women and some
of the men were lounging in their hammocks. Their canoes were pulled
up on the beach, their guns were leaning against the trees, a couple
of large earthen pots were on the fire, and they seemed to possess,
in their own estimation, every luxury that man can desire. As in the
winter the place is all under water, it is only a summer encampment;
during which season they collect seringa, grow a little cotton,
mandiocca, and maize, catch fish, and hunt. All they wanted of us was
ammunition and caxaça (rum), which Mr. Leavens supplied them with,
taking rubber in exchange.
We walked about a mile through the forest to the Falls on the igaripé.
Black slaty rocks rose up at a high angle in the bed of the brook, in
irregular stratified masses, among which the water foams and dashes for
about a quarter of a mile: “a splendid place for a saw-mill,” said Mr.
Leavens. There were no palms here, or any striking forms of tropical
vegetation; the mosses and small plants had nothing peculiar in them;
and, altogether, the place was very like many I have seen at home.
The depths of the virgin forest are solemn and grand, but there is
nothing in this country to surpass the beauty of our river and woodland
scenery. Here and there some exquisite clump of plants covered with
blossoms, or a huge tree overrun with flowering climbers, strikes us as
really tropical; but this is not the general character of the scenery.
In the second-growth woods, in the campos, and in many other places,
there is nothing to tell any one but a naturalist, that he is out of
Europe.
Before leaving Troquera, I shot some goat-suckers, which were flying
about and settling upon the rocks in the hot sunshine. We went on to
Panajá, where there is a house occupied by some seringa-gatherers,
and staid there for the night. All along the sandy shore, from Baião
to this place, are trailing prickly cassias, frequently forming an
impenetrable barrier; and, in places, there is a larger shrubby
species, also prickly. The large-stemmed arums had now disappeared,
and with them the ciganos. The next morning I went with our Indian,
Alexander, to visit a lake, about a mile through the woods. There was
a small montaria, which would just hold two, in which we embarked
to explore it, and shoot some birds. Alligators were very abundant,
showing their heads every now and then above water. Alexander fired
at one, which immediately disappeared, but soon came up again, half
turned over, and with one leg out of water; so we thought he was quite
dead, and paddled up to secure him. I seized hold of the elevated claw,
when—dash! splash!—over he turned, and dived down under our little
boat, which he had half filled with water and nearly upset. Again he
appeared at the surface, and this time we poked him with a long stick,
to see if he were really dead or shamming, when he again dived down and
appeared no more.
We went to the end of the lake, which was about a mile long, and then
returned to the place where we had embarked. I had shot a kingfisher,
and was loading my gun, when Alexander shot at a small coot or rail,
and having a large charge, the shock threw me off my balance, and to
save myself I dropped my gun into the water and very nearly swamped
the canoe. I thought my shooting for this voyage was all over; but,
luckily, the water was only three or four feet deep, and we soon hooked
the gun up. I employed the rest of the morning in taking off the
locks, and by careful cleaning and oiling got all right again.
We went on with a fair wind for a few hours, when two of our men
proposed taking the montaria to go and shoot ducks at a place near,
where they abounded; so Mr. B. and myself agreed to go with them, while
Mr. Leavens proceeded a mile or two on, to get dinner ready and wait
for us. We had about half a mile of paddling to reach the shore, then
half a mile of walking over a sandy beach, when our Indians plunged
into the forest along a narrow path, we following in silence. About a
mile more brought us to some open ground, where there was abundance of
fine grass and scattered clumps of low trees and shrubs, among which
were many pretty flowers. We walked for a mile through this kind of
country, along a track which was often quite imperceptible to us, till
at length we reached an extensive morass covered with aquatic plants,
with some clumps of bushes and blackened stumps of trees.
Our Indians, without saying a word, plunged in up to their knees, and
waded after the ducks, which we could see at a distance, with egrets
and other aquatic birds. As we could do nothing on shore, we followed
them, floundering about in mud and water, among immersed trees and
shrubs, and tangled roots of aquatic plants, feeling warm and slimy, as
if tenanted by all sorts of creeping things. The ducks were far from
easy to get at, being very wild and shy. After one or two ineffectual
long shots, I saw one sitting on the top of a stump, and by creeping
cautiously along under cover of some bushes, got within shot and
fired. The bird flew away, I thought unhurt, but soon fell into the
water, where I picked it up dead, having been shot through the head,
and flown I suppose in the same manner that fowls will run after being
decapitated.
I then came out on to dry land, and waited for the Indians, who soon
appeared, but all empty-handed. A pale yellow water-lily and some
pretty buttercups and bladder-worts were abundant in the lake. We had
a long row to reach the canoe, which we found at Jucahipuá, where
Senhor Joaquim resided, who, we had been told, would pilot us up to the
falls. After a good dinner of turtle I skinned my birds, and then took
a walk along the beach: here were fine crystalline sandstone rocks,
in regularly stratified beds. In the evening a small _Ephemera_ was
so abundant about the candle as to fall on the paper like rain, and
got into our hair and down our necks in such abundance as to be very
annoying.
In the morning we passed the locality of the old settlement of
Alcobaza, where there was once a fort and a considerable village,
but now no signs of any habitation. The inhabitants were murdered
by the Indians about fifty years ago, and since then it has never
been re-settled. The river was now about a mile wide, and had fewer
islands. There was a fine flat-bedded sandstone here, very suitable for
building. We were shown a stone on which is said to be writing which no
man can read, being circular and pothook marks, almost as much like the
work of nature as of art. The water was here beautifully transparent,
and there were many pretty fishes variously marked and spotted.
About noon we reached the “Ilha dos Santos,” a small sandy island
in the middle of the river, where there was a house, the inhabitants
of which continually asked us for caxaça. We had a land-tortoise for
dinner today, which was as good as turtle. Two hours further we landed
for the night. The river was now very full of rocks and eddies, and we
were unable to go on in our large canoe. The next morning, having put
our redes and some provisions into the montaria, we started with two of
our men and Senhor Joaquim, leaving one man and old Isidora in charge
of the canoe till we returned. In about an hour we all had to get out
of the boat, for the men to pull it up a little rapid over some rocks.
The whole river is here full of small rocky islands and masses of rock
above and under water. In the wet season the water is fifteen to twenty
feet higher than it was now, and this part is then safe for large
canoes. We passed the mouth of an igaripé on the west bank, and another
on the opposite side, in both of which gold is said to exist. Large
silk-cotton-trees appear at intervals, raising their semiglobular heads
above the rest of the forest, and the castanha, or Brazil-nut, grows on
the river-banks, where we saw many of the trees covered with fruit.
We passed the Ilha das Pacas, which is completely covered with wood,
and very abrupt and rocky. The rocks in the river were now thicker
than ever, and we frequently scraped against them; but as the bottoms
of the montarias are hollowed out of the trunks of trees and left very
thick, they do not readily receive any injury. At three P.M. we reached
Aroyas, a mile below the Falls. Here the bank of the river slopes up to
a height of about three hundred feet, and is thickly wooded. There was
a house near the river, with numerous orange-trees, and on the top of
the hill were mandiocca and coffee plantations. We dined here; and when
we had finished, the mistress handed round a basin of water and a clean
napkin to wash our hands,—a refinement we had hardly expected in a room
without walls, and at such a distance from civilization.
After dinner we went on to see the Falls. The river was still about a
mile wide, and more wild and rocky than before. Near the Falls are vast
masses of volcanic rock; one in particular, of a cubical form, thirty
feet on the side and twenty feet high, we passed close under in the
montaria. There are also small islands composed entirely of scoria-like
rocks, heaped up and containing caves and hollows of a most picturesque
appearance, affording evident proofs of violent volcanic action at some
former period. On both sides of the river, and as far as the sight
extends, is an undulating country, from four to five hundred feet high,
covered with forest, the commencement of the elevated plains of Brazil.
On arriving at the Falls we found the central channel about a quarter
of a mile wide, bounded by rocks, with a deep and very powerful stream
rushing down in an unbroken sweep of dark green waters, and producing
eddies and whirlpools below more dangerous to canoes than the fall
itself. When the river is full they are much more perilous, the force
of the current being almost irresistible, and much skill is required
to avoid the eddies and sunken rocks. The great cubical block I have
mentioned is then just under water, and has caused the loss of many
canoes. The strata were much twisted and confused, dipping in various
directions about 12°, with volcanic masses rising up among them. As
nearly as we could judge by the distances we had come, these rapids
must be in about 4° of south latitude, where a considerable bend in the
river occurs. Above are numerous falls and rapids, and after a time the
forest ceases and open undulating plains are found. From the point we
reached, the country becomes very interesting, and we much regretted
that we were unable to explore it further.
On our return to Aroyas, our men, while descending the various smaller
rapids, shouted and sang in the most wild and excited manner, and
appeared to enjoy it amazingly. They had had a hard day’s work, having
paddled and poled about twenty miles against a powerful current, in
some places so strong as to require all their exertions to keep the
boats head up the stream. At Aroyas we took some coffee, and then
turned into our redes in an open shed, about twelve feet square, at the
back part of the house, and where six or eight other members of the
family also found room for themselves. We were kept awake some time
by our pilot, who had got drunk on caxaça, and was very violent and
abusive, so to quiet him we administered another glass or two, which
soon had the desired sedative effect. The next morning he looked very
dull and sheepish; in fact, most of the Tapuyas, or half-civilized
Indians, consider it rather disgraceful to get drunk, and seem ashamed
of it afterwards.
After paying our hostess in biscuit, tea, and sugar, which were great
luxuries to her, we started on our return to the canoe, which we
reached about noon, having staid an hour to explore the igaripé for
gold, but without the smallest success. At the canoe we found that
Isidora had some turtle stew ready, to which we did ample justice, and,
finding the man we had left with him very ill, went on immediately to
Jucahipuah, where he could have some “remedios” given him by the women.
We found there a canoe going to Baião, and sent him by it, as he would
thus get home sooner than if he remained with us.
While walking on the beach I saw a tall, narrow-leaved, white-flowered
_Polygonum_, so like some of our British species as to call up thoughts
of home and of my botanical rambles there. Many curious land-shells
were found, but all dead and bleached, and though we searched
repeatedly we could find no living specimens. The feathers of the blue
macaw were lying about the ground where the people had been feasting
off their flesh, but we could not succeed in obtaining any specimens.
Every night, while in the upper part of the river, we had a concert of
frogs, which made most extraordinary noises. There are three kinds,
which can frequently be all heard at once. One of these makes a noise
something like what one would expect a frog to make, namely a dismal
croak, but the sounds uttered by the others were like no animal noise
that I ever heard before. A distant railway-train approaching, and a
blacksmith hammering on his anvil, are what they exactly resemble. They
are such true imitations, that when lying half-dozing in the canoe I
have often fancied myself at home, hearing the familiar sounds of the
approaching mail-train, and the hammering of the boiler-makers at the
iron-works. Then we often had the “guarhibas,” or howling monkeys,
with their terrific noises, the shrill grating whistle of the cicadas
and locusts, and the peculiar notes of the suacúras and other aquatic
birds; add to these the loud unpleasant hum of the mosquito in your
immediate vicinity, and you have a pretty good idea of our nightly
concert on the Tocantíns.
On the morning of the 19th, at Panajá, where we had passed the night,
I took my gun and went into the forest, but found nothing. I saw
however an immense silk-cotton-tree, one of the buttresses of which
ran out twenty feet from the trunk. On the beach was a pretty yellow
_Œnothera_, which is common all along this part of the river, as
well as a small white passion-flower. Mr. Leavens here bought some
rubber, and we then rowed or sailed on for the rest of the day. In
the afternoon I took the montaria, with Isidora, to try and shoot
some of the pretty yellow orioles. I killed one, but it stuck in a
thick prickly tree, and we were obliged to come away without it. We
passed Patos in the afternoon; near it was a tree covered with a mass
of bright yellow blossoms, more brilliant than laburnum, and a really
gorgeous sight.
The next day we left the land of the blue macaw without a single
specimen. From this place to the Falls we had seen them every day,
morning and evening, flying high over the river. At almost every house
feathers were on the ground, showing that this splendid bird is often
shot for food. Alexander once had a chance at them, but his gun missed
fire, and they immediately flew off. Lower down the river they are
scarcely ever seen, and never below Baião, while from this place up
they are very abundant. What can be the causes which so exactly limit
the range of such a strong-flying bird? It appears with the rock, and
with this there is no doubt a corresponding change in the fruits on
which the birds feed.
Our Indians seeing a likely place on the beach for turtles’ eggs, went
on shore in the montaria, and were fortunate enough to find a hundred
and twenty-three buried in the sand. They are oily and very savoury,
and we had an immense omelet for dinner. The shell is leathery, and the
white never coagulates, but is thrown away, and the yolk only eaten.
The Indians eat them also raw, mixed with farinha. We dined on the
beach, where there was abundance of a plant much resembling chamomile.
The sands were very hot, so that it was almost impossible to walk over
them barefooted. The Indians, in crossing extensive beaches, stop and
dig holes in the sand to cool their feet in. We now got on very slowly,
having to tack across and across the river, the wind blowing up it, as
it always does at this season.
Where we stopped for breakfast on the 21st, I shot a very
prettily-marked small hawk. Insects were also rather abundant, and
we captured some fine _Papilios_, and two or three new species of
clear-winged _Heliconia_. Alexander found a bees’-nest in a hole in
a tree, and got about two quarts of honey, which when strained was
very sweet, but with a hot waxy taste. The comb consists of oval
cells of black wax, very irregular in shape and size, and displaying
little of the skill of our bees at home. The next night, rather late,
we arrived at Jambouassu, the sitio of Senhor Seixus, where we were
kindly received, and, about nine o’clock, turned into our redes in his
verandah.
The next morning I walked out, to examine the premises. The whole of
the forest, for some miles round the house, is a cacao plantation,
there being about sixty thousand trees, which have all been planted;
the small trees and brush having been cleared from the forest, but all
the seringa and other large forest-trees left for shade, which the
cacao requires. The milk from the seringa-trees is collected every
morning in large univalve shells, which are stuck with clay to the
tree, and a small incision made in the bark above. It is formed into
shoes or bottles, on moulds of clay, or into flat cakes. It hardens in
a few hours, and is blackened with a smoke produced by burning the nuts
of the Urucurí palm, and is then India-rubber. Just before leaving this
place I met with an accident, which might have been very serious. My
gun was lying loaded on the top of the canoe, and wishing to shoot some
small birds near the house, I drew it towards me by the muzzle, which,
standing on the steps of the landing-place, was the only part I could
reach. The hammer however lay in a joint of the boards, and as I drew
the gun towards me it was raised up, and let fall on the cap, firing
off the gun, the charge carrying off a small piece of the under-side of
my hand, near the wrist, and, passing under my arm within a few inches
of my body, luckily missed a number of people who were behind me. I
felt my hand violently blown away, and looking at it, saw a stream of
blood, but felt no pain for some minutes. As we had nothing to put to
it, I tied it up with a quantity of cotton; and about twelve o’clock,
the tide serving, we bade adieu to Senhor Seixus, who had treated us
very kindly both here and at Baião.
On the 24th we staid for the tide, at a house on an island abounding
in cacao and seringa. The water of the river had become muddy, but not
ill-tasted. On the 25th we staid at a sugar estate, where there was
a tree full of the hanging nests of the japims, or yellow troupials.
Seeing a number of the large frigate-bird pelican over the river, I
went out with Alexander in the montaria to try and shoot one, and,
after a few ineffectual shots, Alexander succeeded in doing so. It
measured seven feet from wing to wing; the feet were very small and
webbed, and the bill long and hooked at the end. They appear almost to
live upon the wing, going in small flocks over the river, and darting
down to seize any fish which may appear near the surface. The neck is
partly bare, and very extensible, like that of the true pelicans. There
are two kinds, which fly together, one with the body entirely black,
the other with the head and neck white, which are said to be the male
and female of the same species.
On the 26th we staid for the tide at a low island covered with palms
and underwood. Just as we were going to step on shore we saw a large
snake twisted on a branch overhead, so we hung back a little till
Mr. Leavens shot it. It was about ten feet long, and very handsomely
marked with yellow and black slanting lines. In the wood we got some
assai, and made a quantity of the drink so much liked by the people
here, and which is very good when you are used to it. The fruit grows
in large bunches on the summit of a graceful palm, and is about the
size and colour of a sloe. On examining it, a person would think that
it contained nothing eatable, as immediately under the skin is a hard
stone. The very thin, hardly perceptible pulp, between the skin and
the stone, is what is used. To prepare it, the fruit is soaked half an
hour in water, just warm enough to bear the hand in. It is next rubbed
and kneaded with the hands, till all the skin and pulp is worn off the
stones. The liquid is then poured off, and strained, and is of the
consistence of cream, and of a fine purple colour. It is eaten with
sugar and farinha; with use it becomes very agreeable to the taste,
something resembling nuts and cream, and is no doubt very nourishing;
it is much used in Pará, where it is constantly sold in the streets,
and, owing to the fruit ripening at different seasons, according to the
locality, is to be had there all the year round.
On the east side of the river, which we had kept along in our descent,
there was more cultivation than on the side we went up. A short
distance from the shore the land rises, and most of the houses are
situated on the slope, with the ground cleared down to the river. Some
of the places are kept in tolerable order, but there are numbers of
houses and cottages unoccupied and in ruins, with land once cultivated,
overgrown with weeds and brushwood. Rubber-making and gathering cacao
and Brazil-nuts are better liked than the regular cultivation of the
soil.
In the districts we passed through, sugar, cotton, coffee, and rice
might be grown, in any quantity and of the finest quality. The
navigation is always safe and uninterrupted, and the whole country
is so intersected by igaripés and rivers that every estate has
water-carriage for its productions. But the indolent disposition of the
people, and the scarcity of labour, will prevent the capabilities of
this fine country from being developed till European or North American
colonies are formed. There is no country in the world where people can
produce for themselves so many of the necessaries and luxuries of life.
Indian corn, rice, mandiocca, sugar, coffee, and cotton, beef, poultry,
and pork, with oranges, bananas, and abundance of other fruits and
vegetables, thrive with little care. With these articles in abundance,
a house of wood, calabashes, cups and pottery of the country, they
may live in plenty without a single exotic production. And then what
advantages there are in a country where there is no stoppage of
agricultural operations during winter, but where crops may be had,
and poultry be reared, all the year round; where the least possible
amount of clothing is the most comfortable, and where a hundred little
necessaries of a cold region are altogether superfluous. With regard to
the climate I have said enough already; and I repeat, that a man can
work as well here as in the hot summer months in England, and that if
he will only work three hours in the morning and three in the evening,
he will produce more of the necessaries and comforts of life than by
twelve hours’ daily labour at home.
Nothing more of importance occurred, and we arrived safely at Pará on
the 30th of September, just five weeks from the day we left. We had not
had a wet day the whole voyage, yet found to our surprise that it had
been there the same as usual—a shower and a thunderstorm every second
or third day.