SANTAREM AND MONTEALEGRE.
Leave Pará—Enter the Amazon—Its peculiar features—Arrive
at Santarem—The town and its inhabitants—Voyage to
Montealegre—Mosquito plague and its remedy—Journey to
the Serras—A cattle estate—Rocks, picture writings, and
cave—The _Victoria regia_—Mandiocca fields—A festa—Return to
Santarem—Beautiful insects—Curious tidal phenomenon—Leave
Santarem—Obydos—Villa Nova—A kind priest—Serpa—Christmas Day on
the Amazon.
We now prepared for our voyage up the Amazon; and, from information we
obtained of the country, determined first to go as far as Santarem,
a town about five hundred miles up the river, and the seat of a
considerable trade. We had to wait a long time to procure a passage,
but at length with some difficulty agreed to go in a small empty canoe
returning to Santarem.
We were to have the hold to ourselves, and found it very redolent of
salt-fish, and some hides which still remained in it did not improve
the odour. But voyagers on the Amazon must not be fastidious, so we got
our things on board, and hung up our hammocks as conveniently as we
could for the journey.
Our canoe had a very uneven deck, and, we soon found, a very leaky
one, which annoyed us much by wetting our clothes and hammocks; and
there were no bulwarks, which, in the quiet waters of the Amazon, are
not necessary. We laid in a good stock of provisions for the voyage,
and borrowed some books from our English and American friends, to help
to pass away the time; and in the beginning of August, left Pará with
a fine wind, which soon carried us beyond the islands opposite the
city into the wide river beyond. The next day we crossed the little
sea formed opposite the mouth of the Tocantíns, and sailed up a fine
stream till we entered again among islands, and soon got into the
narrow channel which forms the communication between the Pará and
Amazon rivers. We passed the little village of Breves, the trade of
which consists principally of India-rubber, and painted basins and
earthenware, very brilliantly coloured. Some of our Indians went on
shore while we staid for the tide, and returned rather tipsy, and with
several little clay teapot-looking doves, much valued higher up the
country.
We proceeded for several days in those narrow channels, which form a
net-work of water—a labyrinth quite unknown, except to the inhabitants
of the district. We had to wait daily for the tide, and then to help
ourselves on by warping along shore, there being no wind. A small
montaria was sent on ahead, with a long rope, which the Indians
fastened to some projecting tree or bush, and then returned with the
other end to the large canoe, which was pulled up by it. The rope was
then taken on again, and the operation repeated continually till the
tide turned, when we could not make way against the current. In many
parts of the channel I was much pleased with the bright colours of the
leaves, which displayed all the variety of autumnal tints in England.
The cause however was different: the leaves were here budding, instead
of falling. On first opening they were pale reddish, then bright
red, brown, and lastly green; some were yellow, some ochre, and some
copper-colour, which, together with various shades of green, produced a
most beautiful appearance.
It was about ten days after we left Pará that the stream began to
widen out and the tide to flow into the Amazon, instead of into the
Pará river, giving us the longer ebb to make way with. In about two
days more we were in the Amazon itself, and it was with emotions of
admiration and awe that we gazed upon the stream of this mighty and
far-famed river. Our imagination wandered to its sources in the distant
Andes, to the Peruvian Incas of old, to the silver mountains of Potosi,
and the gold-seeking Spaniards and wild Indians who now inhabit the
country about its thousand sources. What a grand idea it was to think
that we now saw the accumulated waters of a course of three thousand
miles; that all the streams that for a length of twelve hundred
miles drained from the snow-clad Andes were here congregated in the
wide extent of ochre-coloured water spread out before us! Venezuela,
Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil—six mighty states,
spreading over a country far larger than Europe—had each contributed to
form the flood which bore us so peacefully on its bosom.
We now felt the influence of the easterly wind, which during the whole
of the summer months blows pretty steadily up the Amazon, and enables
vessels to make way against its powerful current. Sometimes we had
thunder-storms, with violent squalls, which, as they were generally
in the right direction, helped us along the faster; and twice we ran
aground on shoals, which caused us some trouble and delay. We had
partly to unload the canoe into the montaria, and then, by getting out
anchors in the deep water, managed after some hard pulling to extricate
ourselves. Sometimes we caught fish, which were a great luxury for us,
or went on shore, to purchase fruit at some Indian’s cottage.
The most striking features of the Amazon are—its vast expanse of smooth
water, generally from three to six miles wide; its pale yellowish-olive
colour; the great beds of aquatic grass which line its shores, large
masses of which are often detached, and form floating islands; the
quantity of fruits and leaves and great trunks of trees which it
carries down, and its level banks clad with lofty unbroken forest. In
places the white stems and leaves of the _Cecropias_ give a peculiar
aspect, and in others the straight dark trunks of lofty forest-trees
form a living wall along the water’s edge. There is much animation,
too, on this giant stream. Numerous flocks of parrots, and the great
red and yellow macaws, fly across every morning and evening, uttering
their hoarse cries. Many kinds of herons and rails frequent the marshes
on its banks, and the large handsome duck (_Chenalobex jubata_) is
often seen swimming about the bays and inlets. But perhaps the most
characteristic birds of the Amazon are the gulls and terns, which
are in great abundance: all night long their cries are heard over the
sand-banks, where they deposit their eggs, and during the day they
constantly attracted our attention by their habit of sitting in a row
on a floating log, sometimes a dozen or twenty side by side, and going
for miles down the stream as grave and motionless as if they were on
some very important business. These birds deposit their eggs in little
hollows in the sand, and the Indians say that during the heat of the
day they carry water in their beaks to moisten them and prevent their
being roasted by the glowing rays of the sun. Besides these there are
divers and darters in abundance, porpoises are constantly blowing in
every direction, and alligators are often seen slowly swimming across
the river.
On the north bank of the Amazon, for about two hundred miles, are
ranges of low hills, which, as well as the country between them, are
partly bare and partly covered with brush and thickets. They vary from
300 to 1000 feet high, and extend inland, being probably connected
with the mountains of Cayenne and Guiana. After passing them there
are no more hills visible from the river for more than two thousand
miles, till we reach the lowest ranges of the Andes: they are called
the Serras de Paru, and terminate in the Serras de Montealegre, near
the little village of Montealegre, about one hundred miles below
Santarem. A few other small villages were passed, and here and there
some Brazilian’s country-house or Indian’s cottage, often completely
buried in the forest. Fishermen were sometimes seen in their canoes,
and now and then a large schooner passing down the middle of the river,
while often for a whole day we would not pass a house or see a human
being. The wind, too, was seldom enough for us to make way against the
stream, and then we had to proceed by the laborious and tedious method
of warping already described.
At length, after a prolonged voyage of twenty-eight days, we reached
Santarem, at the mouth of the river Tapajoz, whose blue, transparent
waters formed a most pleasing contrast to the turbid stream of the
Amazon. We brought letters of introduction to Captain Hislop, an old
Scotchman settled here many years. He immediately sent a servant to get
a house for us, which after some difficulty was done, and hospitably
invited us to take our meals at his table as long as we should find it
convenient. Our house was by no means an elegant one, having mud walls
and floors, and an open tiled roof, and all very dusty and ruinous;
but it was the best we could get, so we made ourselves contented. As
we thought of going to Montealegre, three days’ voyage down the river,
before settling ourselves for any time at Santarem, we accepted Captain
Hislop’s kind invitation as far as regarded dinner, but managed to
provide breakfast and tea for ourselves.
The town of Santarem is pleasantly situated on a slope at the mouth of
the Tapajoz, with a fine sandy beach, and a little hill at one end,
where a mud fort commands the approach from the Amazon. The houses are
neat and the streets regular, but, owing to there being no wheeled
vehicles and but few horses, they are overgrown with grass. The church
is a handsome building with two towers, and the houses are mostly
coloured white or yellow, with the doors and windows painted bright
green. There is no quay or wharf of any kind, everything being landed
in montarias, so that you can seldom get on shore without a wet shoe
and stocking. There is a fine beach extending for some miles above and
below the town, where all the washing of the place is done, the linen
being beautifully bleached on the hot sand. At all hours of the day
are plenty of bathers, and the Negro and Indian children are quite
amphibious animals. At the back of the town are extensive sandy campos,
scattered over with myrtles, cashews, and many other trees and bushes,
and beyond are low hills, some bare, and others covered with thick
forest.
The trade here is principally in Brazil-nuts, salsaparilha—which is the
best on the Amazon,—farinha, and salt-fish,—some of which articles are
obtained from the Mundrucús, an industrious tribe of Indians inhabiting
the Tapajoz. There are here, as in Pará, many persons who live an idle
life, entirely supported by the labours of a few slaves which they have
inherited. The local executive government consists of a “Commandante
Militar,” who has charge of the fort and a dozen or two of soldiers;
the “Commandante dos trabalhadores,” who superintends the Indians
engaged in any public service; the “Juiz de direito,” or civil and
criminal judge of the district; the “Delegardo de policia,” who has the
management of the passport office, the police, etc., the “Vicario,” or
priest, and a few subordinate officers. In the evening some of these,
and a few of the principal traders, used generally to meet in front of
Captain Hislop’s house, which was in an airy situation overlooking the
river, where they would sit and smoke, take snuff, and talk politics
and law for an hour or two.
Besides the Captain, there were two Englishmen in Santarem, who had
resided there many years, and were married to Brazilian women. A
day or two after our arrival they invited us to take a trip up to
a pretty stream which forms a small lake a mile or two above the
town. We went in a neat canoe, with several Indians and Negroes, and
plenty of provisions, to make an agreeable picnic. The place was very
picturesque, with dry sands, old trees, and shady thickets, where we
amused ourselves shooting birds, catching insects, and examining the
new forms of vegetation which were everywhere abundant. The clear,
cool water invited us to a refreshing bathe, after which we dined, and
returned home by moonlight in the evening.
I was acquainted with the “Juiz de direito,” having met him in Pará,
and he now very kindly offered to lend me an excellent canoe to go to
Montealegre, and to give me introductions to his friends there; but he
had no men to spare, so these I had to obtain as I could. This was, as
is always the case here, a difficult matter. Captain H. went with me
to the Commandante, who promised to give me three Indians, but after
waiting a whole week we got only two; the Juiz however kindly lent me
one with his canoe, and with these we started. The first night we staid
at a cacao-plantation, where we got some excellent fresh fish. In the
morning we took a walk among the cacao-trees, and caught numbers of a
butterfly (_Didonis biblis_), which, though a common South American
species, we had never found either at Santarem or Pará; nor did I ever
after see it until I reached Javíta, near the sources of the Rio Negro.
As another instance of the peculiar distribution of these insects, I
may mention that during four years’ collecting I saw the beautiful
_Epicalia Numilius_ only twice,—once at Pará, and once at Javíta,
stations two thousand miles apart.
In the afternoon, just as we reached the mouth of the little river that
flows by Montealegre, a violent storm came on suddenly, producing a
heavy sea, and nearly capsizing our boat, which the men did not very
well know how to manage; but, after being some time in considerable
danger, we got safely into smooth water, and, after about two hours’
rowing up a winding stream, reached the village. The banks were mostly
open, grassy, and half-flooded, with clumps of trees at intervals. Near
the village was a range of high rocks, of a fine red and yellow colour,
which we afterwards found to be merely indurated clay, in some places
very hard, in others soft and friable: they were clothed with wood to
their summits, and had a very picturesque appearance.
The village of Montealegre is situated on a hill about a quarter of a
mile from the water’s edge. The ascent to it is up a shallow ravine,
and the path is entirely covered with deep, loose sand, which makes
the walk a very laborious one. On each side are numbers of large
cactus-plants, of the branched candelabrum form, and twenty to thirty
feet high: they grow in immense masses, having great woody stems as
thick as a man’s body, and were quite a novel feature in the landscape.
The village itself forms a spacious square, in which the most
conspicuous object is the skeleton of a large and handsome church of
dark sandstone, which was commenced about twenty years ago, when the
place was more populous and thriving, and before the revolutions which
did so much injury to the province; but there is little prospect of its
ever being finished. The present church is a low, thatched, barn-like
edifice, and most of the houses are equally poor in their appearance.
There are no neat enclosures or gardens,—nothing but weeds and rubbish
on every side, with sometimes a few rotten palings round a corral for
cattle.
The trade of this place is in cacao, fish, calabashes, and cattle.
The cacao is grown on the low lands along the banks of the rivers. It
is here all planted on cleared ground fully exposed to the sun, and
does not seem to thrive so well as when in the shade of the partially
cleared forest, which is the plan we had seen adopted in the Tocantíns.
When an Indian can get a few thousand cacao-trees planted, he passes
an idle, quiet, contented life: all he has to do is to weed under
the trees two or three times in the year, and to gather and dry the
seeds. The fruit of the cacao-tree is of an oblong shape, about five
inches long, and with faint longitudinal ribs. It is of a green colour,
but turns yellow as it ripens, and it grows on the stem and larger
branches by a short strong stalk, never on the smaller twigs; it grows
so firmly, that it will never fall off, but, if left, will entirely
rot away on the tree. The outer covering is hard and rather woody.
Within is a mass of seeds, which are the cacao-nuts, covered with a
pure white pulp, which has a pleasant sub-acid taste, and when rubbed
off in water and sweetened, forms an agreeable and favourite drink.
In preparing the cacao, this pulp is not washed off, but the whole is
laid in the sun to dry. This requires some care, as if wetted by rain
or dew it moulds and is spoilt: on large cacao plantations they have
a drying-frame running on rollers, so that it can be pushed under a
shed every night or on the approach of rain. The price of good cacao is
about 3_s._ for an arroba (thirty-two pounds).
The fish are the pirarucú, which abound in all the lakes here, and
give plenty of employment to the Indians in the dry season. The cattle
estates are situated at the base of the adjacent serras, where there
is a scanty pasture, but in the dry season the marshes which extend to
the Amazon afford abundance of herbage. The calabashes, or “cuyas,”
are made in great quantities, and exported to Pará and all parts of
the Amazon. They are very neatly finished, scraped thin, and either
stained of a shining black or painted in brilliant colours and gilt.
The designs are fanciful, with sometimes figures of birds and animals,
and are filled up with much taste and regularity. The Indian women make
the colours themselves from various vegetable juices or from the yellow
earth, and they are so permanent that the vessels may be constantly
wetted for a long time without injury. There is no other place on the
whole Amazon where painted calabashes are made with such taste and
brilliancy of colour.
We brought a letter of introduction to Senhor Nunez, a Frenchman from
Cayenne, who has a small shop in the village; and he soon procured us
an empty house, to which we had our things carried. It consisted of
two good parlours, several small sleeping-rooms, a large verandah, and
a closed yard behind. We were warned that the mosquitoes were here very
annoying, and we soon found them so, for immediately after sunset they
poured in upon us in swarms, so that we found them unbearable, and were
obliged to rush into our sleeping-rooms, which we had kept carefully
closed. Here we had some respite for a time, but they soon found their
way in at the cracks and keyholes, and made us very restless and
uncomfortable all the rest of the night.
After a few days’ residence we found them more tormenting than ever,
rendering it quite impossible for us to sit down to read or write after
sunset. The people here all use cow-dung burnt at their doors to keep
away the “praga,” or plague, as they very truly call them, it being the
only thing that has any effect. Having now got an Indian to cook for
us, we every afternoon sent him to gather a basket of this necessary
article, and just before sunset we lighted an old earthen pan full of
it at our bedroom door, in the verandah, so as to get as much smoke as
possible, by means of which we could, by walking about, pass an hour
pretty comfortably. In the evening every house and cottage has its pan
of burning dung, which gives rather an agreeable odour; and as there
are plenty of cows and cattle about, this necessary of life is always
to be procured.
We found the country here an undulating, sandy plain, in some places
thickly covered with bushes, in others with larger scattered trees.
Along the banks of the streams were some flat places and steep banks,
all thickly clothed with wood, while at a distance of ten or twelve
miles were several fine rocky mountains, on one of which was a curious
and conspicuous pillar of rock, with a flat overhanging cap, something
like a tall mushroom. The cactus before mentioned was everywhere
abundant, and often in the most magnificent and lofty masses.
Pine-apples were found growing wild in large beds in the thickets, and
the cashew was also general. On the rocky slopes above the river were
numerous springs gushing out, where on the moistened rock grew curious
ferns and mosses and pretty creeping plants. In these shady groves
was our best collecting-ground for insects. Here we first found the
beautiful indigo-blue butterfly, the _Callithea Leprieurii_, sitting
on leaves in the shade, and afterwards more abundantly on stems from
which a black gummy sap was exuding. Here were also many trogons
and jacamars, and a curious creeper, with a long sickle-shaped bill
(_Dendrocolaptes_ sp.).
We much wished to visit the serras, which daily seemed more inviting;
and the account we had heard of the Indian picture-writings which exist
there increased our curiosity. We accordingly borrowed a small montaria
of Senhor Nunez, as we had to go five or six miles by water to a cattle
estate situated at the foot of the mountain. Our canoe was furnished
with a mat sail, made of strips of the bark of a large water-plant, and
as soon as we got away from the village we hoisted it and were carried
briskly along: it was rather nervous work at times, as the sail was far
too heavy for the canoe, and rendered it very unsteady whenever there
came a little extra puff of wind. Numerous divers and darters were
swimming in the river or seated upon trees on its banks. We tried to
shoot some, but without effect, as these birds are so active in the
water that even when wounded they dive and swim beneath it so rapidly
as to render all attempt to capture them fruitless. We then entered a
narrower branch of the stream, which we soon found to be much impeded
by water-plants growing in large floating masses. We had now no wind,
and had to paddle, till the weeds blocked up the channel so completely
that we could get on no further. Our Indian then went ashore, and cut
two long poles with a forked end, and with these we commenced pushing
on the canoe by means of the great masses of weeds, which were so
thick and solid as to afford a tolerable hold to the fork. Now and
then we would emerge into clear water, and could row a little among
pretty _Utricularias_ and _Pontederias_. Then, again, we would enter
into a mass of weeds and tall grass, completely filling up the channel
and rising above our heads, through which we almost despaired to make
our way; the grass, too, cut the hands severely if it merely brushed
against them. On the banks was now to be seen a vast extent of flat,
grassy campo, half water and half land, and which in the rainy season
is a complete lake. After forcing our way with great labour for several
miles, we at length reached the cattle estate, where we were kindly
received by the owner, to whom we had a note of introduction.
The house was situated close to the great marsh which extends from the
Amazon to the serras. It was built of mud, with two or three rooms,
and an open shed adjoining, used as kitchen and sleeping-place for the
Indians. A corral—a square enclosed yard for the cattle—was near, and
at the back rose the sloping ground towards the mountain. All around
were interspersed thickets and open ground, and the picturesque masses
of cactus rose in every direction. We strolled about a little before
dark, and shot a couple of pretty green purple-shouldered paroquets,
one of the smallest species that inhabits the country. When we returned
to the house we were offered some new milk, and then sat outside the
door looking at the strange accoutrements of some of the herdsmen,
who were going on horseback to some distant part of the estate.
Their curious and clumsy-looking wooden saddles, huge stirrups, long
lassos, and leather ammunition-bags, with long guns and powder-horns
of formidable dimensions, made them striking figures, and the more
picturesque from their being dusky mulattoes. As soon as the sun set
the mosquitoes made their appearance, and the doors of the house were
shut, a pan of cow-dung lighted outside, and a lamp within. After a
short time supper was announced, and we sat down on a mat on the floor
to an excellent repast of turtle, which had been recently brought
from the Amazon. We then turned into our hammocks, which were hung
across the room in every direction. In fact, the house was pretty
well occupied before we came, so that we were now rather crowded; but
a Brazilian thinks nothing of that, and is used to sleep in company.
The doors and windows were well closed, and though rather warm we did
not suffer from the mosquitoes, an annoyance to which any other is
preferable.
The next morning we prepared for our expedition to the mountain, and
as we did not know whether we should have to stay the night, we
provided ourselves with sufficient provisions, and a large gourd to
carry water. We walked some miles along the side of the marsh, on which
were many curious aquatic birds, till we arrived at a deserted cottage,
where we made our breakfast, and then turned off by a path through
a wood. On passing this we found ourselves at the foot of a steep
slope, covered with huge blocks of stone, in the greatest confusion,
overgrown with coarse sedges and shrubs, rendering any ascent among
them extremely difficult. Just above was the curious pillar we had
seen from the village, and which we determined to reach. After a most
fatiguing scramble over the rocks and among innumerable chasms, we
found ourselves on the platform below the columnar mass, which rises
perpendicularly thirty or forty feet, and then hangs over at the top
all round in a most curious and fearful manner. Its origin is very
plainly to be seen. The pillar is of friable stone, in horizontal
layers, and is constantly decaying away by the action of the weather.
The top is formed by a stratum of hard crystalline rock, which resists
the rain and sun, and is apparently now of the same diameter that the
pillar which supports it originally was.
We had thought, looking from below, that we could have proceeded along
the ridge of the mountain to the further end, where the cave and
picture-writings were to be found. Now however we saw the whole summit
completely covered with the same gigantic masses of rock and the same
coarse rigid vegetation which had rendered our ascent so difficult, and
made our proceeding for miles along similar ground quite out of the
question. Our only remedy was to descend on the other side into the
sandy plain which extended along its base. We first took a good view
of the prospect which spread out before us,—a wide undulating plain
covered with scattered trees and shrubs, with a yellow sandy soil and
a brownish vegetation. Beyond this were seen, stretching out to the
horizon, a succession of low conical and oblong hills, studding the
distant plain in every direction. Not a house was to be seen, and the
picture was one little calculated to impress the mind with a favourable
idea of the fertility of the country or the beauty of tropical scenery.
Our descent was very precipitous. Winding round chasms, creeping under
overhanging rocks, clinging by roots and branches, we at length reached
the bottom, and had level ground to walk on.
We now saw the whole side of the mountain, along its summit, split
vertically into numerous rude columns, in all of which the action of
the atmosphere on the different strata of which they were composed was
more or less discernible. They diminished and increased in thickness
as the soft and hard beds alternated, and in some places appeared like
globes standing on pedestals, or the heads and bodies of huge giants.
They did not seem to be prismatic, but to be the result of successive
earthquake shocks, producing vertical cracks in cross directions, the
action of the sun and rains then widening the fissures and forming
completely detached columns.
As we proceeded along the sands we found the heat very oppressive. We
had finished the water in our gourd, and knew not where to get more.
Our Indian told us there was a spring half-way up the mountain, a
little further on, but it might now have failed, as it was the height
of the dry season.
We soon came in sight of the spot, and a group of Mauritia palms,
which always grow in damp places, as well as some patches of brilliant
green herbage, gave us hope. On reaching the palms we found a moist,
boggy soil, but such a slow filtering of water among the weeds that it
took nearly half an hour to fill our gourd. Seeing a mass of green at
the very base of the perpendicular rocks higher up, where the spring
appeared to issue, we proceeded there, and found, to our great joy, a
little trickle of pure and delightfully cool water, and a shady place
where we could rest and eat our lunch in comfort.
We then went on till we arrived where our guide said the cave was
situated; but having been there only once he could not find it again,
among the confused mass of rocks which in several places appeared to
present openings, but which on reaching the spot deceived us. After
various clamberings we gave up the search, and determined to return
home and get a better guide another day.
On our way back we passed by a high cliff, on which were some of the
picture-writings I had so much wished to see. They were executed in a
red tint, produced apparently by rubbing them in with pieces of the
rock, which in places is of that colour. They looked quite fresh, and
were not at all obliterated by the weather, though no one knows their
antiquity. They consisted of various figures, rudely executed, some
representing animals, as the alligator, and birds, others like some
household utensils, and others again circles and mathematical figures,
while there were some very complicated and fantastic forms: all were
scattered irregularly over the rock to the height of eight or ten feet.
The size of most of the figures was from one to two feet.
I took a general sketch of the whole, and some accurate tracings of the
more curious single figures, which have unfortunately been since lost.
The night felt chilly and damp, and we had nothing to cover ourselves
with, or should have slept on the mountain. As it was, we arrived home
very tired about eight o’clock, and were glad soon to turn into our
hammocks.
The next day Senhor Nunez determined to go with us himself, to show
us the cave and some more picture-writings, situated in another part
of the mountain. We now went on horseback, but could no more find the
cave than before, and were forced to send our Indian for an old man who
lived a couple of miles off, and who knew the place well. While he was
gone, Senhor Nunez went with me to find the picture-writings, which we
did after a fatiguing walk. They were situated on a perpendicular rock,
rising from the top of a steep, stony slope, which almost deterred me
from getting up to them, as I was very tired and thirsty, and there
was no water. However, having come on purpose to see them, I was
determined to persevere, and soon reached the place. They were much
larger than the others, and extended higher up the rock; the figures,
too, were all different, consisting principally of large concentric
circles, called by the natives the sun and moon, and several others
more complicated and three or four feet high. Among them were two dates
of years about 1770, in very neat well-formed figures, which I have
no doubt were the work of some travellers who wished to show that they
knew how the others were executed, and to record the date of their
visit. Near some of the higher figures were two or three impressions
of hands in the same colour, showing the palm and all the fingers very
distinctly, as if the person executing the upper figures had stood on
another’s shoulders and supported himself with one hand (smeared with
the red colour) while he drew with the other. I also took copies of the
figures at this place, which, being large and exposed, are visible from
a considerable distance round, and are more generally known than the
others, which are in a secluded and out-of-the-way situation, and were
probably not visited by any European traveller before myself.
We walked some distance further, to get some water, before returning
towards the cave. There we found that our guides had arrived, and they
soon led us up a steep path to its mouth, which is so well concealed by
trees and bushes that our failing to discover it was not to be wondered
at. The entrance is a rude archway, fifteen or twenty feet high; but
what is most curious is a thin piece of rock which runs completely
across the opening, about five feet from the ground, like an irregular
flat board. This stone has not fallen into its present position, but
is a portion of the solid rock harder than the rest, so that it has
resisted the force which cleared away the material above and below it.
Inside there is a large irregularly arched chamber, with a smooth sandy
floor, and at the end there are openings into other chambers; but as we
had not brought candles we could not explore them. There was nothing
about the cave at all remarkable, except the flat transverse rock
at its mouth. The vegetation around it was by no means luxuriant or
beautiful, nor were there any flowers worth noticing. In fact, many of
our caves in the limestone districts of England are in every way more
picturesque and interesting.
I had heard of a plant growing in the pools in the marsh, which I was
convinced must be the _Victoria regia_. Senhor Nunez told me there were
plenty near his house, and early the next morning he sent an Indian
to try and get me one. After some search the man found one, with a
half-opened flower, and brought it to me. The leaf was about four feet
in diameter, and I was much pleased at length to see this celebrated
plant; but as it has now become comparatively common in England, it is
not necessary for me to describe it. It is found all over the Amazon
district, but rarely or never in the river itself. It seems to delight
in still waters, growing in inlets, lakes, or very quiet branches of
the river, fully exposed to the sun. Here it grew in the pools left in
the bog; but in June the water would be twenty or thirty feet deeper,
so its leaf and flower-stalks must increase in length rapidly while the
water rises, as they did not seem to be very long now. I took the leaf
home, in order to dry some portions of it. It is called by the Indians
“Uaupé Japóna” (the Jacana’s oven), from the resemblance of the leaf,
with its deep rim, to the clay ovens used for making farinha.
As we wished to get home that day, we took leave of our kind host,
and again had to pole our way over the grass and weeds in the small
stream. It did not however now seem so tedious as on our ascent, and we
soon got into the open river.
Passing along a sandy shore, our Indian saw signs of turtles’ eggs,
and immediately jumped out and commenced scraping away the sand, in
a very short time turning up a hatful of eggs of the small turtle
called “Tracaxá.” A little lower down there was an old tree giving a
tempting shade, so we made a fire under it, boiled our eggs, made some
coffee, and with some farinha and beef we had brought with us made an
excellent breakfast. Proceeding on, we fell in with a great number of
alligators, of a large size, swimming about in all directions. We fired
at some of them, but only succeeded in making them dive rapidly to the
bottom. They are much feared by the natives, who never venture far
into the water when bathing. In a place where we had bathed a few days
previously, we saw one close in shore, and resolved to be more careful
for the future, as every year some lives are lost by incautiousness.
After a few days more at the village, we paid a visit to a mandiocca
plantation some miles in the interior, where there is a considerable
extent of forest-land, and where we therefore expected to find more
insects. We went on foot, carrying our redes, guns, boxes, nets, and
other necessaries for a week’s stay. On arriving, we found the only
accommodation to consist of a little low thatched hut, just large
enough to hang our hammocks in, and the only inhabitants four or five
Negroes belonging to the place.
However we soon made ourselves at home, and our little coffee-pot
supplied us with an unfailing and refreshing luxury. We found in the
forest several scarce butterflies pretty abundant, and among them a
new species of _Catagramma_, which we had only met with very rarely
at Pará; trogons and jacamars were also plentiful, but there was not
any great variety either of birds or insects. There was no running
stream here, but a kind of moist, marshy flat, in which shallow holes
were dug, and soon filled with water, whence the only supply of this
necessary was obtained.
On returning to the village my brother sprained his leg, which swelled
and formed an abscess above the knee, quite preventing him from going
out for a fortnight. After some trouble I purchased a small canoe here,
in which I intended to return to Santarem, and afterwards proceed up
the Amazon to Barra, on the Rio Negro.
A festa took place before we left. The church was decorated with leaves
and flowers, and sweetmeats were provided for all visitors. Dancing and
drinking then went on all night and during the following day, and we
were left to cook our own meals, as our Indian was a performer on the
violin, and did not think it at all necessary to ask us in order to
absent himself two days. The Indians now came in from all the country
round, and I bought a number of the pretty painted calabashes for which
this place is celebrated.
Soon after we returned to Santarem, where we found our house occupied,
but got another, consisting of two small mud-floored rooms and a yard
at the back, situated at the further end of the town. We here engaged
an old Negro woman to cook for us, and soon got into a regular routine
of living. We rose at six, got ready our collecting-boxes, nets, etc.,
while our old cook was preparing breakfast, which we took at seven; and
having given her money to buy meat and vegetables for dinner, started
at eight for a walk of about three miles, to a good collecting-ground
we had found below the town.
We staid hard at work till about two or three in the afternoon,
generally procuring some new and interesting insects. Here was the
haunt of the beautiful _Callithea sapphira_, one of the most lovely of
butterflies, and of numerous curious and brilliant little _Erycinidæ_.
As we returned we staid to bathe in the Tapajoz, and on arriving at
home immediately ate a water-melon, which was always ready for us,
and which at that time we found most grateful and refreshing. We then
changed our clothes, dined, set out our insects, and in the cool of the
evening took tea, and called on, or received visits from, our Brazilian
or English friends—among whom was now Mr. Spruce, the botanist, who
arrived here from Pará shortly after we had returned from Montealegre.
The constant hard exercise, pure air, and good living, notwithstanding
the intense heat, kept us in the most perfect health, and I have never
altogether enjoyed myself so much. In Santarem there is an abundance
of beef, fish, milk, and fruits, a dry soil, and clear water,—a
conjunction of advantages seldom to be met with in this country. There
were some boggy meadows here, more like those of Europe than one
often sees so near the equator, on which were growing pretty small
_Melastomas_ and other flowers. The paths and campos were covered with
flowering myrtles, tall _Melastomas_, and numbers of passion-flowers,
convolvuluses, and bignonias. At the back of the town, a mile or two
off, were some bare conical hills, to which I paid some visits. They
were entirely formed of scoriæ, and were as barren and uninviting as
can possibly be imagined. A curious tidal phenomenon was to be seen
here:—the tide _rises_ in the Amazon to considerably above Santarem,
but it never _flows up_, the water merely rising and falling. The river
Tapajoz had now very little water, and its surface was below the level
of the Amazon at high water, so that the tide was every day seen to
flow up the Tapajoz, while a hundred yards out in the stream of the
Amazon it was still flowing rapidly down.
It was now November, and as some rain had fallen, and gloomy weather
had set in, we determined to start for the Rio Negro as soon as we
could. Our canoe was at length ready, having taken us a long time
to repair the bottom, which was quite rotten. After much delay the
Commandante had procured us three Indians, who were to go with us only
to Obydos, about three days up the Amazon, and had given us a letter to
the authorities there, to furnish us with more. Mr. Spruce had set out
for Obydos just a week before us, in a large canoe, the owner of which
had offered him a passage. On our arrival we found him unpacking his
things, and he told us he had only got there the night previous, having
been ten days on a journey which is frequently performed in a day and a
night: want of wind was the cause, and the owner of the canoe, who was
with them, would not move at night. But to such delays the unfortunate
traveller who ventures on the Amazon must make up his mind patiently
to submit. Captain Hislop had written to a friend of his to lend us an
unoccupied house, where we had to remain several days quite alone, for
our Indians, after unloading the canoe, went off immediately, and we
could not get others till the Commandante had sent to fetch them from a
considerable distance.
We amused ourselves in the forest, where we found insects very
abundant, but mostly of species we had before obtained. As our canoe
had leaked so much in coming here that we were almost afraid to venture
in it, we had it pulled up on the beach, and discovered some of the
cracks, which we stopped as well as we could by plugging in cotton
dipped in hot pitch. At length we set off again with two Indians, who
were to go with us only to Villa Nova, the next town, about four days’
voyage from Obydos. As we had only two, we could not do much with the
paddles, one being required at the helm; but luckily the wind was
strong and steady, and we went on day and night very briskly. We had
to cross the river several times, and generally at night. The wind
created a great swell, and as we dashed along furiously through it,
I was rather doubtful of our rotten boat holding together. In four
days however we reached Villa Nova in safety, and I was very glad to
have got so far on our way. We were kindly received on the beach by
the priest of the village, Padre Torquato, who invited us in such a
pressing manner to stay in his house till we should get men to go on,
that we could not refuse. The Commandante, to whom we brought letters,
to give us more men, was out at his sitio; they therefore had to be
sent after him, and it would probably be several days before we had an
answer, and perhaps much longer before the men were procured.
The Padre was a very well-educated and gentlemanly man, and made us
as comfortable as he could, though, as he had only two small rooms
to share with us, he was putting himself to much inconvenience on
our account. He is already known to the English reader from having
accompanied Prince Adalbert of Prussia up the Xingu, and he well
deserves all the encomiums the Prince has bestowed upon him. He was
very fond of enigmas, which he amused himself and his friends by
inventing and solving. I much delighted him by turning such of our best
as would bear the process into Portuguese; and I also translated for
him the old puzzle on the word “tobacco”—in Portuguese, “tabaco,” which
did just as well—and much pleased him. I took here some fine insects,
but it was too late in the season: from July to October it would be, I
have no doubt, a fine locality.
A week passed away, and the men came not, and as I was very anxious
to be off, the Padre agreed with a trader to let me have three of his
Indians, he taking instead those that the Commandante would probably
soon send for me. One of the Indians however did not choose to come,
and was driven to the canoe by severe lashes, and at the point of the
bayonet. He was very furious and sullen when he came on board, vowing
that he would not go with me, and would take vengeance on those who had
forced him on board. He complained bitterly of being treated like a
slave, and I could not much blame him. I tried what I could to pacify
him, offering him good pay and plenty to eat and drink, but to no
purpose; he declared he would go back from the first place we stopped
at, and kill the man who had struck him. At the same time he was very
civil, assuring me that he felt no ill-will against me, as I had had
nothing to do with it. It was afternoon when we started, and about
sunset we staid to make supper; and then the ill-used Indian politely
wished me good-bye, and taking his bundle of clothes returned through
the forest to the village. As I could not go on with two only, I sent
one of them back early in the morning to get another in the place
of the one who had run away, which he did, and returning about ten
o’clock, we pursued our journey.
We went along slowly, now and then sailing, but generally rowing, and
suffering much annoyance from the rain, which was almost incessant.
The mosquitoes, too, were a great torture: night after night we were
kept in a state of feverish irritation, unable to close our eyes for a
moment. Our Indians suffered quite as much as ourselves: it is a great
mistake to suppose that the mosquitoes do not bite them. You hear them,
all night long, slapping on their bare bodies to drive their tormentors
off; or they will completely roll themselves up in the sail, suffering
the pangs of semi-suffocation to escape from their irritating bites.
There are particular spots along the banks of the river where there are
no mosquitoes; and no inducement would make our men paddle so hard as
the probability of reaching one of these places before midnight, and
being enabled to enjoy the comforts of sleep till morning.
Towards the end of December, we reached the little village of Serpa,
where we found a festa or procession going on,—a number of women and
girls, with ribands and flowers, dancing along to the church with the
priest at their head, in a most ludicrous manner. In the evening we
went to the house where the dancing took place, and had some wine and
sweetmeats. We bought here some coffee and a large basket of plantains.
On Christmas day we reached a house where they had just caught a
quantity of fish, and we wanted to buy some, which was refused, but
they gave us a fine fat piece for our dinner. We bought some eggs, and
when we stopped for the day concocted a farinha pudding, and so, with
our fish and coffee, made a very tolerable Christmas dinner, while
eating which our thoughts turned to our distant home, and to dear
friends who at their more luxurious tables would think of us far away
upon the Amazon.