THE GREAT ANACONDA'S DINNER--BARNEY GETS A FRIGHT--TURTLES' EGGS,
OMELETS AND ALLIGATORS' TAILS--SENHOR ANTONIO'S PLANTATION--PREPARATIONS
FOR A GREAT HUNT.
The object which called forth the cry from our Irish friend, as related
in the last chapter, was neither more nor less than a serpent of
dimensions more enormous than Barney had ever before conceived of. It
was upwards of sixteen feet long, and nearly as thick as a man's body;
but about the neck it was three times that size. This serpent was not,
indeed, of the largest size. In South America they grow to nearly forty
feet in length. But it was fabulously gigantic in the eyes of our
adventurers, who had never seen a serpent of any kind before.
"Oh!" cried Martin, eagerly, "that must be an anaconda. Is it not?" he
inquired, turning to the old trader.
"Yees; it dead," was the short reply.
"So it is!" cried Martin, who, on a nearer approach, observed that the
brute's body was cut in two just below the swelling at the neck.
"Now, did ye iver," cried Barney with increased surprise, "see a sarpint
with a cow's horns growin' out at its mouth? Put ashore, old boy; we
must have a 'vestigation o' this remarkable cratur."
The canoe was soon aground, and in another minute the three travellers
busily engaged in turning over the carcass of the huge reptile, which
they found, to the amazement of Martin and Barney, had actually
swallowed an ox whole, with the exception of the horns, which protruded
from its mouth!
After much questioning, in bad Portuguese, broken English, and
remarkable signs, Martin succeeded in drawing from the old trader the
information that anacondas of a large size are often in the habit of
thus bolting horses and oxen at a mouthful.
There is not the slightest exaggeration in this fact. Readers who are
inclined to disbelieve it may refer to the works of Wallace and Gardner
on Brazil,--authorities which cannot be doubted.
The reptile commences by patiently watching, until an unfortunate animal
strays near to where it is lying, when it darts upon it, encircles it in
its massive coils, and crushes it to death in an instant. Then it
squeezes the body and broken bones into a shapeless mass; after which it
licks the carcass all over, and covers it with a thick coating of
saliva. Having thus prepared its mouthful, the anaconda begins at the
tail and gradually engulfs its victim, while its elastic jaws, and
throat, and stomach are distended sufficiently to let it in; after which
it lies in a torpid state for many weeks, till the morsel is digested,
when it is ready for another meal. A horse goes down entire, but a cow
sticks at the horns, which the anaconda cannot swallow. They are
allowed to protrude from its mouth until they decay and drop off.
They were at a loss at first to account for the creature being killed;
but the old trader suggested that it had been found in a torpid state,
and slain by the Indian whom they had seen a short time ago enjoying his
siesta among the trees.
Having cut it open, in order to convince themselves beyond a doubt that
it had swallowed an entire ox, Martin and the old trader re-embarked in
the canoe, and Barney was on the point of joining them when the bushes
close beside him were slightly stirred. Looking quickly round, he
beheld the head and the glittering eyes of another anaconda, apparently
as large as the dead one, ready to dart upon him,--at least so he
fancied; but he did not wait to give it a chance. He fled instantly,
and sprang towards the boat which he nearly upset as he leaped into it,
and pushed out into the stream. On reaching the middle of the river
they looked back, but the anaconda was gone.
Soon after this they came to a long sandbank, where the old trader said
they should find as many turtles' eggs as they wished for, although to
Barney and Martin there seemed to be nothing on the bank at all. The
freshwater turtle of the Amazon, of which there are various species, is
one of the most useful of reptiles. Its flesh supplies abundance of
good food; and the eggs, besides being eaten, afford an excellent oil.
The largest species grow to the length of three feet, and have a
flattish oval shell of a dark colour, and quite smooth. Turtles lay
their eggs about the beginning of September, when the sand-banks begin
to be uncovered. They scrape deep holes for them, and cover them
carefully over, beating down the sand quite flat, and walking across the
place several times, for the purpose of concealment. The eggs are then
left to be hatched by the heat of the sun. But alas for the poor
turtles, men are too clever for them. The eggs are collected by the
natives in thousands, and, when oil is to be made of them, they are
thrown into a canoe, smashed and mixed up together, and left to stand,
when the oil rises to the top, and is skimmed off and boiled. It keeps
well, and is used both for lamps and cooking. Very few of the millions
of eggs that are annually laid arrive at maturity.
When the young turtles issue forth and run to the water, there are many
enemies watching for them. Great alligators open their jaws and swallow
them by hundreds; jaguars come out of the forests and feed upon them;
eagles and buzzards and wood-ibises are there, too, to claim their share
of the feast; and, if they are fortunate enough to escape all these,
there are many large and ravenous fishes ready to seize them in the
stream. It seems a marvel that any escape at all.
In a few minutes the old trader scraped up about a hundred eggs, to the
immense satisfaction of Martin and Barney. Then he took a bow and arrow
from the bottom of the montaria, and shot a large turtle in the water,
while his companions kindled a fire, intending to dine.
Only the nose of the turtle was visible above water; but the old man was
so expert in the use of the bow, that he succeeded in transfixing the
soft part of the animal's neck with an arrow, although that part was
under water. It was a large turtle, and very fat and heavy, so that it
was with difficulty the trader lifted it upon his old shoulders and bore
it in triumph to the spot where his companions were busily engaged with
their cooking operations. Turtles are frequently shot with the arrow by
the natives; they are also taken in great numbers with the hook and the
net.
Dinner was soon ready. Barney concocted an immense and savoury omelet,
and the old trader cooked an excellent turtle-steak, while Martin
prepared a junk of jaguar meat, which he roasted, being curious to taste
it, as he had been told that the Indians like it very much. It was
pretty good, but not equal to the turtle-eggs. The shell of the egg is
leathery, and the yolk only is eaten. The Indians sometimes eat them
raw, mixed with farina. Cakes of farina, and excellent coffee,
concluded their repast; and Barney declared he had never had such a
satisfactory "blow out" in his life; a sentiment with which Martin
entirely agreed, and the old trader--if one might judge from the
expression of his black countenance--sympathised.
For many weeks our adventurers continued to ascend the Amazon, sometimes
sailing before the wind; at other times, when it fell calm, pushing the
montaria up the current by means of long poles, or advancing more easily
with the paddles. Occasionally they halted for a day at the residence
of a wealthy cacao planter, in order to sell him some merchandise; for
which purpose the canoe was unloaded, and the bales were opened out for
his inspection. Most of these planters were Brazilians, a few were
Yankee adventurers, and one or two were Scotch and English; but nearly
all had married Brazilian ladies, who, with their daughters, proved good
customers to the old trader. Some of these ladies were extremely "purty
craturs," as Barney expressed it; but most of them were totally
uneducated and very ignorant,--not knowing half so much as a child of
seven or eight years old in more favoured lands. They were very fond of
fine dresses and ornaments, of which considerable supplies were sent to
them from Europe and the United States, in exchange for the valuable
produce of their country. But although their dresses were fine and
themselves elegant, their houses were generally very poor affairs--made
of wood and thatched with broad leaves; and it was no uncommon thing to
see a lady, who seemed from her gay dress to be fitted for a
drawing-room, seated on an earthen floor. But there were all sorts of
extremes in this strange land; for at the next place they came to,
perhaps, they found a population of Negroes and Indians, and most of the
grown-up people were half naked, while all the children were entirely
so.
At one plantation, where they resolved to spend a few days, the owner
had a pond which was much frequented by alligators. These he was in the
habit of hunting periodically, for the sake of their fat, which he
converted into oil. At the time of their arrival, he was on the eve of
starting on a hunting expedition to the lake, which was about eight
miles distant; so Barney and Martin determined to go and "see the fun,"
as the latter said.
"Martin, lad," remarked Barney, as they followed the Negro slave who had
been sent by Senhor Antonio, the planter, to conduct them to the lake,
while he remained behind for an hour or two to examine the bales of the
old trader; "this is the quarest country, I believe, that iver was made;
what with bastes, and varmints, and riptiles, and traes, and bushes, and
rivers, it bates all creation."
"Certainly it does, Barney; and it is a pity there are so few people in
it who know how to make use of the things that are scattered all around
them. I'm inclined to think the hermit was right when he said that they
wanted the Bible. They are too far sunk in laziness and idleness to be
raised up by anything else. Just look," continued Martin, glancing
round, "what a wonderful place this is! It seems as if all the birds
and curious trees in Brazil had congregated here to meet us."
"So't does," said Barney, stopping to gaze on the scene through which
they were passing, with an expression of perplexity on his face, as if
he found the sight rather too much even for _his_ comprehension.
Besides the parrots and scarlet and yellow macaws, and other
strange-looking birds which we have elsewhere mentioned, there were
long-tailed light-coloured cuckoos flying about from tree to tree, not
calling like the cuckoo of Europe at all, but giving forth a sound like
the creaking of a rusty hinge; there were hawks and buzzards of many
different kinds, and red-breasted orioles in the bushes, and black
vultures flying overhead, and Muscovy ducks sweeping past with whizzing
wings, and flocks of the great wood-ibis sailing in the air on noiseless
pinions, and hundreds of other birds that it would require an
ornithologist to name; and myriads of insects,--especially ants and
spiders, great and small,--that no entomologist could chronicle in a
life-time: all these were heard and seen at once; while of the animals
that were heard, but not so often seen, there were black and spotted
jaguars, and pacas, and cotias, and armadillos, and deer, and many
others, that would take _pages_ to enumerate and whole books to
describe.
But the noise was the great point. That was the thing that took Martin
and Barney quite aback, although it was by no means new to them; but
they could not get used to it. And no wonder! Ten thousand paroquets
shrieking passionately, like a hundred knife-grinders at work, is no
joke; especially when their melodies are mingled with the discordant
cries of herons, and bitterns, and cranes, and the ceaseless buzz and
hum of insects, like the bagpipe's drone, and the dismal croaking of
boat-bills and frogs,--one kind of which latter, by the way, doesn't
croak at all, but _whistles_, ay, better than many a bird! The
universal hubbub is tremendous! I tell you, reader, that you _don't_
understand it and you can't understand it; and if, after I had used the
utmost excess of exaggerated language to convey a correct impression of
the reality, you were to imagine that you really _did_ understand it,
you would be very lamentably mistaken--that's all!
Nevertheless, you must not run away with the idea that the whole empire
of Brazil is like this. There are dark thick solitudes in these vast
forests, which are solemn and silent enough at times; and there are wide
grassy campos, and great sandy plains, where such sounds are absent.
Yet there are also thousands of such spots as I have just described,
where all nature, in earth, air, and water, is instinct with noisy
animal life.
After two hours' walk, Martin and his companion reached the lake, and
here active preparations were making for the alligator hunt.
"Is that the only place ye have to spind the night in, Sambo?" said
Barney to their conductor, as he pointed to a wooden shed near which
some fifteen or twenty Negro slaves were overhauling the fishing tackle.
"Yis, massa," answered the black, showing his white teeth; "dat is de
hottle of dis great city." Sambo could speak a little English, having
wrought for several years on the coffee plantation of a Yankee settler.
He was a bit of a wag, too, much to the indignation of his grave master,
the Senhor Antonio, who abhorred jesting.
"Ye're too cliver, avic," said Barney, with a patronising smile; "take
care ye don't use up yer intellect too fast. It hurts the constitution
in the long-run."
"I say, Barney," cried Martin, who had gone ahead of his companions,
"come here, man, and just look at this pond. It's literally crammed
full of alligators."
"Musha, but there's more alligators than wather, I belave!" exclaimed
Barney.
The pond was indeed swarming with these ferocious reptiles, which were
constantly thrusting their ugly snouts above the surface and then
disappearing with a flourish of their powerful tails. During the rainy
season this lake was much larger, and afforded ample room for its
inhabitants; but at the height of the dry season, which it was at this
time, there was little water, and it was much overstocked. When
alligators are thus put upon short allowance of water, they frequently
bury themselves in the wet mud, and lie dormant for a long time, while
the water continues to retire and leaves them buried. But when the
first shower of the rainy season falls, they burst open their tomb, and
drag their dry bodies to the lake or river, on whose margin they went to
sleep.
An hour or two later the Senhor Antonio arrived; but as it was getting
dark, nothing could be done until the following morning; so they slung
their hammocks under the wooden shed on the margin of the lake, and, in
order to save themselves as much as possible from the bites of the
tormenting mosquitoes, went to sleep with their heads tied up in their
handkerchiefs, and their hands thrust into their breeches pockets! The
occasional splash and snort of contending alligators, about twenty yards
off, varied the monotony of the hours of darkness, while the frogs and
cranes and jaguars sang their lullaby.