Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/252

 220 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. {September,

legs to be cleaned the next day in the canoe. The animal was nearly six feet long, and the scales of the belly could only be cut by heavy blows with a hammer on a large knife. It was caught with a line, to which was attached, by the middle, a short strong pointed stick baited with fish ; when swallowed, the stick remains firmly fixed across the stomach of the animal. The flesh has a very strong but rather agreeable odour, like guavas or some musky fruit, and is much esteemed by Indians and many whites ; but it requires to be young, fat, and well dressed, to form, in my opinion, a palatable meal. I had plenty of work the next day, cleaning the head and limbs, and these furnished a supply of meat for my Indians' supper.

I called at the sitio of Senhor Chagas, whom I had met at Guia, and from him I again received the most positive infor- mation of the existence, on the river Uaup£s, of a white umbrella-bird, having himself seen a specimen, which one of his Indians had killed.

On the 6th I reached the sitio of Senhor Joao Cordeiro, the Subdelegarde, where I stopped to breakfast ; and arranged with him to remain a few days at his house, on my return voyage, in order to skin and prepare the skeleton of a cow-fish, which he promised to procure for me, as they are very abundant in the river Urubaxi, which enters the Rio Negro just above his house, and where he, every year, takes great numbers with the net and harpoon. At breakfast we had some of the meat, — preserved, by being boiled or fried in its own oil ; it is then put into large pots, and will keep many months. On taking my leave, he sent me a plate of the meat, and some sausages for my voyage.

I here finished stuffing my Jacare, and was obliged to borrow a drill to make the holes to sew up the skin. I had no box to put it in, and no room for it in the canoe, so I tied it on a board, and had a palm-leaf mat made to cover it from rain, on the top of the tolda. Senhor Joao told us to visit his " cacoarie," or fish-weir, on our way down, and take what we found in it. We did so, and of fish only got one, — a curious mailed species, quite new to me, and which gave me an afternoon's work to figure and describe. There were also five small red-headed turtles, which were very acceptable, and furnished us with dinner for several days.

We proceeded pleasantly on our voyage, sometimes with rain