Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/290

 258 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [May,

Some died almost every day, and I often wished I had had nothing whatever to do with them, though, having once taken them in hand, I determined to persevere.

On the 8th I reached Barcellos, and here I was annoyed by having to give an account of what I had in my canoes, and pay duty, the new Government of Barra not allowing anything to escape without contributing its share.

On the nth we passed the "mouth of the Rio Branco, and I noticed for the first time the peculiar colour of the water, which is a very pale yellow-olive, almost milky, very different from, and much whiter than, the waters of the Amazon, and making its name of the " White River " very appropriate. In the dry season the waters are much clearer.

In the morning I reached Pedreiro, and purchased a turtle, which we stopped to cook, a short distance below the village ; it was a very large and fat one, and we fried the greater part of the meat in fat for the rest of the voyage. At a sitio, in the evening, I bought two parrots, and the next morning, at Ayrao, five more ; and in the afternoon, at another sitio, a blue macaw, a monkey, a toucan, and a pigeon. At night we had a storm of rain and wind, and for a long time beat about in the middle of the river, tossed by the waves, without being able to find the shore.

On the 15th we reached " Ai purusa," where I bought some fish and maize. Here was lying a fine harpy eagle, which Senhor Bagatta had shot the day before, and, having plucked out some of the wing-feathers, had left it to rot ; I thus just missed, by a day, getting a specimen of this bird, which I so much desired, and which I had never been able to procure during a four years' residence in the country. We had plenty more rain every night, making the journey very disagreeable ; and at length, on the 17th, reached Barra do Rio Negro, now the capital of the new Province of Amazonas.

I was here kindly received by my friend Henrique Antony ; and I spent all the day in searching for some house or lodging, which was very hard to be procured, every house being occupied, and rents having much risen, from the influx of strangers and traders consequent on the arrival of the new Government. However, by the evening I succeeded in getting a small mud- floored, leaky-roofed room, which I was glad to hire, as I did pot know how long I might be obliged to remain in Barra,