Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/213

 well occupied during the hot hours of the day collecting insects in a neighbouring clearing. He had obtained no less than six species new to me of the beautiful family of Longicornes belonging to the order Coleoptera. Our kind hosts gave us a cup of coffee about five o'clock, and we then started for home. The last mile of our walk was performed in the dark. The forest in this part is obscure even in broad daylight, but I was scarcely prepared for the intense opacity of darkness which reigned here on this night, and which prevented us from seeing each other, although walking side by side. Nothing occurred of a nature to alarm us, except that now and then a sudden rush was heard amongst the trees, and once a dismal shriek startled us. Petzell tripped at one place and fell all his length into the thicket. With this exception, we kept well to the pathway, and in due time arrived safely at Caripí.

One of my neighbours at Murucupí was a hunter of reputation in these parts. He was a civilised Indian, married and settled, named Raimundo, whose habit was to sally forth at intervals to certain productive hunting grounds, whose situation he kept secret, and procure fresh provisions for his family. I had found out by this time, that animal food was as much a necessary of life in this exhausting climate as it is in the North of Europe. An attempt which I made to live on vegetable food was quite a failure, and I could not eat the execrable salt fish which Brazilians use. I had been many days without meat of any kind, and nothing more was to be found near Caripí, so I asked as a