Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/329

 abode of an industrious family, but all the men were absent, salting Pirarucú on the lakes. The house, like its neighbours, was simply a framework of poles thatched with palm-leaves, the walls roughly latticed and plastered with mud: but it was larger, and much cleaner inside than the others. It was full of women and children, who were busy all day with their various employments; some weaving hammocks in a large clumsy frame, which held the warp whilst the shuttle was passed by the hand slowly across the six feet breadth of web; others spinning cotton, and others again scraping, pressing, and roasting mandioca. The family had cleared and cultivated a large piece of ground; the soil was of extraordinary richness, the perpendicular banks of the river, near the house, revealing a depth of many feet of crumbling vegetable mould. There was a large plantation of tobacco, besides the usual patches of Indian-corn, sugar-cane, and mandioca; and a grove of cotton, cacao, coffee and fruit-trees surrounded the house. We passed two nights at anchor in shoaly water off the beach. The weather was most beautiful; scores of Dolphins rolled and snorted about the canoe all night. I saw here, for the first time, the flesh-coloured species (Delphinus pallidus of Gervais?), which rolled always in pairs, both individuals being of the same colour. In the day-time the margin of the beach abounded with a small tiger-beetle (Cicindela hebræa of Klug), which flew up like a swarm of house-flies before our steps as we walked along. It is not easily detected, for its colour is assimilated to that of the moist sand over which it runs. I have a pleasant recollection of this