Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/178

 rest and change, and to cook our two meals—breakfast and dinner. There was another passenger beside myself—a cautious, middle-aged Portuguese, who was going to settle at Ega, where he had a brother long since established. He was accommodated in the fore-cabin, or arched covering over the hold. I shared the cabin-proper with Senhores Estulano and Manoel, the latter a young half-caste, son-in-law to the owner of the vessel, under whose tuition I made good progress in learning the Tupí language during the voyage.

Our men took it in turns, two at a time, to go out fishing; for which purpose we carried a spare montaria. The master had brought from Barra, as provisions, nothing but stale, salt pirarucú—half-rotten fish, in large, thin, rusty slabs—farinha, coffee, and treacle. In these voyages passengers are expected to provide for themselves, as no charge is made except for freight of the heavy luggage or cargo they take with them. The Portuguese and myself had brought a few luxuries, such as beans, sugar, biscuits, tea, and so forth; but we found ourselves almost obliged to share them with our two companions and the pilot, so that before the voyage was one-third finished, the small stock of most of these articles was exhausted. In return, we shared in whatever the men brought. Sometimes they were quite unsuccessful, for fish is extremely difficult to procure in the season of high water, on account of the lower lands lying between the inlets and infinite chain of pools and lakes being flooded from the main river, thus increasing tenfold the area over which the finny population has