Page images
PDF
EPUB

Shortly afterward we took possession of our new residence. The house was a square building, consisting of four equal-sized rooms; the tiled roof projected all round, so as to form a broad veranda, cool and pleasant to sit and work in. The cultivated ground, which appeared as if newly cleared from the forest, was planted with fruit trees and smail plots of coffee and mandioca. The entrance to the grounds was by an iron-grille gateway from a grassy square, around which were built the few houses and palm-thatched huts which then constituted the village. The most important building was the chapel of our Lady of Nazareth, which stood opposite our place. The saint here enshrined was a great favorite with all orthodox Paraenses, who attributed to her the performance of many miracles. The image was to be seen on the altar, a handsome doll about four feet high, wearing a silver crown and a garment of blue silk studded with golden stars. In and about the chapel were the offerings that had been made to her, proofs of the miracles which she had performed. There were models of legs, arms, breasts, and so forth, which she had cured. But most curious of all was a ship's boat, deposited here by the crew of & Portuguese vessel which had foundered, a year or two before our arrival, in a squall off Cayenne; part of them having been saved in the boat, after invoking the protection of the saint here enshrined The annual festival in honor of our Lady of Nazareth is the greatest of the Pará holidays; many persons come to it from the neighboring city of Maranham, 300 miles distant. Once the President ordered the mail steamer to be delayed two days at Pará for the convenience of these visitors. The popularity of the festa is partly owing to the beautiful weather that prevails when it takes place, namely, in the middle of the fine season, on the ten days preceding the full moon in October or November. Pará is then seen at its best. The weather is not too dry, for three weeks never follow in succession without a shower: so that all the glory of verdure and flowers can be enjoyed with clear skies. The moon lit nights are then especially beautiful; the atmosphere is transparently clear, and the light sea breeze produces an agreeable cool

ness.

We now settled ourselves for a few months' regular work. We had the forest on three sides of us; it was the end of the wet season; most species of birds had finished moulting, and every day the insects increased in number and variety. Behind the rocinha, after several days' exploration, I found a series of pathways through the woods, which led to the Una road; about half way was the house in which the celebrated travellers Spix and Martius resided during their stay at Pará, in 1819. It was now in a neglected condition, and the plantations were overgrown with bushes. The paths hereabout were very productive of insects, and being entirely under shade were very pleasant for strolling. Close to the doors began the main

forest road. It was broad enough for two horsemen abreast, and branched off in three directions; the main line going to the village of Ourem, a distance of 50 miles. This road formerly extended to Maranham, but it had been long in disuse, and was now grown up, being scarcely passable between Pará and Ourem.

Our researches were made in various directions along these paths, and every day produced us a number of new and interesting species. Collecting, preparing our specimens, and making notes, kept us well occupied. One day was so much like another that a general description of the diurnal round of incidents, including the sequence of natural phenomena, will be sufficient to give an idea of how days pass to naturalists under the equator.

We used to rise soon after dawn, when Isidoro would go down to the city, after supplying us with a cup of coffee, to purchase the fresh provisions for the day. The two hours before breakfast were devoted to ornithology. At that early period of the day the sky was invariably cloudless (the thermometer marking 2° or 73° Fahr.); the heavy dew or the previous night's rain, which lay on the moist foliage, becoming quickly dissipated by the glowing sun, which rising straight out of the east, mounted rapidly toward the zenith. All nature was fresh, new leaf and flower-buds expanding rapidly. Some mornings a single tree would appear in flower amid what was the preceding evening a uniform green mass of forest-a dome of blossom suddenly created as if by magic. The birds were all active; from the wild-fruit trees, not far off, we often heard the shrill yelping of the Toucans (Ramphastos vitellinus). Small flocks of parrots flew over on most mornings, at a great height, appearing in distinct relief against the blue sky, always two by two, chattering to each other, the pairs being separated by regular intervals; their bright colors, however, were not apparent at that height. After breakfast we devoted the hours from 10 A.M. to 2 or 3 P.M. to entomology; the best time for insects in the forest being a little before the greatest heat of the day.

The heat increased rapidly toward two o'clock (92° and 93° Fahr.), by which time every voice of bird or mammal was hushed; only in the trees was heard at intervals the harsh whirr of a cicada. The leaves, which were so moist and fresh in early morning, now become lax and drooping; the flowers shed their petals. Our neighbors, the Indian and mulatto inhabitants of the open palmthatched huts, as we returned home fatigued with our ramble, were either asleep in their hammocks or seated on mats in the shade, too languid even to talk. On most days in June and July a heavy shower would fall some time in the afternoon, producing a most welcome coolness. The approach of the rain-clouds was after a uniform fashion very interesting to observe. First, the cool sea-breeze, which commenced to blow about

ten o'clock, and which had increased in force with the increasing power of the sun, would flag and finally die away. The heat and electric tension of the atmosphere would then become almost insupportable. Languor and uneasiness would seize on every one; even the denizens of the forest betraying it by their motions. White clouds would appear in the east and gather into cumuli, with an increasing blackness along their lower portions. The whole eastern horizon would be come almost suddenly black, and this would spread upward, the sun at length becoming obscured. Then the rush of a mighty wind is heard through the forest, swaying the treetops; a vivid flash of lightning bursts forth, thea a crash of thunder, and down streams the deluging ain. Such storms soon cease, leaving bluish-black motionless clouds in the sky until night. Meantime all nature is refreshed; but heaps of flower-petals and fallen leaves are seen under the trees. Toward evening life revives again, and the ringing uproar is resumed from bush and tree. The following morning the sun again rises in a cloudless sky, and so the cycle is completed; spring, summer, and autumn, as it were, in one tropical day. The days are more or less like this throughout the year in this country. A little difference exists between the dry and wet seasons; but generally, the dry season, which lasts from July to December, is varied with showers, and the wet, from January to June, with sunny days. It results from this that the periodical phenomena of plants and animals do not take place at about the same time in all species, or in the individuals of any given species, as they do in temperate countries. Of course there is no hibernation; nor, as the dry season is not excessive, is there any summer torpidity as in some tropical countries. Plants do not flower or shed their leaves, nor do birds moult, pair, or breed simultaneously. In Europe, a wood land scene has its spring, its summer, its autumnal, and its winter aspects. In the equatorial forests the aspect is the same or nearly so every day in the year: budding, flowering, fruiting, and leaf shedding are always going on in one species or other. The activity of birds and insects proceeds without interruption, each species having its own separate times; the colonies of wasps, for instance, do not die off annually, leaving only the queens, as in cold climates; but the succession of generations and colonies goes on incessantly. It is never either spring, summer, or autumn, but each day is a combination of all three. With the day and night al, ways of equal length, the atmospheric disturbances of each day neutralizing themselves before each succeeding morn; with the sun in its course proceeding midway across the sky, and the daily temperature the same within two or three degrees throughout the year-how grand in its perfect equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under the equator!

Our evenings were generally fully employed preserving our collections and mak

ing notes. We dined at four, and took tea about seven o'clock. Sometimes we walked to the city to see Brazilian life or enjoy the pleasures of European and American society. And so the time passed away from June 15th to August 26th. During this period we made two excursions of greater length to the ice and saw-mills of Magoury, an establishment owned by an American gentleman, Mr. Upton, situated on the banks of a creek in the heart of the forest, about twelve miles from Pará. 1 will narrate some of the incideuts of these excursions, and give an account of the more interesting observations made on the natural history and inhabitants of these interior creeks and forests.

Our first trip to the mills was by land. The creek on whose banks they stand, the Iritirí, communicates with the river Pará through another larger creek, the Magoary; so that there is a passage by water, but this is about twenty miles round. We started at sunrise, taking Isidoro with us. The road plunged at once into the forest after leaving Nazareth, so that in a few minutes we were enveloped in shade. For some distance the woods were of second growth, the original forest near the town having been formerly cleared or thinned. They were dense and impenetrable on account of the close growth of the young trees and the mass of thorn shrubs and creepers. These thickets swarmed with ants and ant-thrushes: they were also frequented by a species of puff-throated manikin, a little bird which flies occasionally across the road, emitting a strange noise, made, I believc, with the wings, and resembling the clatter of a small wooden rattle.

A mile or a mile and a half further on, the character of the woods began to change, and we then found ourselves in the primeval forest. The appearance was greatly different from that of the swampy tract I have aiready described. The land was rather more elevated and undulating; the many swamp plants with their long and broad leaves were wanting, and there was less underwood, although the trees were wider apart. Through this wilderness the road continued for seven or eight miles. The same unbroken forest extends all the way to Maranham and in other directions, as we were told, a distance of about 300 miles southward and eastward of Pará. In almost every hollow part the road was crossed by a brook, whose cold, dark, leaf-stained waters were bridged over by treetrunks. The ground was carpeted, as usual, by Lycopodiums, but it was also incumbered with masses of vegetable debris and a thick coating of dead leaves. Fruits of many kinds were scattered about, among which were many sorts of beans, some of the pods a foot long, flat and leathery in texture, others hard as stone. In one place there was a quantity of large empty wooden vessels, which Isidoro told us fell from the Sapucaya tree. They are called monkeys' drinking-cups (Cuyas de Maccao), and are the capsules which contain the nuts sold under the names just mentioned, in Covent Garden Market. Abhe top of the

vessel is a circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly. When the nuts are ripe, this lid becomes loosened, and the heavy cup falls with a crash, scattering the nuts over the ground. The tree which yields the nut (Lecythis ollaria), is of immense height. It is closely allied to the Brazil-nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), whose seeds are also inclosed in large woody vessels; but these have no lid, and fall entire to the ground. This is the reason why the one kind of nut is so much dearer than the other. The Sapucaya is not less abundant, probably, than the Bertholletia, but its nuts in falling are scattered about and eaten by wild animals; while the full capsules of Brazil-nuts are collected entire by the natives.

where lateral growth of the roots in the earth is rendered difficult by the multitude of competitors.

The other grand forest trees whose native names we learned, were the Moira-tinga (the White or King-tree), probably the same as, or allied to, the Mora excelsa, which Sir Robert Schomburgk discovered in British Guiana; the Samaüma (Eriodendron Samauma) and the Massaranduba, or Cow-tree. The last-mentioned is the most remarkable. We had already heard a good deal about this tree, and about its producing from its bark a copious supply of milk as pleasant to drink as that of the cow. We had also eaten its fruit in Pará, where it is sold in the streets by negro market women; and had heard a What attracted us chiefly were the colossal good deal. f the duraoleness in water of its trees. The general run of trees had not re- timber. We were glad, therefore, to see this markably thick stems; the great and uni- wonderful tree growing in its native wilds. form height to which they grow without It is one of the largest of the forest monemitting a branch was a much more notice- archs, and is peculiar in appearance on acable feature than their thickness; but at in- count of its deeply-scored, reddish, and ragtervals of a furlong or so a veritable giant ged bark. A decoction of the bark, I was towered up. Only one of these monstrous told, is used as a red dye for cloth. A few trees can grow within a given space; it mo- days afterward we tasted its milk, which nopolizes the domain, and none but individ- was drawn from dry logs that had been stand uals of much inferior size can find a footing ing many days in the hot sun, at the sawnear it. The cylindrical trunks of these mills. It was pleasant with coffee, but had a larger trees were generally about 20 to 25 slight rankness when drank pure; it soon feet in circumference. Von Martius men- thickens to a glue, which is excessively tenations having measured trees in the Pará dis- cious, and is often used to cement broken trict, belonging to various species (Sympho- crockery. I was told that it was not safe to nia coccinea, Lecythis sp. and Cratæva Ta- drink much of it, for a slave had recently pia), which were 50 to 60 feet in girth at the nearly lost his life through taking it too point where they become cylindrical. The freely. height of the vast column-like stems could not be less than 100 feet from the ground to their lowest branch. Mr. Leavens, at the saw-mills, told me they frequently squared logs for sawing 100 feet long, of the Pao d'Arco and the Massaranduba. The total height of these trees, stem and crown together, may be estimated at from 180 to 200 feet where one of them stands, the vast dome of foliage rises above the other forest trees as a domed cathedral does above the other buildings in a city.

In some parts of the road ferns were conspicuous objects. But I afterward found them much more numerous on the Maranham road, especially in one place where the whole forest glade formed a vast fernery; the ground was covered with terrestrial species, and the tree-trunks clothed with climbing and epiphytous kinds. I saw no tree ferns in the Pará district; they belong to hilly regions; some occur, however, on the Upper Amazons.

Such were the principal features in the A very remarkable feature in these trees is vegetation of the wilderness; but where were the growth of buttress-shaped projections the flowers? To our great disappointment around the lower part of their stems. The we saw none, or only such as were insignifispaces between these buttresses, which are cant in appearance. Orchids are very rare generally thin walls of wood, form spacious in the dense forests of the low lands. I be, chambers, and may be compared to stalls in lieve it is now tolerably well ascertained that a stable some of them are large enough to the majority of forest trees in equatorial Brahold half a dozen persons. The purpose of zil have small and inconspicuous flowers. these structures is as obvious, at the first Flower-frequenting insects are also rare in glance, as that of the similar props of brick- the forest. Of course they would not be work which support a high wall. They are found where their favorite food was wantnot peculiar to one species, but are common ing, but I always noticed that even where to most of the larger forest trees. Their flowers occurred in the forest, few or no innature and manner of growth are explained sects were seen upon them. In the open when a series of young trees of different country or campos of Santarem, on the ages is examined. It is then seen that they are the roots which have raised themselves ridge-like cut of the earth; growing gradually upward as the increasing height of the tree required augmented support. Thus they are plainly intended to sustain the massive crown and trunk in these crowded forests,

Lower Amazons, flowering trees and bushes are more abundant, and there a large number of floral insects are attracted. The forest bees of South America belonging to the genera Melipona and Euglossa are more frequently scen feeding on the sweet sap which exudes from the trees, or on the excrement

of birds on leaves, than on flowers.

We were disappointed also in not meeting with any of the larger animals in the forest. There was no tumultuous movement, or sound of life. We did not see or hear monkeys, and no tapir or jaguar crossed our path. Birds, also, appeared to be exceedingly scarce. We heard, however, occasion ally the long-drawn, wailing note of the Inambú, a kind of partridge (Crypturus cine reus ?); aud, also, in the hollows on the banks of the rivulets, the noisy notes of an other bird, which seemed to go in pairs, among the tree-tops, calling to each other as they went. These notes resounded through the wilderness. Another solitary bird had a most sweet and melancholy song; it consisted simply of a few notes, uttered in a plaintive key, commencing high, and descending by harmonic intervals. It was probably a species of warbler of the genus Tichas. All these notes of birds are very striking and characteristic of the forest.

I afterward saw reason to modify my opinion, founded on these first impressions, with regard to the amount and variety of animal life in this and other parts of the Amazonian forests. There is, in fact, a great variety of mammals, birds, and reptiles, but they are widely scattered, and all excessively shy of man. The region is so extensive, and uniform in the forest clothing of the surface, that it is only at long intervals that animals are seen in abundance, where some particular spot is found which is more attractive than others. Brazil, moreover, is throughout poor in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of small size; they do not, therefore, form a conspicuous feature in its forests. The huntsman would be disappointed who expected to find here flocks of animals similar to the buffalo herds of North America, or the swarms of antelopes and herds of ponderous pachyderms of Southern Africa. The largest and most interesting portion of the Brazilian mammal fauna is arboreal in its habits this feature of the animal denizens of these forests I have already alluded to. The inost intensely arboreal animals in the world are the South American monkeys of the fam ily Cebidæ, many of which have a fifth haud for climbing in their prehensile tails, adapted for this function by their strong muscular development, and the naked palms under their tips. This seems to teach us that the South American fauna has been slowly adapted to a forest life, and, therefore, that extensive forests must have always existed since the region was first peopled by mammalia. But to this subject, and to the natural history of the monkeys, of which thirty; eight species inhabit the Amazon region, Ţ shall have to return.

We often read, in books of travels, of the silence and gloom of the Brazilian forests. They are realities, and the impression deepens on a longer acquaintance. The few sounds of birds are of that pensive or mysterious character which intensifies the feeling of solitude rather than imparts a sense of life and cheerfulness. Sometimes, in the

midst of the stillness, a sudden yell or scream will startle one; this comes from some defenceless fruit-eating animal, which is pounced upon by a tiger-cat or stealthy boaconstrictor. Morning and evening the bowl. ing monkeys make a most fearful and harrowing noise, under which it is difficult to keep up one's buoyancy of spirit. The feeling of inhospitable wildness which the forest is calculated to inspire is increased tenfold under this fearful uproar. Often, even in the still hours of middlay, a sudden crash will be heard resounding nfar through the wilderness, as some great bough or entire tree falls to the ground. There are, besides, many sounds which it is impossibe to account for. I found the natives generally as much at a loss in this respect as myself. Sometimes a sound is heard like the clang of an iron bar against a hard, hollow tree, or a piercing cry rends the air; these are not repeated, and the succeeding silence tends to heighten the unpleasant impression which they make on the mind. With the native it is always the Curupíra, the wild man or spirit of the forest, which produces all noises they are unable to explain. For myths are the rude theories which mankind, in the infancy of knowledge, invent to explain natural phenomena. The Curupíra is a mysterious being, whose attributes are uncertain, for they vary according to locality. Sometimes he is described as a kind of orang-otang, being covered with long shaggy hair, and living in trees. At others he is said to have cloven feet and a bright red face. He has a wife and children, and sometimes comes down to the roças to steal the mandioca. At one time I had a mameluco youth in my service. whose head was full of the legends and superstitions of the country. He always went with me into the forest; in fact, I could not get him to go aloue, and whenever we heard any of the strange noises mentioned above, he used to tremble with fear. He would crouch down behind me, and beg of me to turn back; his alarm ceasing only after he had made a charm to protect us from the Curupíra. For this purpose he took a young palm-leaf, plaited it, and formed it into a ring, which he hung to a branch on our track. At length, after a six hours' walk, we arrived at our destination, the last mile or two hav ing been again through second-growth for est. The mills formed a large pile of buildings, pleasantly situated in a cleared tract of land, many acres in extent, and everywhere surrounded by the perpetual forest. We were received in the kindest manner by the overseer, Mr. Leavens, who showed us all that was interesting about the place, and took us to the best spots in the neighborhood for birds and insects. The mills were built a long time ago by a wealthy Brazilian. They had belonged to Mr. Upton for many years. I was told that when the dark-skinned levolutionists were preparing for their attack on Pará, they occupied the place, but not the slightest injury was done to the machinery or building, for the leaders said it was against the Portuguese and their party that they were

at war, not against the other foreigners.

The creek Iritirí at the mills is only a few yards wide; it winds about between two lofty walls of forest for some distance, then becomes much broader, and finally joins the Magoary. There are many other ramifications, creeks or channels, which lead to retired hamlets and scattered houses, inhabited by people of mixed white, Indian, and negro descent. Many of them did business with Mr. Leavens, bringing for sale their little harvests of rice or a few logs of timber. It was interesting to see them in their little heavily laden montarias. Sometimes the boats were managed by handsome, healthy young lads, loosely clad in straw hat, white shirt, and dark blue trousers turned up to the knee. They steered, paddled, and managed the varejao (the boating pole) with much grace and dexterity.

of a hair's breadth would send all to the bottom, but they managed to cross in safety. They are especially careful when they have strangers under their charge, and it is the custom of Brazilian and Portuguese travellers to leave the whole management to them. When they are alone, they are more reck. less, and often have to swim for their lives. If a squall overtakes them as they are crossing in a heavily-laden canoe, they all jump overboard and swim about until the heavy sea subsides, when they re-embark.

on the other hand, led a wandering life, as they do at the present time, only coming down occasionally to rob the plantations of the coast tribes, who always entertained the greatest enmity toward them.

A few words on the aboriginal population of the Pará estuary will here not be out of place. The banks of the Pará were originally inhabited by a number of distinct tribes, who, in their habits, resembled very much the natives of the sea-coast from Maranham to Bahia. It is related that one large tribe, We made many excursions down the Iritirí, the Tupinambas, migrated from Pernambuco and saw much of these creeks; besides, our to the Amazons. One fact seems to be well second visit to the mills was by water. The establisbed, namely, that all the coast tribes Magoary is a magnificent channel; the differ- were far more advanced in civilization, and ent branches form quite a labyrinth, and the milder in their manners, than the savages land is everywhere of little elevation. All who inhabited the interior lands of Brazil. these smaller rivers throughout the Pará es- They were settled in villages, and addicted tuary are of the nature of creeks. The land to agriculture. They navigated the rivers'in is so level that the short local rivers have no large canoes, called ubás, made of immense sources and downward currents, like rivers hollowed-out tree trunks; in these they used as we generally understand them. They to go on war expeditions, carrying in the serve the purpose of draining the land, but prows their trophies and calabash rattles, instead of having a constant current one way, whose clatter was meant to intimidate their they have a regular ebb and flow with the enemies. They were gentle in disposition, tide. The natives call them, in the Tupí and received the early Portuguese settlers language, Igarapés, or canoe-paths. The with great friendliness. The inland savages, igarapes and furos or channels, which are infinite in number in this great river delta, are characteristic of the country. The land is everywhere covered with impenetrable forests; the houses and villages are all on the waterside, and nearly all communication is by water. This semi-aquatic life of the people is one of the most interesting features of the country. For short excursions, and for fishing in still waters, a small boat, called moutaria, is universally used. It is made of five planks; a broad one for the bottom, bent into the proper shape by the action of heat, two narrow ones for the sides, and two small triangular pieces for stem and stern. It has no rudder; the paddle serves for both steering and propelling. The montaria takes here the place of the horse, mule, or camel of other regions. Besides one or more montarias, almost every family has a larger canoe, called Igarité. This is fitted with two masts, a rudder, and keel, and has an arched awning or cabin near the stern, made of a framework of tough lianas, thatched with palm-leaves. In the igarité they will cross stormy rivers fifteen or twenty miles broad. The natives are all boat-builders. It is often remarked, by white residents, that an Indian is a carpenter and shipwright by intuition. It is astonishing to see in what crazy vessels these people will risk themselves. I have seen Indians cross rivers in a leaky montaria, when it required the nicest equilibrium to keep the leak just above water; a movement

The original Indian tribes of the district are now either civilized or have amalgamated with the white and negro immigrants. Their distinguished tribal names have long been forgotten, and the race bears now the general appellation of Tapuyo, which seems to be one of the names of the ancient Tupinambas. The Indians of the interior, still remaining in the savage state, are called by the Brazilians Indios, or Gentios (Heathens). All the semi- civilized Tapuyos of the villages, and in fact the inhabitants of retired places generally, speak the Lingoa geral, a language adapted by the Jesuit missionaries from the original idiom of the Tupinambas. The lan guage of the Guaranis, a nation living on the banks of the Paraguay, is a dialect of it, and hence it is called by philologists the TupiGuarani language; printed grammars of it are always on sale at the shops of the Pará booksellers. The fact of one language having been spoken over so wide an extent of country as that from the Amazons to Paraguay, is quite an isolated one in this country, and points to considerable migrations of the Indian tribes in former times. At present the languages spoken by neighboring tribes on the banks of the interior rivers are totally distinct; on the Juruá, even scattered hordes

« EelmineJätka »