第103章

We tried to tack down the river; a vain attempt with a strong breeze and no current.Our ropes snapped, the sails flew to rags, and the vessel, which we now found was deficient in ballast, heeled over frightfully.Contrary to Jose's advice, I ran the cuberta into a little bay, thinking to cast anchor there and wait for the boat coming up with the wind; but the anchor dragged on the smooth sandy bottom, and the vessel went broadside on to the rocky beach.With a little dexterous management, but not until after we had sustained some severe bumps, we managed to get out of this difficulty, clearing the rocky point at a close shave with our jib-sail.Soon after, we drifted into the smooth water of a sheltered bay which leads to the charmingly situated village of Altar do Chao; and we were obliged to give up our attempt to recover the montaria.

The little settlement, Altar de Chao (altar of the ground, or Earth altar), owes its singular name to the existence at the entrance to the harbour of one of those strange flat-topped hills which are so common in this part of the Amazons country, shaped like the high altar in Roman Catholic churches.It is an isolated one, and much lower in height than the similarly truncated hills and ridges near Almeyrim, being elevated probably not more than 300 feet above the level of the river.It is bare of trees, but covered in places with a species of fern.At the head of the bay is an inner harbour, which communicates by a channel with a series of lakes lying in the valleys between hills, and stretching far into the interior of the land.The village is peopled almost entirely by semi-civilised Indians, to the number of sixty or seventy families; and the scattered houses are arranged in broad streets on a strip of greensward, at the foot of a high, gloriously-wooded ridge.

I was so much pleased with the situation of this settlement, and the number of rare birds and insects which tenanted the forest, that I revisited it in the following year, and spent four months making collections.The village itself is a neglected, poverty-stricken place-- the governor (Captain of Trabalhadores, or Indian workmen) being an old, apathetic, half-breed, who had spent all his life here.The priest was a most profligate character; I seldom saw him sober; he was a white, however, and a man of good ability.I may as well mention here, that a moral and zealous priest is a great rarity in this province-- the only ministers of religion in the whole country who appeared sincere in their calling being the Bishop of Para and the Vicars of Ega on the Upper Amazons and Obydos.The houses in the village swarmed with vermin; bats in the thatch, fire-ants (formiga de fogo) under the floors; cockroaches and spiders on the walls.

Very few of them had wooden doors and locks.

Altar de Chao was originally a settlement of the aborigines, and was called Burari.The Indians were always hostile to the Portuguese, and during the disorders of 1835-6 joined the rebels in their attack on Santarem.Few of them escaped the subsequent slaughter, and for this reason there is now scarcely an old or middle-aged man in the place.As in all the semi-civilised villages, where the original orderly and industrious habits of the Indian have been lost without anything being learned from the whites to make amends, the inhabitants live in the greatest poverty.The scarcity of fish in the clear waters and rocky bays of the neighbourhood is no doubt partly the cause of the poverty and perennial hunger which reign here.When we arrived in the port, our canoe was crowded with the half-naked villagers--men, women, and children-- who came to beg each a piece of salt pirarucu "for the love of God." They are not quite so badly off in the dry season.The shallow lakes and bays then contain plenty of fish, and the boys and women go out at night to spear them by torchlight-- the torches being made of thin strips of green bark from the leaf-stalks of palms, tied in bundles.Many excellent kinds of fish are thus obtained; amongst them the Pescada, whose white and flaky flesh, when boiled, has the appearance and flavour of cod-fish; and the Tucunare (Cichla temensis), a handsome species, with a large prettily-coloured, eye-like spot on its tail.Many small Salmonidae are also met with, and a kind of sole, called Aramassa, which moves along the clear sandy bottom of the bay.At these times a species of sting-ray is common on the sloping beach, and bathers are frequently stung most severely by it.The weapon of this fish is a strong blade with jagged edges, about three inches long, growing from the side of the long fleshy tail.I once saw a woman wounded by it whilse bathing; she shrieked frightfully, and was obliged to be carried to her hammock, where she lay for a week in great pain; I have known strong men to be lamed for many months by the sting.

There was a mode of taking fish here which I had not before seen employed, but found afterwards to be very common on the Tapajos.

This is by using a poisonous liana called Timbo (Paullinia pinnata).It will act only in the still waters of creeks and pools.A few rods, a yard in length, are mashed and soaked in the water, which quickly becomes discoloured with the milky deleterious juice of the plant.In about half an hour all the smaller fishes over a rather wide space around the spot, rise to the surface floating on their sides, and with the gills wide open.Evidently,the poison acts by suffocating the fishes--it spreads slowly in the water, and a very slight mixture seems sufficient to stupefy them.I was surprised, upon beating the water in places where no fishes were visible in the clear depths for many yards round, to find, sooner or later, sometimes twenty-four hours afterwards, a considerable number floating dead on the surface.