第178章

November 11th to 30th.--The Tunantins is a sluggish black-water stream, about sixty miles in length, and towards its mouth from 100 to 200 yards in breadth.The vegetation on its banks has a similar aspect to that of the Rio Negro, the trees having small foliage of a sombre hue, and the dark piles of greenery resting on the surface of the inky water.The village is situated on the left bank, about a mile from the mouth of the river, and contains twenty habitations, nearly all of which are merely hovels, built of lath-work and mud.The short streets, after rain, are almost impassable on account of the many puddles, and are choked up with weeds--leguminous shrubs, and scarlet-flowered asclepias.The atmosphere in such a place, hedged in as it is by the lofty forest, and surrounded by swamps, is always close, warm, and reeking; and the hum and chirp of insects and birds cause a continual din.The small patch of weedy ground around the village swarms with plovers, sandpipers, striped herons, and scissor-tailed fly-catchers; and alligators are always seen floating lazily on the surface of the river in front of the houses.

On landing, I presented myself to Senor Paulo Bitancourt, a good-natured half-caste, director of Indians of the neighbouring river Issa, who quickly ordered a small house to be cleared for me.

This exhilarating abode contained only one room, the walls of which were disfigured by large and ugly patches of mud, the work of white ants.The floor was the bare earth, dirty and damp, the wretched chamber was darkened by a sheet of calico being stretched over the windows, a plan adopted here to keep out the Pium-flies, which float about in all shady places like thin clouds of smoke, rendering all repose impossible in the daytime wherever they can effect an entrance.My baggage was soon landed, and before the steamer departed I had taken gun, insect-net, and game-bag, to make a preliminary exploration of my new locality.

I remained here nineteen days, and, considering the shortness of the time, made a very good collection of monkeys, birds, and insects.A considerable number of the species (especially of insects) were different from those of the four other stations, which I examined on the south side of the Solimoens, and as many of these were "representative forms" [Species or races which take the place of other allied species or races.] of others found on the opposite banks of the broad river, I concluded that there could have been no land connection between the two shores during, at least, the recent geological period.This conclusion is confirmed by the case of the Uakari monkeys, described in the last chapter.All these strongly modified local races of insects confined to one side of the Solimoens (like the Uakaris), are such as have not been able to cross a wide treeless space such as a river.The acquisition which pleased me most, in this place, was a new species of butterfly (a Catagramma), which has since been named C.excelsior, owing to its surpassing in size and beauty all the previously-known species of its singularly beautiful genus.The upper surface of the wings is of the richest blue, varying in shade with the play of light, and on each side is a broad curved stripe of an orange colour.It is a bold flyer, and is not confined, as I afterwards found, to, the northern side of the river, for I once saw a specimen amidst a number of richly-coloured butterflies, flying about the deck of the steamer when we were anchored off Fonte Boa, 200 miles, lower down the river.

With the exception of three Mameluco families and a stray Portuguese trader, all the inhabitants of the village and neighbourhood are semi-civilised Indians of the Shumana and Passe tribes.The forests of the Tunantins, however, are inhabited by a tribe of wild Indians called Caishanas, who resemble much, in their social condition and manners, the debased Muras of the Lower Amazons, and have, like them, shown no aptitude for civilised life in any shape.Their huts commence at the distance of an hour's walk from the village, along gloomy and narrow forest paths.My first and only visit to a Caishana dwelling was accidental.One day, having extended my walk further than usual, and followed one of the forest-roads until it became a mere picada, or hunters' track, I came suddenly upon a well-trodden pathway, bordered on each side with Lycopodia of the most elegant shapes, the tips of the fronds stretching almost like tendrils down the little earthy slopes which formed the edge of the path.

The road, though smooth, was narrow and dark, and in many places blocked up by trunks of felled trees, which had been apparently thrown across by the timid Indians on purpose to obstruct the way to their habitations.Half-a-mile of this shady road brought me to a small open space on the banks of a brook or creek, on the skirts of which stood a conical hut with a very low doorway.

There was also an open shed, with stages made of split palm-stems, and a number of large wooden troughs.Two or three dark-skinned children, with a man and woman, were in the shed; but, immediately on espying me, all of them ran to the hut, bolting through the little doorway like so many wild animals scared into their burrows.A few moments after, the man put his head out with a look of great distrust; but, on my making the most friendly gestures I could think of, he came forth with the children.They were all smeared with black mud and paint; the only clothing of the elders was a kind of apron made of the inner bark of the sapucaya-tree, and the savage aspect of the man was heightened by his hair hanging over his forehead to the eyes.I stayed about two hours in the neighbourhood, the children gaining sufficient confidence to come and help me to search for insects.The only weapon used by the Caishanas is the blow-gun, and this is employed only in shooting animals for food.They are not a warlike people, like most of the neighbouring tribes on the Japura and Issa.