a large party. Houses occur at rare intervals in this wild
country, and hospitality is freely given to the few passing
travellers. After a frugal supper, a large wood fire was lighted
in the middle of the shed, and all turned in to their hammocks,
and began to converse. A few of the party soon dropped asleep;
others, however, kept awake until a very late hour telling
stories. Some related adventures which had happened to them while
hunting or fishing; others recounted myths about the Curupira,
and other demons or spirits of the forest. They were all very
appropriate to the time and place, for now and then a yell or a
shriek resounded through the gloomy wilderness around the shed.
One old parchment-faced fellow, with a skin the colour of
mahogany, seemed to be a capital story-teller; but I was sorry I
did not know enough of the language to follow him in all the
details which he gave. Amongst other things, he related an
adventure he had once had with a jaguar. He got up from his
hammock in the course of the narrative to give it the greater
effect by means of gestures; he seized a bow and a large taquara
arrow to show how he slew the beast, imitated its hoarse growl,
and danced about the fire like a demon.

In descending the river we landed frequently, and Mr. Wallace and
I lost no chance of adding to our collections, so that before the
end of our journey, we had got together a very considerable
number of birds, insects, and shells, chiefly taken, however, in
the low country. Leaving Baiao, we took our last farewell of the
limpid waters and varied scenery of the upper river, and found
ourselves again in the humid flat region of the Amazons valley.
We sailed down this lower part of the river by a different
channel from the one we travelled along in ascending, and