hunters as they were, to whom there was likely to be no lack of game
on the islands and in the forests bordering on the stream. The river
was expected to furnish its daily quota; prawns, which ought rather
to be called crawfish; _"tambagus,"_ the finest fish in the district,
of a flavor superior to that of salmon, to which it is often
compared; _"pirarucus"_ with red scales, as large as sturgeons, which
when salted are used in great quantities throughout Brazil;
_"candirus,"_ awkward to capture, but good to eat; _"piranhas,"_ or
devil-fish, striped with red bands, and thirty inches long; turtles
large and small, which are counted by millions, and form so large a
part of the food of the natives; some of every one of these things it
was hoped would figure in turn on the tables of the master and his
men.

And so each day shooting and fishing were to be regularly indulged
in.

For beverages they had a good store of the best that country
produced; _"caysuma"_ or _"machachera,"_ from the Upper and Lower
Amazon, an agreeable liquor of slightly acidulated taste, which is
distilled from the boiled root of the sweet manioc; _"beiju,"_ from
Brazil, a sort of national brandy, the _"chica"_ of Peru; the
_"mazato"_ of the Ucayali, extracted from the boiled fruits of the
banana-tree, pressed and fermented; _"guarana,"_ a kind of paste made
from the double almond of the _"paulliniasorbilis,"_ a genuine tablet
of chocolate so far as its color goes, which is reduced to a fine
powder, and with the addition of water yields an excellent drink.

And this was not all. There is in these countries a species of dark
violet wine, which is got from the juice of the palm, and the