第52章

Palms, as usual, formed a large proportion of the lower trees;some of them, however, shot up their slim stems to a height of sixty feet or more, and waved their bunches of nodding plumes between us and the sky.One kind of palm, the Pashiuba (Iriartea exorhiza), which grows here in greater abundance than elsewhere, was especially attractive.It is not one of the tallest kinds, for when full-grown its height is not more, perhaps, than forty feet; the leaves are somewhat less drooping, and the leaflets much broader than in other species, so that they have not that feathery appearance which those of some palms have, but still they possess their own peculiar beauty.My guide put me ashore in one place to show me the roots of the Pashiuba.These grow above ground, radiating from the trunk many feet above the surface, so that the tree looks as if supported on stilts; and a person can, in old trees, stand upright amongst the roots with the perpendicular stem wholly above his head.It adds to the singularity of their appearance that these roots, which have the form of straight rods, are studded with stout thorns, while the trunk of the tree is quite smooth.The purpose of this curious arrangement is, perhaps, similar to that of the buttress roots already described--namely, to recompense the tree by root-growth above the soil for its inability, in consequence of the competition of neighbouring roots, to extend it underground.The great amount of moisture and nutriment contained in the atmosphere may also favour these growths.

On returning to the house, I found Petzell had been well occupied during the hot hours of the day collecting insects in a neighbouring clearing.Our kind hosts gave us a cup of coffee about five o'clock, and we then started for home.The last mile of our walk was performed in the dark.The forest in this part is obscure even in broad daylight, but I was scarcely prepared for the intense opacity of darkness which reigned here on this night, and which prevented us from seeing each other while walking side by side.Nothing occurred of a nature to alarm us, except that now and then a sudden rush was heard among the trees, and once a dismal shriek startled us.Petzell tripped at one place and fell all his length into the thicket.With this exception, we kept well to the pathway, and in due time arrived safely at Caripi.

One of my neighbours at Murucupi was a hunter of reputation in these parts.He was a civilised Indian, married and settled, named Raimundo, whose habit was to sally forth at intervals to certain productive hunting-grounds, the situation of which he kept secret, and procure fresh provisions for his family.I had found out by this time that animal food was as much a necessary of life in this exhausting climate as it is in the North of Europe.An attempt which I made to live on vegetable food was quite a failure, and I could not eat the execrable salt-fish which Brazilians use.I had been many days without meat of any kind, and nothing more was to be found near Caripi, so I asked as a favour of Senor Raimundo permission to accompany him on one of his hunting-trips, and shoot a little game for my own use.He consented, and appointed a day on which I was to come over to his house to sleep, so as to be ready for starting with the ebb-tide shortly after midnight.

The locality we were to visit was situated near the extreme point of the land of Carnapijo, where it projects northwardly into the middle of the Para estuary, and is broken into a number of islands.On the afternoon of January 11th, 1849, I walked through the woods to Raimundo's house, taking nothing with me but a double-barrelled gun, a supply of ammunition, and a box for the reception of any insects I might capture.Raimundo was a carpenter, and seemed to be a very industrious, man; he had two apprentices, Indians like himself: one a young lad, and the other apparently about twenty years of age.His wife was of the same race.The Indian women are not always of a taciturn disposition like their husbands.Senora Dominga was very talkative; there was another old squaw at the house on a visit, and the tongues of the two were going at a great rate the whole evening, using only the Tupi language.Raimundo and his apprentices were employed building a canoe.Notwithstanding his industry, he seemed to be very poor, and this was the condition of most of the residents on the banks of the Murucupi.They have, nevertheless, considerable plantations of mandioca and Indian corn, besides small plots of cotton, coffee, and sugarcane; the soil is very fertile, they have no rent to pay, and no direct taxes.There is, moreover, always a market in Para, twenty miles distant, for their surplus produce, and a ready communication with it by water.

In the evening we had more visitors.The sounds of pipe and tabor were heard, and presently a procession of villagers emerged from a pathway through the mandioca fields.They were on a begging expedition for St.Thome, the patron saint of Indians and Mamelucos.One carried a banner, on which was crudely painted the figure of St.Thome with a glory round his head.The pipe and tabor were of the simplest description.The pipe was a reed pierced with four holes, by means of which a few unmusical notes were produced, and the tabor was a broad hoop with a skin stretched over each end.A deformed young man played both the instruments.Senor Raimundo received them with the quiet politeness which comes so naturally to the Indian when occupying the position of host.The visitors, who had come from the Villa de Conde, five miles through the forest, were invited to rest.