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persecute us day and night. They are the scourge of this river, as well as the piun

Piun

on the Japura and the Upper Rio Negro. It was to be expected that our heavy ship could only labor long enough to reach Canoma, the first mission of the Mundurucus; for this reason,

Etching 18

I went ahead, manned with a rifle, four Indians and a hunter, so that I could linger longer among those forest people, who claim to be one of the most powerful and peculiar tribes in the entire province of Rio Negro. Although the voyage with the light vessel required little effort from the rowers, it did not fail to offer danger, for every afternoon violent thunder stormed the river, causing us to seek shelter among the trees on the shore;

but at night the jaguars were astonishing, more numerous than we had seen anywhere else.

The hunter assured me that they had sniffed the two jaguars he had killed. I carried with me the pelt and head, so we needed to be very alert, for the fire during the rainy nights could not burn; we passed the nights keeping watch in constant fear. Few surroundings can match the gloomy solitude of these woodlands during the rainy season. Humidity surrounds travelers; thick mist is emitted from the grove all around,

and live clouds of mosquitoes flutter in rapid circles; the trees drip uninterruptedly; only in the few hours without rain do the flowers bloom without count; the animals hide themselves elusively in the thickness of the forest and the mist. Birds and butterflies did not appear there; we hear only the snoring of the capybaras

Capybaras

and the monotonous croaking of frogs and toads.

Bufo agua

Ever darker and darker darkened the night, in that wilderness; no star gleamed in the rainy gray sky, and the moon was hidden behind heavy clouds; like a lugubrious whimper, the cry of the hungry beasts sounded in the solitary groves. So the four days as we passed through the wood above, felt as if it were four long weeks. I rejoiced as I came out of the main river, and pursued by one branch of it, which by the name of Iraria is headed east to the large island of Tupinambarana,

Tupinambarana island on Rio Amazon

which receives from the south several considerable tributaries. During the dry season, it seems to be standing still, so that the dark brown waters of the lake and the Canoma River can reach it, both upstream in Madeira, and down the Ramos basin, which separates the Tupinambarana Island into two parts.

Tupinambarana Island on Rio Amazon

Now, as the Madeira was already full, the basin filled with the muddy waters of the river, with the same violence as that of Madeira itself. Its banks are not higher than those of the main river; but it

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