the village stands, is open, while the opposite extremity is densely wooded with bushes and small trees.
I
passed the night in the canoe, but could get little sleep owing to the
mosquitos which were very abundant. Early in the morning, I took a walk
over the island, and gathered a few plants; during the day the heat was
most intolerable, the thermometer in the shade about noon, indicating
99^°, and as there was not the slightest breath of wind, the oppressive
sensation amounted almost to suffocation, the air feeling as if it came
from the mouth of an oven. Not a soul was to be seen out of doors, and
the few goats and pigs on the island, as well as the dogs, sought the
shade of a few trees of Zizyphus which grow by the side of the
river near the village. Everything was as still as midnight, the songs
of the small birds which I had listened to with delight during my
morning's walk, and the loud shrill cry of the Gavata, a large water
bird, as well as the monotonous one of the Bem-te-ve, were now no
longer heard, even the trees were motionless, and the mighty mass of
yellow water in the river rolled slowly down unruffled by a breeze; all
was indeed so still, that one could scarcely help thinking that life
had ceased to exist. Having slung my hammock under a Zizyphus tree,
I remained in it till the rays of the sun became less powerful. It was
six o'clock in the evening before the sea breeze reached the island,
and it being then too late to proceed on our voyage, we remained where
we were for the night. The sun had no sooner set, and the breeze become
more fresh, than the greater number of the inhabitants left their
houses, and seated themselves either at their doors or by the side of
the river, to enjoy the delicious coolness of the evening air; of
course I followed their example, and it was near midnight before I
retired to rest.
The
number of families on the island amounts to about forty, and they are
for the most part civilized Indians. On the evening of our arrival I
was presented to their captain, an old man dressed in a leather hat, a
pair of coarse cotton drawers, a shirt of the same material, and a pair
of leather sandals on his feet, who was sitting under a Zizyphus tree repairing a fishing net. From him
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