We never saw a mammal of any kind on the campos; but tracks of three species were seen occasionally besides those of the jaguar;these belonged to a small tiger cat, a deer, and an opossum, all of which animals must have been very rare, and probably nocturnal in their habits, with the exception of the deer.I saw in the woods, on one occasion, a small flock of monkeys, and once had an opportunity of watching the movements of a sloth.The latter was of the kind called by Cuvier Bradypus tridactylus, which is clothed with shaggy grey hair.The natives call it, in the Tupi language, Al ybyrete (in Portuguese, Preguica da terra firme), or sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the Bradypus infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny stripe between the shoulders, and is called Al Ygapo (Preguica das vargens), or sloth of the flooded lands.Some travellers in South America have described the sloth as very nimble in its native woods, and have disputed the justness of the name which has been bestowed upon it.The inhabitants of the Amazons region, however, both Indians and descendants of the Portuguese, hold to the common opinion, and consider the sloth as the type of laziness.It is very common for one native to call another, in reproaching him for idleness, "bicho do Embauba" (beast of the Cecropia tree); the leaves of the Cecropia being the food of the sloth.It is a strange sight to watch the uncouth creature, fit production of these silent shades, lazily moving from branch to branch.Every movement betrays, not indolence exactly, but extreme caution.He never looses his hold from one branch without first securing himself to the next, and when he does not immediately find a bough to grasp with the rigid hooks into which his paws are so curiously transformed, he raises his body, supported on his hind legs, and claws around in search of a fresh foothold.After watching the animal for about half an hour I gave him a charge of shot.He fell with a terrific crash, but caught a bough, in his descent, with his powerful claws, and remained suspended.Our Indian lad tried to climb the tree, but was driven back by swarms of stinging ants; the poor little fellow slid down in a sad predicament, and plunged into the brook to free himself.Two days afterwards I found the body of the sloth on the ground, the animal having dropped on the relaxation of the muscles a few hours after death.In one of our voyages, Mr.Wallace and I saw a sloth (B.infuscatus) swimming across a river, at a place where it was probably 300 yards broad.I believe it is not generally known that this animal takes to the water.Our men caught the beast, cooked, and ate him.
In returning from these trips we were sometimes benighted on the campos.We did not care for this on moonlit nights, when there was no danger of losing the path.The great heat felt in the middle hours of the day is much mitigated by four o'clock in the afternoon; a few birds then make their appearance; small flocks of ground doves run about the stony hillocks parrots pass over and sometimes settle in the ilhas; pretty little finches of several species, especially one kind, streaked with olive-brown and yellow, and somewhat resembling our yellowhammer, but Ibelieve not belonging to the same genus, hop about the grass, enlivening the place with a few musical notes.The Carashue (Mimus) also then resumes its mellow, blackbird-like song; and two or three species of hummingbird, none of which, however, are peculiar to the district, flit about from tree to tree.On the other hand, the little blue and yellow-striped lizards, which abound amongst the herbage during the scorching heats of midday, retreat towards this hour to their hiding-places, together with the day-flying insects and the numerous campo butterflies.Some of these latter resemble greatly our English species found in heathy places, namely, a fritillary, Argynnis (Euptoieta)Hegesia, and two smaller kinds, which are deceptively like the little Nemeobius Lucina.After sunset, the air becomes delightfully cool and fragrant with the aroma of fruits and flowers.The nocturnal animals then come forth.A monstrous hairy spider, five inches in expanse, of a brown colour with yellowish lines along its stout legs--which is very common here, inhabiting broad tubular galleries smoothly lined with silken web--may be then caught on the watch at the mouth of its burrow.It is only seen at night, and I think does not wander far from its den; the gallery is about two inches in diameter and runs in a slanting direction, about two feet from the surface of the soil.
As soon as it is night, swarms of goatsuckers suddenly make their appearance, wheeling about in a noiseless, ghostly manner, in chase of night-flying insects.They sometimes descend and settle on a low branch, or even on the pathway close to where one is walking, and then squatting down on their heels, are difficult to distinguish from the surrounding soil.One kind has a long forked tail.In the daytime they are concealed in the wooded ilhas, where I very often saw them crouched and sleeping on the ground in the dense shade.They make no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground.Their breeding time is in the rainy season, and fresh eggs are found from December to June.Later in the evening, the singular notes of the goatsuckers are heard, one species crying Quao, Quao, another Chuck-cococao; and these are repeated at intervals far into the night in the most monotonous manner.Agreat number of toads are seen on the bare sandy pathways soon after sunset.One of them was quite a colossus, about seven inches in length and three in height.This big fellow would never move out of the way until we were close to him.If we jerked him out of the path with a stick, he would slowly recover himself, and then turn round to have a good impudent stare.I have counted as many as thirty of these monsters within a distance of half a mile.
