On arriving at the place where we had left our canoe, we found poor Jose the mulatto much worse, so we hastened on to Juquerapua to procure aid.An old half-caste woman took charge of him; she made poultices of the pulp of a wild fruit, administered cooling draughts made from herbs which grew near the house, and in fact, acted the part of nurse admirably.We stayed at this place all night and part of the following day, and I had a stroll along a delightful pathway, which led over hill and dale, two or three miles through the forest.I was surprised at the number and variety of brilliantly-coloured butterflies; they were all of small size and started forth from the low bushes, which bordered the road, at every step I took.I first heard here the notes of a trogon; it was seated alone on a branch, at no great elevation; a beautiful bird, with glossy-green back and rose-coloured breast (probably Trogon melanurus).At intervals it uttered, in a complaining tone, a sound resembling the words "qua, qua." It is a dull inactive bird, and not very ready to take flight when approached.In this respect, however, the trogons are not equal to the jacamars, whose stupidity in remaining at their posts, seated on low branches in the gloomiest shades of the forest, is somewhat remarkable in a country where all other birds are exceedingly wary.One species of jacamar was not uncommon here (Galbula viridis); I sometimes saw two or three together seated on a slender branch, silent and motionless with the exception of a slight movement of the head; when an insect flew past within a short distance, one of the birds would dart off, seize it, and return again to its sitting-place.The trogons are found in the tropics of both hemispheres.The jacamars, which are clothed in plumage of the most beautiful golden-bronze and steel colours, are peculiar to tropical America.
At night I slept ashore as a change from the confinement of the canoe, having obtained permission from Senor Joaquim to sling my hammock under his roof.The house, like all others in these out-of-the-way parts of the country, was a large open, palm-thatched shed, having one end enclosed by means of partitions also made of palm-leaves, so as to form a private apartment.Under the shed were placed all the household utensils-- earthenware jars, pots, and kettles, hunting and fishing implements, paddles, bows and arrows, harpoons, and so forth.One or two common wooden chests serve to contain the holiday clothing of the females.There is no other furniture except a few stools and the hammock, which answers the purposes of chair and sofa.When a visitor enters, he is asked to sit down in a hammock; persons who are on intimate terms with each other recline together in the same hammock, one at each end.This is a very convenient arrangement for friendly conversation.There are neither tables nor chairs; the cloth for meals is spread on a mat, and the guests squat round in any position they choose.There is no cordiality of manners, but the treatment of the guests shows a keen sense of the duties of hospitality on the part of the host.There is a good deal of formality in the intercourse of these half-wild mamelucos, which, I believe, has been chiefly derived from their Indian forefathers, although a little of it may have been copied from the Portuguese.
A little distance from the house were the open sheds under which the farinha for the use of the establishment was manufactured.In the centre of each shed stood the shallow pans, made of clay and built over ovens, where the meal is roasted.A long flexible cylinder made of the peel of a marantaceous plant, plaited into the proper form, hung suspended from a beam; it is in this that the pulp of the mandioca is pressed, and from it the juice, which is of a highly poisonous nature, although the pulp is wholesome food, runs into pans placed beneath to receive it.A wooden trough, such as is used in all these places for receiving the pulp before the poisonous matter is extracted, stood on the ground, and from the posts hung the long wicker-work baskets, or aturas, in which the women carry the roots from the roca or clearing; a broad ribbon made from the inner bark of the monguba tree is attached to the rims of the baskets, and is passed round the forehead of the carriers, to relieve their backs in supporting the heavy load.Around the shed were planted a number of banana and other fruit trees; among them were the never-failing capsicum-pepper bushes, brilliant as holly-trees at Christmas time with their fiery-red fruit, and lemon trees; the one supplying the pungent, the other the acid, for sauce to the perpetual meal of fish.There is never in such places any appearance of careful cultivation-- no garden or orchard.The useful trees are surrounded by weeds and bushes, and close behind rises the everlasting forest.
There were other strangers under Senor Joaquim's roof besides myself--mulattos, mamelucos, and Indian,--so we formed altogether a large party.Houses occur at rare intervals in this wild country, and hospitality is freely given to the few passing travellers.After a frugal supper, a large wood fire was lighted in the middle of the shed, and all turned in to their hammocks, and began to converse.A few of the party soon dropped asleep;others, however, kept awake until a very late hour telling stories.Some related adventures which had happened to them while hunting or fishing; others recounted myths about the Curupira, and other demons or spirits of the forest.They were all very appropriate to the time and place, for now and then a yell or a shriek resounded through the gloomy wilderness around the shed.
