i 4 8 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [November,
that it can be inverted in wet weather to keep the arrows dry. The blow-pipe, or gravatana, is the principal weapon here. Every Indian has one,. and seldom goes into the forest, or on the rivers, without it.
I soon found that the Cocks of the Rock, to obtain which was my chief object in coming here, were not to be found near the village. Their principal resort was the Serra de Cobati, or mountain before mentioned, situated some ten or twelve miles off in the forest, where I was informed they were very abundant. I accordingly made arrangements for a trip to the Serra, with the intention of staying there a week. By the promise of good payment for every " Gallo " they killed for me, I persuaded almost the whole male population of the village to accompany me. As our path was through a dense forest for ten miles, we could not load ourselves with much baggage : every man had to carry his gravatana, bow and arrows, rede, and some farinha ; which, with salt, was all the provisions we took, trusting to the forest for our meat ; and I even gave up my daily and only luxury of coffee.
We started off, thirteen in number, along a tolerable path. In about an hour we came to a mandiocca-field and a house, the last on the road to the Serra. Here we waited a short time, took some " mingau," or gruel, made of green plantains, and got a volunteer to join our company. I was much struck with an old woman whose whole body was one mass of close deep wrinkles, and whose hair was white, a sure sign of very great age in an Indian ; from information I obtained, I believe she was more than a hundred years old. There was also a young " mameluca," very fair and handsome, and of a particu- larly intelligent expression of countenance, very rately seen in that mixed race. The moment I saw her I had little doubt of her being a person of whom I had heard Senhor L. speak as the daughter of the celebrated German naturalist, Dr. Natterer, by an Indian woman. I afterwards saw her at Gui'a, and ascertained that my supposition was correct. She was about seventeen years of age, was married to an Indian, and had several children. She was a fine specimen of the noble race produced by the mixture of the Saxon and Indian blood.
Proceeding onwards, we came to another recently-cleared mandiocca-field. Here the path was quite obliterated, and we had to cross over it as we could. Imagine the trees of a virgin
