CHAPTER II.
VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS.
Preparations for voyage—First day's sail—Mode of arranging money-matters and remittance of collections in the interior—Loss of boat—Altar do Chaõ—Excursion in forest—Valuable timber—Modes of obtaining fish—Difficulties with crew—Arrival at Aveyros—Excursions in the neighbourhood—White Cebus and habits and dispositions of Cebi Monkeys—Tame Parrot—Missionary settlement—Enter the River Cuparí—Adventure with Anaconda—Smoke-dried monkey—Boa-constrictor—Village of Mundurucú Indians, and incursion of a wild tribe—Falls of the Cuparí—Hyacinthine macaw—Re-emerge into the broad Tapajos—Descent of river to Santarem.
June, 1852.—I will now proceed to relate the incidents of my principal excursion up the Tapajos, which I began to prepare for, after residing about six months at Santarem.
I was obliged, this time, to travel in a vessel of my own; partly because trading canoes large enough to accommodate a Naturalist very seldom pass between Santarem and the thinly-peopled settlements on the river, and partly because I wished to explore districts at my ease, far out of the ordinary track of traders. I soon found a suitable canoe; a two-masted cuberta, of about six tons' burthen, strongly built of Itaüba or stone-wood, a timber of which all the best vessels in the
