Afloat in the Forest; Or, A Voyage among the Tree-Tops

by Mayne Reid

  Several hours were spent in slowly wending along their watery way, theswimmers occasionally taking a rest, stretched along the surface of thewater, supported by hanging llianas or the drooping branches of thetrees. At noon, however, a longer halt was proposed by the guide, towhich his followers gladly gave consent. All were influenced by adouble desire,--to refresh themselves not only by a good rest, but bymaking a meal on the cold roast macaws, several of which were strappedupon the shoulders of the tapuyo. A tree with broad, spreading branchesoffered a convenient place, and, climbing into it, they took their seatsto await the distribution of the dinner, which was committed to the careof the ex-steward, Mozey.

  CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.

  ABOUT HUMMING-BIRDS.

  Previous to ascending their dining-tree, the swimmers had been more thansix hours in the water, and, as nearly as they could guess, had madeabout that number of miles. They congratulated themselves on having metwith no hostile inhabitants of the Gapo, for the jararaca and jacare,with the perils encountered while in the presence of these two dangerousreptiles, were fresh enough in their remembrance to inspire them withcontinual fear. All along the way, the Indian had been constantly uponthe alert. Nothing had occurred to cause them alarm, though manystrange sounds had been heard, and strange creatures had been seen.Most of these, however, were of a character to cheer rather thanaffright them. The sounds were mostly musical,--the voices of birds,--while the creatures seen were the birds themselves, many of beautifulforms and bright plumage, perched upon the tree-tops, or winging theirway overhead. Conspicuous among them were the tiny winged creaturescalled humming-birds, with which the Gapo abounded. During their swimthey had seen several distinct species of these lovely little sprites,flashing like meteors over the surface of the water, or darting aboutthrough the tree-tops like sparks of glistening light. They appeared tobe the gnomes and elves of the place.

  While eating dinner, our adventurers were favoured with an excellentopportunity of observing the habits of these graceful and almostmicroscopic creatures. A tree stood near, whose top was surmounted by aparasite,--a species of bignonia,--in full blossom, that with its arrayof sweet-scented flowers completely covered the tree, almost concealingthe green foliage underneath. Over this flowery spot hundreds ofhumming-birds were hovering, now darting from point to point, anonpoised upon swiftly whirring wings in front of an open flower, theirtiny beak inserted into the corolla, therefrom to extract the savouryhoney. There were several species of them, though none of them of largesize, and all looking more like insects than birds. But for theswiftness of their motions, they might have passed for a swarm of wildbees (_meliponae_) disporting themselves among the flowers. Ralph andRosa were delighted with the spectacle, though it was not new to them,for the warmer valleys of the Andes, through which they had passed inapproaching the headwaters of the Amazon, were the favourite _habitat_of the humming-birds, and there a greater number of species exist thanin Amazonia itself. What was new to them, however, and to the rest ofthe party as well, was some information imparted by the tapuyo whilethey sat conversing after dinner. He said that there were two kinds ofthese birds, which, although alike in size, beauty, bright plumage, andmany other respects, were altogether distinct in their habits and waysof life. By two kinds he did not mean two species, for there were many,but two sets of species, or groups, as the Indian would have calledthem, had he been a student of ornithology. One set, he said,--and theseveral species then before their eyes belonged to it,--lived upon thejuice of the flowers, and this was their only food. These frequentedsuch open _campos_ as those on the southern side of the Solimoes, andalong the rivers running into it from that direction. They were alsocommon in plantations, and other places where clearings had been made,or where the forest was thin and scattering, because there only couldthey find a sufficiency of flowers. It was only at times that they madeexcursions into the great water-forest, when some of the sipo plantswere in blossom, just as the one before them was at that time. Thespecies they saw did not belong to the Gapo. They had only strayedthere upon a roving excursion, and would soon return to the mainland,--the treeless regions. The kinds that frequented the great forest neverwent out of it, and cared nothing about flowers. If seen hoveringaround a tree in blossom, it was only because they were in pursuit ofinsects, which had been attracted thither in search of the sweet juices.Upon these the forest humming-birds regularly preyed, making theirexclusive diet upon flies, which they caught as much among the foliageas the flowers, darting upon the insects whenever they perched upon theleaves, and snapping them up either from the upper or under side. Theybuilt their nests upon the tips of the palm-leaves, choosing the sidethat was inward towards the tree, from which they suspended them. Theywere purse-shaped, and composed of fibres closely woven together with athick lining of a fine, soft silk-cotton, taken from the fruit of a treecalled _samauma_. They did not come much into the sun, like the otherkinds, but kept more in the shade, and might be often met whirring aboutin the aisles of the forest. Sometimes they would poise themselves inthe air, right in front of a person passing through among thetree-trunks, and, after remaining till the intruder's face would bewithin a few feet of them, would fly on in advance of him, and againcome to a pause in the same way, repeating the manoeuvre several timesin succession. All these things, averred the observant Indian, made thehumming-birds that kept constantly to the forest very different fromthose that only visited it upon occasions, and therefore, in hisopinion, they were of two distinct kinds. And his opinion was thecorrect one, founded on observations already made by the ornithologist,and which have resulted in the classification of the humming-birds intotwo great groups, the _Trochilinae_ and _Phaethorninae_.

  CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

  A CUL-DE-SAC.

  Notwithstanding the pleasant theme that formed the subject of theirafter-dinner discourse, it was not long continued. Both those who tookpart in it and those who listened were too anxious about their situationto enjoy even the most interesting conversation. As soon, therefore, asthey felt sufficiently recruited by the rest, they resumed their aquaticjourney. For several hours they continued to advance at the same slowrate, without encountering any incident worthy of record. The igarapestill trended in a straight line, with only here and there a slightturning to one side or the other, preserving, however, the same generaldirection, which was northward. This they had discovered on the nightbefore, not by observing the polar star, which is at no time visible atthe equator, nor until you have travelled several degrees to the northof it. Even when this well-known star should be seen from the lowlatitudes of the torrid zone, it is usually obscured by the hazy filmextending along the horizon. Sirius and other northern, constellationshad guided them. As the sun had been shining throughout the whole ofthat day as well as the preceding one, you may suppose there could be nodifficulty in discovering the quarter, within a point or two of thecompass, at any hour of the day. This might be true to any onetravelling in a high latitude, northern or southern, or at certainseasons of the year, anywhere outside the tropics. Even within thetropics it might be done by skilful observation, if the observer knewthe exact time of the year. Trevannion knew the time. He knew,moreover, that it was close upon the vernal equinox, when the sun wascrossing the equatorial line, near to which they were wandering. Forthis reason, in the meridian hours the great orb was right over theirheads, and no one--not even a skilled astronomer--could have told northfrom south, or cast from west.

  Supposing that the igarape should not be trending in the same direction,but imperceptibly departing from it? In that case, during the mid-hoursof the day they could have had no guidance from the sky, and must havesuspended their journey till the sun should begin to sink towards thewest, and once more make known the points of the compass. Fortunatelythey needed not to make this delay. As already observed, the flow ofthe flood was the pilot to which they looked for keeping them in theircourse; and, as this still ran with a slight obliquity in the samedirection
as the igarape, the latter could not have departed from theright line upon which, they had been advancing. The current had beencompared with the points of the compass that morning before setting out.It was a little to the east of north. Northward, then, was the courseof the swimmers.

  They had drawn further inference from the direction in which the floodwas setting. It proved that they had strayed from the Solimoes by itsleft or northern bank, and must now be somewhere among the mouths of thegreat river Japura. It was no consolation to discover this, but thecontrary. The old tapuyo only looked graver on arriving at theconviction that such was the case. He knew that in that direction, inthe vast delta formed by the unnumbered branches of the Japura, the Gapowas of great width, extending far back from the banks of this remarkableriver, and dry land in that direction might be at the greatest distance.There was no alternative but to keep on, and, by deviating from thecourse as little as possible, they might in due time reach the limits ofthe flood. Actuated by this impulse and its attendant hopes, theycontinued their toilsome journey along "the path of the canoe."

  We have said that for several hours they encountered no incident worthyof note. It was not destined, however, for that day's sun to set beforeone should arise, whose record is not a matter of choice, but necessity,since it exerted such an influence on the proceedings of the travellersas to cause a complete change in their mode of progression. What theyencountered was not exactly an incident, but an obstruction. In otherwords, their swim was suddenly brought to an end by the ending of theigarape!

  They had arrived at the termination of this curious canal, which all atonce came to a _cul-de-sac_, the trees closing in on both sides, andpresenting an impenetrable front, that forbade farther progress. Theway was equally obstructed in every other direction; for on neither sideof the igarape, throughout its whole length, had any opening beenobserved. At first they fancied that the water might open again beyondthe obstruction, but Munday, after penetrating a short distance amongthe tree-trunks, returned to declare his conviction that the igarape wasat an end. Nor did it terminate by any gradual convergence of the twolines of trees. On the contrary, they came together in an abruptcircular sweep,--one of colossal size, that rose high above its fellowsand spread far out, standing in the centre, like some Titanic guardianof the forest, and seeming to say to the igarape, "Hitherto shalt thoucome, but no farther!"

  It was of no use remaining longer in the water for that day. Even hadthe obstruction not arisen, it was time to have suspended theirexertions. The sun was sinking towards the tree-tops, and by the timethey could get themselves snugly stowed away, and something ready forsupper, it would be night. Leaving other cares for the morrow, and themorrow to take care of itself, they at once proceeded to select theirsleeping-place for the night. The colossal tree that had come sounpleasantly across their track seemed to offer the very quarters theywere in search of; and, without more ado, they accepted the hospitalityof its wide-spreading branches.

  CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.

  THE BRAZIL-NUTS.

  The tree upon which they had made their roost was one of a species ofwhich they had observed many during the day. It was the true Brazil-nut(_Bertholletia excelsa_), own cousin to the sapucaya; for both are ofthe same family,--the _Lecythis_,--of which there are many distinctmembers. Like the sapucaya, it is a denizen of the low lands andflooded forests, growing to a stupendous height. It produces large,showy flowers, which are succeeded by huge capsule-like pericarps, eachenclosing a score or more of Brazil-nuts. But though the flowers arefollowed by the fruits, these do not all come together; and, like theorange and other tropical trees, bud, blossom, and fruit may all beobserved upon the same branch, in various stages of development.

  It need not be said that the nuts of the _Bertholletia_ form one of thecommercial staples of Amazonia. They are too well-known to need furtherdescription; for there are few dwelling-houses in either Europe orAmerica where they have not been submitted to the squeeze of thenut-crackers. In the forest, where they are no man's property, they arecollected by whoever chooses to take the trouble, but chiefly by theIndians and half-breeds who dwell on the borders of the Gapo. The timeto gather the Brazil-nuts is the _vasante_, or dry season, though thereare certain tribes of savages that go nutting in their canoes during theseason of the _echente_. But the real nut harvest is after the floodshave subsided, and the trees once more stand upon dry land. Then thewhole _malocca_ of Indians, or the inhabitants of a village, proceed ina body to the places where the fruits are to be found, scattered aroundthe stems of the tall trees that have produced them.

  In gathering their crop the gleaners require to observe certainprecautions, those who go under the trees covering their heads with athick wooden cap, resembling a helmet, lest the dropping of the heavycapsules--big as a cannon-ball, and almost as heavy--might crack askull! For this reason the monkeys of the Amazon forest, though crazyfor sapucaya and Brazil-nuts, always give the _Bertholletia_ a wideberth, never going under, but around it, in a circle whose circumferencelies outside the tips of the branches. Strange to say, these creatureshave no fear of the sapucaya, although its pericarps are as large andheavy as those of the Brazil-nuts. But the former do not fall to theground, or when they do, it is only after the lid has sprung open, andthe huge cup has scattered its contents, leaving it a light and emptyshell. It is for this reason, as much as anything else, that the nutsof the sapucaya are scarce in the market, and command a higher price.Having escaped spontaneously from their shell, they are at the mercy ofall comers, birds, quadrupeds, and monkeys; whereas the Brazil-nuts,protected by their thick woody pericarps, are not so easily accessible.Even the monkeys cannot get at them, until some animal with teeth betteradapted for chiselling performs for them the service of laying open thebox, and giving them a chance at the treasures contained within. Thisis done by several species of rodents, among which the _cutia_ and_paca_ are conspicuous; and one of the most comical spectacles to beseen in a South American forest is that of a group of monkeys, watchingfrom a distance the proceedings of a paca thus employed, and thenspringing forward to take forcible possession of the pericarp after ithas been sufficiently opened.

  It was a bit of good fortune that our adventurers found lodgings uponthe _Bertholletia_. Though more hospitality may usually be met with inan inn, it provided them with at least a portion of their supper,--thebread-stuff. They had still left a brace of the macaw squabs that hadnot been roasted; but Munday, as before, soon produced sufficient fireto give them a scorching, and keen appetites supplied salt, pepper, andsauce.

  CHAPTER FORTY.

  A TRAVELLING PARTY OF GUARIBAS.

  Supper over, our adventurers only awaited the sunset to signal them totheir repose. They had already selected their beds, or what was toserve for such,--the spaces of horizontal network formed by theintertwining of luxuriant llianas. At the best, it was no better thansleeping upon a raked hurdle; but they had been already somewhat inuredto an uneasy couch on the galatea, and they were every day becoming lesssensitive to necessities and hardships. They were all tired with thesevere exertions they had made; for although their journey had been butabout six miles, it was enough to equal sixty made upon land. They feltas if they could go to sleep astride of a limb, or suspended from abranch.

  It was not decreed by fate that they should find rest before being madethe witnesses of a spectacle so curious, that, had they been ever somuch inclined for sleep, would have kept them awake against their will.

  A noise heard afar off in the forest attracted their attention. Therewas nothing in it to alarm them, though had they not heard it before, orsomething similar to it, their fears might have been excited to theutmost pitch of terror. What they heard was the lugubrious chant of aband of howling monkeys. Of all the voices of Nature that awake theechoes of the Amazonian forest, there is perhaps none so awe-inspiringas this. It is a combination of sounds, that embrace the various tonesof shrieking, screaming, chattering, growling, and howling, mingled wi
than occasional crash, and a rattle, such as might proceed from the throatof a dying maniac. And yet all this is often the product of a single_mycetes_, or howling monkey, whose hollow hyoidal bone enables him to--send forth every species of sound, from the rolling of a bass drum tothe sharp squeak of a penny-whistle.