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

by Mayne Reid

  At length the creature whose motion he had observed, whatever it was,came near enough for him to obtain a full view of it; and though it wasneither a snake nor a crocodile, still it was of sufficiently formidableand novel appearance to cause him a feeling of fear. In shape itresembled a seal; but in dimensions it was altogether different, beingmuch larger than seals usually are. It was full ten feet from snout totail, and of a proportionate thickness of body. It had the head of abull or cow, with a broad muzzle, and thick, overhanging lip, but withvery small eyes; and instead of ears, there were two round cavities uponthe crown of its head. It had a large, flat tail, not standing up likethe tail of a fish, but spread in a horizontal direction, like that of abird. Its skin was smooth, and naked of hairs, with the exception ofsome straggling ones set thinly over it, and some tufts resemblingbristles radiating around its mouth and nostrils. The skin itself wasof a dull leaden hue, with some cream-coloured spots under the throatand along the belly. It had also a pair of flippers, more than a footin length, standing out from the shoulders, with a teat in front ofeach, and looking like little paddles, with which the huge creature waspropelling itself through the water, just as a fish uses its fins or aman his arms.

  The Irishman did not stay to note half of these characteristics, buthastily woke Munday, crying, "What is it? O what is it?"

  The Indian, rousing himself, looked round for a moment dreamily, andthen, as he caught sight of the strange object, replied, "Good fortune!it is the _juaroua_."

  CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT.

  A FISH-COW AT PASTURE.

  The Irishman was no wiser for Munday's answer, "The juaroua."

  "But what is it?" he again asked, curious to learn something of thecreature. "Is it a fish or a quadruped?"

  "A _peixe-boi_,--a _peixe-boi_!" hurriedly answered the tapuyo. "That'show the whites call it. Now you know."

  "But I don't, though, not a bit betther than before. A pikes-boy!Troth, it don't look much like a pike at all, at all. If it's a fish avany kind, I should say it was a sale. O, luk there, Munday! Arrah, seenow! If it's the owld pike's boy, yandher's the young wan too. See, ithas tuk howlt av the tit, an' 's sucking away like a calf! An' luk! theold wan has got howlt av it with her flipper, an' 's kapin' it up to thebreast! Save us! did hever I see such a thing!"

  The sight was indeed one to astonish the Irishman, since it has from alltime astonished the Amazonian Indians themselves, in spite of itsfrequency. They cannot understand so unusual a habit as that of a fishsuckling its young; for they naturally think that the peixe-boi is afish, instead of a cetacean, and they therefore continue to regard itwith curious feelings, as a creature not to be classified in theordinary way.

  "Hush!" whispered the Indian, with a sign to Tom to keep quiet. "Sitstill! make no noise. There's a chance of our capturing the juaroua,--agood chance, now that I see the _juaroua-i_ [little one] along with it.Don't wake the others yet. The juaroua can see like a vulture, and hearlike an eagle, though it has such little eyes and ears. Hush!"

  The peixe-boi had by this time got abreast of the dead-wood, and wasswimming slowly past it. A little beyond there was a sort of bay,opening in among the trees, towards which it appeared to be directingits course, suckling the calf as it swam.

  "Good," said Munday, softly. "I guess what it's going after up there.Don't you see something lying along the water?"

  "Yes; but it's some sort av wather-grass."

  "That's just it."

  "An' what would it want wid the grass? Yez don't mane to till me itates grass?"

  "Eats nothing else, and this is just the sort it feeds on. Very likethat's its pasturing place. So much the better if it is, because itwill stay there till morning, and give me a chance to kill it."

  "But why can't yez kill it now?" said Tom.

  "For want of a proper weapon. My knife is of no use. The juaroua istoo cunning to let one come so near. If it come back in the morning, Iwill take care to be ready for it. From it we can get meat enough for along voyage. See, it has begun to browse!"

  Sure enough it had, just as the Indian said, commenced pasturing uponthe long blades of grass that spread horizontally over the surface; andjust as a cow gathers the meadow sward into her huge mouth, at intervalsprotruding her tongue to secure it, so did the great water cow of theAmazon spread her broad lips and extend her rough tongue to take in thefloating herbage of the Gapo.

  CHAPTER SIXTY NINE.

  THE PASHUBA SPEAR.

  Munday was now prepared to set out on a little exploring excursion, ashe said; so, enjoining upon Tom, who was determined to awake thesleepers that they might share the sight of the feeding fish-cow, tokeep them all strictly quiet until his return, he slipped softly intothe water and swam noiselessly away.

  The enforced silence was tedious enough to the party, who were all eagerto talk about the strange spectacle they saw, and it would surely havebeen soon broken, had not the Indian returned with a new object fortheir curiosity. He had stolen off, taking with him only his knife. Athis reappearance he had the knife still with him, and another weapon aswell, which the knife had enabled him to procure. It was a staff ofabout twelve feet in length, straight as a rush, slightly tapering, andpointed at the end like a spear. In fact, it _was_ a spear, which hehad been manufacturing during his hour of absence out of a split stem ofthe _pashuba_ palm. Not far off he had found one of these trees, awater-loving species,--the _Martea exorhuza_,--whose stems are supportedupon slanting roots, that stand many feet above the surface of the soil.With the skill known only to an Amazonian Indian in the use of aknife-blade, he had split the pashuba, (hard as iron on the outside, butsoft at the heart,) and out of one of the split pieces had he hastilyfashioned his spear. Its point only needed to be submitted to fire, andthen steel itself would not serve better for a spear-head. Fortunatelythe hearth was not yet cold. A few red cinders smouldered by the wetcircle, and, thrusting his spear point among them, the Indian waited forit to become hardened. When done to his satisfaction, he drew it out ofthe ashes, scraped it to a keen point with the blade of his knife, andthen announced himself ready to attack the juaroua.

  The amphibious animal was yet there, its head visible above the bed ofgrass upon which it was still grazing. Munday, while rejoiced at thecircumstance, expressed himself also surprised at it. He had not beensanguine of finding it on his return with the spear, and, whilefabricating the weapon, he had only been encouraged by the expectationthat the peixe-boi, if gone away for the night, would return to itsgrazing ground in the morning. As it was now, it could not haveafforded him a better opportunity for _striking_ it. It was recliningnear the surface, its head several inches above it, and directly under alarge tree, whose lower limbs, extending horizontally, almost droppedinto the water. If he could but get unperceived upon one of thoselimbs, it would be an easy matter to drive the spear into its body asfar as his strength would enable him.

  If any man could swim noiselessly through the water, climb silently intothe tree, and steal without making sound along its limbs, that man wasthe Mundurucu. In less time than you could count a thousand, he hadsuccessfully accomplished this, and was crouching upon a limb right overthe cow. In an instant his spear was seen to descend as the spectatorswere expecting it to do; but to their astonishment, instead of strikingthe body of the peixe-boi, it pierced into the water several feet fromthe snout of the animal! What could it mean? Surely the skilledharpooner of fish-cattle could not have made such a stray stroke.Certainly he had not touched the cow! Had he speared anything?

  "He's killed the calf!" cried Tipperary Tom. "Luk yandher! Don't yezsee its carcass floatin' in the wather?"

  Still the spectators could not understand it. Why should the calf havebeen killed, which would scarce give them a supper, and the cow spared,that would have provisioned the whole crew for a month? Why had thechance been thrown away? Was it thrown away? They only thought so,while expecting the peixe-boi to escape. But they were quicklyundeceived.
They had not reckoned upon the strong maternal instincts ofthat amphibious mother,--instincts that annihilate all sense of danger,and prompt a reckless rushing upon death in the companionship or for theprotection of the beloved offspring. It was too late to protect thetiny creature, but the mother recked not of this. Danger deterred hernot from approaching it again and again, each time receiving a freshstab from that terrible stick, until, with a long-drawn sigh, sheexpired among the sedge.

  These animals are extremely tenacious of life, and a single, thrust fromsuch a weapon as he wielded would only have put the peixe-boi to flight,never to be encountered again. The harpoon alone, with its barbed headand floats, can secure them for a second strike; and not being providedwith this weapon, nor the means of making it, the old tapuyo knew thathis only chance was to act as he had done. Experience had made him abeliever in the affection of the animal, and the result proved that hehad not mistaken its strength.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY.

  CURING THE FISH-COW.

  Nothing was done for that night. All slept contentedly on thedead-wood, which next day became the scene of a series of curiousoperations. This did not differ very much from the spectacle that mightbe witnessed in the midst of the wide ocean, when whalemen have struckone of the great leviathans of the deep, and brought their shipalongside for the purpose of cutting it up.

  In like manner as the whale is "flensed," so was the fish-cow, Mundayperforming the operation with his knife, by first skinning the creature,and then separating the flesh into broad strips or steaks, which wereafterwards make into _charqui_, by being hung up in the sun.

  Previous to this, however, many "griskins"--as Tom called them--had beencut from the carcass, and, broiled over the fire kindled upon the log,had furnished both supper and breakfast to the party. No squeamishnesswas shown by any one. Hunger forbade it; and, indeed, whether withsharp appetites or not, there was no reason why they should not relishone of the most coveted articles of animal food to be obtained inAmazonia. The taste was that of pork; though there were parts of theflesh of a somewhat coarser grain, and inferior in flavour to the realdairy-fed pig.

  The day was occupied in making it ready for curing, which would takeseveral days' exposure under the hot sun. Before night, however, theyhad it separated into thin slices, and suspended upon a sort ofclothes-line, which, by means of poles and sipos, Munday had rigged uponthe log. The lean parts alone were to be preserved, for the fat whichlies between these, in thick layers of a greenish colour and fishyflavour, is considered rather strong for the stomach,--even of an Indiannot over nice about such matters. When a peixe-boi has been harpoonedin the usual manner, this is not thrown away, or wasted. Put into aproper boiling-pot, it yields a very good kind of oil,--ten or twelvegallons being obtained from an individual of the largest and fattestkind.

  In the present instance, the fat was disregarded and flung back into theflood, while the bones, as they were laid bare, were served in a similarfashion. The skin, however, varying from an inch in thickness over theback, to half an inch under the abdomen, and which Munday had removedwith considerable care, was stowed away in a hollow place upon the log.Why it was kept, none of the others could guess. Perhaps the Indianmeant it as something to fall back upon in the event of the charquigiving out.

  It was again night by the time the cow-skin was deposited in its place,and of course no journey could be attempted for that day. On the morrowthey intended to commence the voyage which it was hoped would bring themto the other side of the lagoa, if not within sight of land. As theyate their second supper of _amphibious steaks_, they felt in betterspirits than for many days. They were not troubled with hunger orthirst; they were not tortured by sitting astride the branches of atree; and the knowledge that they had now a craft capable of carryingthem--however slow might be the rate--inspired them with pleasantexpectations. Their conversation was more cheerful than usual, andduring the after-supper hour it turned chiefly on the attributes andhabits of the strange animal which Munday had so cleverly dissected.

  Most of the information about its habits was supplied by the Indianhimself, who had learned them by personal experience; though many pointsin its natural history were given by the patron, who drew his knowledgeof it from books. Trevannion told them that a similar creature--thoughbelieved to be of a different species--was found in the sea; butgenerally near to some coast where there was fresh water flowing in bythe estuary of a river. One kind in the Indian seas was known by thename of _dugong_, and another in the West Indies as the _manati_ or_manatee_,--called by the French _lamantin_. The Spaniards also know itby the name of _vaca marina_ (sea-cow), the identical name given by theDutch of the Cape Colony to the hippopotamus,--of course a verydifferent animal.

  The manati is supposed to have been so named from its fins, or flippers,bearing some resemblance to the hands of a human being,--in Spanish,_manos_,--entitling it to the appellation of the "handed" animal. Butthe learned Humboldt has shown that this derivation would be contrary tothe idiom of the Spanish language, which would have made the word_manudo_ or _manon_, and not _manati_. It is therefore more likely thatthis name is the one by which it was known to the aborigines of thesouthern coast of Cuba, where the creature was first seen by thediscoverers of America. Certain it is that the sea species of the WestIndies and the Guianian coast is much larger than that found in theAmazon and other South American rivers; the former being sometimes foundfull twenty feet in length, while the length of the fish-cow of SouthAmerica rarely reaches ten.

  Here Munday took up the thread of the discourse, and informed the circleof listeners that there were several species of juaroua--this was thename he gave it--in the waters of the Amazon. He knew of three kinds,that were distinct, not only in size, but in shape,--the differencebeing chiefly observable in the fashion of the fins and tail. There wasalso some difference in their colour,--one species being much lighter inhue than the others, with a pale cream-coloured belly; while the abdomenof the common kind is of a slaty lead, with some pinkish white spotsscattered thinly over it.

  A peculiar characteristic of the peixe-boi is discovered in if lungs,--no doubt having something to do with its amphibious existence. These,when taken out of the animal and inflated by blowing into them, swell upto the lightness and dimensions of an India-rubber swimming-belt; sothat, as young Richard observed while so inflating them, they couldspare at least one set of the sapucaya-shells, if once more compelled totake to the water.

  Munday gave a very good account of the mode practised in capturing thejuaroua, not only by the Indians of his own tribe, but by all others inthe Amazon valley. The hunter of the peixe-boi--or fisher, as we shouldrather call him--provides himself with a _montaria_ (a light canoe) anda harpoon. He rows to the spot where the creature may be expected toappear,--usually some solitary lagoon or quiet spot out of the current,where there is a species of grass forming its favourite food. Atcertain hours the animal comes thither to pasture. Sometimes only asingle individual frequents the place, but oftener a pair, with theircalves,--never more than two of the latter. At times there may be seena small herd of old ones.

  Their enemy, seated in his canoe, awaits their approach in silence; andthen, after they have become forgetful of all save their enjoyment ofthe succulent grass, he paddles up to them. He makes his advances withthe greatest caution; for the fish-cow, unlike its namesake of thefarm-yard, is a shy and suspicious animal. The plunge of the paddle, ora rude ripple of the water against the sides of the montaria, wouldfrighten it from its food, and send it off into the open water, where itcould not be approached.

  The occupant of the canoe is aware of this, and takes care not to makethe slightest disturbance, till he has got within striking distance. Hethen rises gently into a half-crouching attitude, takes the measure ofthe distance between him and his victim, and throws his harpoon withunerring aim. A line attached to the shaft of the weapon secures thewounded animal from getting clear away. It may dive to the bottom, orrush madly along
the surface, but can only go so far as that terribletether will allow it, to be dragged back towards the montaria, where itsstruggles are usually terminated by two or three thrusts of a spear.

  The sport, or, more properly speaking, the trade, of harpooning thisriver cetacean, is followed by most of the Amazonian Indians. There isnot much of it done during the season of the floods. Then the animals,becoming dispersed over a large surface of inundated forest, are seenonly on rare occasions; and a chase specially directed to discover themwould not repay the trouble and loss of time. It is when the floodshave fallen to their lowest, and the lagoas or permanent ponds of waterhave contracted to their ordinary limits, that the harpooning of thefish-cow becomes profitable. Then it is followed as a regular pursuit,and occupies the Indian for several weeks in the year.

  Sometimes a lagoon is discovered in which many of these creatures havecongregated,--their retreat to the main river having been cut off by thefalling of the floods. On such occasions the tribe making the discoveryreaps a plentiful harvest, and butchering becomes the order of the day.

  The malocca, or village, is for the time deserted; all hands--men,women, children, and curs--moving off to the lagoa, and making theirencampment upon its edge. They bring with them boiling-pots, for tryingout the oil, and jars to contain it, and carry it to the port ofcommerce; for, being of a superior quality, it tempts the Portuguesetrader to make long voyages up many remote tributaries where it isobtained.