The ring of the axe
and the sound of falling trees marked the commencement of
civilization in those far-off regions. Ever and anon a loud report
rang out from the woods, for it might almost be said that the men
worked with the axe in one hand and a rifle in the other. Once they
started a giant tapir taking his afternoon snooze. The beast lazily
got up and made off, but not before he had turned his piercing eyes
on the intruders, as though wondering what new animals they were.
Surely this was his first sight of the "lords of creation," and
probably his last, for a bullet quickly whizzed after him. Another
day the men shot a puma searching for its prey, and numerous were the
birds, beasts and reptiles that fell before our arms. The very
venomous jaracucu, a snake eight to twelve feet long, having a
double row of teeth in each jaw, is quite common here.
The forests are full of birds and beasts in infinite variety, as also
of those creatures which seem neither bird nor beast. There are large
black howling monkeys, and little black-faced ones with prehensile
tails, by means of which they swing in mid-air or jump from tree to
tree in sheer lightness of heart. There is also the sloth, which, as
its name implies, is painfully deliberate in its motions. Were I a
Scotchman I should say that "I dinna think that in a' nature there is
a mair curiouser cratur." Sidney Smith's summary of this strange
animal is that it moves suspended, rests suspended, sleeps suspended,
and passes its whole life in suspense. This latter state may also
aptly describe the condition of the traveller in those regions; for
man, brave though he may be, does not relish a vis-a-vis with the
enormous anaconda, also to be seen there at most inconvenient times.
I was able to procure the skins of two of these giant serpents.
The leader of the "forest gang," a Paraguayan, wore round his neck a
cotton scapular bought from the priest before he started on the
expedition. This was supposed to save him from all dangers, seen and
unseen. Poor man, he was a good Roman Catholic, and often counted his
beads, but he was an inveterate liar and thief.
Taking into consideration the wild country, and the adventurous
mission which had brought us together, our men were not at all a bad
class. One of them, however, a black Brazilian, used to boast at
times that he had killed his father while he slept. In the quiet of
the evening hour he would relate the story with unnatural gusto.
We generally slept on the deck of the steamer, each under a thin
netting, while the millions of mosquitos buzzed outside - and inside
when they could steal a march. Mosquitos?
