Part 51 (1/2)

Not a bit of it; your conjecture,friend, is quite astray

There was not a civilised settleot his cow--nor a cow neither, of the sort you are thinking of But there are more kinds of cows than one; and, perhaps, you may have heard of a creature called the ”fish-cow?” Well, that is the sort of cow I a of Some term it the ”sea-cow,” but this is an improper nahout all tropical Auese call it ”_peixe boi_,” which is only ”fish-cow” done into Portuguese

It is a curious creature the fish-cow, and I shall offer you a short description of it It is usually about seven feet in length, and five round the thickest part of the body, which latter is quite smooth, and tapers off into a horizontal flat tail, semicircular in shape There are no hind-limbs upon the animal, but just behind the head are terful fins of an oval shape There is no neck to be perceived; and the head, which is not very large, tere mouth and fleshy lips, which are not unlike those of a cow: hence its name of ”cow-fish” There are stiff bristles on the upper lip, and a few thinly scattered hairs over the rest of the body Behind the oval fins are two _mammae_, or breasts, from which, when pressed, flows a stream of beautiful white milk Both eyes and ears are very small in proportion to the size of the anians, and is not easily approached by its enemy

The colour of the skin is a dusky lead, with some flesh-coloured marks on the belly, and the skin itself is an inch thick at its thickest part, on the back Beneath the skin is a layer of fat, of great, thickness, which makes excellent oil when boiled As we have said, the manati has no appearance of hind-lihly developed for a water animal The bones in theers with the joints distinct, yet so enclosed in an inflexible sheath that not a joint can bein to the borders of the lakes and rivers to procure it It can swi fins, and is not so easily captured as ht be supposed All the art of the hunter is required to effect its destruction The harpoon is the weapon usually e nets stretched across the mouths of rivers or the narrow arms of lakes The flesh of the manati is much esteeether different from ”fish” Fried in its own oil, and poured into pots or jars, it can be preserved for many months

As already stated, on the day after Guapo shot the turtle--in fact, the nextto shove off, soe of the balza, noticed a queer-looking animal in the clear water below It was no other than a ”fish-cow;” and, as they continued to examine it more attentively, they were astonished to observe that, with its short paddle-like lied two miniature models of itself close to its two breasts These were the ”calves” in the act of suckling, for such is the

All the others would have watched this spectacle for a while, interested in the maternal and filial traits thus exhibited by a subaqueous creature, but while they stood looking into the water, soe to the bottom It was the harpoon of Guapo

Blood rose to the surface i as the strong manati made its attempt to escape; but the head of the harpoon was deeply buried in its flesh, and, with the attached cord, Guapo soon hauled the animal ashore It was asit on dry land; but the knife soon took it to pieces; and then several hours were spent init fit for preservation Its fat and flesh yielded enough to fill every spare vessel our travellers had got; and, when all were filled, the balza was pushed off, and they continued their voyage without any fear of short rations for some time to come

CHAPTER L

THE CLOSING CHAPTER

After ation the balza floated upon the broad and hty Amazon, whose yellowish-olive flood flowed yet fifteen hundred miles farther to the Atlantic Ocean

The current was in ation smooth and easy--so that our travellers rarely made less than fifty miles a-day There was considerable monotony in the landscape, on account of the absence of h h a level plain The nus of the strea vistas, and the ever-changing variety of vegetation, forht to the travellers

Almost every day they passed the e as the Amazon itself Our travellers were struck with a peculiarity in relation to these rivers--that is, their variety of colour Soe of olive, like the Amazon itself; others were blue and transparent; while a third kind had waters as black as ink Of the latter class is the great river of the Rio Negro--which by means of a tributary (the Cassiquiare) joins the Amazon with the Orinoco

Indeed, the rivers of the Amazon valley have been classed into _white_, _blue_, and _black_ _Red_ rivers, such as are common in the northern division of the American continent, do not exist in the valley of the Amazon

There appears to be no other explanation for this difference in the colour of rivers, except by supposing that they take their hue froh which these channels run

But the _white_ rivers, as the Amazon itself, do not appear to be of this hue merely because they are ”muddy” On the contrary, they derive their colour, or most of it, from some impalpable substance held in a state of irreducible solution This is proved from the fact, that even when these waters enter a reservoir, and the earthy e of yellowish olive There are some white rivers, as the Rio Branco, whose waters are almost as white as milk itself!

The _blue_ rivers of the Amazon valley are those with clear transparent waters, and the courses of these lie through rocky countries where there is little or no alluvium to render them turbid

The _black_ streams are the most remarkable of all These, when deep, look like rivers of ink; and when the bottom can be seen, which is usually a sandy one, the sand has the appearance of gold Even when lifted in a vessel, the water retains its inky tinge, and reses It is a general supposition in South Aet their colour fro on their banks It is possible the sarsaparilla rootsto do with it, in coetables No other explanation has yet been found to account for the dark colour of these rivers, except the decay of vegetable substances carried in their current; and it is a fact that all the black-water streaions

A curious fact may be mentioned of the black rivers; that is, that ue of tropical America--are not found on their banks This is not only a curious, but an iht be sufficient to determine any one on the choice of a settle, and its presence a trifling annoyance Let me tell you that settlements have been broken up and deserted on account of the persecution experienced from these little insects! They are the real ”wild beasts” of South America, far more to be dreaded than puuar himself

Day after day our travellers kept on their course,with many incidents and adventures--too many to be recorded in this little voluan to get a peep now and then of high land, and even mountains, in the distance; for the valley of the A its mouth, assumes a different character from what it has farther up-stream These mountains bend towards it both from the Brazilian country on the south, and from Guiana on the north, and these are often visible from the bosom of the strea the main stream of the A of their vessel, when the balza was brought alongside the wharf of Grand Para, and Don Pablo and his party stepped on shore at this Brazilian town Here, of course, Don Pablo was a free o as he thought best But he did _not_ dispose of it at Grand Para

A better plan presented itself He was enabled to freight part of a vessel starting for New York, and thither he went, taking his fae price for his bark, roots, and beans; in fact, when all were disposed of, he found hiood With this to live upon, he deterreat Republic of the North until such tiht be freed from the Spanish oppressor

Ten years was the period of his exile At the end of that time the Spanish-American provinces struck alle that followed, not only Don Pablo, but Leon--now a young ht by the side of Bolivar at the great battle of Junin, which crowned the patriot army with victory