Chapter 45

Life around the Great River.--Insects.--Reptiles.--Birds.--Mammals.

The forest of the Amazon is less full of life than the river. Beasts, birds, and reptiles are exceedingly scarce; still there is, in fact, a great variety, but they are widely scattered and very shy. In the animal, as in the vegetable kingdom, diversity is the law; there is a great paucity of individuals compared with the species.[173] Insects are rare in the dense forest; they are almost confined to the more open country along the banks of the rivers. Ants are perhaps the most numerous. There is one species over an inch long. But the most prominent, by their immense numbers, are the dreaded saübas. Well-beaten paths branch off in every direction through the forest, on which broad columns may be seen marching to and fro, each bearing vertically a circular piece of leaf. Unfortunately they prefer cultivated trees, especially the coffee and orange. They are also given to plundering provisions; in a single night they will carry off bushels of farina. They are of a light red color, with powerful jaws. In every formicarium or ant colony there are three sets of individuals--males, females, and workers; but the saübas have the singularity of possessing three classes of workers. The light-colored mounds often met in the forest, sometimes measuring forty feet in diameter by two feet in height, are the domes which overlie the entrances to the vast subterranean galleries of the saüba ants. These ants are eaten by the Rio Negro Indians, and esteemed a luxury; while the Tapajos tribes use them to season their mandioca sauce. Akin to the vegetable-feeding saübas are the carnivorous ecitons, or foraging ants, of which Bates found ten distinct species. They hunt for prey in large organized armies, almost every species having its own special manner of marching and hunting. Fortunately the ecitons choose the thickest part of the forest. The fire-ant is the great plague on the Tapajos. It is small, and of a shiny reddish color; but its sting is very painful, and it disputes every fragment of food with the inhabitants. All eatables and hammocks have to be hung by cords smeared with copaiba balsam.

[Footnote 173: Amazonia is divided into four distinct zoological districts: those of Ecuador, Peru, Guiana, and Brazil; the limits being the Amazon, Madeira, and Negro. The species found on one side of these rivers are seldom found on the other.]

The traveler on the Amazon frequently meets with conical hillocks of compact earth, from three to five feet high, from which radiate narrow covered galleries or arcades. The architects of these wonderful structures are the termites, or "white ants," so called, though they belong to a higher order of insects, widely differing from the true ants. The only thing in common is the principle of division of labor. The termite neuters are subdivided into two classes, soldiers and workers, both wingless and blind. Their great enemy is the ant-eater; but it is a singular fact, noticed by Bates, that the soldiers only attach themselves to the long worm-like tongue of this animal, so that the workers, on whom the prosperity of the termitarum depends, are saved by the self-sacrifice of the fighting caste. The office of the termites in the tropics seems to be to hasten the decomposition of decaying vegetation. But they also work their way into houses, trunks, wardrobes, and libraries. "It is principally owing to their destructiveness" (wrote Humboldt) "that it is so rare to find papers in tropical America older than fifty or sixty years."

Dragon-flies are conspicuous specimens of insect life on the Amazon. The largest and most brilliant kinds are found by the shady brooks and creeks in the recesses of the forest, some of them with green or crimson bodies seven inches long, and their elegant lace-like wings tipped with white or yellow. Still more noticeable are the butterflies. There is a vast number of genera and species, and great beauty of dress, unequaled in the temperate zone. Some idea of the diversity is conveyed by the fact mentioned by Mr. Bates that about 700 species are found within an hour's walk of Pará, and 550 at Ega; while the total number found in the British Islands does not exceed 66, and the whole of Europe supports only 300. After a shower in the dry season the butterflies appear in fluttering clouds (for they live in societies), white, yellow, red, green, purple, black, and blue, many of them bordered with metallic lines and spots of a silvery or golden lustre. The sulphur-yellow and orange-colored kinds predominate. A colossal morpho, seven and a half inches in expanse, and visible a quarter of a mile off, frequents the shady glades; splendid swallow-tailed papilios, green, rose, or velvety-black, are seen only in the thickets; while the _Hetaira esmeralda_, with transparent wings, having one spot of a violet hue, as it flies over the dead leaves in the dense forest looks "like a wandering petal of a flower." Very abundant is the _Heliconius_, which plays such an important figure, by its variations, in Wallace's theory of the origin of species. On the Marañon we found _Callidryas eubule_, a yellow butterfly common in Florida. The most brilliant butterflies are found on the Middle Amazon, out of reach of the strong trade winds. The males far outnumber the other sex, are more richly colored, and generally lead a sunshiny life.

The females are of dull hues, and spend their lives in the gloomy shadows of the forest. Caterpillars and nocturnal moths are rare.

There are no true hive-bees (_Apides_) in South America,[174] but instead there are about one hundred and fifty species of bees (mostly social _Moliponas_), smaller than the European, stingless, and constructing oblong cells. Their colonies are much larger than those of the honey-bee. The _Trigona_ occurs on the Napo. Unlike the _Melipona_, it is not confined to the New World. A large sooty-black Bombus represents our humble-bee. Shrill cicadas, blood-thirsty mantucas, piums, punkies, and musquitoes are always associated in the traveler's memory with the glorious river. Of the last there are several kinds. "The forest musquito belongs to a different species from that of the town, being much larger and having transparent wings. It is a little cloud that one carries about his person every step on a woodland ramble, and their hum is so loud that it prevents one hearing well the notes of birds. The town musquito has opaque, speckled wings, a less severe sting, and a silent way of going to work. The inhabitants ought to be thankful the big noisy fellows never come out of the forest" (Bates, ii., 386). There are few musquitoes below Ega; above that point a musquito net is indispensable. Beetles abound, particularly in shady places, and are of all sizes, from that of a pin's head to several inches in length. The most noticeable are the gigantic _Megalosoma_ and _Enema_, armed with horns. Very few are carnivorous. "This is the more remarkable," observes Darwin, "when compared to the case of carnivorous quadrupeds, which are so abundant in hot countries." Very few are terrestrial, even the carnivorous species being found clinging to branches and leaves. In going from the pole to the equator we find that insect life increases in the same proportion as vegetable life. There is not a single beetle on Melville Island; eleven species are found in Greenland; in England, 2500; in Brazil, 8000. Here lives the king of spiders, the _Mygale Blondii_, a monstrous hairy fellow, five inches long, of a brown color, with yellowish lines along its stout legs. Its abode is a slanting subterranean gallery about two feet in length, the sides of which are beautifully lined with silk. Other spiders barricade the walks in the forest with invisible threads; some build nests in the trees and attack birds; others again spin a closely-woven web, resembling fine muslin, under the thatched roofs of the houses.

[Footnote 174: The honey-bee of Europe was introduced into South America in 1845.]

Of land vertebrates, lizards are the first to attract the attention of the traveler on the equator. Great in number and variety, they are met every where--crawling up the walls of buildings, scampering over the hot, dusty roads, gliding through the forest. They stand up on their legs, carry their tails cocked up in the air, and run with the activity of a warm-blooded animal. It is almost impossible to catch them. Some of them are far from being the unpleasant-looking animals many people imagine; but in their coats of many colors, green, gray, brown, and yellow, they may be pronounced beautiful. Others, however, have a repulsive aspect, and are a yard in length. The iguana, peculiar to the New World tropics, is covered with minute green scales handed with brown (though it changes its color like the chameleon), and has a serrated back and gular pouch. It grows to the length of five feet, and is arboreal. Its white flesh, and its oblong, oily eggs, arc considered great delicacies. We heard of a lady who kept one as a pet. Frogs and toads, the chief musicians in the Amazonian forest, are of all sizes, from an inch to a foot in diameter. The _Bufo gigas_ is of a dull gray color, and is covered with warts. Tree-frogs (_Hyla_) are very abundant; they do not occur on the Andes or on the Pacific coast. Their quack-quack, drum-drum, hoo-hoo, is one of our pleasant memories of South America. Of snakes there is no lack; and yet they are not so numerous as imagination would make them. There are one hundred and fifty species in South America, or one half as many, on the same area, as in the East Indies. The diabolical family is led by the boa, while the rear is brought up by the Amphisbænas, or "double-headed snakes," which progress equally well with either end forward, so that it is difficult to make head or tail of them. The majority are harmless. The deadly corál is found on both sides of the Andes, and wherever there is a cacao plantation. One of the most beautiful specimens of the venomous kind is a new species (_Elaps imperator_, Cope), which we discovered on the Marañon. It has a slender body more than two feet in length, with black and red bands margined with yellow, and a black and yellow head, with permanently erect fangs.

We have already mentioned the most common birds. Probably, says Wallace, no country in the world contains a greater variety of birds than the Amazonian Valley. But the number does not equal the expectations of the traveler; he may ramble a whole day without meeting one. The rarity, however, is more apparent than real; we forget, for the moment, the vastness of their dwelling-place. The birds of the country, moreover, are gregarious, so that a locality may be deserted and silent at one time and swarming with them at another. Parrots and toucans are the most characteristic groups. To the former belong true parrots, parroquets, and macaws. The first are rarely seen walking, but are rapid flyers and expert climbers. On the trees they are social as monkeys, but in flight they always go in pairs. The parroquets go in flocks. The Hyacinthine macaw (the Araruna of the natives) is one of the finest and rarest species of the parrot family. It is found only on the south side of the Amazon. The macaw was considered sacred by the Maya Indians of Yucatan, and dedicated to the sun. The Quichuans call it guacamayo, guaca meaning sacred. Of toucans there are many species; the largest is the toco, with a beak shaped like a banana; the most beautiful are the curb-crested, or Beauharnais toucans, and the _P. flavirostris_, whose breast is adorned with broad belts of red, crimson, and black. "Wherefore such a beak?" every naturalist has asked; but the toucan still wags his head, as much as to say, "you can not tell." There must be some other reason than adaptation. Birds of the same habits are found beside it--the ibis, pigeon, spoonbill, and toucan are seen feeding together. "How astonishing are the freaks and fancies of Nature! (wrote the funny Sidney Smith). To what purpose, we say, is a bird placed in the woods of Cayenne with a bill a yard long, making a noise like a puppy-dog, and laying eggs in hollow trees? The toucan, to be sure, might retort, to what purpose are certain foolish, prating members of Parliament created, pestering the House of Commons with their ignorance and folly, and impeding the business of the country? There is no end to such questions; so we will not enter into the metaphysics of the toucan."

On the flooded islands of the Negro and Upper Amazon is found the rare and curious umbrella bird, black as a crow, and decorated with a crest of hairy plumes and a long lobe suspended from the neck, covered with glossy blue feathers. This latter appendage is connected with the vocal organs, and assists the bird in producing its deep, loud, and lengthy fluty note. There are three species. Another rare bird is the Uruponga, or Campanéro, in English the tolling-bell bird, found only on the borders of Guiana. It is of the size of our jay, of a pure white color, with a black tubercle on the upper side of the bill. "Orpheus himself (says Waterton) would drop his lute to listen to him, so sweet, so novel, and romantic is the toll of the pretty, snow-white Campanéro." "The Campanéro may be heard three miles! (echoes Sidney Smith). This single little bird being more powerful than the belfry of a cathedral ringing for a new dean! It is impossible to contradict a gentleman who has been in the forests of Cayenne, but we are determined, as soon as a Campanéro is brought to England, to make him toll in a public place, and have the distance measured."[175] But the most remarkable songster of the Amazonian forest is the Realejo, or organ-bird. Its notes are as musical as the flageolet. It is the only songster, says Bates, which makes any impression on the natives. Besides those are the Jacamars, peculiar to equatorial America, stupid, but of the most beautiful golden, bronze, and steel colors; sulky Trogons, with glossy green backs and rose-colored breasts; long-toed Jaçanas, half wader, half fowl; the rich, velvety purple and black _Rhamphocoelus Jacapa_, having an immense range from Archidona to Pará; the gallinaceous yet arboreal Ciganas; scarlet ibises, smaller, but more beautiful than their sacred cousins of the Nile; stilted flamingoes, whose awkwardness is atoned for by their brilliant red plumage; glossy black Mutums, or curassow turkeys; ghostly storks, white egrets, ash-colored herons, black ducks, barbets, kingfishers, sandpipers, gulls, plovers, woodpeckers, oreoles; tanagers, essentially a South American family, and, excepting three or four species, found only east of the Andes; wagtails, finches, thrushes, doves, and hummers. The last, "by western Indians _living sunbeams_ named," are few, and not to be compared with the swarms in the Andean valleys. The birds of the Amazon have no uniform time for breeding. The majority, however, build their nests between September and New Year's, and rarely lay more than two eggs.

[Footnote 175: Review of Waterton's _Wanderings in South America_.]

Amazonia, like Australia, is poor in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of small size. Nearly the only game a hunter can depend upon for food, besides toucans and macaws, is peccari. One species of tapir, to represent the elephants and rhinoceroses of the Old World; three small species of deer, taking the places of deer, antelopes, buffaloes, sheep, and goats of the other continent; three species of large Felidæ; one peccari, and a wild dog, with opossums, ant-eaters, armadilloes, sloths, squirrels (the only rodents which approach ours),[176] capybaras, pacas, agoutis, and monkeys, comprise all the quadrupeds of equatorial America. The last two are the most numerous. Marsupial rats take the place of the insectivorous mammals. Of ant-eaters, there are at least four distinct species; but they are scattered sparingly, and are seldom found on the low flooded lands. Four or five species of armadillo inhabit the valley. These little nocturnal burrowing edentates are the puny representatives of the gigantic Glyptodon of Pleistocene times, and the sloths are the dwindling shadows of the lordly Megatherium. There are two species of three-toed sloths--one inhabiting the swampy lowlands, the other confined to the terra-firma land. They lead a lonely life, never in groups, harmless and frugal as a hermit. They have four stomachs, but not the long intestines of ruminating animals. They feed chiefly on the leaves of the trumpet-tree (_Cecropia_), resembling our horse-chestnut. The natives, both Indian and Brazilian, hold the common opinion that the sloth is the type of laziness. The capybara or ronsoco, the largest of living rodents, is quite common on the river side. It is gregarious and amphibious, and resembles a mammoth guinea-pig. Pacas and agoutis are most abundant in the lowlands, and are nocturnal. These semi-hoofed rodents, like the Toxodon of old, approach the Pachyderms. The tapir, or gran-bestia, as it is called, is a characteristic quadruped of South America. It is a clumsy-looking animal, with a tough hide of an iron-gray color, covered with a coat of short coarse hair. Its flesh is dry, but very palatable. It has a less powerful proboscis than the Malay species. M. Roulin distinguishes another species from the mountains, which more nearly resembles the Asiatic. The tapir, like the condor, for an unknown reason, is not found north of 8° N., though it wanders as far south as 40°. We met but one species of peccari, the white-lipped (_D. labiatus_). It is much larger than the "Mexican hog," and, too thick-headed to understand danger, is a formidable antagonist. The raposa is seen only on the Middle Amazon, and very rarely there. It has a long tapering muzzle, small ears, bushy tail, and grayish hair. It takes to the water, for the one we saw at Tabatinga was caught while crossing the Amazon. Fawn-colored pumas, spotted jaguars, black tigers, tiger-cats--all members of the graceful feline family--inhabit all parts of the valley, but are seldom seen. The puma, or panther, is more common on the Pacific side of the Andes. The jaguar[177] is the fiercest and most powerful animal in South America. It is marked like the leopard--roses of black spots on a yellowish ground; but they are angular instead of rounded, and have a central dot. There are also several black streaks across the breast, which easily distinguish it from its transatlantic representative. It is also longer than the leopard; indeed, Humboldt says he saw a jaguar "whose length surpassed that of any of the tigers of India which he had seen in the collections of Europe." The jaguar frequents the borders of the rivers and lagunes, and its common prey is the capybara. It fears the peccari. The night air is alive with bats of many species, the most prominent one being the _Dysopes perotis_, which measures two feet from tip to tip of the wings. If these Cheiropters are as impish as they look, and as blood-thirsty as some travelers report, it is singular that Bates and Waterton, though residing for years in the country, and ourselves, though sleeping for months unprotected, were unmolested.

[Footnote 176: Large rats abound on the Marnañon, but they are not American.]

[Footnote 177: The Tupi word for dog is _yaguara_, and for wolf, _yagua-men_, or old dog.]

About forty species of monkeys, or one half of the New World forms, inhabit the Valley of the Amazon. Wallace, in a residence of four years, saw twenty-one species--seven with prehensile and fourteen with non-prehensile tails. They all differ from the apes of the other hemisphere. While those of Africa and Asia (Europe has only one) have opposable thumbs on the fore feet as well as hind, uniformly ten molar teeth in each jaw, as in man, and generally cheek-pouches and naked collosities, the American monkeys arc destitute of the two latter characteristics. None of them are terrestrial, like the baboon; all (save the marmosets) have twenty-four molars; the thumbs of the fore-hands are not habitually opposed to the fingers (one genus, Ateles, "the imperfect," is thumbless altogether); the nostrils open on the sides of the nose instead of beneath it, as in the gorilla, and the majority have long prehensile tails. They are inferior in rank to the anthropoids of the Old World, though superior to the lemurs of Madagascar. They are usually grouped in two families--Marmosets and Cebidre. The former are restless, timid, squirrel-like lilliputs (one species is only seven inches long), with tails not prehensile--in the case of the scarlet-faced, nearly wanting. The Barigudos, or gluttons (_Lagothrix_), are the largest of American monkeys, but are not so tall as the Coaitas. They are found west of Manáos. They have more human features than the other monkeys, and, with their woolly gray fur, resemble an old negro. There are three kinds of howlers (_Mycetes_)--the red or mono-colorado of Humboldt, the black, and the _M. beelzebub_, found only near Pará. The forest is full of these surly, untamable guaribas, as the natives call them. They are gifted with a voice of tremendous power and volume, with which they make night and day hideous. They represent the baboons of the Old World in disposition and facial angle (30°), and the gibbons in their yells and gregarious habits.[178] The Sapajous (_Cebus_) are distributed throughout Brazil, and have the reputation of being the most mischievous monkeys in the country. On the west coast of South America there are at least three or four species of monkeys, among them a black howler and a _Cebus capucinus_. The Coitas, or spider-monkeys, are the highest of American quadrumana. They are slender-legged, sluggish, and thumbless, with a most perfectly prehensile tail, terminating in a naked palm, which answers for a fifth hand. The Indians say they walk under the limbs like the sloth. They are the most common pets in Brazil, but they refuse to breed in captivity. Both Coitas and Barigudos are much persecuted for their flesh, which is highly esteemed by the Indians.

[Footnote 178: Rütimeyer has found a fossil howler in the Swiss Jura--middle cocene.]

Mr. Bates has called our attention to the arboreal character of a large share of the animals in the Amazonian forest. All the monkeys and bats are climbers, and live in the trees. Nearly all the carnivores are feline, and are therefore tree-mounters, though they lead a terrestrial life. The plantigrade Cercoleptes has a long tail, and is entirely arboreal. Of the edentates, the sloth can do nothing on the ground. The gallinaceous birds, as the cigana and curassow--the pheasant and turkey of the Amazon--perch on the trees, while the great number of arboreal frogs and beetles is an additional proof of the adaptation of the fauna to a forest region. Even the epiphytous plants sitting on the branches suggest this arboreal feature in animal life.