Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-06-06
MISCELLANEOUS.
IIrE On TIuE RIVER AMAZON.
Records Of u Naturalist.

Nlliuh ioTtht, huCN NJ tnh HliHntN one near
Para, which, when he first entered It, OK
tended In unhroken solitude for three hun
dred miles southwark and eastward OF the
| city, When he left the country, however,
Its solitude was being broken In upon by
road which was In progress to connect Para
with Maranham,
ave often read In books Of travels of the
silence and gloom of the Brazilian forests,
They are realities, and the impression deep
ems ON q longer acquaintance, Tho few
sounds of birds are Of that pensive or mys-
terious character which intonsifcs the feeling
of solitude rather than impArts sense of
| life and Cheeriulnoss, Sometimes, In the
midst of the stiffness, sudden yell or scream
will startlc one this comes from some de-
ienoeloss tiuit-cating animal, which is
pounoeG upon hy tiger-cat or stcalthy
hoO-constrictor, Morning and evening the
! bowling monkeys make most fearful and
narrowing noise, mdorwhioh II is difficult
| to keep up ones buoyancy of spirit The
feeling of inhosptahle wildness which the
forest Is calculated to inspire is increased
teni0ld under this fearful uproar, Often, in
the still hours of midday a sudden crash
will be heard resounding aGr through the
wilderness rs some great bough or entire
! 10 falls on the ground, There are, besides
,
count for, ! found the natives generally ms
much at loss in this respect as myself
Sometimes u sound Is hearo like the claug
of an iron bar against hard, hollow tree,
or piercing cry ronds the air; these are not
repeated, and the succeeding silence tends
to hoightcn the unpleasant impression which
they make on the mind, With the natives
1t Is always the Curupira, the wild man or
spirit of the forest, which produces allnoiscs
they are unable to explain, Myths are the
rude theories which mankind, in the infancy
of knowledge, invent to explain natural
phenomena, The Curupiru is a mysterious
| being, whose attributes are uncertain, for
| they vary according to locality Sometimes
ho Is described rs kind of orang- -otang,
being covered with long, shaggy hair, and
I living in trees, At Others he is said to have
oloven feet, and bright red face, lie has
n wife and children, aud sometimes comes
down to the rocas to steal the mandioca,'
pIRp-oArcuINd SPIDER,
At Cameto, the capital of the most thickly
populated part of the Province of Para, Mr..
Bates had opportunity to observe the habits
of u gigantic birdcatching spider, of the
gc,ius Mygale,
"The species was NJ, avicularia, or one
very closely allied to it the individual was
nearly two inches in length OF body, but the
! legs expanded seven inches, and the entire
! body and legs were covered with coarse
gray and reddish hairs, ! was attracted by
u movement of the monster on q tree trunk;
II was close beneath deep crcvice in the
! tree, across which was stretched a dense
white web, The lower part of the web was
broken, and two small birds, fnchcs, We're
enlangled in the pieces they were ABOUT the
size of the English siskin, and judged the
two to be male and female, One of them
was quite dead, the other lay under the body
of the spider not quite dead, and was smear
ed with the filthy liquor or saliva eXudcd by
! the monster.
III drove away the spider and took the
birds, but the second one soon died, The
fact of species of MygalG, sallying forth at
night, mounting trees and sucking the eggs
and young of humming-birds, has been re.
corded long ago 10y Madame McIian and
Palisot dc Beauvois but, in the absence of
any confirmation it has come TO be discrcd
tied, From the way the fact has been re-
lated it would appear that it had been merely
deaived from the report of natives, and had
not been witnessed by the narrators. Count
Langsdorif, in his Expedition into the In
terror of Brazil, states that he totally dis
believed the story found the Circumstance
To he quite novelty to the residents here
about
! THE Mygales are quite common insects :
some species make their cells under stones,
Others form artificial tunnels in the earth,
aud some build their dens in the thatCh of
! houses, The natives call them ARnhas
carangucliciras, or crab spiders. The hairs
with which they are clothed come of when
touched and cause peculiar and almost
maddenng irritation, The first specimen
| ! killed and prepared was handled mcau.
! tiously, and suffered terribly lorihrce days
afterwards, ! think this is not owing TO any
poisonous quality residing in the hairs, but
to their being short aud hard, and thus get
! ting into the tine crcases of the skin, Some
| Mygales are of immense size. One day |
saw the children belonging to an Indian
family who collected for me, with one OF
these monsters secured 10y a cord round its
waist, by which they were leading IL about
the house as they would dog
OF snakes there is NO lack IN these great
tropical forest Onc of these, the Dyophls
tulgida, OF a pale green color exactly re-
sembles creeping plant Il Is slN ieet IN
length, aud the fore part Of the head Is pro
l0nged into slender, pointed boak. Another
kind, still more attenuated, the diameter Oi
an inch, Is the Dryodhis aouminsta. lis ot
light brown hue, with indis,iaCt shades
yarlegaled with obscuTor markings, AMI
looks like biz Of Nhipcord,
one individual OF this species, caught by
Mr., Bates had a protubeTanee near the mil
die of the body which was accounted hg
when the snake was opened, by ,ho pnSenoe
of halfdigostod lizarl, much more balky
than the snake itself There are also Nbo.
real aud water snakes, but the most beau,l.
sal kmd that inlvsis lhe woods u the coral
fnake, lovely object when seen coilod up
On dark soil, with its bands 81 hlaek and
yemllliou, separated by clear white nngs
The mornings Nen cool and plsa,an,
until towards midday buln tbs aNsm1sn'
the heat became almost lnlol,iahlG @lAtlAl
ly la gleamy, equally Weather su,h a. g,ps
rails prevailed. We then oouehsd M h,
shade pF lhe sails, 90 Neni doNH ~ 0uf ham
nocks, 10 lhe cabin, choosing ~ bs hel'
sllAed rather ihan csp,'se oa0sl,va on doN
"a lhe ,lcka kanlnR hssl pi ,h, hnn. W. Rht
rally travelling about nlue oNln,A, MlAt
upop sal, spot NhsniR a. s,,aN ih, N,a
IN ioI ihe nishi lhs eaal usulna hani'
nere dellglous hochs ~ Nhifihug da,A'
lAnas Aulumnslsl, pafnNs snd hoNia'N
sffean,lns ulseae, pslf ~ ptlh Rss w.