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

by Mayne Reid

  But the splashing suddenly ceased, and the six pairs of palms, insteadof being turned upward and forward to bale water upon the log, were nowexerted in the opposite direction, backward and downward, while theowners of them commenced swimming away from the spot; as they went off,making vigorous efforts to free themselves from the spiteful creaturesagain clinging to them. Not one of them said a word about stayinglonger by the dead manguba; but, picking up little Rosa on the way, theycontinued their retreat, nor paused again until they felt sure of havingdistanced the tocandeiras.

  As a matter of course they had retreated towards the tree-tops. Afterso many surprises, accompanied by almost continuous exertion, they stoodin need of rest. Having chosen one that could be easily climbed, theyascended to its branches, and there seated themselves as comfortably ascircumstances would permit. On perceiving that the sun was already overthe meridian, and satisfied, moreover, that the task of getting rid oftheir enemies was one that it might take time to accomplish, theydetermined to remain all night in their new situation. But there was amore powerful reason for suspending their journey at this point. Theywere suffering great pain from the stings of the tocandeiras, and, untilthat should be to some extent allayed, they could think of nothing else,unless indeed it might be a mode of avenging themselves.

  It was fortunate they had found a safe place of repose, and that Munday,who suffered less than the rest, preserved sufficient composure to maketheir beds or hammocks of sipos, for, in less than twenty minutes afterascending the tree, every one of the party, Munday and Rosa excepted,found himself in a raging fever from the stings inflicted by thetocandeiras, since these bloodthirsty insects not only bite as otherants, but have the power of stinging like wasps, only that the painproduced by their sting is much greater,--more like that of the blackscorpion.

  As the sun went down, a cool breeze began to play over the waters of thelagoa; and this--the fever having burnt itself out--restored them totheir ordinary health, though with a feeling of languor that disinclinedthem to do anything for that night. Stretched upon their rude aerialcouches, they looked up at the stars, and listened to Munday as he madeanswer to the interrogatories of Trevannion giving an account of one ofthe singular customs of his tribe,--that known as the "Festival of theTocandeiras."

  CHAPTER SIXTY.

  THE FESTIVAL OF THE TOCANDEIRAS.

  When a youth of the Mundurucu nation, or its kindred tribe, the Mahue,has reached the age for assuming the dignities of manhood, he isexpected to submit himself to an ordeal that well deserves to be calledfiery. This more especially if the youth's ambition inclines him tobecome a warrior or otherwise distinguished in the tribe. The ordeal isvoluntary; but without undergoing it, the young Mundurucu must consentto an existence, if not disgraced, at least inglorious; and if notabsolutely scorned by the girls of the Malocca, he will have but slightchance of winning their smiles.

  It must be known to my young readers that a custom prevails among manytribes of North American Indians of submitting their young men whoaspire to become "braves" to a test of courage and endurance so severeat times as to be a torture quite incredible to those unacquainted withthe Indian character. You might fancy the South American a verytrifling affair, compared with the torture of the Mandans and otherNorthern tribes, when you are told that it consists simply in thewearing of a pair of gloves, or mittens, for a certain length of time,--so long that the wearer can make the round of the Malocca, and finish upby an obeisance to the _tuchao_, or chief, who awaits him at the door ofhis hut. But these mittens once described to you, as they weredescribed by Munday to his companions on the tree, you will perchancechange your mind; and regard the Mundurucu ceremony as one of the mostsevere that was ever contrived to test the constancy and courage of anyaspirant to distinction.

  When the young Mundurucu declares his readiness to put on the gloves, apair of them are prepared for him. They are manufactured out of thebark of a species of palm-tree, and are in fact only long hollowcylinders, closed at one end, and large enough to admit the hand and armup to the elbow. Before being drawn on they are half filled with antsof the most spiteful and venomous kinds; but chiefly with tocandeiras,from which the ceremony derives its name.

  Thus accoutred, and accompanied by a crowd with horns, drums, and othermusical instruments in use among the Indians, the candidate formanhood's rights has to make the round of the village, presentinghimself before every hut, and dancing a jig at every halt that is made.Throughout all the performance he must affect signs of great joy,chanting a cheerful strain, loud enough to be heard above the beating ofthe drums, the blowing of the horns, and the fracas of his noisyfollowers. Should he refuse to submit to this terrible ordeal, orduring its continuance show signs of weakness or hesitation, he is alost man. He will be forever after the butt and scorn of his tribe; andthere is not a Mundurucu girl who will consent to have him for asweetheart. His parents and relatives will also be affected in theevent of his proving a coward, and he will be regarded as a disgrace tothe family.

  Stimulated by these thoughts, he enters upon the trial, his friendsurging him forward with cries of encouragement, his parents keeping byhis side, and with anxious entreaties fortifying him against a failure.He has courageously thrust his hands into the fiery gauntlets, and withlike courage he must keep them there, until the ceremony is completed.He suffers cruel torture. Every moment increases his agony. His hands,wrists, and arms feel as if surrounded by fire. The insect poisonenters his veins. His eyes are inflamed. The sweat pours from hisskin,--his bosom palpitates,--his lips and cheeks grow pale; and yet hemust not show the slightest acknowledgment of suffering. If he does, itwill cover him with shame; and he will never be permitted to carry theMundurucu war-spear, nor impale upon its point the head of his slainenemy. He knows the awful fate that must result from failure; and,though staggering in his steps, he keeps courageously on. At length hestands in the presence of the tuchao, seated to receive him.

  Before the chief the ceremony is repeated with increased excitement; thedance is redoubled in vigour,--the chant is louder than ever,--bothcontinuing until his strength fails him through sheer exhaustion. Hisgloves are then removed, and he falls into the arms of his friends.

  He is now surrounded by the young girls of the tribe, who fling theirarms around him, covering him with kisses and congratulations. Hissufferings prevent him from appreciating their soft caresses, andbreaking away from their embrace, he rushes down to the river, andflings his fevered body into the grateful current. There remaininguntil the cool water has to some extent alleviated his pain, he comesforth and retires to the Malocca, to receive fresh congratulations fromhis fellow-savages.

  He has proved himself of the stuff of which warriors are made, and maynow aspire to the hand of any Mundurucu maiden, and to the glory ofincreasing the number of those hideous trophies that adorn thecouncil-room of the tribe, and which have earned for these Indians thedistinctive surname of _Decapitadores_ (Beheaders).

  CHAPTER SIXTY ONE.

  AMAZONIAN ANTS.

  Succeeding this thrilling account of the tocandeira festival, antscontinued for a time to form the staple subject of conversation, whichwas not confined to the particular species they had encountered upon thelog, but related to many others that inhabit the forests and _compos_ ofthe Amazon valley. Scores of sorts were known to the Mundurucu,--alldiffering from each other, not only in size, shape, colour, and what maybe termed _personal_ characteristics, but also in their modes of life,habits, and dwelling-place; in short, in every particular except thoseessential traits which make them all members of the same family.

  The entomologist who would make a study of ant-life could find no betterschool to pursue it in than the grand valley of the Amazon. In allparts of it he will find these insects in countless numbers, and in avast variety of species,--separated from each other by all distinctionsof classes founded on habits of life quite opposed to each other. Somespecies inhabit the earth, never descending below its surface. Oth
erslive _under_ it, in subterranean dwellings, scarce ever coming out intothe light of day. Others again live above the earth, making their homein the hollow trunks of trees; while still others lead a more aeriallife, building their nests among the twigs and topmost branches.

  In their diet there is a still greater range. There are _carnivora_ and_herbivora_,--some that feed only on flesh, others that confinethemselves to vegetable substances. There are, moreover, kinds thatdevour their meat before the life is out of it; while other carnivorousspecies, like the vulture among birds, prey only on such carrion as maychance to fall in their way, and in search of which their lives seemprincipally to be spent.

  Then there are the vegetable feeders, which not only strip the leavesfrom plants and trees, but destroy every other sort of vegetablesubstance that they may fancy to seize upon. The clothes in a chest orwardrobe, the papers in a desk, and the books in a library, have all attimes been consumed by their devastating hosts, when foraging for food,or for materials out of which to construct their singular dwellings.These dwellings are of as many different kinds as there are species ofants. Some are of conical shape, as large as a soldier's tent. Someresemble hillocks or great mounds, extending over the ground to acircumference of many yards. Others represent oblong ridges, traversedby numerous underground galleries, while some species make theirdwellings in deep horizontal tunnels, or excavations, often extendingunder the bed of broad rivers. Many kinds lead an arboreal life, andtheir nests may be seen sticking like huge excrescences to the trunks ofthe forest-trees, and as often suspended from the branches.

  To give a detailed account of the different kinds of Amazonian ants,--todescribe only their appearance and ordinary habits,--would require, nota chapter, but a large volume. Their domestic economy, the modes ofconstructing their domiciles, the manner of propagating their species,their social distinction into classes or castes, the odd relations thatexists between the separate castes of a community, the division oflabour, their devotion to what some writers, imbued with monarchicalideas, have been pleased to term their _queen_,--who in reality is anindividual _elected_ for a special purpose, render these insects almostan anomaly in nature. It is not to be expected that the uneducatedIndian could give any scientific explanation of such matters. He onlyknew that there were many curious things in connection with the ants,and their indoor as well as out-door life, which he had himselfobserved,--and these particulars he communicated.

  He could tell strange tales of the _Termites_, or white ants, which arenot ants at all,--only so called from a general resemblance to thelatter in many of their habits. He dwelt longest on the sort called_Saubas_, or leaf-carrying ants, of which he knew a great number ofspecies, each building its hill in a different manner from the others.Of all the species of South American ants, perhaps none surprises thestranger so much as the sauba. On entering a tract of forest, orpassing a patch of cultivated ground, the traveller will come to a placewhere the whole surface is strewn with pieces of green leaves, eachabout the size of a dime, and all in motion. On examining these leafyfragments more closely, he will discover that each is borne upon theshoulders of a little insect not nearly so big as its burden.Proceeding onward he will come to a tree, where thousands of theseinsects are at work cutting the leaves into pieces of the proper size,and flinging them down to thousands of others, who seize upon and carrythem off. On still closer scrutiny, he will observe that all this workis being carried on in systematic order,--that there are some of theinsects differently shaped from the rest,--some performing the actuallabour, while the others are acting as guards and overseers. Were he tocontinue his observation, he would find that the leaves thus transportedwere not used as food, but only as thatch for covering the galleries andpassages through which these countless multitudes make their way fromone place to another. He would observe, moreover, so many singularhabits and manoeuvres of the little crawling creatures, that he woulddepart from the spot filled with surprise, and unable to explain morethan a tenth part of what he had seen.

  Continuing his excursion, he would come upon ants differing from thesaubas not only in species, but in the most essential characteristics oflife. There would be the _Ecitons_, or foraging ants, which instead ofcontenting themselves by feeding upon the luxurious vegetation of thetropics, would be met upon one of their predatory forays,--the object oftheir expedition being to destroy some colony of their own kind, if notof their own species. It may be that the foraging party belong to thespecies known as _Eciton-rapax_,--the giant of its genus, in which manyindividuals measure a full half-inch in length. If so, they will beproceeding in single file through the forest, in search of the nests ofa defenceless vegetable-feeding ant of the genus _Formica_. If theyhave already found it, and are met on their homeward march towards theirown encampment, each will be seen holding in its mouth a portion of themangled remains of some victim of their rapacity.

  Again, another species may be met travelling in broad columns,containing millions of individuals, either on the way to kill andplunder, or returning laden with the spoil. In either case they willattack any creature that chances in their way,--man himself as readilyas the most defenceless animal. The Indian who encounters them retreatsupon his tracks, crying out, "_Tauoca_!" to warn his companions behind,himself warned by the ant-thrushes whom he has espied hovering above thecreeping columns, and twittering their exulting notes, as at intervalsthey swoop down to thin the moving legion.

  Of all the kinds of ants known to the Mundurucu, there was none thatseemed to interest him more than that which had led to theconversation,--the tocandeira, or, as the Brazilians term it, _formigadefogo_ (fire-ant). Munday had worn the formidable mittens; and thiscircumstance had no doubt left an impression upon his mind that thetocandeira was the truest representative of spitefulness to be found inthe insect world.

  Perhaps he was not far astray. Although an ant of ordinary size,--bothin this and general appearance not differing greatly from the common redant of England,--its bite and sting together are more dreaded than thoseof any other species. It crawls upon the limbs of the pedestrian whopasses near its haunt, and, clutching his skin in its sharp pincer-likejaws, with a sudden twitch of the tail it inserts its venomous stingupon the instant, holding on after it has made the wound, and sotenaciously that it is often torn to pieces while being detached. Itwill even go out of its way to attack any one standing near. And atcertain landing-places upon some of the Amazonian rivers, the ground isso occupied with its hosts that treading there is attended with greatdanger. In fact, it is on record that settlements have been abandonedon account of the fire-ant suddenly making its appearance, and becomingthe pest of the place.

  Munday, in conclusion, declared that the tocandeiras were only found inthe dry forests and sandy _campos_; that he had never before seen one oftheir swarms in the Gapo, and that these in the dead-wood must haveretreated thither in haste, to escape drowning when caught by theinundation, and that the log had been afterwards drifted away by the_echente_.

  Whether this statement was true or not, the ants appeared to have madeup their minds to stay there, and permit no intruders to deprive them oftheir new, strange domicile,--at all events until the _vasante_ mightenable them once more to set foot upon dry land.

  CHAPTER SIXTY TWO.

  THE ANTS STILL EXCITED.

  At break of day the party were all awake; and after refreshingthemselves with a little _cheese_--which was only some coagulated milkof the massaranduba, preserved in sapucaya-shells--they once more turnedtheir attention to the floating trunk. To their surprise, it was nolonger where they had left it!

  There was a fog upon the water, but that was rapidly becomingdissipated; and as the sun peeped over the tree-tops, the lagoa wassufficiently free from mist for any dark object as large as a man'shead, within a mile's distance, to be distinguished. The manguba hadbeen left scarce a hundred yards from their sleeping-place. Where wasit now?

  "Yonder!" said Munday, "close in by the trees. By our splashing
in thewater, we started it from its moorings among the piosocas. There hasbeen a little breeze through the night, that has brought it this way.It is now at anchor against yonder tree. I shouldn't wonder if the antswould try to escape from it, and take to the branches above them. Thedead manguba is not their natural home; nor is the Gapo theirdwelling-place. The tocandeiras belong on land; and no one would expectto find them here. They must have had their home in the hollow of thelog while it was lying on dry land. The _echente_ set it afloat whilethey were inside, and the current has carried them far away from theirown country."

  So they now turned to ascertain whether Munday's conjectures were true,that the ants had taken to the tree that stood over the dead-wood, whichwas at no great distance; and as the sun had now completely dispelledthe fog, they could see it very distinctly. The tocandeiras were stillupon it. Their countless hosts were seen moving over its surface in alltheir red array, apparently as much excited as when putting to flightthe swimmers who had intruded upon them.

  The log, although close to the stem of the standing tree, was not inconnection with it. Something held it several feet off; and as none ofthe drooping branches reached quite down, it was impossible for theinsects to reach the tree, although they evidently desired to make thischange, as if suddenly dissatisfied with their quarters on the driftingtrunk, and wishing to change them for others less at the mercy of thewinds and waves.