s,"
plentifully seasoned with salt and pepper, with which condiments the
country is well supplied, and of which the people are exceedingly fond.

There was also caught in this lake a large species of fish called
pirarucu, which, strangely enough, found it possible to exist in spite
of alligators. They were splendid creatures, from five to six feet
long, and covered with large scales more than an inch in diameter, which
were beautifully marked and spotted with red. These fish were most
delicately flavoured, and Barney exerted his talents to the utmost in
order to do them justice. Martin also did his best to prove himself a
willing and efficient assistant, and cleaned and washed the pirarucu
steaks and the junks of alligator-tail to admiration. In short, the
exertions of the two strangers in this way quite won the hearts of the
Negroes, and after dinner the Senhor Antonio had quite recovered his
good humour.

While staying at this place Martin had an opportunity of seeing a great
variety of the curious fish, with which the Amazon is stocked. These
are so numerous that sometimes, when sailing up stream with a fair wind,
they were seen leaping all round the canoe in shoals, so that it was
only necessary to strike the water with the paddles in order to kill a
few.

The peixe boi, or cow-fish, is one of the most curious of the
inhabitants of the Amazon. It is about six feet long, and no less than
five feet in circumference at its thickest part. It is a perfectly
smooth, and what we may call _dumpy_ fish, of a leaden colour, with a
semicircular flat tail, and a large mouth with thick fleshy lips,
resembling those of a cow. There are stiff bristles on the lips, and a
few scattered hairs over the body. It has two fins just behind the
head; and below these, in the females, there are two breasts, from which
good white milk flows when pressure is applied. The cow-fish feeds on
grass at the borders of rivers and lakes; and, when suckling its young,
it carries it in its fins or flippers, and clasps the little one to its
breast, just as a mother clasps her baby! It is harpooned and taken for
the sake of its fat, from which oil is made. The flesh is also very
good, resembling beef in quality, and it was much relished by Martin and
Barney, who frequently dined on beefsteaks cut from this remarkable
cow-fish.

There was also another fish which surprised our adventurers not a
little, the first time they met with it. One