Kitabı oku: «An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay, (1 of 3)», sayfa 16

SWALLOWS

Before I proceed from birds to fishes, I think proper to subjoin a few remarks upon common hens and swallows, the latter of which no ways differ from those of Europe in appearance, voice, and habits. Although Paraguay is free from snow, yet as the south wind renders the air rather cold in winter, the swallows migrate like those of Europe to other places about the beginning of autumn, and pass the winter in some unknown retreats, but return at the commencement of spring.

BRAZILIAN FOWLS

The Paraguayrian hens have the same form and variety of colour as the European. A few years ago, hens much larger, but not better than the common ones, were brought into Paraguay from Brazil. Their flesh is hard and unsavoury. The chickens are not clothed with feathers within several weeks. The cock is unusually large, and instead of the crest which those of our country wear, displays a large purple crown. Now let us proceed to the scaly tribes of Paraguay.

VARIOUS KINDS OF FISHES

I never found any European fish throughout the whole extent of Paraguay, but many in some respects resembling them. Those best known to me I will describe under their Spanish or Indian names.

THE DORADO

The fish dorado has obtained the name of the golden fish from its scales, which shine like gold. It is of great weight, and affords solid, white, and savoury flesh. Its head is justly reckoned a dainty, though almost all other fish have their heads cut off in Paraguay, before they are brought to table.

THE PACÙ

The pacù is remarkable not only for length but breadth, and the savouriness of its flesh, which is prized for its abundance of fat. The scales are of a dusky, and in some of a sulphureous colour. The head seems too small in proportion to the rest of the body. The Parana, and even the lesser rivers which unite with it, abound in this most excellent fish.

THE CORVINO

The corvino is generally caught in the neighbourhood of the ports of Monte-Video and Maldonado, where the fresh water is mingled with the salt water of the river Plata. It has somewhat the appearance of a carp, but excels that fish so much in size and savouriness, that it is eagerly sought by distant cities.

THE MUNGRÚLLU

The mungrúllu is perhaps the largest and strongest of the Paraguayrian river-fish. It sometimes weighs more than a hundred pounds. Its flesh is firm and red.

THE ZURUBÌ

The zurubì, a fish scarce inferior in size to the former, is not covered with scales, but with a slippery skin of a greyish colour, and mottled with large black spots. It affords white, solid, savoury, and wholesome flesh. The vast weight of this fish maybe inferred from the circumstance that when hung upon a pole, and carried on the back, it is enough to tire two Indians.

THE PATÌ

The patì is thought almost equal to the former in size and savouriness.

THE ARMADO

The fish armado is very properly named, for its back and sides are armed all over with very sharp gills and fins, with which it endeavours to wound the fisherman as he is taking the hook from its jaws, horribly roaring at the same time and tossing itself about, on account of which its head must be crushed with a strong stake as soon as it is taken out of the river. Its head is round, resembling that of a frog, and shielded by a very strong shell. It has small bright eyes, surrounded by a circle of gold. Its mouth is narrow, but rendered terrific by a shaggy beard. The body is of an iron-grey colour, and armed with very hard oblong scales. This fish is thicker than it is long, and often weighs four, often six pounds, or more. Its flesh is solid, extremely well tasted, and on that account thought very wholesome for sick persons. The river Paraguay abounds in this noble fish.

THE VAGRE

The vagre is a species of trout. Its head is covered with a hard shell, its skin is smooth, slippery, and covered with red spots, and its flesh extremely well tasted. Various rivers contain various kinds of this fish, which are distinguished by the number, size, and colour of their fins and gills, but are all of an admirable savour. Of their bladder, ground with the teeth, and mixed up with brandy, a very strong glue is made.

THE SÁVALO

The sávalo somewhat resembles our carp, but is smaller, and more savoury. You scarcely ever see one weighing more than two pounds. This fish is full of thorns. Though very common in many rivers and lakes, it is never caught with a hook.

THE BÒGA

The bòga differs little from the sávalo, but is superior to that fish, though less abundant.

THE PEJE REY

The peje rey means the king fish, for in fact, though only middle-sized, its flesh is pre-eminently good. It has a very large head and mouth, and is destitute of fat. It is only caught in that part of the Parana which washes the territories of Sta. Fè, or in the kindred streams, to which this fish repairs to spawn. When fresh, it is reckoned amongst the delicacies of the tables of the wealthy. After being dried by the air only, without a grain of salt, it is sent in quantities from the above-mentioned city to others, and kept a long while, but soon putrifies if it contracts any moisture on the way.

LA VIEJA

La vieja is a very strange fish, for its whole body is covered with a strong shell, or horny bark, which would resist even a knife. Hence, when caught it is laid on live coals, together with the shell, and eaten roasted in this manner. It is very seldom taken with a hook, and rarely weighs more than a pound.

THE DENTUDO

The dentudo abounds every where, and would be extremely palatable, were it not for the thorns with which it is covered. It scarcely ever weighs so much as a pound. I have caught and eaten numbers of them, but have lost many hooks in the process, for they gnawed the line to pieces with their sharp teeth.

THE RAYA

The raya is a fish of such singular appearance, that it can hardly be reckoned amongst fishes. Its form resembles that of an oval dish with a flat surface. Its back is black, and its belly white. In the middle of its body is placed a narrow mouth or cheek. It has a smooth, slender, but very long tail, denticulated like a saw, and armed at the end with a poisonous sting, with which, whilst lurking under the sand on the shore, it grievously wounds the naked feet of the sailors walking about there, whenever it has an opportunity. The wound presently swells, gets inflamed, and unless hot ashes be immediately applied to it, causes death. It is a curious fact, that the Abipones use this envenomed sting as a pen-knife to open a vein. The flesh of the raya may be eaten; but it is generally thought that hunger alone could render it palatable, though I must say, that, well fried, it was not unpleasant to my taste. The size and form of these fish vary in various kinds; (for there are many species of them). They appear to be viviparous, for embryos are frequently found in their insides.

THE PALOMETA

The palometa is more formidable to swimmers than any crocodile; for its jaws, each of which is furnished with fourteen very sharp, triangular teeth, like so many spears, are its armoury, with which it attacks any part of the human body, and cuts it off at one blow. I myself have seen a strong Abipon with the sole of his foot severely wounded by this fish, and an Abiponian boy with four of his toes cut off by it and hanging only from a bit of skin. To prove the credibility of the fact, I must tell you that the Abiponian women use the jaw of the palometa to shear sheep with. The Abipones also, before they were in possession of iron, used it to cut off the heads of the Spaniards. This fish is found every where in great abundance, but is smaller in the smaller rivers, where it scarce weighs half a pound, while in the larger ones it grows to the size of two or more pounds; but its length never corresponds to its breadth. It has a curved back, thick head, wide mouth, small round eyes, and a broad forked tail. Besides the formidable jaw which I have described, it threatens all assailants with large, long gills, and seven sharp fins, the largest of which is situated in the middle of the back, and runs towards the tail. The body is covered with faint grey spots, interspersed with red, blue, and yellow. The flesh is firm, white, and very savoury; I wish that it were not so full of bones. When the hook is extracted, these fish must be handled with caution, otherwise they will wound you with their teeth or fins.

THE MBÙZU

In muddy pools, and even in rivers, you see fish very like European eels, and not eaten by the Indians, on account of their snake-like appearance. Our eating one of these fishes caused a report amongst the Indians that Europeans fed upon serpents. Whether these fishes are really eels, or of the serpent kind, I will not pretend to determine.

THE RIVER-CRAB

Although Paraguay abounds in various kinds of choice fish, it is almost destitute of crabs. I had long heard that some very small crabs, not like those of the sea, but like those in the rivers of Germany, were found in certain streams in the territories of the Uruguay; and I myself saw some which were brought to our table in the Uruguayan town of Concepçion; but they were pygmies in comparison with ours, and might be called mere shadows, and embryos of crabs. After travelling, sailing, and fishing so much in Paraguay, as I never saw any other cray fish beside these, it is my opinion that there are none, or very few indeed. But there are a great variety of sea-crabs.

RIVER-TORTOISES

The rivers, lakes, and streams, abound in tortoises, but not of that kind the shells of which are valuable in Europe, and fit for working. No sooner did we cast a hook into the river than a tortoise would bite, but was always rejected by us; for in the greater part of Paraguay these animals are eaten neither by Spaniards nor Indians. The only useful part of tortoises in Paraguay is their great shells, which are used for pots and plates by the common people.

LAND-TORTOISES

Whilst the Abipones, Guaranies, and other Indians with whom I was acquainted, not only abstain from eating tortoises, but even detest the very idea of such a thing; the Chiquitos, on the contrary, make them their chief food during the greater portion of the year. They laboriously hunt after these animals, which are marked with various colours, in the woods and rocks, that provision may not fail them during those months in which their territories are inundated by an annual flood; for as there is more wood and mountain than plain country there, the deficiency of pasture renders it impossible that as many oxen can be raised and killed, for the support of the Indians, as in the colonies of the Guaranies and Abipones. The tortoise, therefore, supplies the place of beef among the Chiquitos.

SNAILS

Innumerable snails are seen in their shells in the woods, plains, and the borders of lakes, but are eaten by no human being in Paraguay. Empty snail-shells, burnt to ashes in the fire, are used by the Guaranies for whitening walls, when stones for making lime are not to be found. From the white shells of certain snails, the Vilelas make little round beads, perforated in the middle, which they sell to the other Indians. The Abipones hang round their necks great heavy strings of these beads, and both men and women think the more they are loaded the finer they are. On the shores of the river Uruguay, there is an odd kind of snail, larger than a man's fist, which the Indians roast in its shell, and devour with avidity. I do not recollect any thing worth mentioning, in regard to shells and shell-fish, if there are any wretched ones to be found here.

WAYS OF FISHING

After treating of fish, a few observations should be made concerning the various methods of fishing. In the city of Buenos-Ayres the Spanish fishers enter the river Plata on horseback, near the shore, as far as it is shallow. Two of them lay hold of each end of a rope, on which a net is either spread, or closed again, filled with fish; in a few hours they carry to shore numbers of noble fishes, which are immediately put to sale. The Payaguas and Vilelas subsist chiefly upon fish. For fishing they use a very small net, two ends of which they fasten before them, as you would an apron, at the same time holding the two others with their hands. Thus accoutred they jump from the shore into the water, and if they spy any fish at the bottom, swim after it, catch it in the net, which they place under its body, and carry it to shore. The Indian who has remained beneath the water such a length of time that you believe him inevitably drowned, you will, with astonishment, behold emerging at a great distance, laden with booty. These men are more properly divers, than fishers. If the transparency of the water, as in the river Salado, renders the fish visible, the Paraguayrians pierce them with an arrow, a spear, or an iron prong. The wood Indians catch fishes more usually by craft and artifice than by arms. Sometimes by throwing in sticks, and boughs of trees artfully entwined together, they dam up a river in such a way that, though the fish can enter this enclosure, they are unable to get out again. In other places they throw the plant yçipotingi, which creeps up trees, or the leaves or fresh roots of the caraquata, well pounded, into the water, which intoxicates the fishes to such a degree that they may be caught with the hand as they float on the surface. They often lash the water with the leaves of a certain tree which grows in great abundance near the river Atingỹ, the juice of which is said to be fatal to fishes. The Indians sometimes catch fishes with hooks made of wood or reeds. The common, and indeed the only instrument for fishing that I used, was an iron hook baited with a piece of fresh beef.

LITTLE FLYING-FISH

Flying-fish are about the size of a large herring; their body is oblong and smaller at the tail; their head large and flat; their eyes round and big, with immense pupils, and surrounded by a yellow circle, and another larger blackish one: their mouth is middle-sized, destitute of teeth, but armed with jaws slightly denticulated. The tail is wide and forked; the wings very large, and composed of a membrane thinner than paper, of a whitish grey colour. They are furnished with six small fins, a bony shell, pointed at the end, and scales of various colours and forms, but shining like those of a herring. They fly out of the water to avoid the dorados, which try to catch them; but in a few moments, as soon, in fact, as their wings are dried by the air, fall back into the sea, and being again moistened are enabled to renew their flight. In various seas they are of various forms and sizes. The Portugueze sailors do not refuse to eat their flesh.

THE SHARK

But as men of this description have generally too large appetites, and capacious stomachs to be satisfied with "such small deer," they prefer larger fish, especially sharks, numbers of which they caught, during their voyage, with an iron hook many pounds weight. Sharks generally follow ships, and swallow whatever is thrown out of them, whether it be dead bodies or any other filthy trash. They are of such vast size and weight, that twelve stout sailors are scarce sufficient to drag one with a rope from the sea into the ship. Nor should you be surprized at this, for a shark is about nine feet long, and three or more wide. Its horrid jaws, which contain a triple row of serrated triangular teeth, are prepared to tear any thing. It has a fierce, and ever watchful look. It is covered with very rough skin of various colours. Whenever a shark was taken and gutted by the sailors, its stomach presented a ridiculous spectacle; it looked like a broker's shop full of all sorts of trumpery. In it we found worn out garments, old drawers, hats, whole fowls, and whatever had been thrown by the sailors into the sea. When I found this, I always suspended stones, or cannon balls, to human bodies before I committed them to the waves, that they might sink to the bottom, lest floating on the surface, they should be torn to pieces by sharks. The flesh of this fish, though very white, was tasted by none but hungry sailors; though the females are despised by them even. One, which I had seen them take with immense labour, they threw back into the sea, on discovering its sex. I cannot tell why they make this distinction. The Abipones roast and eat female locusts, but loathe and reject the males, for reasons known to themselves alone.

DOLPHINS

During nine months spent in sailing on the Mediterranean and the Ocean, I have frequently seen many others of the scaly tribe, with forms terrible to the sight; but except middle-sized fishes and sharks, I never saw any of the family of Neptune caught by the sailors. When the sea was smooth, and the air tranquil, we frequently observed dolphins tossing themselves merrily about, and appearing as it were to dance; a spectacle by no means pleasing to us, who had so often found this leaping of dolphins the forerunner, and annunciation of an impending whirlwind and tempest.

WHALES

Immense whales were a very terrible, and by no means uncommon sight to us on the ocean, though they never approached the ship. On the desert shores of Brazil we thought we perceived a pirate ship. Fearing some mischance we called for the captain, who from the top of the mast by the help of a telescope discovered it to be an enormous whale. This immense animal, as it tossed itself about on the waves, presented the appearance of a ship. A projecting fin, which is said to be sometimes fifty feet high, had been taken for a mast. From the horrid pipe, or fistula of his head, as from a great fire-engine, he spouted up a vast quantity of water, which, when dispersed by the wind, and shone upon by the rays of the sun, looked white like the sails of a ship. In returning to Europe we observed the water leaping up and breaking itself in an unusual manner, not far from the ship. Imagining that rocks or shoals must be at hand, the captain ordered the prow of the ship to be turned in another direction. But an intolerable stench relieved our minds by discovering the putrid carcass of a very large whale, against which the waters had been dashed. Whales perish in the same way as ships, and die by degrees from being knocked against quicksands and shoals. We sometimes, however, see the carcasses of whales cast on to the shore by the tide. I have spoken elsewhere of melotas, enormous fish, innumerable shoals of which we met during some weeks in the month of November. From the water let us now proceed to the woods and plains of Paraguay, which abound in so many curious plants and trees.

PLANTS

The Jesuit priest Thomas Falconer, an Englishman well versed in medicine and botany, frequently and openly declared that Paraguay had been enriched by the bounty of nature with so many wholesome plants, roots, gums, woods and fruits, that whoever was skilled in the knowledge of those things would have no occasion for European druggists to cure any disease. Out of many which Paraguay affords either for medicinal or other purposes, I will describe a few in the order in which they enter my mind. I doubt not that botanists have written on this subject more clearly and methodically; whether more faithfully also, I dare not determine with regard to all.

CHINA CHINÆ, or PERUVIAN BARK

This tree is peculiarly worthy of note on account of its bark, which is called china chinæ, Peruvian bark, or the remedy for fever. It is of middling height, and not very large, and bears an almost orbicular fruit, somewhat raised in the middle, and by no means fit to be eaten, but which contains two yellowish nuts indented all over like the rind of an almond. It is filled with a balsamic odour of a dusky colour, and a very sweet scent, but extremely bitter. With this balsam the Indians allay pains in the eyes, head and stomach, if they arise from cold. The bark is naturally white, but when torn from the tree gradually assumes a dark yellow on the surface, a little varied with pale spots: but within, it is of a red colour, not like blood, but like cinnamon, being tinged with a yellowish cast. The taste is bitter, but the smell aromatic and pleasant, though somewhat rancid. Some call the Peruvian bark Jesuits' powder, because the Jesuit missionaries in Peru were the first who made known its singular efficacy in expelling fevers. The celebrated physician Woytz tells us that this medicine was first brought to Europe, in the year 1650, by Cardinal de Lugo, a Spanish Jesuit.