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“Eu pescava muito, tudo quanto era peixe – tracajá, curimatã, tambaqui. Era muito. Tucunaré, surubim…

Mas, olhe, eu nunca arpoei um peixe-boi neste lago; tem uns aí que escuta até cuspe n’água. […] Numa

viagem, eu estava pescando pirarucu no buraco do Caju, vi um focinho, e a bocarra boiô pra mim, de uns

três ou quatro metros. Eu gritei, e arpoemos pra descourar e tirar a manta dele. Na boca da noite, saímos

na beira do lago comprido, o buritizal nos agasalhando pra outra banda. ‘Aquele fogo ali é a Cobra Grande’,

eu disse pro meu parceiro do casco. Ela vinha baixando, passou perto de nós por arriba d’água, deslizando

com fogo ou ao menos no feixe. Não vimos a cobra de verdade – mas o fogo sim!”

Nelson Neris, Santa Rita do Lago da Valéria, Parintins, Amazonas

“I used to fi sh a lot, all kinds of fi sh – tracajá, curimatã, tambaqui. It was a lot – tucunaré, surubim… But

I’ve never been able to harpoon a manatee in this lagoon; there are some manatees out there that can hear

even if one spits into the water. […] On a trip, I was fi shing for arapaima at Caju Hole when I saw a muzzle

and that big mouth mooed at me, some three or four meters away. I screamed, and we harpooned it to skin

it and get its pelt. In the early evening, we went out on the edge of the long lake, the buriti palms guiding us

to the other side. ‘That fi re out there is the Big Snake, the fi ery one,’ I said to my boat mate. It came slowly

downwards and passed near us over the water, gliding with fi re or at least a beam of light. We didn’t see

the actual snake – but we did see the fi re!”

Nelson Neris, Santa Rita do Lago da Valéria, Parintins, Amazonas

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