katita

Updated: May 15, 2025

It is the habit of all Indians, male and female, to bathe early in the morning; they do it sometimes for warmth's sake, the temperature of the water being often considerably higher than that of the air. Penna and I lolled in our hammocks, while Katita prepared the indispensable cup of strong coffee, which she did with wonderful celerity, smoking meanwhile her early morning pipe of tobacco.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons

I provided a stock of groceries for two months' consumption; and, after the usual amount of unnecessary fuss and delay on the part of the owner, we started on the 19th of November. Penna took his family with him this comprised a smart, lively mameluco woman, named Catarina, whom we called Senora Katita, and two children.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons

The strong current at a distance of thirty or forty yards from the coast steadied the cuberta head to stream, and kept us from drifting ashore. We all slept in the open air, as the heat of the cabins was stifling in the early part of the night. Penna, Senhora Katita, and I slung our hammocks in triangle between the mainmast and two stout poles fixed in the raised deck.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons

Penna's object in stopping was simply to enjoy a ramble on the sands with the children, and give Senora Katita an opportunity to wash the linen. The sandbank was now fast going under water with the rise of the river; in the middle of the dry season it is about a mile long and half a mile in width.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons