ON THE AMAZON. 271 
for they were too idle to erect a little house (as they had talked of 
doing in coming up), and which would not have cost them above three ' 
or four hours’ labour. I had every reason to believe that if I remained 
much longer they would make no seruple of eloping and taking the 
canoe with them, which would have left me in a dreadful predicament. 
Hence, though I had hoped when setting out from Obidos to have 
at least a peep into British Guiana, if not actually to set my foot over 
the boundary, ere I returned, and though this seemed now within my 
reach, I felt it necessary to defer its accomplishment until a more 
favourable opportunity. Another serious reason for hastening my 
departure from the cachoeiras was that Mr. King’s indisposition 
continued unabated, and he was daily becoming more and more 
reduced, all the remedies we could devise having proved unavailing. 
Our canoe, too, though above the ordinary size and quite too large for 
our crew, began to be filled to overflowing with my collections. The 
plants, dried and drying, occupied so much of the space within the 
tolda as not to allow us room to sleep except in very uneasy postures, 
and every spare place was filled with panneros of Orchises and other 
living plants. We had, also, great difficulty in getting dry paper 
for our specimens, though I left a man at the canoe every day 
for the purpose of seizing a favourable interval to expose it in 
the sun. 
On the 30th of December we bade adieu to the cachoeiras of the 
Aripeeurá, the regret I felt at quitting them being shared, I believe, 
by none of my companions. As we fell down the stream I was 
astonished to remark how it had filled during the last five days, to 
such an extent, indeed, that we had now no occasion to guard against 
sunken or projecting rocks. By sunset we reached the second tar- 
taruga-bank from the falls, and drew up for the night. I may here ~ 
remark that the sand of all these banks (of which I send a specimen) 
consists of extremely large grains, containing many unbroken crystals 
of hornblende, &e. It has, also, a considerable quantity of polished 
black pebbles, which a merchant from the mines of Cuyaba (now at 
Santarem) and others have recognized as a sign of the presence of 
gold, and possibly of diamonds. I have something else to do than to 
undertake such a dirty task as the digging for gold, but I shall not be 
urprised if some of my neighbours here are induced to try their 
-ortune on the Aripecurá, in consequence of what I have seen there. 
