338 MR. SPRUCE’S BOTANICAL EXCURSION 
which was lying in the bottom of the montaria ; he held this up and 
poised it in his hand, and the jacaré seemed at once to comprehend its 
use, for he retreated to the middle and there remained stationary tntil 
we left the lake. 
There were three plants of the Victoria, only the largest of which 
was in flower and fruit. I suppose this plant covered a surface of 
six hundred square feet, although none of its leaves exceeded six feet 
in diameter. The fruits were all under water, and some of them par- 
tially decomposed, with the ripe seeds falling out. One of the flowers 
was the most magnificent I have seen: its petals of the deepest rose, 
perfectly expanded, and exhaling a delicious odour. 
On the morning of the 23rd we left the Pedras, having obtained a 
promise of assistance on the following day to pass the mouth of the 
Ramos from a brother of the wounded man. There was no wind to 
aid us, and our progress was very slow against the strong current, for 
our crew was now reduced to two, having originally numbered only three, 
the captain included. It was night when we reached a place where the 
water began to run furiously, being about a mile distant from the real 
mouth, which we could see very plainly. We anchored on the right 
bank, adjacent to a broad sandy delta, extending to the Amazon, and 
in winter deep under water. After supper I started with the captain 
to explore the passage by starlight, and after stumbling into sundry 
holes, and rounding a good many pocinhos (‘little wells,” as the lagoons 
left in the sand are called), we reached the mouth. Here we found 
the waters of the Amazon entering with a force and a noise truly 
formidable, and ploughing through the sand in such a mamner as to 
make a wall in it of fifteen feet high, from which the increasing torrent 
was every moment tearing large masses and thus widening its bed. On 
~ the following morning, after waiting for some hours in vain for the 
.. promised aid, we resolved to attempt the perilous passage. It is 
impossible for any one to travel much on these rivers without acquiring 
something of the practice of navigation, and Mr. King and I had con- 
stantly taken the helm for more than half the day ; we were indeed 
heartily sick of the protracted voyage, and glad to do anything in 
our power to accelerate it. On this occasion the strong cable of the 
Fe anchor was secured to the fore-mast, and carried on shore to serve as a 
... hauling-rope, Mr. King and our man yoking themselves to it, while I 
| — took the helm, and the captain placed himself in the prow with a pole. 
