ON THE AMAZON. 339 
As long as there was water deep enough to float our canoe within five 
or six yards of the side we got on well enough, but when we were 
obliged to put out a little farther the current was too strong for our 
united force, and the canoe was in great danger of being carried away. 
We toiled on until noon, making very little headway, and as it began 
to be excessively hot, we allowed the canoe to take the ground, and 
resolved to wait until the air became cooler. In the interval we occu- 
pied ourselves in cooking our dinner, and were just about to fall on 
our boiled pirarucü, when a canoe appeared behind us, containing our 
friend of the Pedras, with two stout Indians and two boys. We made 
a hasty meal and by two o’clock were again under way. This was 
the disposition of our force: I was voted to the helm, the captain 
placed himself in the prow with a long pole to ascertain continually 
the depth of water, while the remaining hands tugged at the rope on 
land. We could now stand out more into the middle of the stream, 
where the current ran fast and furious, making a deep roaring against 
the prow as we ploughed through it; and my principal object was to 
keep the head of the vessel well out, as the force applied to the rope 
tended continually to draw her in shore, and had she turned in that 
direction, the current would have borne her violently on the bank, and 
either have swamped her or at least have brought on us a mountain of 
sand. The exertion required was so great, that the perspiration ran 
down my arms and legs, and my hands were quite sore; but most 
happily we- succeeded in getting clear out into the Amazon without 
once grounding, though : we had rarely so much as a fathom of water. 
Those on shore could not have suffered less than myself, for the sun 
and the white sand were scorching hot. The rope. pressing on the 
edge of the cliff brought down, every few seconds, large masses 
of sand, but we stood far enough out to avoid them. It would 
be difficult to express what a load was taken off our minds when - 
we found ourselves once more on the broad Amazon, and our 
previous silent anxiety was changed into noisy expressions of joy. 2 
The wind was blowing fair, and lasted until near sunset, sufficing to 
put us over to the opposite shore of the Amazon, along which our p 
course now lay. | 
The Ramü-orômoçaua, and the dangers of its passage, are wi 
known to the Indians on the Amazon. Last year a canoe, larger than 
ours, attempting to pass it, was wrecked, the captain rashly scorning - 
