152 A JOURNEY IN BEAZIL. 
CHAPTER V. 
FROM PARA TO MANAOS. 
FIRST SUNDAY ON THE AMAZONS. GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION. CONVENIENT 
ARRANGEMENTS OF STEAMER. VAST DIMENSIONS OF THE RIVER. ASPECT 
OF SHORES. VILLAGE OF BREVES. LETTER ABOUT COLLECTIONS. VEGE- 
TATION. VARIETY OF PALMS. SETTLEMENT OF TAJAPURU. ENORMOUS 
SIZE OF LEAVES OF THE MIRITI PALM. -- WALK ON SHORE. INDIAN HOUSES. 
COURTESY OF INDIANS. Row IN THE FOREST. TOWN OF GURUPA. 
RIVER XINGU. COLOR OF WATER. TOWN OF PORTO DO Moz. FLAT- 
TOPPED HILLS OF ALMEYRIM. BEAUTIFUL SUNSET. MONTE ALEGRE. 
CHARACTER OF SCKNERY AND SOIL. SANTAREM. SEND OFF PARTY ON 
THE RIVER TAPAJOS. CONTINUE UP THE AMAZONS. PASTORAL SCENES ON 
THE BANKS. TOWN OF VILLA BELLA. CANOE JOURNEY AT NIGHT TO THE 
LAKE OF JOSE Assii. ESPERANCA'S COTTAGE. PICTURESQUE SCENE AT 
NIGHT. SUCCESS IN COLLECTING. INDIAN LIFE. MAKING FARINHA. 
DANCE IN THE EVENING. HOWLING MONKEYS. RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS 
OF INDIANS. COTTAGE OF MAIA THE FISHERMAN. His INTEREST IN EDU- 
CATING HIS CHILDREN. RETURN TO STEAMER. SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF 
THE EXCURSION. 
August 2Qth. On board the " Icamiaba." Our first 
Sunday on the Amazons ; for, notwithstanding the warm 
dispute as to whether both the rivers enclosing the island 
of Marajo must be considered as parts of the great river, 
it is impossible not to feel from the moment you leave 
Para that you have entered upon the Amazons. Geology 
must settle this knotty question. If it should be seen 
that the continent once presented an unbroken line, as 
Mr. Agassiz believes, from Cape St. Roque to Cayenne, 
the sea having encroached upon it so as to give it its 
present limits, the Amazons must originally have entered 
the ocean far to the east of its present mouth, at a time 
when the Island of Marajo divided the river in two channels 
flowing on either side of it and uniting again beyond it. 
