172 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
roofed in with wood ; the other has also one end covered 
in, but with thatch instead of wood. In the larger boat 
we have our luggage, compressed to the utmost, the live 
stock, a small sheep, a turkey, and several fowls, be- 
sides a number of barrels and kegs, containing alcohol, for 
specimens. The Captain has supplied us not only with all 
the necessaries, but, so far as is possible, with every luxury, 
for a week's voyage. All our preparations being made, and 
no prospect of clear weather, at nine o'clock we betook our- 
selves to our hammocks, or those of us who had stowed 
their hammocks out of reach, to chairs and benches, and 
had a broken sleep till three o'clock. The stars were then 
shining, and everything looked fair for our voyage. The 
wind had gone down, the river was smooth as glass when 
we paddled away from the side of the steamer, and, 
though we had no moon, one or two planets threw a 
bright reflection across the water to cheer our way. After 
keeping for some time down the river, we turned, just at 
dawn, into a very narrow channel leading through the 
forest. It was hardly day, but perhaps the scene was 
none the less impressive for the dim half-light in which 
we saw it. From the verdant walls, which rose on either 
side and shut us in, lofty trees, clothed from base to sum- 
mit in vines, stood out here and there like huge green 
columns, in bold relief against the morning sky ; hidden 
flowers filled the air with fragrance, great roots stretched 
out into the water, and now and then a floating log narrowed 
the passage so as just to leave room for the canoe to pass. 
After a while a broader, fuller light shone under the boughs, 
and we issued from this narrow pathway into an extensive 
lake. Here it was found that the large net, which was to 
have made a part of the outfit of the canoe, had been left 
