LIFE AT MANAOS. 209 
and Mr. Talisman last evening at San Paolo, where they are 
to get a canoe and Indians for their further journey to the 
lea. This morning, while stopping to wood at Fonte Boa, 
Mr. Agassiz went on shore and collected a very interesting 
series of fossil plants in the lower mud deposit ; he was also 
very successful in making a small collection of fishes, con- 
taining several new species, during the few hours we passed 
at this place. 
September 2oth. Teffe. On Friday, the day after my last 
date, we were within two or three hours of Teffe ; we had 
just finished packing our various effects, and were closing 
our letters to he mailed from Manaos, when the steamer 
came to a sudden pause with that dead, sullen, instan- 
taneous stop which means mischief. The order to reverse 
the engines was given instantly, but we had driven with 
all our force into the bed of the river, and there we 
remained, motionless. This is sometimes rather a serious 
accident at the season when the waters are falling, steamers 
having been occasionally stranded for a number of weeks. 
It is not easily guarded against, the river bottom changing 
so constantly and so suddenly that even the most experi- 
enced pilots cannot always avoid disaster. They may pass 
with perfect safety in their upward voyage over a place 
where, on their return, they find a formidable bank of mud. 
During three hours the crew worked ineffectually, trying to 
back the steamer off, or sinking the anchor at a distance to 
drag her back upon it. At five o'clock in the afternoon the 
sky began to look black and lowering, and presently a vio- 
lent squall, with thunder and rain, broke upon us. The 
wind did, in an instant, what man and steam together had 
failed to do in hours. As the squall struck the steamer on 
her side, she vibrated, veered and floated free. There was 
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