304 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
river system in any other country, but is here absolutely 
lost in the world of waters of which it forms a part. In- 
deed, the vastness of the Amazons is not felt chiefly when 
following its main course, but rather on its lesser tribu- 
taries, where streams to which a place on the map is 
hardly accorded are found to be in fact large rivers. 
The region of Mauhes is comparatively little known, be- 
cause it is off the line of steam navigation ; but, thanks 
to the efforts of its most prominent citizen, Mr. Michelis, 
who has made his home there for twenty-five years, and 
contributed, by his energy, intelligence, and honorable 
character, to raise the tone of the whole district, it is one of 
the most prosperous in the province. It is melancholy to 
see how little is done in other districts, when an instance 
like this shows what one man can do to improve the forest 
population along the banks of the Amazons. His example 
and its successful results should be an encouragement to all 
intelligent settlers on the Amazons. The little village of 
Mauhes stands on a sort of terrace, in front of which, at 
this season when the waters are still considerably below 
high-water mark, runs a broad, white beach, rendered all 
the prettier at the moment of our arrival by a large party 
of Bolivian Indians, who had built their camp-fires on its 
sands. We looked at these people with a kind of wonder, 
thinking of the perilous voyages they constantly make in 
their heavily-laden canoes, forced to unload their cargo 
over and over again as they shoot the cataracts of the 
Madeira on their way down, or drag their boats wearily 
up them on their return. It seems strange, when this 
river is the highway of commerce from Bolivia, Matto- 
Grosso, and through Matto-Grosso from Paraguay to the 
Amazons, that the suggestion made by Major Coutinho 
