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 

 I^a. This morning, while stopping to wood at Fonte Bua, 

 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 25th. 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 

 cur letters to be 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 



x 



