. THE RIVER LIMA ASD VIA.VXA. 167 



a rate of progress altogether hostile to Portuguese habits, 

 and certainly quite inharmonious with the gentle move- 

 ments of the Lima, we must have made at least a mile and 

 a quarter within the first half-hour, which was a rate of 

 progress we never again attained, for then the wind 

 dropped, and our sail hung loose and idle ; and though we 

 all whistled at proper intervals, and courted the breeze in 

 every other orthodox manner known to sailors of all lands, 

 it was to no purpose ; and if a slight breath of air gave us 

 momentary hopes of more rapid advance, as it did occa- 

 sionally, it always died away again in a few moments, and 

 left us to float with the stream with what patience we 

 could command. Now, the river Lima is for the most 

 part exceedingly shallow, as I have already observed, and 

 extends over a very broad bed, and is often divided into 

 several streams by immense sand-banks, which at this sea- 

 son stand out, broad and dry, over large areas, but which 

 betoken the occasional descent of a large body of water 

 after the winter rain, and the change which can, under such 

 circumstances, come over the spirit of even the gentle 

 Lima, and the ungovernable fury into which even that 

 usually so placid river can be lashed. So it is sometimes 

 with men of the most amiable disposition : the sky may 

 become overcast, the storm may gather in the mountains, 

 and the evenly-flowing quiet temper may be roused into a 

 furious torrent of passion ; to subside again as quickly, 

 when the cloud has passed away, and the sun shines forth 

 again in an atmosphere generally so serene and fair. As 

 far as our experience extended, the Lima was uniformly 

 gentle, and the great difficulty which our crew experienced 

 was to find a channel deep enough for our heavily-laden 

 though flat-bottomed barge. Sometimes the main current 

 ran under one bank, sometimes under the other, but very 

 seldom in the midst of the river's bed. For a considerable 

 distance our course lay beneath the southern bank, which 



