38 PARA. Cuap. II. 
houses, inhabited by people of mixed white, Indian, and negro descent. 
Many of them did business with Mr. Leavens, bringing for sale their 
little harvests of rice, or a few logs of timber. It was interesting to see 
them in their little heavy-laden montarias. Sometimes the boats were 
managed by handsome, healthy young lads, loosely clad in straw hat, 
white shirt, and dark blue trousers, turned up to the knee. They 
steered, paddled, and managed the varejao (the boating pole) with much 
grace and dexterity. 
We made many excursions down the Iritiri, and saw much of these 
creeks ; besides, our second visit to the mills was by water. The 
Magoary is a magnificent channel; the different branches form quite 
a labyrinth, and the land is everywhere of little elevation. All these 
smaller rivers throughout the Para estuary are of the nature of creeks. 
The land is so level, that the short local rivers have no sources and 
downward currents, like rivers as we generally understand them. They 
‘ serve the purpose of draining the land, but instead of having a constant 
current one way, they have a regular ebb and flow with the tide. The 
natives call them, in the Tupi language, Igarapes, or canoe-paths. The 
igarapes and furos or channels, which are infinite in number in this great 
river delta, are characteristic of the country. The land is everywhere 
covered with impenetrable forests ; the houses and villages are all on 
the waterside, and nearly all communication is by water. This semi- 
aquatic life of the people is one of the most interesting features of the 
country. For short excursions, and for fishing in still waters, a small 
boat, called montaria, is universally used. It is made of five planks; 
a broad one for the bottom, bent into the proper shape by the action 
of heat, two narrow ones for the sides, and two small triangular pieces 
for stem and stern. It has no rudder; the paddle serves for both 
steering and propelling. The montaria takes here the place of the 
horse, mule, or camel of other regions. Besides one or more montarias, 
almost every family has a larger canoe, called Igarite. This is fitted 
with two masts, a rudder and keel, and has an arched awning or cabin 
near the stern, made of a framework of tough lianas, thatched with palm 
leaves. In the igarite they will cross stormy rivers fifteen or twenty 
miles broad. ‘The natives are all boat-builders. It is often remarked, 
by white residents, that an Indian is a carpenter and shipwright by 
intuition. It is astonishing to see in what crazy vessels these people 
will risk themselves. I have seen Indians cross rivers in a leaky 
montaria, when it required the nicest equilibrium to keep the leak just 
above water; a movement of a hair’s breadth would send all to the 
bottom, but they managed to cross in safety. ‘They are especially care- 
ful when they have strangers under their charge, and it is the custom of 
Brazilian and Portuguese travellers to leave the whole management to 
them. When they are alone they are more reckless, and often have 
to swim for their lives. When a squall overtakes them as they are 
crossing in a heavy-laden canoe, they all jump overboard and swim 
about until the heavy sea subsides, when they re-embark. 
A few words on the aboriginal population of the Para estuary will 
here not be out of place. The banks of the Para were originally 
