Cuap., VII. THE MADEIRA TRIBUTARY. 161 
same species ; one produced on the north, the other on the south side 
of the Amazons. It is worthy of especial mention that here, as well as 
in the cases of P. Lysander and the Heliconii, described in the pre- 
ceding chapter, the connecting links are found inhabiting distinct 
localities, and not mingled with the extreme forms which they connect. 
We left Serpa on the z9th of December, in company of an old 
planter named Senhor Joao Trinidade ; at whose sitio, situated opposite 
the mouth of the Madeira, Penna intended to spend a few days. Our 
course on the zgth and 3oth lay through narrow channels between 
islands. On the 31st we passed the last of these, and then beheld to. 
the south a sea-like expanse of water, where the Madeira, the greatest 
tributary of the Amazons, after 2000 miles of course, blends its waters. 
with those of the king of rivers. I was hardly prepared for a junction 
of waters on so vast a scale as this, now nearly 900 miles from the 
sea. Whilst travelling week after week along the somewhat monotonous 
stream, often hemmed in between islands, and becoming thoroughly 
familiar with it, my sense of the magnitude of this vast water system 
had become gradually deadened ; but this noble sight renewed the first 
feelings of wonder. One is inclined, in such places as these, to think 
the Paraenses do not exaggerate much when they call the Amazons the 
Mediterranean of South America. Beyond the mouth of Madeira, the 
Amazons sweeps down in a majestic reach, to all appearance not a whit 
less in breadth before, than after, this enormous addition to its waters. 
The Madeira does not ebb and flow simultaneously with the Amazons ; 
it rises and sinks about two months earlier, so that it was now fuller 
than the main river. Its current therefore poured forth freely from its 
mouth, carrying with it a long line of floating trees and patches of 
grass, which had been torn from its crumbly banks in the lower part of 
its course. The current, however, did not reach the middle of the 
main stream, but swept along nearer to the southern shore. 
A few items of information which I gleaned relative to this river may 
find a place here. The Madeira is navigable for about 480 miles from 
its mouth ; a series of cataracts and rapids then commences, which 
extends, with some intervals of quiet water, about 160 miles, beyond 
which is another long stretch of navigable stream. Canoes sometimes 
descend from Villa Bella, in the interior province of Matto Grosso, but 
not so frequently as formerly, and I could hear of very few persons who 
had attempted of late years to ascend the river to that point. It was 
explored by the Portuguese in the early part of the eighteenth century ; 
the chief and now the only town on its banks, Borba, 150 miles from 
its mouth, being founded in 1756. Up to the year 1853, the lower 
part of the river, as far as about 100 miles beyond Borba, was regularly 
visited by traders from Villa Nova, Serpa, and Barra, to collect 
salsaparilla, copaiiba balsam, turtle-oil, and to trade with the Indians, 
with whom their relations were generally on a friendly footing. In that 
year many indiarubber collectors resorted to this region, stimulated by 
the high price (2s. 6d. a pound) which the article was at that time 
fetching at Para; and then the Ardras, a fierce and intractable tribe of 
Indians, began to be troublesome. ‘They attacked several canoes and 
massacred every one on board, the Indian crews as well as the white 
er 
