172 LOWER AMAZONS—OBYDOS TO MANAOS. Cuap. VIL. 
- probable that this will gradually prevail over the old name. The Rio 
Negro broadens considerably from its mouth upwards, and presents the 
appearance of a great lake ; its black-dyed waters having no current, 
and seeming to be dammed up by the impetuous flow of the yellow, 
turbid Solimoens, which here belches forth a continuous line of up- 
rooted trees and patches of grass, and forms a striking contrast with its 
tributary. In crossing we passed the line, a little more than half-way 
over, where the waters of the tworivers meet, and are sharply demarcated 
from each other. On reaching the opposite shore we found a remark- 
able change. All our insect pests had disappeared, as if by magic, even 
from the hold of the canoe: the turmoil of an agitated, swiftly flowing 
river, and its torn, perpendicular, earthy banks, had given place to 
tranquil water, and a coast indented with snug little bays, fringed with 
sloping sandy beaches. ‘The low shore and vivid light green endlessly- 
varied foliage, which prevailed on the south side of the Amazons, were 
exchanged for a hilly country, clothed with a sombre, rounded and 
monotonous forest. Our tedious voyage now approached its termina- 
tion; a light wind carried us gently along the coast to the city of 
Barra, which lies about seven or eight miles within the mouth of the 
river. We stopped for an hour in a clean little bay, to bathe and dress, 
before showing ourselves again among civilised people. The bottom 
was visible at a depth of six feet, the white sand taking a brownish tinge 
from the stained but clear water. In the evening I went ashore, and 
was kindly received by Senhor Henriques Antony, a warm-hearted 
Italian, established here in a high position as merchant, who was the 
never-failing friend of stray travellers. He placed a couple of rooms at 
my disposal, and in a few hours I was comfortably settled in my new 
quarters, sixty-four days after leaving Obydos. 
The town of Barra is built on a tract of elevated, but very uneven 
land, on the left bank of the Rio Negro, and contained in 1850 about 
3,000 inhabitants. There was originally a small fort here, erected by 
the Portuguese to protect their slave-hunting expeditions amongst the 
numerous tribes of Indians which peopled the banks of the river. The 
most distinguished and warlike of these were the Mandos, who had 
many traits in common with the Omaguas, or Cambevas, of the Upper 
Amazons, the Munduructs of the Tapajos, the Jurtinas of the Xingu, 
and other sections of the Tupi nation. The Mandaos were continually 
at war with the neighbouring tribes, and had the custom of enslaving 
the prisoners made during their predatory expeditions. The Portuguese 
disguised their slave-dealing motives under the pretext of ransoming 
(vesgatando) these captives ; indeed, the term vesgatar (to ransom) is 
still applied by the traders on the Upper Amazons to the very general, 
but illegal, practice of purchasing Indian children of the wild tribes. 
The older inhabitants of the place remember the time when many 
hundreds of these captives were brought down by a single expedition. 
In 1809, Barra became the chief town of the Rio Negro district ; many 
Portuguese and Brazilians from other provinces then settled here ; 
spacious houses and warehouses were built, and it grew, in the course 
of thirty or forty years, to be, next to Santarem, the principal settlement 

