THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



701 



cannot be less than ten miles broad ; it is 

 quite clear of islands, and free from shoals 

 at this season of the year. The opposite 

 coast appeared in the daytime as a long thin 

 line of forest, with dim gray hills in the 

 background. 



June 20th. We had a light baffling wind 

 off shore all day on the 20th, and made but 

 fourteen or fifteen miles by six P.M., when, 

 the wind failiag us, we anchored at the 

 mouth of a narrow channel, called Tapai- 

 una, which runs between a large island and 

 the mainland. About three o'clock we 

 passed in front of Boim, a village on the op- 

 posite (western) coast. The breadth of the 

 river is here six or seven miles : a confused 

 patch of white on the high land opposite was 

 all we saw of the village, the separate houses 

 being undistinguishable on account of the 

 distance. The coast along which we sailed 

 to-day is a continuation of the low and flood- 

 ed land of Paquiatuba. 



June 21st. The next morning we sailed 

 along the Tapaiuua channel, which is from 

 400 to 600 yards in breadth. We advanced 

 but slowly, as the wind was generally dead 

 against us, and stopped frequently to ramble 

 ashore. Wherever the landing place was 

 sandy it was impossible to'walk about on ac- 

 count of the swarms of the terrible fire-ant, 

 whose sting is likened by the Brazilians to 

 the puncture of a red-hot needle. There 

 was scarcely a square inch of ground free 

 from them. About three P.M. we glided into 

 a quiet, shady creek, on whose banks an in- 

 dustrious white settler had located himself. 

 I resolved to pass the rest of the day and 

 night here, and endeavor to obtain a fresh 

 supply of provisions, our stock of salt beef 

 being now nearly exhausted. The situation 

 of the house was beautiful, the little harbor 

 being gay with water plants, Pontederiae, 

 now full of purple blossom, from which 

 flocks of stilt-legged water-fowl started up 

 screaming as we entered. The owner sent a 

 boy with my men to show them the best 

 place for fish up the creek, and in the course 

 of the evening sold me a number of fowls, 

 besides baskets of beans and farinha. The 

 result of the fishing was a good supply of 

 Jandia, a handsome spotted Siluride fish, 

 and Piranha, a kind of salmon. Piranhas 

 are of several kinds, many of which abound 

 in the waters of the Tapajos. They are 

 caught with almost any kind of bait.for their 

 taste is indiscriminate and their appetite 

 most ravenous. They often attack the legs 

 of bathers near the shore, inflicting severe 

 wounds with their strong triangular teeth. 

 At Paquiatiiba and this place I added about 

 twenty species of small fishes to my collec- 

 tion, caught by hook and line, or with the 

 hand in shallow pools under the shade of the 

 forest. 



My men slept ashore, and on the coming 

 aboard in the morning Pinto was drunk and 

 insolent. According to Jose, who had kept 

 himself sober, and was alarmed at the other's 

 violent conduct, the owner of the house and 

 Pinto hud spent the greater part of the uighfc. 



together, drinking aguardente de beiju, a 

 spirit distilled from th mandioca root. We 

 knew nothing of the antecedents of this man, 

 who was a tall, strong, self-willed fellow, 

 and it began to dawn on us that this was net 

 a very safe travelling companion in a wild 

 country like this. I thought it better now to 

 make the best of our way to the next settle- 

 ment, Aveyros, and get rid of him. Our 

 course to-day lay along a high rocky coast, 

 which extended without a break for about 

 eight miles. The height of the perpendicu- 

 lar rocks was from 100 to 150 feet iems 

 and flowering shrubs grew in the crevices, 

 and the summit supported a luxuriant growth 

 of forest, like the rest of the river banks. 

 The waves beat with loud roar at the foot <. f 

 these inhospitable barriers. At two P.M. -wj 

 passed the mouth of a small picturesque hai\ 

 bor, formed by a gap in the precipitous 

 coast. Several families have here settled ; 

 the place is called Ita-puama, or " standing 

 rock," from a remarkable isolated cliff which 

 stands erect at the entrance to the little 

 haven. A short distance beyond Ita-puama 

 we found ourselves opposite to the village 

 of Pinhel, which is perched, like Boim, on 

 high ground, on the western side of the 

 river. The stream is here from six to seven 

 miles wide. A line of low islets extends in 

 front of Pinhel, and a little farther to tb3 

 south is a larger island, called Capitarl, 

 which lies nearly in the middle of the river. 



June 23d The wind freshened at ten 

 o'clock in the morning of the 23d. A thicK 

 black cloud then began to spread itself ovc: 

 the sky along way down the river ; the storm 

 which it portended, however, did not reach 

 us, as the dark threatening mass crossevl 

 from east to west, and the only effect it ha I 

 was to impel a column of cold air up the 

 river, creating a breeze with which we 

 bounded rapidly forward. The wind in thj 

 afternoon strengthened to a gale ; we car- 

 ried on with one foresail only, two of the 

 men holding on to the boom to prevent the 

 whole thing from flving to pieces. Tho 

 rocky coast continued for about twelve miles 

 above Ita-puama, then succeeded a tract i>f 

 low marshy land, which had evidently been 

 ome an island whose channel of separatum 

 from the mainland had become silted up. 

 The island of Capitari, and another group t f 

 islets succeeding it, called Jacare, on the op- 

 posite side, helped also to contract at this 

 point the breadth of the river, which was 

 now not more than about three miles. The 

 little cuberta almost flew along this coast, 

 there being no perceptible current, past ex- 

 tensive swamps, margined with thick flout- 

 ing grasses. At length, on rounding a low 

 point, higher land again appeared on the 

 right bank of the river, aud the village of 

 Aveyros hove in sight, in the port of which 

 we cast anchor late in the afternoon. 



Aveyros is a small settlement, containing 

 only fourteen or fifteen houses besides the 

 church ; but it is the place of residence c-f 

 the authorities of a large district the priest 



tU. de Paz, the subdelegado of police an i 



