114 THE TOCANTINS. Chap. IV. 



all three together on the mat, which was spread over 

 the floor of our cabin, and soon fell asleep. 



On awaking at sunrise the next morning, we found 

 ourselves gliding upwards with the tide, along the 

 Bahia or Bay, as it is called, of Goajara. This is a 

 broad channel lying between the mainland and a 

 line of islands which extends some distance beyond 

 the city. Into it three large rivers discharge their 

 waters, namely, the Guama, the Acara, and the Moju ; 

 so that it forms a kind of sub-estuary within the grand 

 estuary of Para. It is nearly four miles broad. The left 

 bank, along which we were now sailing, was beautiful in 

 the extreme ; not an inch of soil was to be seen ; the 

 water frontage presented a compact wall of rich and 

 varied forest, resting on the surface of the stream. It 

 seemed to form a finished border to the water scene, 

 where the dome-like, rounded shapes of exogenous 

 trees which constituted the mass formed the ground- 

 work, and the endless diversity of broad-leaved Heli- 

 conise and Palms — each kind differing in stem, crown, 

 and fronds — the rich embroidery. The morning was 

 calm and cloudless ; and the slanting beams of the early 

 sun, striking full on the front of the forest, lighted up 

 the whole most gloriously. The only sound of life 

 which reached us was the call of the Serracura (Gal- 

 linula Cayennensis), a kind of wild-fowl ; all else was 

 so still that the voices of boatmen could be plainly 

 heard from canoes passing a mile or two distant from 

 us. The sun soon gains great power on the water, 

 but with it the sea-breeze increases in strength, mode- 

 rating the heat, which would otherwise be almost insup- 



