122 THE TOCANTINS. Chap. IV. 



of being forced to return, from sheer want of hands to 

 manage the canoe. Senhor Gomez, to whom we had 

 brouofht letters of introduction from Senhor Joa5 

 Augusto Correia, a BraziHan gentleman of high standing 

 at Para, tried what he could do to induce the canoe-men 

 of his neighbourhood to engage with us, but it was a 

 vain endeavour. The people of these parts seemed to 

 be above working for wages. They are naturally in- 

 dolent, and besides, have all some little business or 

 plantation of their own, which gives them a livelihood 

 with independence. It is difficult to obtain hands 

 under any circumstances, but it was particularly so in 

 our case, from being foreigners, and suspected, as was 

 natural amongst ignorant people, of being strange in 

 our habits. At length, our host lent us two of his slaves 

 to help us on another stage, namely, to the village of 

 Baiao, where we had great hopes of having this, our 

 urgent want, supplied by^the military commandant of 

 the district. 



Sept 2nd. — The distance from Yista Alegi-e to Baia5 

 is about twenty-five miles. We had but little wind, and 

 our men were therefore obliged to row the greater part 

 of the way. The oars used in such canoes as ours are 

 made by tying a stout paddle to the end of a long pole 

 by means of woody lianas. The men take their stand 

 on a raised deck, formed by a few rough planks placed 

 over the arched covering in the fore part of the vessel, 

 and pull with their back to the stern. We started at 

 6 a.m., and about sunset reached a point where the west 

 channel of the river, along which Ave had been travelling 

 since we left Cameta, joined a broader middle one, and 



