Chap. VI. SUDDEN STORM. 229 



along which we were sailing was only a naiTow arm of 

 the river, about two miles in width : the total breadth 

 at this point is more than 20 miles, but the stream is 

 divided into three parts by a series of large islands. The 

 river, notmthstanding this limitation of its breadth, 

 had a most majestic appearance. It did not present 

 that lake-like aspect which the waters of the Para and 

 Tocantins affect, but had all the swing, so to speak, of a 

 vast flowing stream. The ochre-coloured turbid waters 

 offered also a great contrast to the rivers belonging to 

 the Para system. The channel formed a splendid reach, 

 sweeping from south-west to north-east, with a horizon 

 of water and sky both up stream and down. At 11 a.m. 

 we arrived at Gurupa, a small village situated on a rocky 

 bank 30 or 40 feet high. Here we landed, and I had 

 an opportunity of rambling in the neighbouring woods, 

 which are intersected by numerous pathways, and car- 

 peted with Lycopodia growing to a height of 8 or 10 

 inches, and enlivened by numbers of glossy blue butter- 

 flies of the Theclidse, or hair- streak family. The land 

 on which Gurupa is built appears an isolated rocky area, 

 for the rest of the country round about lies low, and 

 is subject to inundation in the rainy season. At 5 p.m. 

 we were again under way. Soon after sunset, as we 

 were crossinof the mouth of the Xinofu, the first of the 

 great tributaries of the Amazons, 1200 miles in length, 

 a black cloud arose suddenly in the north-east. Joao 

 da Cunha ordered all sails to be taken in, and imme- 

 diately afterwards a furious squall burst forth, tearing 

 the waters into foam, and producing a frightful uproar 

 in the neighbouring forests. A drenching rain fol- 



