236 THE LOWER AMAZONS. Chap. VI. 



dotted with houses of settlers, each surrounded by its 

 plantation of cacao, which is the staple product of the 

 district. This coast has an evil reputation for storms and 

 mosquitoes, but we fortunately escaped both. It was 

 remarkable that we had been troubled by mosquitoes 

 only on one night, and then to a small degree, during 

 the whole of our voyage. 



I landed at Obydos the next morning, and then bid 

 adieu to my kind friend Joa5 da Cunha, who, after land- 

 ing my baggage, got up his anchor and continued on 

 his way. The town contains about 1200 inhabitants, 

 and is airily situated on a high bluff, 90 or 100 

 feet above the level of the river. The coast is preci- 

 pitous for two or three miles hence to the west. The 

 cliffs consist of the parti-coloured clay, or Tabatinga, 

 which occurs so frequently throughout the Amazons 

 region ; the strong current of the river sets full against 

 them in the season of high water, and annually carries 

 away large portions. The clay in places is stratified 

 alternately pink and yellow, the pink beds being the 

 thickest, and of much harder texture than the others. 

 When I descended the river in 1859, a German Major 

 of Engineers, in the employ of the Government, told me 

 that he had found calcareous layers, thickly studded 

 with marine shells interstratified with the clay. On the 

 top of the Tabatinga lies a bed of sand, in some places 

 several feet thick, and the whole formation rests on 

 strata of sandstone, which are exposed only when the 

 river reaches its lowest level. Behind the town rises a 

 fine rounded hill, and a range of similar elevations ex- 

 tends six miles westward, terminatino- at the mouth of 



