27G THE LOWEK AMAZONS. Chap. YII. 



atmosphere. The storms may be therefore attributed to 

 the rush of cold moist air from up river, when the 

 regular trade-wind coming from the sea has slackened 

 or ceased to blow. 



On the 26th we arrived at a large sand bank con- 

 nected with an island in midriver, in front of an inlet 

 called Maraca-uassu. Here we anchored and spent half 

 a day ashore. Penna's object in stopping was simply to 

 enjoy a ramble on the sands with the children, and give 

 Senhora Katita an opportunity to wash the linen. The 

 sandbank was now fast going under water with the rise 

 of the river ; in the middle of the dry season it is about 

 a mile long and half a mile in width. The canoe-men 

 delight in these open spaces, which are a great relief to 

 the monotony of the forest that clothes the land in 

 every other part of the river. Further westward they 

 are much more frequent, and of larger extent. They lie 

 generally at the upper end of islands ; in fact, the 

 latter originate in accretions of vegetable matter formed 

 by plants and trees growing on a shoal. The island 

 was wooded chiefly with the trumpet tree (Cecropia 

 peltata), which has a hollow stem and smooth pale 

 bark. The leaves are similar in shape to those of the 

 horse-chestnut, but immensely larger ; beneath they are 

 white, and when the welcome trade-wind blows they 

 show their silvery undersides, — a pleasant signal to the 

 weary canoe traveller. The mode of growth of this tree 

 is curious : the branches are emitted at nearly right 

 angles with the stem, the branchlets in minor whorls 

 around these, and so forth, the leaves growing at their 

 extremities ; so that the total appearance is that of a huge 



