314 THE LOWER AMAZONS. Chap. YII. 



after this enormous addition to its waters. The Ma- 

 deira does not ebb and flow simultaneously with the 

 Amazons ; it rises and sinks about two months earlier, 

 so that it was now fuller than the main river. Its 

 current therefore poured forth freely from its mouth, 

 carrying with it a long line of floating trees and 

 patches of grass, which had been torn from its crumbly 

 banks in the lower part of its course. The current, 

 however, did not reach the middle of the main stream, 

 but swept along nearer to the southern shore. 



A few items of informa,tion which I gleaned relative to 

 this river may find a place here. The Madeira is navig- 

 able for about 480 miles from its mouth ; a series of 

 cataracts and rapids then commences, which extends with 

 some intervals of quiet water, about 160 miles, beyond 

 which is another long stretch of navigable stream. 

 Canoes sometimes descend from Villa Bella, in the inte- 

 rior province of Matto Grosso, but not so frequently as 

 formerly, and I could hear of very few persons who had 

 attempted of late years to ascend the river to that 

 point. It was explored by the Portuguese in the early 

 23art of the eighteenth century ; the chief and now the 

 only town on its banks, Borba, 150 miles from its 

 mouth, being founded in 1756. Up to the year 1853, 

 the lower part of the river, as far as about 100 miles 

 beyond Borba, was regularly visited by traders from 

 Villa Nova, Serpa, and Barra, to collect salsaparilla, 

 copaiiba balsam, turtle-oil, and to trade with the 

 Indians, with whom their relations were generally on a 

 friendly footing. In that year many India-rubber col- 

 lectors resorted to this region, stimulated by the high 



