36 SANTAREM. Chap. I. 



fordable when the waters are low. To the east my 

 rambles extended to the banks of the Mahica inlet. 

 This enters the Amazons aJbout three miles below San- 

 tar em, where the clear stream of the Tapajos begins to 

 be discoloured by the turbid waters of the main river. 

 The broad, placid channel of the Mahica separates the 

 Tapajos mainland from the alluvial low lands of the 

 great river plain. It communicates in the interior with 

 other inlets, and the whole forms a system of inland 

 water-paths navigable by small vessels from Santarem 

 to the river Curua, forty miles distant. The Mahica 

 has a broad margin of rich, level pasture, limited on 

 each side by the straight, tall hedge of forest. On 

 the Santarem side it is skirted by high wooded ridges. 

 A landscape of this description always produced in me 

 an impression of sadness and loneliness which the riant 

 virgin forests that closely hedge in most of the by- 

 waters of the Amazons never created. The pastures 

 are destitute of flowers, and also of animal life, with 

 the exception of a few small plain-coloured birds and 

 solitary Caracara eagles whining from the topmost 

 branches of dead trees on the forest borders. A few 

 settlers have built their palm-thatched and mud-walled 

 huts on the banks of the Mahica, and occupy them- 

 selves chiefly in tending small herds of cattle. They 

 seemed to be all wretchedly poor. The oxen however, 

 though small, were sleek and fat, and the district most 

 promising for agricultural and pastoral employments. 

 In the wet season the waters gradually rise and cover 

 the meadows, but there is plenty of room for the 

 removal of the cattle to higher ground. The lazy and 



