Chap. II. ALTAE DO CHAO. 77 



managed to get out of this difficulty, clearing the 

 rocky point at a close shave with our jib-sail. Soon 

 after we drifted into the smooth water of a sheltered 

 bay which leads to the charmingly situated village of 

 Altar do Chao; and we were obliged to give up our 

 attempt to recover the montaria. . 



The little settlement, Altar do Chao — altar of the 

 ground, or Earth altar — owes its singular name to the 

 existence at the entrance to the harbour of one of 

 those strange flat-topped hills which are so common in 

 this part of the Amazons country, shaped like the high 

 altar in Roman Catholic churches. It is an isolated 

 one and much lower in height than the similarly 

 truncated hills and ridges near Almeyrim, being elevated 

 probably not more than 300 feet above the level of the 

 river. It is bare of trees, but covered in places with 

 a species of fern. At the head of the bay is an inner 

 harbour which communicates by a channel with a 

 series of lakes lying in the valleys between hills and 

 stretching far into the interior of the land. The 

 village is peopled almost entirely by semi-civilised 

 Indians to the number of sixty or seventy families, 

 and the scattered houses are arranged in broad streets 

 on a strip of green sward at the foot of a high, glo- 

 riously-wooded ridge. 



We stayed here nine days. As soon as we anchored 

 I went ashore and persuaded, by the offer of a hand- 

 some reward, two young half-breeds to go in search of 

 my missing boat. The head man of the place, Captain 

 Thomas, a sleepy-looking mameluco, whom I found in 

 his mud-walled cottage in loose shirt and drawers, with 



