Chap. II. WESTERN SIDE OF THE TAPAJOS. 90 



sons in all, and the boat was an old ricketty affair with 

 the gaping seams rudely stuffed with tow and pitch. 

 In addition to the human freight we took three sheep 

 with us, which Captain Antonio had just received from 

 Santarem and was going to add to his new cattle farm 

 on the other side. Ten Indian paddlers carried us 

 quickly across. The breadth of the river could not be 

 less than three miles, and the current was scarcely 

 perceptible. When a boat has to cross the main 

 Amazons, it is obliged to ascend along the banks for 

 half a mile or more to allow for drifting by the current ; 

 in this lower part of the Tapajos this is not necessary. 

 "When about half-way, the sheep, in moving about, 

 kicked a hole in the bottom of the boat. The passen- 

 gers took the matter very coolly, although the water 

 spouted up alarmingly, and I thought we should inevit- 

 ably be swamped. Captain Antonio took off his socks 

 to stop the leak, inviting me and the Juiz de paz, who 

 was one of the party, to do the same, whilst two In- 

 dians baled out the water with large cuyas. We thus 

 managed to keep afloat until we reached our destina- 

 tion, when the men patched up the leak for our return 

 journey. 



The landing-place lay a short distance within the 

 mouth of a shady inlet, on whose banks, hidden amongst 

 the dense woods, were the houses of a few Indian and 

 mameluco settlers. The path to the cattle farm led 

 first through a tract of swampy forest ; it then ascended 

 a slope and emerged on a fine sweep of prairie, varied 

 with patches of timber. The wooded portion occupied 

 the hollows where the soil was of a rich chocolate- 



h 2 



