146 VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. Chap. II. 



we met a shrewd Santarem trader, whom I knew, 

 Senhor Chico Honorio, who had a larger and much 

 better provided canoe than our own. The wind was 

 strong from below all day, so we remained at this place 

 in his company. He had his wife with him, and a 

 number of Indians, male and female. We slung our 

 hammocks under the trees, and breakfasted and dined 

 together, our cloth being spread on the sanely beach 

 in the shade ; after killing a large quantity of fish with 

 Umbo, of which we had obtained a supply at Itapuama. 

 At night we were again under way with the land 

 breeze. The water was shoaly to a great distance off the 

 coast, and our canoe having the lighter draught went 

 ahead, our leadsman crying out the soundings to our 

 companion : the depth was only one fathom, half a mile 

 from the coast. We spent the next day (25th) at the 

 mouth of a creek called Pirn, which is exactly opposite 

 the village of Boim, and on the following night ad- 

 vanced about twelve miles. Every point of land had a 

 long spit of sand stretching one or two miles towards 

 the middle of the river, which it was necessary to double 

 by a wide circuit. The terral failed us at midnight 

 when we were near an espera, called Marai, the mouth 

 of a shallow creek. 



Sept. 26th. — I did not like the prospect of spending the 

 whole dreary day at Marai*, where it was impossible to 

 ramble ashore, the forest being utterly impervious, and 

 the land still partly under water. Besides, we had used 

 up our last stick of firewood to boil our coffee at sun- 

 rise, and could not get a fresh supply at this place. 

 So there being a dead calm on the river in the morning, 



