174 THE UPPER AMAZONS. Chap. III. 



which communicates with an extensive system of back- 

 waters and lakes, lying between this part of the river 

 and the Japura, 250 miles further west. The inhabi- 

 tants of the Solimoens give the name of Cupi}^6 to this 

 little-known interior water-system. A Portuguese, 

 whom I knew very well, once navigated it throughout 

 its whole length. He described the country in glowing 

 terms. The waters are clear ; some of the lakes are of 

 vast extent, and the land everywhere is level and luxu- 

 riantly wooded. It is a more complete solitude than 

 the banks of the main river, for the whole region is 

 peopled only by a few families of Mura savages. The 

 inhabitants of Ega, who are employed in the summer 

 season in salting pirarucu, sometimes make their fishing 

 stations on the sandy shores of one or other of these 

 lakes. The largest of them, whose opposite or northern 

 shore is said to be scarcely visible from the south side, 

 is called Lake Mura, and is very seldom visited. 



A number of long, straggling islands occur in mid- 

 river beyond Cudaja. We passed the mouth of the 

 Mamiya, a black -water stream, on the 18th, and on the 

 19th arrived at the entrance to Lake Quary. This is 

 not, strictly speaking, a lake, but the expansion of the 

 united beds of several affluents of the Solimoens, caused 

 by the slowly-moving waters of the tributaries origi- 

 nally spreading out over the flat alluvial valle}^ into 

 which they descend from the higher country of the early 

 part of their course, instead of flowing directly into the 

 full and swift current of the main river. Henceforward 

 most of the branch rivers exhibit these lake-like expan- 

 sions of their beds. The same phenomenon takes a 



