230 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 



scene presented itself. It was my first introduction to 

 these singular water-paths. A narrow and tolerably 

 straight alley stretched away for a long distance before 

 us ; on each side were the tops of bushes and young 

 trees, forming a kind of border to the path, and the 

 trunks of the tall forest trees rose at irregular intervals 

 from the water, their crowns interlocking far over our 

 heads, and forming a thick shade. Slender air roots hung 

 down in clusters, and looping sipos dangled from the 

 lower branches ; bunches of grass, tillandsiae, and ferns, 

 sat in the forks of the larger boughs, and the trunks of 

 trees near the water had adhering to them round dried 

 masses of freshwater sponges. There was no current 

 perceptible, and the water was stained of a dark olive- 

 brown hue, but the submerged stems could be seen 

 through it to a great depth. We travelled at good 

 speed for three hours along this shady road ; the dis- 

 tance of Pedro's house from Ega being about twenty 

 miles. When the paddlers rested for a time, the still- 

 ness and gloom of the place became almost painful : 

 our voices waked dull echoes as we conversed, and the 

 noise made by fishes occasionally whipping the surface 

 of the water was quite startling. A cool, moist, clammy 

 air pervaded the sunless shade. 



The breadth of the wooded valley, at the commence- 

 ment, is probably more than half a mile, and there 

 is a tolerably clear view for a considerable distance on 

 each side of the water-path through the irregular 

 colonnade of trees : other paths also, in this part, branch 

 off right and left from the principal road, leading to 

 the scattered houses of Indians on the mainland. The 



