258 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 



shipped a great deal of water. On passing the lower 

 end of Shimuni, a long reach of the river was before us, 

 undivided by islands ; a magnificent expanse of water 

 stretching away to the south-east. The country on the 

 left bank is not, however, terra firma, but a portion of 

 the alluvial land which forms the extensive and complex 

 delta region of the Japura. It is flooded every year at 

 the time of high water, and is traversed by many narrow 

 and deep channels which serve as outlets to the Japura, 

 or, at least, are connected with that river by means of 

 the interior water-system of the Cupiyo. This inhos- 

 pitable tract of country extends for several hundred 

 miles, and contains in its midst an endless number of 

 pools and lakes tenanted by multitudes of turtles, fishes, 

 alligators, and water serpents. Our destination was a 

 point on this coast situated about twenty miles below 

 Shimuni, and a short distance from the mouth of the 

 Anana, one of the channels just alluded to as connected 

 with the Japura. After travelling for three hours in 

 mid-stream we steered for the land and brought to 

 under a steeply-inclined bank of crumbly earth, shaped 

 into a succession of steps or terraces, marking the 

 various halts which the waters of the river make in the 

 course of subsidence. The coast line was nearly straight 

 for many miles, and the bank averaged about thirty 

 feet in height above the present level of the river : at 

 the top rose the unbroken hedge of forest. No one 

 could have divined that pools of water existed on that 

 elevated land. A narrow level space extended at the 

 foot of the bank. On landing the first business was to 

 get breakfast. Whilst a couple of Indian lads were 



