PICTUEESQUE SCENEKY. 185 



the old man, at the sight of the Southern Cross, -warns 

 them that it is time to separate." * 



Upon the morning of the 27th, Ave left the northern 

 bank of the river, which we did not see again until the 

 day before reaching Barra, or Manaos, as called by the 

 inhabitants of the Lower Rio Negro. We were told that 

 the left sho?e was almost uninhabited, and that we would 

 be imable to secure provisions. We therefore determined 

 upon crossing to Barcellos, and following the southern 

 bank the remainder of the way. The river was now 

 spread out to a great breadth, and filled with islands, so 

 that both banks could no longer be seen at once. We do 

 not recollect navigating through more picturesque scenerj' ; 

 there was a wild beauty in those lovely glands, covered 

 with graceful palm-trees and a growth of vegetation so 

 luxuriant that the eye could not penetrate within their 

 dark recesses. Remove the palms, and we could have 

 fancied ourselves floating through the Thousand Islands 

 of the St. Lawrence. During the forenoon our Indians 

 killed with their palancas a curious, circular, flat fish, called 

 arrala. ' This strange ichthyological creature, fifteen inch- 

 es in diameter, with a thickness not to exceed three 

 inches, had a cylindrical tail a foot in length, armed with 

 long, thorn-like appendages, which, in its dying rage, it 

 fastened in its body with such force as to be removed with 

 difficulty. It was most unsavory eating, but, for want of 

 something better, we halted at noon upon a playa-island, 

 collected drift-wood for a fire, cooked our game, and en- 

 joyed our only meal for the day. We then continued our 

 wanderings among the forest-islands, in the vain attempt 

 to reach the southern, shore, until the darkness overtook 

 us, when we fiistened to a point of land and waited in our 

 boat for the morning. Again our Indians were toiling at 

 the paddles, now making way against the current, or wiud- 



* "Humboldt's Travels," vol. i., p. 135. 



