SOUTH AMERICA. 47 



The wourali poison, procured in these last men- FIK6T 



JOURNF.Y. 



tioried huts, seemed very good, and proved after- -*- 

 wards to be very strong. 



There are now no more Indian settlements Portuguese 



frontiers. 



betwixt you and the Portuguese frontiers. If 

 you wish to visit their fort, it would be advisable 

 to send an Indian with a letter from hence, and 

 wait his return. On the present occasion a very 

 fortunate circumstance occurred. The Portuguese 

 commander had sent some Indians and soldiers to 

 build a canoe, not far from this settlement ; they 

 had just finished it, and those who did not stay 

 with it, had stopped here on their return. 



The soldier who commanded the rest, said, 

 he durst not, upon any account, convey a stranger 

 to the fort : but he added, as there were two 

 canoes, one of them might be despatched with 

 a letter, and then we could proceed slowly on in 

 the other. 



About three hours from this settlement, there 

 is a river called Pirarara; and here the soldiers 

 had left their canoes while they were making 

 the new one. From the Pirarara you get into 

 the river Maou, and then into the Tacatou ; and 

 just where the Tacatou falls into the Rio Branco, 

 there stands the Portuguese frontier fort, called 

 Fort St. Joachim. From the time of embarking 

 in the river Pirarara, it takes you four days before 

 you reach this fort. 



There was nothing very remarkable in passing 



