50 WANDERINGS IN 



FIRST great fall in the Demerara, and that a strange 



JOURNEY. c 



and sudden noise had alarmed all the Indians, 

 he said the same astonishing noise had roused 

 every man in Fort St. Joachim, and that they 

 remained under arms till morning. He observed, 

 that he had been quite at a loss to form any idea 

 what could have caused the noise ; but now 

 learning that the same noise had been heard at 

 the same time far away from the Rio Branco, 

 it struck him there must have been an earthquake 

 somewhere or other. 



Good nourishment and rest, and the unwearied 

 attention and kindness of the Portuguese com- 

 mander, stopped the progress of the fever, and 

 enabled me to walk about in six days. 

 Fen st. Fort St. Joachim was built about five and forty 

 years ago, under the apprehension, it is said, that 

 the Spaniards were coming from the Rio Negro 

 to settle there. It has been much neglected ; the 

 floods of water have carried away the gate, and 

 destroyed the wall on each side of it; but the 

 present commander is putting it into thorough 

 repair. When finished, it will mount six nine, 

 and six twelve pounders. 



In a straight line with the fort, and within a 

 few yards of the river, stand the commander's 

 house, the barracks, the chapel, the father con- 

 fessor's house, and two others, all at little in- 

 tervals from each other ; and these are the only 

 buildings at Fort St. Joachim. The neighbouring 



