Aekival at Pebas. 227 



perspective to a long black line. Between these even walls 

 of ever-living green the resistless current hurries out of 

 Peru, sweeps past the imperial guns of Tabatinga into 

 Brazil, and plows its way visibly two hundred miles into 

 the Atlantic. 



At a small island standing where the ISTapo pays tribute 

 to the monarch of rivers, mingling its waters with the Hu- 

 allaga and Ucayali, which have already come down from 

 the Peruvian Andes, we bade adieu to our captain and 

 cook, who, in the little canoe, paddled liis way westward to 

 seek his fortune in Iquitus. At this point the Maranon 

 (for so the natives call the Upper Amazon) does not appear 

 very much broader than the l^apo ; but its depth is far 

 greater, and there are few sand-bars.* The water is al- 

 ways of a tm-bid yellow; while the Kapo, though muddy 

 during our voyage, is usually cleal\ The forest, moreover, 

 on the banks of the Maranon, is not so striking as on the 

 tributary. The palms are not so numerous, and the uni- 

 form height of the trees gives a monotonous, sea-like 

 horizon. 



We arrived at Pebas December 12, ten hours after leav- 

 ing the mouth of the Napo, and a month and a half from 

 Quito. The first individual we met addressed us in good 

 English, and proved to be Mr. Hauxwell, a well-known col- 

 lector of birds and insects, who has resided thirty years on 

 the Amazon. His house, the largest and best in to^Ti, 

 though but a roofed stockade, was generously placed at our 

 disposal, and the fatted calf — an immense turtle — was im- 

 mediately killed. To us, after the transit of the Andes 

 and the dangers and hardships of the wilderness and the 

 river, it seemed as if we had reached the end of our jour- 



* Herndon makes the mouth of the Napo 150 yards broad, and the sound- 

 ings six or seven fathoms. This is not a fair representation ; for the Napo, 

 like all the other tributaries, empties its waters by several mouths. At Ca- 

 mindo, five miles above the confluence, the Napo is certainly a mile wide. 



