$28 SAN TADEO—BLACK RIVER. Dec. 1829. 
no deep channel; and, except in very fine weather, an attempt 
to cross is hazardous. 
At its mouth, the breadth is about a quarter of a mile, 
but within the entrance it increases for a short distance: at 
three miles up, it is three hundred yards, and thence gra- 
dually diminishes. The shores are a mixture of clay and sand; 
and the country, on both sides, is low and marshy, abound- 
ing with brant-geese, ducks, teal, and snipe. 
The land, near the mouth of the river, is studded with dead 
trees (a species of pine, about twenty feet high), which appear 
to have been killed by the sea overflowing the banks ;(6) as it 
does at high-water for several miles. 
Three miles from the entrance this river divides into two 
branches, one leading N.W., and the other eastward. Con- 
sidering the latter, from Byron’s description, to be the proper 
course, Lieutenant Skyring followed it. At nine miles from 
the mouth, a stream was found falling into the river from the 
north, in every respect differing from the principal stream ; the 
water being fresh, dark, and clear, and the current constantly 
running down, uninfluenced by the tide; while the water of 
the river was brackish and turbid, and affected by the ebbing 
and flowing of the tide, although, at that distance, its effect 
was much diminished. 
The shores of the Black River, as this new stream was called, 
are thickly wooded, which ‘is not the case with the principal 
stream. They had entered it about ahundred yards before they 
discovered that they had left the main river ; but being desirous 
of proceeding, they followed its windings, the next day, for 
three leagues; during the greater part of which distance, they 
found a strong current against them, and were also much im- 
peded by fallen trees lying in the bed of the river. In many 
parts they dragged their boat along by the help of overhanging 
branches, or projecting roots; and the width, generally, was 
not more than fifty yards. As no piragua could pass there, 
Lieutenant Skyring felt assured that he was not in the right 
stream; therefore, returning to the main river, he proceeded 
(b) Or by an earthquake wave.—R. F 
