226 The Aicdes and the Amazon. 



common belong to the genus Pimelodus, or cat-fish tribe. 

 Below the Curaray the sand bars yielded turtles' eggs of a 

 different kind from those found above, the tracajd. They 

 were smaller and oval, and buried only six or eight inches 

 deep, thirty in a nest. 



December 9. — Passed early this morning the mouth of 

 the Mazan; four huts at the junction. To-day we noticed 

 the anomaly first observed by Herndon. From Papal! acta 

 to the Curaray the rise of the mercury was regular, but 

 on the lower N^apo there were great fluctuations. At one 

 time both barometer and boiling apparatus, with which we 

 made daily and simultaneous observations, unanimously 

 declared that our canoes were gliding up stream, though 

 we were descending at the rate of five miles an hour. The 

 temperature is decidedly lower and the winds are stronger 

 as we near the Amazon. 



December 10. — Our last day on the JSTapo. In celebra- 

 tion of the event we killed a fine yoimg doe as it was cross- 

 ing the river. It closely resembled the Virginia deer. At 

 9 A.M. the Indians shouted in their quiet way — "Jfara- 

 non .^" It was as thrilling as Thalatta to Xenophon's sol- 

 diers. We were not expecting to reach it till night, being 

 deceived by Villavicencio's map, which, in common with 

 all others, locates the Curaray and Mazan too far to the 

 north. We halted for an hour at Camindo, a little fishing 

 hamlet claimed by Peru, and then hastened to get our first 

 Bight of the Amazon. With emotions we can not express, 

 we gazed upon this ocean-stream. The march of the great 

 river in its silent grandeur is sublime. In its untamed 

 might it rolls through the wilderness with a stately, solemn 

 air, showing its awful power in cutting away the banks, 

 teai'ing down trees, and building up islands in a day. 

 Down the river we can look till the sky and water meet as 

 on the sea, while the forest on either hand dwindles in tlie 



