3598 The Country of the Upper Amazons. 



rounded by a country of great fertility and healthfulness, not only rich 

 in natural productions, but capable of yielding in abundance most 

 kinds of tropical produce, especially coffee and tobacco. Nearly all 

 the branch rivers of the upper Amazons, in the same way, have ex- 

 panded beds or lakes within a few miles of their embouchures, the 

 channels by which they communicate with the trunk stream being of 

 small breadth. I have not seen this phenomenon mentioned in works 

 on physical geography, or attempted to be accounted for. I suppose 

 it is owing to the main river always having a fuller and swifter current, 

 because I have always noticed at the junctions of these larger affluents 

 (whose waters are blacky whilst those of the Amazons are white), that 

 this tribute of waters flows very slowly away from the mouth, and creeps 

 feebly along the banks of the river on the same side on which it is si- 

 tuated. The volume of water they discharge appears small in compa- 

 rison with the size of the rivers, and does not issue forth boldly into 

 the main stream of the Amazons. Moreover, the entrances to these 

 rivers have seldom a perceptible current. On approaching, then, the 

 main stream, they appear to shrink from the encounter, and spread 

 their waters over wide beds in the flat alluvial valley. However this 

 may be, these lakes add much to the beauty and the economical ad- 

 vantages of the country. Their banks are healthful and fertile, free 

 from mosquitoes and other insect pests so annoying on the main river, 

 and their waters are navigable for large vessels, which have a clear 

 way right to the Atlantic. I entered several of these lakes, besides 

 the Teffe and the Caicara. The Quary, about half way between the 

 Purvis and theTeffe, forms a still larger expanse of water than the last- 

 mentioned. From the Quary upwards, on the same side, follow suc- 

 cessively the Xipixuna, the Catua (a very large lake teeming with 

 valuable natural productions), the Juteca, and the Caimabe. The 

 entrance to the last is not more than 80 paces wide, but it immedi- 

 ately opens on an expanse of water of inexpressible picturesque beau- 

 ty. A dark line of high land, covered with sombre forest, marks its 

 boundaries, but the bed of the lake is sprinkled with innumerable isl- 

 ands, their verdure of a vivid hue, and swarming with water-fowl. 



Throughout these beautiful and little-known solitudes, inhabited 

 by a few hospitable people descended from Europeans, with a small 

 Indian population attached to them, there scarcely ever occurs a deed 

 of violence ; a mild indolent character, and an amiable charitableness, 

 being the characteristics of the mixed white and Indian inhabitants. 

 The whole country, with the exception of some of the branch rivers, is 

 free from serious epidemic diseases, although the mean temperature of 



