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174 



RIVER JAGUAIUBE. 



negroes poled where the water was shallow, and 

 paddled us along where it became deep. We 

 passed several beautiful islands, some of which 

 had cattle upon them ; and others, of which the 

 land was too low to produce grass ; the latter 

 were entirely covered with mangroves, which 

 grow likewise on the borders of the river, the 

 shores being clear of them only where settle- 

 ments are formed, and the proprietors have ex- 

 tirpated them. The river is, in parts, about half 

 a mile in breadth, and in some places, where 

 there are islands, it is broader, if taken from the 

 outermost sides of the two branches which it, in 

 these situations, forms. The town is distant 

 from the bar about eight miles. We boarded 

 Senhor Barrozo's smack, took the long boat 

 belonging to it, and proceeded to. the bar, 

 which is narrow and dangerous, owing to the 

 sand banks on each side ; upon these the surf is 

 very violent. The sand is so loose at the mouth 

 of the river, that the masters of the coasting 

 vessels are obliged to use every precaution pos- 

 sible each voyage, as if they were entering a 

 harbour, with which they are unacquainted. 

 The river widens immediately within the bar, 

 and forms rather a spacious bay. Even if no 

 other obstacle presented itself, the port cannot,, 

 from the uncertainty of the depth of its en- 

 trance, ever become of any importance. Coasters 

 alone can enter, and I understand that the 



