SAN PAULO. 



239 



A small river, called Tucuby, empties into the Yavari at forty-five 

 miles from its mouth, and on the eastern side. A hundred and fifty 

 miles further up enters a considerable river, called the Curuza, also from 

 the east. M. Castelnau thinks, however, from report, that the Curuza 

 is not navigable upwards more than ninety miles. Sugar-cane is some- 

 times seen floating on the water of the Jacarana, which indicates that 

 its upper parts are inhabited by people who have communication, more 

 or less direct, with white men. (Castelnau, vol. 5, page 52.) 



December 7. — The river now has lost its name of Maranon, and, since 

 the junction of the Yavari, is called Solimoens. It is here a mile and 

 a half wide, sixty-six feet deep in the middle, and has a current of two 

 miles and three-quarters per hour. The small boat in which we carry 

 our animals did not stop with us last night, but passed on without be- 

 ing noticed. She had all our fowls and turtles ; so that our breakfast 

 this morning consisted of boiled rice. We drifted with the tide all 

 night, stopping for an hour in consequence of a severe squall of wind 

 and rain from the eastward. 



December 8. — Rainy morning. We arrived at San Paulo at 10 a. m. 

 This village is on a hill two or three hundred feet above the present 

 level of the river — the highest situation I have yet seen. The ascent to 

 the town is very difficult and tedious, particularly after a rain, the soil 

 being of white clay. On the top of this hill is a moist, grassy plain, 

 which does not extend far back. The site is said not to be healthy, on 

 account of swamps back of it. The population is three hundred and 

 fifty, made up of thirty whites, and the rest Tucunas and Juries Indians. 

 The commandant is the Lieutenant Don " Jose Patricio de Santa Ana." 

 He gave us a good breakfast and some statistics. The yearly exports 

 of San Paulo are eight thousand pounds of sarsaparilla, worth one thou- 

 sand dollars ; four hundred and fifty pots of manteca, or oil made from 

 turtle -eggs, worth five hundred and fifty dollars ; and three thousand 

 two hundred pounds of cocoa, worth sixty-four dollars. These are all 

 sent to Egas. Common English prints sell for thirty cents the covado, 

 (about three-fourths of a yard,) and coarse, strong cotton cloth, (gener- 

 ally American,) for thirty-seven and a half cents the vara, (three inches 

 less than a yard.) We left San Paulo at half-past 3 p. m., and drifted 

 with the current all night. Distance from Tabatinga to San Paulo, 

 ninety -five miles. 



December 9. — At half-past 8 a. m. we arrived at Matura, a settle- 

 ment of four or five huts, (with only one occupied,) on a muddy bank. 

 Its distance from San Paulo is fifty miles. The shores of the river 

 are generally low, though there are reaches where its banks are forty 



