308 VOYAGE ON THE TAPAJOS. 



Fragments of travels from Itaituba to the cataracts of the Ta})ajos, and 

 among the Mundrucus and Maues Indians. 



"As soon as the Brazilian (the principal authority of the 



little port of Itaituba) had procured me some Indians and a small canoe, 

 called in the country canoa de Caxoeiras, I left this place for the purpose 

 of visiting the great cataracts of the river Tapajos. 



" I was the only white man among nine Indians, none of whom, with 

 the exception of the Indian hunter, could understand me. I cannot ex- 

 press what I at first suffered in thus finding my life at their mercy. The 

 boat, under the efforts of these nine pagans, had more the motion of an 

 arrow than that of a boat ascending against the current of a river. 



" Only seeking the principal falls of the Tapajos, we passed, without 

 stopping, over those of Tapacura, Assu, and Pracau, and, continuing our 

 route to the large ones, we arrived there the following day, without 

 having met with anything remarkable to relate. 



"There the scene changed. The river is no longer the calm Tapajos 

 which slowly moves towards the Amazon ; it is the foaming Maranhao, 

 the advance cataract of the narrow and deep Caxoeira das Furnas ; it 

 is the roaring and terrible coata, whose currents cross and recross, and 

 dash to atoms all they bear against its black rocks. 



"We surmounted all in the same day. Seated motionless in the 

 middle of the canoe, I often closed my eyes to avoid seeing the dangers 

 I escaped, or the perils that remained to be encountered. 



" The Indians — sometimes rowing with their little oars, sometimes 

 using their long, iron-bound staffs, or towing the boat while sw r imming, 

 or carrying it on their shoulders — landed me at last on the other side of 

 the Caxoeiras. 



"Arrived at the foot of the fifth cataract, the Indians hesitated a 

 moment and then rowed for the shore. Whilst some were employed 

 in making a fire, and others in fastening the hammocks to the forest 

 trees, the hunter took his bow and two arrows, and such is the abund- 

 ance which reigns in these countries, that a moment afterwards he re- 

 turned -with fish and turtles. 



" The Indians, exhausted from the fatigues of the day, were not able 

 to watch that night. I was sentinel, for these shores are infested by 

 tigers and panthers. Walking along the beach to prevent sleep, I 

 witnessed a singular spectacle, but (as I was informed by the inhabitants) 

 one of frequent occurrence. An enormous tiger was extended full length 

 upon a rock level with the water, about forty paces from me. From 

 time to time he struck the water with his tail, and at the same moment 



