SERPA. 



293 



bon, whom last accounts left at Trinidad de Moxos, on the Mamore, 

 one of the tributaries of this great stream. 



The rapids of the Madeira are not impassable ; Palacios, the Brazilian 

 officer before quoted, descended and ascended them in a canoe, though 

 he had occasionally to drag the canoe over portages. And Mr. Clay, 

 our charge at Lima, was told that a Brazilian schooner-of-war had 

 ascended the Madeira above the rapids, and fired a salute at Exaltation, 

 which is in Bolivia, above the junction of the Beni. Palacios probably 

 descended at low water, and the schooner went up when the river was 

 full. 



The village of Serpa, where we arrived in the afternoon, is situated, 

 on the left bank of the Amazon, thirty miles below the mouth of the 

 Madeira. It is a collection of mud-hovels of about two hundred souls» 

 built upon a considerable eminence, broken and green with grass, that 

 juts out into the river. There is a point of land just above Serpa, on 

 the opposite side, which, throwing the current off, directs it upon the 

 Serpa point, and makes a strong eddy current for half a mile above the 

 town close in shore. 



Serpa has a considerable lake back of it called Saraca, on the lower 

 end of which is the village of Silves, a little larger than Serpa. That 

 entrance to the lake which communicates with the Amazon near Serpa 

 is not large enough for my boat to enter; that near Silves will admit 

 large schooners. A mark on a tree shows that the river rises about 

 twelve feet above its present level. 



We left Serpa at 6 p. in., and drifted all night. We are compelled ' 

 to travel at night, for there is so much wind and sea during the day 

 that we make no headway. We are frequently compelled to lay by, 

 and are sometimes in danger of being swamped, even in the little nooks 

 and bays, where we stop. The most comfortable way of travelling is to 

 make the boat fast to a floating-tree, for this keeps the. boat head on to 

 the wind and sea, and drags her along against these with the velocity of 

 the current. 



About fifteen miles above Villa Nova, which is one hundred and fifty 

 miles below Serpa, a boat manned by soldiers pulled out from a hut on 

 the shore, and told us we must stop there until examined and despatched 

 by the officer in charge, called inspector. I could not well pull back 

 against the stream, for we had already passed the hut ; so I sent word 

 to the inspector that I had letters from the President, and pulled in 

 shore, abreast of where I was. The inspector had the civility to come 

 down to me and inspect my papers. This is a "resisto," or coast-guard, 

 stationed above the port of entry of Villa Nova, to stop vessels from 



