326 



PRAINHA. 



We saw several persons at this place who were suffering from 

 sezoens, or tertianas, but all said they took them whilst up the neigh- 

 boring rivers. If general accounts are to be relied on, there seems to 

 be really no sickness on the main trunk of the Amazon, but only on 

 the tributaries; though I saw none on the Huallaga and XJcayali. 



I have no doubt of the fact that sickness is more often taken on the 

 tributaries than on the main trunk; but I do not think it is because 

 there is any peculiar malaria on the tributaries from which the main 

 trunk is exempt. The reason, I think, is this : when persons leave their 

 homes to ascend the tributaries, they break up their usual habits of life, 

 live in canoes exposed to the weather, with bad and insufficient food, 

 and are engaged in an occupation (the collection of India-rubber or 

 sarsaparilla) which compels them to be nearly all the time wet. It is 

 not to be wondered at that after months of such a life, the voyager 

 should contract chills and fever in its most malignant form. 



The mere traveller passes these places without danger. It is the 

 enthusiast in science, who spends weeks and months in collecting curious 

 objects of natural history, or the trader, careless of consequences in the 

 pursuit of dollars, who suffers from the sezoens. 



Although there were a number of cattle grazing in the streets of 

 Prainha, we could get no fresh meat ; and indeed, but for the opportune 

 arrival of a canoe with a single fish, our tuyuyus, or great cranes, would 

 have gone supperless. These birds frequently passed several days with- 

 out food — and this on a river abounding with fish, which shows the 

 listless indifference of the people. 



The banks of the river between Monte Alegre and Gurupa are 

 bordered with hills that deserve the name of mountains. In this part of 

 our descent we had a grent deal of rain and bad weather; for wherever 

 the land elevates itself in this country, clouds and rain settle upon the 

 hills. But it was very pleasant, even with these accompaniments, to look 

 upon a country broken into hill and valley, and so entirely distinct from 

 the low fiat country above, that had wearied us so long with its change- 

 less monotony. 



About fifty-five miles below Prainha we passed the mouth of the 

 small river Paru, which enters the Amazon on the left bank. It is a 

 quarter of a mile wide at its mouth, and has clear dark water. 



It is very difficult to get any information from the Indian pilots on 

 the river. When questioned regarding any stream, the common reply 

 is, " It runs a long way up ; it has rapids ; savages live upon its banks ; 

 everything grows there ;" ( Vai longe, tern caxoieras, tern gentios, tern 



