DEPARTURE FROM GURUPA. 



329 



killed to advantage; but he thought they might be shot, and not hung. 

 This, I believe, was said " bona fide" I was amused at the old gen- 

 tleman's philanthropy, and thought that, as a judge, he might have 

 preferred the hanging process. 



I find that most of the gentlemen of the lower province are disposed 

 to sneer at the action of the government in erecting the Comarca of 

 the Rio Negro into a province; but I think the step was a wise one. 

 It may cost the government, and particularly the province of Para, 

 (from which funds are drawn for the support of the new province,) 

 some money to support it for a while; but if the country is to be im- 

 proved at all , it is to be done in this way. By sending there govern- 

 ment officials — people who know what living is, and have wants — and 

 by building government houses, (thus employing and paying the In- 

 dians,) stimulants are given to labor, and the resources of the country 

 are drawn out; for these people who have gone from Para and Rio 

 Janeiro will not be content to live on turtle, salt fish, and farinha. 



The tide is very apparent at Gurupa. The river fell several feet during 

 the morning whilst we were there. This point is about five hundred 

 miles from the sea. 



After we had sailed, the Commandante-militar, to whom I had ap- 

 plied for more men, and who had told me there were none to be 

 had, sent a man in a canoe after us. I suspected so much courtesy, and 

 found, accordingly, that the man (a negro) was a cripple, and utterly 

 worthless. He had evidently been palmed of! upon us to get rid of 

 him. I made him feed the birds and cook for the men. These men 

 made the best and hardest-working crew I had during my voyage. 



About thirty-five miles below Gurupa commences the great estuary of 

 the Amazon. The river suddenly flares out into an immense bay, which 

 is probably one hundred and fifty miles across in its widest part. This 

 might appropriately be called the " Bay of the Thousand Islands," for 

 it is cut up into innumerable channels. The great island of Mara jo, 

 which contains about ten thousand square miles, occupies nearly the 

 centre of it, and divides the river into two great channels : one, the main 

 channel of the Amazon, which runs out by Cayenne ; and the other, and 

 smaller one, the river of Para. I imagine that no chart we have gives 

 anything like a correct idea of this bay. The French brig-of-war Bou- 

 lonnaise, some years ago, passed up the main channel from Cayenne to 

 Obidos, and down the Para channel, making a survey. But she had 

 only time to make a survey of the channels through which she passed, 

 leaving innumerable others unexplored. This she was permitted to do 

 through the liberality of Senhor Coelbo, the patriotic President of the 



