RIO MAMORE. 



279 



shape, and manners. The drift wood, and more active current of the 

 Mamore, produce an enlivening effect. After repairing one of our pad- 

 dles, which was broken by hard pulling, we launched our boat, and 

 were carried gallantly on the Mamore once more. 



The distance by the river from the mouth of the Itenez to Fort Beira, 

 is about fifty-five miles in an east-southeast direction ; opposite the junc- 

 tion of these rivers, there are three small hills on the Brazil side. The 

 Mamore turns its course from a north direction a little to the westward. 

 The stream here comes in contact with the solid formation of coarse 

 granite in the Brazils. The commandante of the fort told me his father 

 made a fortune by collecting diamonds on the head waters of the Pa- 

 raguay in Brazil, and that he had found traces of the same stones in 

 the bed of the Itenez. The sharp angular edges of the diamond, put 

 in motion by rippling water, cuts itself a little hole in the hardest rocks. 

 As the waters rush over it in the wet season, the diamond works deeper 

 and deeper, so that common stones may enter the hole. The water 

 whirls round in this hole, the common stones wear away the sides, and 

 increase the size of the cavity, while the diamonds are busily at work 

 at the bottom. In such holes the diamond hunter seeks his wealth. 

 We find no traces of silver or gold on this side of the Madeira Plate. 

 We passed through a rapid, between rOcks on the banks, getting a cast 

 of the lead and no bottom. 



September 17. — At 9 a.m., thermometer, 78°; water, 7 9° ; t wind 

 southeast. The ba%ss are thirty feet high, and well wooded. The 

 river is five hundred yards wide, with a depth of from thirty to sixty 

 feet. The country on both sides of us appears well adapted for culti- 

 vation, many parts of it being above the rising of the floods. Pedro 

 tells me we have the "Sinabos" savages on the Brazil side of us, and 

 the equally uncivilized tribe of "Jibo" on the Bolivia side. Our men 

 work well ; with a one-mile current, we keep on day and night. Large 

 green and black flies annoy us very much, in addition to which we 

 have sand-flies and musquitoes at night. At 3 p.m., thermometer, 87° ; 

 water, 80°; wind southeast. As the moon went down, heavy clouds 

 rose up in the east, and lightning flashed there. The men slept while 

 we drifted along among snags. Here and there a sawyer bobbed up 

 his head. The only way to keep clear of them is by listening to the 

 music of the waters playing against the logs as we pass in the darkness 

 of the night. One man keeps watch with his paddle in the bow. He 

 watches and talks to us at the same time. He tells me the Emperor 

 of Brazil pays him sixteen mil reis a month, and finds him in board 

 and lodging. Mil reis vary in value ; at present worth fifty-five cents. 



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