BANANEIRA FALLS. 



283 



Dios. Embarking our baggage, we continued under a heavy thunder 

 storm, which came up from the northeast, and whirled over our heads, 

 sending down heavy drops of rain. The banks of the river are twenty 

 feet high. The country on the Bolivian side is level, and there the 

 lands are overflowed half the year ; but the Brazilian sf&e is hilly ; the 

 ridges appear to run at right angles with the river, which passes over 

 the toes of the foot of them. The whole country is thickly wooded with 

 moderate-sized forest trees. The river below these falls is occasionally 

 three-quarters of a mile wide, with a depth of from twelve to thirty-six 

 feet. The current is rapid as we leave the foot of the falls, gradually 

 decreasing in speed until the boat enters the backed water, which is 

 dammed up by the next ridge of rocks which thwart the free passage of 

 the river. 



September 21. — At 3 p. m., thermometer, 83°; water, 81°. The 

 south wind blew all last night, accompanied with rain. Early this 

 morning we arrived at the head of "Bananeira" falls, distance eight 

 miles from the upper shelf. I find Pedro useful in pointing out the ends 

 of the paths over the land cut by Don Antonio. His services as pilot, 

 however, are not to be depended upon. Titto seems to be perfectly at 

 home in the management of a boat among rocks, and assists me the 

 most of the two. The cargo was landed on an island near the Bolivian 

 shore. The path led through bushes and trees, down hill, near four 

 hundred yards. The work of transporting the boxes, amidst the annoy- 

 ance of swarms of sand-flies, was harassing, and with difficulty Richards 

 could make the ill-natured member of the crew carry as many boxes as 

 he did himself. The river flowed windingly ; the baggage could be 

 sent straight across ; bat the boat had to be dragged, towed, lifted, and 

 pushed through the rough rocks and rushing waters for over a mile. 

 This was trying work. The heat of the sun was very great ; the 

 negroes slipped, and it was with great difficulty at times they could hold 

 the boat from being carried from them by the strength of the waters as 

 they heavily passed through the choaked passages. The men stand 

 easing down the boat up to their necks in water. The rocks are only a 

 few feet above the water level ; they are smoothed by the wearing of the 

 water and drift wood. It is not easy for the men to keep their feet 

 under water. These negroes are good men for such service ; they crawl 

 among the rocks like black snakes. Bananeira falls take their name 

 from quantities of wild banana trees formerly discovered here, but we saw 

 no traces of them. The fall is about twenty feet. The islands are gen- 

 erally very low, a few feet above the present surface of the river. All 

 the rocks, and a great part of the islands, are overflowed in the rainy 



