TUBE IR AO FALLS. 



291 



matter. They sauntered up the rocky bank on the sand to where they 

 had left their bark canoe at the head of the falls, and we went dashing 

 on through the rocks in the rushing current. 



September 23. — The river was seven hundred yards wide, and one 

 hundred and five feet deep. We passed "Miserecordia" rapids, or 

 swift current, but not a ripple was to be seen. The channel was clear 

 of rocks, and we soon came to the "Ribeirao" falls, which are two miles 

 long. The baggage was carried five hundred yards over a path on the 

 east bank. Don Antonio transported his vessels on wooden rollers here. 

 I think he said he was nearly one month getting up these two miles. 

 The men were anxious to see whether they could not pass this fall with 

 the boat in the water. They launched her down one shoot of twenty 

 feet nearly perpendicular by the rope painters in the bow and stern. 



Our boat was beginning to give way to the rough service, and as she 

 leaked, it became necessary to lighten her load ; then, too, the men 

 began to fag. After they succeeded in getting the boat safely over a 

 dangerous place, the boxes had to be carried one by one. The heaviest 

 box was that in which were planted three specimens of Mojos sugar- 

 cane. I had just cut my first crop, and found the plants were doing 

 well, when it became necessary to relieve our little boat, and we were 

 unwillingly obliged to leave behind what might have proved of import- 

 ance to a Mississippi sugar-planter. Our baggage was taken out and 

 restowed a number of times. Once the boat was on top of a rock, 

 at another half under foam. The sun was scorching hot, and we had 

 the full benefit of it. When the water is thrown on the bare rocks, it 

 hisses as if poured upon hot iron. 



The sides of the pot-holes are ridged like the inside of a female screw; 

 some of them are nine feet deep. The water in them is quite hot ; one 

 of the negroes seemed to be fond of lowering himself into the pots of 

 hot water ; his face had rather a distressed expression, and while stand- 

 ing with his head above the edge of the pot, he looks as though under- 

 going a hot-water cure. The river appears to have worn away the rocks 

 less than above. It flows over a solid mass, in which there are many 

 gutters cut, from four to six feet deep, of the same width. Our canoe 

 safely passed through one of these by the ropes, as the crew walked 

 along the level rock. There were numbers of these gutters cut parallel 

 to each other. The rock was worn as smooth as glass. After descend- 

 ing some distance in the middle, we found the channels so large and 

 dangerous, that we must gain the east side of the river ; the only escape 

 for us, besides retracing our steps, was to cross a wide channel with a 

 furious cataract above, and another close below. We hugged the foot 



