296 



GIRAU FALLS. 



high for our little boat, and bring to. While the storm passes, the 

 wind carries a cloud of dry sand before it. At 3 p. m., thermometer, 

 85° ; water, 84°. We are now being avalanched down an inclined 

 plane. Arriving at the head of " Girau" falls, we find the true falls of 

 the Madeira. They are short, but the rush of waters through a con- 

 fined space, between immense masses of rock, baffles large sized vessels, 

 and prevents their passing either up or down the river. Don Antonio 

 transported his boats over the land here. 



Richards was suffering very much from his ear ; his under eye-lid 

 hung down, the corner of his mouth became drawn up on one side, 

 while he seemed to lose control of the muscles of his face ; the pain was 

 beyond endurance. All the men began to feel the effects of the change 

 of climate ; the nights cold, and midday sun very hot. They com- 

 plained of headaches and pains in their backs ; the strongest of them 

 were jaded. Before they went to sleep, I dosed the party with raw 

 brandy all round, which cheered them up. They have been much more 

 respectful lately, and work with a will. 



September 28. — The men are all in better health this morning. They 

 carried the baggage through the woods on the east side of the river, 

 and with the greatest difficulty got the canoe through the rocks. The 

 river has been turned to the eastward by hills on the north side. The 

 fall cannot be estimated with any degree of certainty ; the descent is 

 more precipitous, and the roaring of the foaming waters much greater 

 than any we before met. We were from daylight until 3 p. m., making 

 the passage from the upper to the lower side, before we got breakfast, 

 which we took under the shade of trees, where the thermometer stood 

 at 99°; wind northeast. 



Pedro shot a few fish with his arrows, and a negro caught one with a 

 line. As the vegetable kingdom appears fresh and vigorous, under the 

 strong breezes filled with moisture from the North Atlantic, so again 

 do we find animal life in abundance. The trade- winds from the ocean 

 cross the land from Cayenne, in French Guiana, and strike this side of 

 the Amazon basin. The clouds roll up, and the waters are wrung out 

 in drops of rain. 



The Paititi district of country which we have on our west, and the 

 Tapajos district on the east, are watered by the northeast trade-winds. 

 They get their moisture from the north Atlantic, and here we find on 

 the side of these hills the boisterous region again, and the trees are torn 

 up by the roots. These acts of the northeast trade-winds are written 

 upon this slope of the Amazon basin exactly as we met the southeast 

 trade-winds as they struck the Andes on their way from Rio Janeiro. 



