Gums, Resins, 



392 



[November, 1910. 



larger, and off to the north the eye was 

 delighted by the tree crowned heights 

 of the Sierra Jutahy. One wondered 

 why those broad mesas were not the 

 site of a healthy breeze-swept city. We 

 still kept close to the shore, sometimes 

 on one side, when on the other, to avoid 

 great shoals that form and disappear 

 almost overnight. Occasionally there 

 was a break in the forest walls and we 

 would see vast savannahs, grass covered, 

 their light green surface standing out in 

 bold relief against the dark green back- 

 ground of the forest. 



Speaking of floating debris, the bow 

 of our boat caught a log which jammed 

 crosswise and held in that position, and 

 we pushed it up stream. It gathered 

 everything that came its way, and the 

 result was that in a couple of hours the 

 sturdy engineers were not only forcing 

 the boat upstream, but a floating island 

 a quarter of an acre in extent, made up 

 of logs, driftwood, grasses and floating 

 wreckage of all sorts. After a time it 

 grew to be such a burden that the 

 engines were reversed and we ran back- 

 wards until clear of it to avoid making 

 an island that might dam the river. 



The banks of the river were now 

 strongly marked and from to 10 feet 

 high above the water level. On every 

 tree that fringed the edge, and indeed 

 on the thick growing shrubs and vines, 

 could be seen the distinct highwater 

 mark of the previous season in the shape 

 of mud stains. This line showed that 

 the river had still 10 feet more of rise to 

 reach last year's level, and by the way it 

 was coming up it would undoubtedly do 

 it. More and more we saw the work of 

 the floods. Great stretches of devastated 

 forest, covered with rank reeds and 

 grasses, huge dead trees piled in pictu- 

 resque confusion upon the river's edge. 



On a small map the river looks straight 

 and its channel is well defined. In fact 

 it pursues a sinuous course and is every- 

 where interrupted by islands big and 

 little, so much so that unless one refers 

 to a chart it is difficult to know when 

 one is really passing the mainland. 



We saw many large birds, water 

 turkeys, blue herons, egrets, and thous- 

 ands of parrots. We passed the con- 

 fluence of the Xingu river, theu the little 

 settlement of Frainha, a town of some 

 300 inhabitants, its houses painted blue 

 and white with red tiled roofs, its fleet 

 of canoes and its excellent river wall, 

 with buttresses for strength and steps 

 down to the water's edge at each end. 

 Above the town were extensive corn- 

 fields and pasture where many horses 

 and cattle were grazing. 



The current was decidedly swift along 

 there, and we moved upstream slowly. 

 Once fairly by the village we lost touch 

 with mankind, the river broadened to 

 about eight miles, and except for the 

 round peak of Serra Urubucoara all chat 

 we could see was great forest covered 

 plains. A great river like the Amazon, 

 subject to floods, always builds banks 

 for itself even if it tears them down 

 again. The larger and heavier materials 

 brought down by the floods are piled on 

 the " near" banks and promptly covered 

 with verdure. Forjmiles we passed banks 

 10 or 12 feet above the water level and 

 the impression was that the land sloped 

 gently up from them. But when a break 

 came in the forest wall great meadows 

 would be shown a trifle lower than the 

 river bank, these meadows in turn sloping 

 up into grass lands where cattle fed by 

 the thousands shoulder deep in the 

 luxuriant growth, 



I had heard many say that the jour- 

 ney up the river, except as one passed 

 through the Narrows, was uninteresting 

 and dreary. My mental picture had 

 been of an expanse of water so broad 

 that the shores dimly seen offered 

 nothing of interest. Perhaps I didn't 

 question the right men. I once knew a 

 man in the gas stove business who visit- 

 ed England in the summer time and all 

 he could describe on his return were the 

 thousands of chimney pots on Loudon 

 dwellings. Maybe I had taken the view 

 of a chimney pot traveller. Actually 

 every waking minute disclosed some- 

 thing worth seeing. The river is from 

 5 to 15 miles wide and the scenery con- 

 stantly changes. The stories that, for 

 example, in one place it is 900 feet deep, 

 are exaggeration, I followed the chart 

 closely and the greatest depth recorded 

 is 300 odd feet, which of course is good. 



The third night out it was very dark 

 and as we worked slowly upstreani we 

 saw a winking light far ahead. Soon 

 we learned that the speedy Hamburg- 

 American boat, on which we so nearly 

 took passage, was fast in a mud bank. 

 We solemnly took her mails and went 

 on through the darkness, promising to 

 report her at Manaos. 



We got to bed late that night because 

 of the excitement, but were up at day- 

 light as usual and found the surface of 

 the river even more thickly littered with 

 logs— logs that were thickly crowded 

 with passengers. There is a little black 

 and white river gull that exists by the 

 million in the upper river. They love to 

 settle on these floating logs and sail and 

 sail. The way they crowd every available 



