THE USUMASINTA. 



375 



monsters, appropriate inhabitants of such a stream, and, 

 considering the frailty of our little vessel, not very at- 

 tractive neighbours. As we approached they plunged 

 heavily into the water, sometimes rose in the middle of 

 the stream, and swam across or disappeared. At half 

 past twelve we entered the Rio Chico or Little River, 

 varying from two to five hundred feet in width, deep, 

 muddy, and very sluggish, with wooded banks of impen- 

 etrable thickness. At six o'clock we entered the great 

 Usumasinta, five or six hundred yards across, one of the 

 noblest rivers in Central America, rising among the moun- 

 tains of Peten, and emptying into the Lake of Terminos. 



At this point the three provinces of Chiapas, Tobasco, 

 and Yucatan meet, and the junction of the waters of 

 the Usumasinta and the Rio Chico presents a singular 

 spectacle. Since leaving the sheet of water before the 

 Playas we had been ascending the stream, but now, 

 continuing in the same direction and crossing the line 

 of junction, we came from the ascending current of the 

 Rio Chico into the descending flow of the Usumasinta. 

 Working out into the middle and looking back, we saw 

 the Usumasinta and Rio Chico coming together, and 

 forming an angle of not more than forty degrees, one 

 running up and the other down. Amid the wildness 

 and stillness of the majestic river, and floating in a lit- 

 tle canoe, the effect was very extraordinary; but the 

 cause was obvious. The Usumasinta, descending swift- 

 ly and with immense force, broke against a projecting 

 headland on the left of its course ; and, while the main 

 body forced its way past and hurried on to the ocean, 

 part was turned back at this sharp angle with such 

 power as to form the creeks which we had ascended, 

 and flood the plain of the Playas. 



At this time, away from the wooded banks, with the 

 setting-poles at rest, and floating quietly on the bosom 



33 



