50 



PARA 



or channels, which lead to retired hamlets and scattered 

 houses, inhabited by people of mixed white, Indian, and 

 negro descent. Many of them did business with Mr. 

 Leavens, bringing for sale their little harvests of rice, 

 or a few logs of timber. It was interesting to see them 

 in their little, heavily-laden montarias. Sometimes the 

 boats were managed by handsome, healthy young lads, 

 loosely clad in straw hat, white shirt, and dark blue 

 trousers, turned up to the knee. They steered, paddled, 

 and managed the varejao (the boating pole), with much 

 grace and dexterity. 



We made many excursions down the Iritiri, and saw 

 much of these creeks ; besides, our second visit to the 

 mills was by water. The Magoary is a magnificent chan- 

 nel ; the different branches form quite a labyrinth, and 

 the land is everywhere of little elevation. AH these 

 smaller rivers, throughout the Para estuary, are of the 

 nature of creeks. The land is so level, that the short 

 local rivers have no sources and downward currents like 

 rivers as we generally understand them. They serve the 

 purpose of draining the land, but instead of having a 

 constant current one way, they have a regular ebb and 

 flow with the tide. The natives call them, in the Tupi 

 language, Igarapes, or canoe-paths. The igarapes and 

 furos or channels, which are infinite in number in this 

 great river delta, are characteristic of the country. The 

 land is everywhere covered with impenetrable forests ; 

 the houses and villages are all on the waterside, and 

 nearly all communication is by water. This semi-aquatic 

 life of the people is one of the most interesting features 

 of the country. For short excursions, and for fishing in 

 still waters, a small boat, called montaria, is universally 

 used. It is made of five planks ; a broad one for the 

 bottom, bent into the proper shape by the action of heat, 

 two narrow ones for the sides, and two small triangular 

 pieces for stem and stern. It has no rudder ; the paddle 

 serves for both steering and propelling. The montaria 

 takes here the place of the horse, mule, or camel of other 

 regions. Besides one or more montarias, almost every 

 family has a larger canoe, called Igarite. This is fitted 

 with two masts, a rudder, and keel, and has an arched 

 awning or cabin near the stern, made of a framework of 

 tough lianas, thatched with palm leaves. In the igarite 

 they will cross stormy rivers fifteen or twenty miles 



