74 THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETA 



If the mouth of the great river, which, for a long distance, 

 is 170 miles broad, had been originally a wide gulf, and 

 had become gradually filled up by islands formed of 

 sediment brought down by the stream, we should have 

 to decide that an effectual barrier had indeed existed. 

 But the delta of the Amazons is not an alluvial formation 

 like those of the Mississippi and the Nile. The islands 

 in its midst and the margins of both shores have a founda- 

 tion of rocks, which lie either bare or very near the surface 

 of the soil. This is especially the case towards the sea- 

 coast. In ascending the river southward and south- 

 westward, a great extent of country is traversed which 

 seems to have been made up wholly of river deposit, 

 and here the land Ues somewhat lower than it does on the 

 seacoast. The rocky and sandy country of Marajo and 

 other islands of the delta towards the sea, is so similar 

 in its physical configuration to the opposite mainland of 

 Guiana that Von Martins concluded the whole might 

 have been formerly connected, and that the Amazons 

 had forced a way to the Atlantic through what was, 

 perhaps, a close series of islands, or a continuous line of 

 low country. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE TOCANTINS AND CAMETA 



August 26th, 1848. — Mr. Wallace and I started to-day 

 on the excursion which I have already mentioned as 

 having been planned with Mr. Leavens, up the river 

 Tocantins, whose mouth lies about forty-five miles in 

 a straight line, but eighty miles following the bends of 

 the river channels, to the south-west of Para. This 

 river, as before stated, has a course of 1600 miles, and 

 stands third in rank amongst the streams which form 

 the Amazons system. The preparations for the journey 

 took a great deal of time and trouble. We had first to 

 hire a proper vessel, a two-masted vigilinga twenty- 

 seven feet long, with a flat prow and great breadth of 

 beam and fitted to live in heavy seas ; for, although our 

 voyage was only a river trip, there were vast sea-like 

 expanses of water to traverse. It was not decked over, 

 but had two arched awnings formed of strong wicker- 

 work, and thatched with palm leaves. We had then 



