ANAPU CHANNEL 



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two unbroken lines of fan-leaved palms, forming with 

 their straight stems colossal palisades. On rounding a 

 point of land we came in full view of the Tocantins. The 

 event was announced by one of our Indians, who was on 

 the look-out at the prow, shouting * La esta o Parana- 

 uassu ! ' Behold, the great river!') It was a grand 

 sight — a broad expanse of dark waters dancing merrily 

 to the breeze ; the opposite shore, a narrow blue line, 

 miles away. 



We went ashore on an island covered with palm-trees, 

 to make a fire and boil our kettle for tea. I wandered 

 a short way inland, and was astounded at the prospect. 

 The land lay below the upper level of the daily tides, 

 so that there was no underwood, and the ground was bare. 

 The trees were almost all of one species of Palm, the 

 gigantic fan-leaved Mauri tia flexuosa ; on the borders 

 only was there a small number of a second kind, the 

 equally remarkable Ubussu palm, Manicaria saccifera. 

 The Ubussu has erect, uncut leaves, twenty-five feet long, 

 and six feet wide, all arranged round the top of a four- 

 feet high stem, so as to form a figure like that of a colossal 

 shuttlecock. The fan-leaved palms, which clothed nearly 

 the entire islet, had huge cylindrical smooth stems, three 

 feet in diameter, and about a hundred feet high. The 

 crowns were formed of enormous clusters of fan-shaped 

 leaves, the stalks alone of which measured seven to ten 

 feet in length. Nothing in the vegetable world could be 

 more imposing than this grove of palms. There was no 

 underwood to obstruct the view of the long perspective 

 of towering columns. The crowns, which were densely 

 packed together at an immense height overhead, shut 

 out the rays of the sun ; and the gloomy soHtude beneath, 

 through which the sound of our voices seemed to rever- 

 berate, could be compared to nothing so well as a solemn 

 temple. The fruits of the two palms were scattered over 

 the ground ; those of the Ubussu adhere together by twos 

 and threes, and have a rough, brown-coloured shell ; the 

 fruit of the Mauritia, on the contrary, is of a bright red 

 hue, and the skin is impressed with deep crossing Unes, 

 which give it a resemblance to a quilted cricket-ball. 



About midnight, the tide being favourable and the 

 breeze strong, we crossed the river, taking it in a slanting 

 direction, a distance of sixteen miles, and arrived at 

 eight o'clock the following morning at Cameta. This 



