148 



THE LOWER AMAZONS 



commands the place to make a show of loading the guns, 

 although the ammunition had given out long ago. Such 

 were our travelling companions. We lived almost the 

 same as on board ship. Our meals were cooked in the 

 galley ; but, where practicable, and during our numerous 

 stoppages, the men went in the montaria to fish near the 

 shore, so that our breakfasts and dinners of salt pirarucu 

 were sometimes varied with fresh food. 



Sept. 24th. — We passed Entre-as-Ilhas with the morning 

 tide yesterday, and then made across to the eastern shore 

 — the starting-point for all canoes which have to traverse 

 the broad mouth of the Tocantins going west. Early 

 this morning we commenced the passage. The navigation 

 is attended with danger on account of the extensive 

 shoals in the middle of the river, which are covered only 

 by a small depth of water at this season of the year. 

 The wind was fresh, and the schooner rolled and pitched 

 like a ship at sea. The distance was about fifteen miles. 

 In the middle, the river view was very imposing. To- 

 wards the north-east there was a long sweep of horizon 

 clear of land, and on the south-west stretched a similar 

 boundless expanse, but varied with islets clothed with 

 fan-leaved palms, which, however, were visible only as 

 isolated groups of columns, tufted at the top, rising here 

 and there amidst the waste of waters. In the afternoon 

 we rounded the westernmost point ; the land, which is 

 not terra firma, but simply a group of large islands forming 

 a portion of the Tocantins delta, was then about three 

 miles distant. 



On the following day (25th) we sailed towards the west, 

 along the upper portion of the Para estuary, which ex- 

 tends seventy miles beyond the mouth of the Tocantins. 

 It varies in width from three to five miles, but broadens 

 rapidly near its termination, where it is eight or nine 

 miles wide. The northern shore is formed by the island 

 of Marajo, and is slightly elevated and rocky in some 

 parts. A series of islands conceals the southern shore 

 from view most part of the way. The whole country, 

 mainland and islands, is covered with forest. We had 

 a good wind all day, and about 7 p.m. entered the narrow 

 river of Breves, which commences abruptly the extensive 

 labyrinth of channels that connect the Para with the 

 Amazons. The sudden termination of the Para at a 

 point where it expands to so great a breadth is remark- 



