154 



THE LOWER AMAZONS 



an opportunity of rambling in the neighbouring woods, 

 which are intersected by numerous pathways, and car- 

 peted with Lycopodia growing to a height of 8 or lo 

 inches, and enhvened by numbers of glossy blue butter- 

 flies of the Theclidae, or hair-streak family. The land 

 on which Gurupa is built appears an isolated rocky area, 

 for the rest of the country round about lies low, and 

 is subject to inundation in the rainy season. At 5 p.m. 

 we were again under way. Soon after sunset, as we 

 were crossing the mouth of the Xingu, the first of the 

 great tributaries of the Amazons, 1200 miles in length, 

 a black cloud arose suddenly in the north-east. Joao 

 da Cunha ordered all sails to be taken in, and immediately 

 afterwards a furious squall burst forth, tearing the waters 

 into foam, and producing a frightful uproar in the neigh- 

 bouring forests. A drenching rain followed : but in half 

 an hour all was again calm, and the full moon appeared 

 sailing in a cloudless sky. 



From the mouth of the Xingu the route followed by 

 vessels leads straight across the river, here 10 miles 

 broad. Towards midnight the wind failed us, when we 

 were close to a large shoal called the Baixo Grande. We 

 lay here becalmed in the sickening heat for two days, 

 and when the trade wind recommenced with the rising 

 moon at 10 p.m. on the 6th, we found ourselves on a 

 lee-shore. Notwithstanding all the efforts of our pilot 

 to avoid it, we ran aground. Fortunately the bottom 

 consisted only of soft mud, so that, by casting anchor 

 to windward and hauling in with the whole strength of 

 crew and passengers, we got off after spending an un- 

 comfortable night. We rounded the point of the shoal 

 in two fathoms water ; the head of the vessel was then 

 put westward, and by sunrise we were bounding forward 

 before a steady breeze, all sail set and everybody in good 

 humour. 



The weather was now delightful for several days in 

 succession : the air transparently clear, and the breeze 

 cool and invigorating. At daylight, on the 6th, a chain 

 of blue hills, the Serra de Almeyrim, appeared in the 

 distance on the north bank of the river. The sight was 

 most exhilarating after so long a sojourn in a fiat country. 

 We kept to the southern shore, passing in the course of 

 the day the ^mouths of the Urucuricaya and the Aquiqui, 

 two channels which communicate with the Xingu. The 



