THE LOWER AMAZONS 



of crumbly earth, large portions of loose soil, with all 

 their superincumbent mass of forest, were being washed 

 away ; the uproar thus occasioned adding to the horrors 

 of the storm. 



The violence of the wind abated in the course of an 

 hour, but the deluge of rain continued until about three 

 o'clock in the morning ; the sky being lighted up by 

 almost incessant flashes of pallid lightning, and the 

 thunder pealing from side to side without interruption. 

 Our clothing, hammocks, and goods were thoroughly 

 soaked by the streams of water which trickled through 

 between the planks. In the morning all was quiet ; 

 but an opaque, leaden mass of clouds overspread the sky, 

 throwing a gloom over the wild landscape that had a 

 most dispiriting effect. These squalls from the west 

 are always expected about the time of the breaking up 

 of the dry season in these central parts of the Lower 

 Amazons. They generally take place about the begin- 

 ning of February, so that this year they had commenced 

 much earlier than usual. The soil and clim.ate are much 

 drier in this part of the country than in the region lying 

 further to the west, where the denser forests and more 

 clayey, humid soil produce a considerably cooler atmo- 

 sphere. The storms may be therefore attributed to the 

 rush of cold moist air from up river, when the regular 

 trade-wind coming from the sea has slackened or ceased 

 to blow. 



On the 26th we arrived at a large sand-bank connected 

 with an island in mid-river, in front of an inlet called 

 Maraca-uassu. Here we anchored and spent half a day 

 ashore. Penna's object in stopping was simply to enjoy 

 a ramble on the sands with the children, and give Senhora 

 Katita an opportunity to wash the linen. The sand-bank 

 was now fast going under water with the rise of the 

 river ; in the middle of the dry season it is about a mile 

 long and half a mile in width. The canoe-men delight in 

 these open spaces, which are a great relief to the monotony 

 of the forest that clothes the land in every other part of 

 the river. Further westward they are much more frequent, 

 and of larger extent. They lie generally at the upper 

 end of islands ; in fact, the latter originate in accretions 

 of vegetable matter formed by plants and trees growing 

 on a shoal. The island was wooded chiefly with the 

 trumpet tree (Cecropia peltata), which has a hollow stem 



