HOUSES CONCEALED IN FOREST 293 



bough, in the absence of a boat, to get ashore ; and then 

 found my two men, their host, and two or three neighbours, 

 lolling in hammocks, tinkling wire guitars, and drinking 

 casha9a. I mention this as a sample of a very common 

 class of incidents in Brazilian travelling. Master Jer- 

 onymo backed out of his promise regarding the montaria. 

 Jose and Pinto, who seemed to think they had done 

 nothing wrong, sulkily obeyed my order to go on board, 

 and we again got under way. The wind failed us on the 

 1 8th towards three p.m. About six miles above Aramana-i 

 we rounded a rocky point, called Acaratingari, the dis- 

 tance travelled being altogether not more than twelve 

 miles. The greater part of the day was thus lost : we 

 passed the night in a snug little harbour sheltered by trees. 



To-day (19th) we had a good wind, which carried us to 

 the mouth of a creek, called Paquiatuba, where the ' in- 

 spector ' of the district lived, Senhor Cypriano, for whom 

 I had brought an order from Captain Thomas to supply 

 me with another hand. We had great difficulty in find- 

 ing a place to land. The coast in this part was a tract 

 of level, densely-wooded country, through which flowed 

 the winding rivulet, or creek, which gives its name to a 

 small scattered settlement hidden in the wilderness ; the 

 hills here receding two or three miles towards the interior. 

 A large portion of the forest was flooded, the trunks of 

 the very high trees near the mouth of the creek standing 

 18 feet deep in water. We lost two hours working our 

 way with poles through the inundated woods in search of 

 the port. Every inlet we tried ended in a labyrinth 

 choked up with bushes, but we were at length guided to 

 the right place by the crowing of cocks. On shouting 

 for a montaria an Indian boy made his appearance, guiding 

 one through the gloomy thickets ; but he was so alarmed, 

 I suppose at the apparition of a strange-looking white man 

 in spectacles bawling from the prow of the vessel, that he 

 shot back quickly into the bushes. He returned when 

 Manoel spoke, and we went ashore : the montaria winding 

 along a gloomy overshadowed water-path, made by cutting 

 away the lower branches and underwood. The foot-road 

 to the houses was a narrow, sandy alley, bordered by trees 

 of stupendous height, overrun with creepers, and having 

 an unusual number of long air-roots dangling from the 

 epiphytes on their branches. 



After passing one low smoky little hut, half-buried in 



