POOLS IN THE FOREST 



407 



guide. We started from the praia at sunrise on the 7 th, 

 in two canoes containing twenty-three persons, nineteen 

 of whom were Indians. The morning was cloudy and 

 cool, and a fresh wind blew from down river, against 

 which we had to struggle with all the force of our paddles, 

 aided by the current ; the boats were tossed about most 

 disagreeably, and shipped a great deal of water. On 

 passing the lower end of Shimuni, a long reach of the river 

 was before us, undivided by islands ; a magnificent ex- 

 panse of water stretching away to the south-east. The 

 country on the left bank is not, however, terra firma, but 

 a portion of the alluvial land which forms the extensive 

 and complex delta region of the Japura. It is flooded 

 every year at the time of high water, and is traversed by 

 many narrow and deep channels which serve as outlets 

 to the Japura, or, at least, are connected with that river 

 by means of the interior water-system of the Cupiyo. 

 This inhospitable tract of country extends for several 

 hundred miles, and contains in its midst an endless 

 number of pools and lakes tenanted by multitudes of 

 turtles, fishes, alligators, and water serpents. Our 

 destination was a point on this coast situated about twenty 

 miles below Shimuni, and a short distance from the mouth 

 of the Anana, one of the channels just alluded to as con- 

 nected with the Japura. After travelling for three hours 

 in mid-stream we steered for the land and brought to 

 under a steeply-inclined bank of crumbly earth, shaped 

 into a succession of steps or terraces, marking the various 

 halts which the waters of the river make in the course of 

 subsidence. The coast line was nearly straight for many 

 miles, and the bank averaged about thirty feet in height 

 above the present level of the river : at the top rose the 

 unbroken hedge of forest. No one could have divined 

 that pools of water existed on that elevated land. A 

 narrow level space extended at the foot of the bank. On 

 landing the first business was to get breakfast. Whilst a 

 couple of Indian lads were employed in making the fire, 

 roasting the fish, and boiling the coffee, the rest of the 

 party mounted the bank, and with their long hunting- 

 knives commenced cutting a path through the forest ; the 

 pool, called the Aningal, being about half a mile distant. 

 After breakfast a great number of short poles were cut 

 and laid crosswise on the path, and then three light 

 montarias which we had brought with us were dragged up 



