/ 



68 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



feet and a half broad, three to four feet deep, and 

 can carry a cargo of 400 arrobas, besides the neces- 

 sary provisions. They are generally made in the 

 beautiful forests on the Rio Piracicaba, which falls 

 into the Tiete about eleven miles to the north-west 

 of Porto Feliz. They are commonly manned by 

 eight persons who, as the narrow vessel will not ad- 

 mit of sails, use only short oars and long poles. 

 The navigation on the Tiete is very tedious on ac- 

 count of its extraordinary windings ; unhealthy, 

 from the thick fogs which rise a few hours after 

 sunset ; and dangerous, from the numerous water- 

 falls which must be passed. Though the mouth of 

 the Tiete is only five and forty leagues in a straight 

 line from Porto Feliz, the boatmen estimate the 

 route which they are obliged to take, at one hundred 

 and thirty leagues. The river is full of violent 

 currents, rocks, and waterfalls, thirteen of which 

 cannot be passed without landing half the cargo. 

 The waterfalls of Avanhandavussu and Itapure, the 

 latter of which is only seven leagues above the 

 junction of the Tiete with the Parana, are still more 

 dangerous ; the stream falls, in both places, thirty 

 feet, and it is therefore necessary entirely to unload 

 the boat, and to forward it by land. When the tra- 

 vellers have reached the Parana, that river, the great 

 waterfall of which, Urubu-Punga, is three miles 

 further to the north, conveys them, as soon as the 

 dangerous current of lupia is passed, without ha- 

 ,^ard, to the mouth of the Rio Pardo, where they 



