36 



TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. 



\Augusty 



before mentioned. Another Indian deserted when we were 

 about to leave, so we started without him, trusting to get two 

 or three more as we went along. 



Though in such a small boat, and going up a river in the 

 same province, we were not allowed to leave Para without 

 passports and clearances from the custom-house, and as much 

 difficulty and delay as if we had been taking a two hundred 

 ton ship into a foreign country. But such is the rule here, 

 even the internal trade of the province, carried on by Brazilian 

 subjects, not being exempt from it. The forms to be filled up, 

 the signing and countersigning at different offices, the applica- 

 tions to be made and formalities to be observed, are so nu- 

 merous and complicated, that it is quite impossible for a 

 stranger to go through them; and had not Mr. Leavens 

 managed all this part of the business, we should probably have 

 been obliged, from this cause alone, to have given up our 

 projected journey. 



Soon after leaving the city night came on, and the tide turn- 

 ing against us, we had to anchor. We were up at five the next 

 morning, and found that we were in the Moju, up which our 

 way lay, and which enters the Para river from the south. The 

 morning was delightful; the Suacuras, a kind of rail, were 

 tuning their melancholy notes, which are always to be heard on 

 the river-banks night and morning ; lofty palms rose on either 

 side, and when the sun appeared all was fresh and beautiful. 

 About eight, we passed Jaguarari, an estate belonging to Count 

 Brisson, where there are a hundred and fifty slaves engaged 

 principally in cultivating mandiocca. We breakfasted on board, 

 and about two in the afternoon reached Jighery, a very pretty 

 spot, with steep grassy banks, cocoa and other palms, and 

 oranges in profusion. Here we stayed for the tide, and dined on 

 shore, and Mr. B. and myself went in search of insects. We 

 found them rather abundant, and immediately took two species 

 of butterflies we had never seen at Para. We had not expected 

 to find, in so short a distance, such a difference in the insects ; 

 though, as the same thing takes place in England, why should 

 it not here ? I saw a very long and slender snake, of a brown 

 colour, twining among the bushes, so that till it moved it was 

 hardly distinguishable from the stem of a climbing plant. Our 

 men had caught a sloth in the morning, as it was swimming 

 across the riverj which was about half a mile wide ; it was 



