1848.] 



DANGERS OF THE RIVER. 



49 



I then came out on to dry land, and waited for the Indians, 

 who soon appeared, but all empty-handed. A pale yellow 

 water-lily and some pretty buttercups and bladder-worts were 

 abundant in the lake. We had a long row to reach the canoe, 

 which we found at Jucahipua, where Senhor Joaquim resided, 

 who, we had been told, would pilot us up to the Falls. After 

 a good dinner of turtle I skinned my birds, and then took a 

 walk along the beach: here were fine crystalline sandstone 

 rocks, in regularly stratified beds. In the evening a small' 

 Ephemera was so abundant about the candle as to fall on the 

 paper like rain, and get into our hair and down our necks in 

 such abundance as to be very annoying. 



In the morning we passed the locality of the old settlement 

 of Alcobaza, where there was once a fort and a considerable 

 village, but now no signs of any habitation. The inhabitants 

 were murdered by the Indians about fifty years ago, and since 

 then it has never been re-settled. The river was now about 

 a mile wide, and had fewer islands. There was a fine flat-i 

 bedded sandstone here, very suitable for building. We were 

 shown a stone on which is said to be writing which no man 

 can read, being circular and pothook marks, almost as much 

 like the work of nature as of art. The water was here 

 beautifully transparent, and there were many pretty fishes 

 variously marked and spotted. 



About noon we reached the "Ilha dos Santos," a small 

 sandy island in the middle of the river, where there was a 

 house, the inhabitants of which continually asked us for caxaga. 

 We had a land-tortoise for dinner to-day, which was as good as 

 turtle. Two hours further we landed for the night. The river 

 was now very full of rocks and eddies, and we were unable to 

 go in our large canoe. The next morning, having put our 

 redes and some provisions into the montaria, we started with 

 two of our men and Senhor Joaquim., leaving one man and old 

 Isidora in charge of the canoe till we returned. In about an 

 hour we all had to get out of the boat for the men to pull it 

 up a little rapid over some rocks. The whole river is here full 

 of small rocky islands and masses of rock above and under 

 water. In the wet season the water is fifteen to twenty feet 

 higher than it was now, and this part is then safe for large 

 canoes. We passed the mouth of an igaripe on the west 

 bank, and another on the opposite side, in both of which gold is 



