1850.] 



MANAQUERY. 



123 



dead twigs, we soon made a fire, roasted our fish, and boiled 

 some coffee. But we had intruded on a colony of stinging 

 ants, who, not liking the vicinity of fire, and not choosing to 

 take to the water, swarmed into our canoe and made us pay for 

 our supper in a very unpleasant manner. Dusk soon came 

 on, and we had to stay for the night ; but the mosquitoes made 

 their presence known, and we lay uncomfortable and feverish 

 till the morning. By the next night we had reached the mouth 

 of the small stream that leads us to Manaquery, and had few 

 mosquitoes to annoy us. In the morning we went on, and 

 soon plunged again into the Gapo, passing through some small 

 lakes so choked up with grass that the canoe could hardly be 

 forced over it. Again we emerged into the igaripe — here 

 about a quarter of a mile wide — and at ten in the morning 

 reached Manaquery. 



The estate is situated on the south side of the Solimoes, 

 about a hundred miles above its junction with the Rio Negro 

 The whole tract of country round it consists of igaripes, or 

 small streams, lakes, gapo, and patches of high and dry land, 

 so scattered and mixed together that it is very difficult to tell 

 whether any particular portion is an island or not. The land, 

 for a short distance on the banks of the stream, rises in an 

 abrupt, rocky cliff, thirty or forty feet above high-water mark : 

 the rocks are of a volcanic nature, being a coarse and often 

 vitreous scoria. On ascending by some rude steps, I found 

 myself in a flat grassy meadow, scattered over with orange- 

 trees, mangoes, and some noble tamarind and calabash trees, 

 and at the back a thicket of guavas. 



Cattle and sheep were grazing about, and pigs and poultry 

 were seen nearer the house. This was a large thatched shed, 

 half of which contained the cane-mill, and was only enclosed 

 by a railing instead of a wall ; the other half had coarse mud 

 walls, with small windows and thatch shutters. The floor was 

 of earth only, and very uneven, yet here resided Senhor 

 Brandao and his daughter, whom I had met at Barra. The fact 

 was that some ten or twelve years before, during the Revolu- 

 tion, a party of Indians burnt down his house, and completely 

 destroyed his garden and fruit-trees, killing several of his 

 servants and cattle, and would have killed his wife and 

 children, had they not, at a moment's notice, escaped to the 

 forest, where they remained three days, living on Indian corn 



