142 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. ^October, 



masses just rising above the foaming waters. "Ail right, 

 boys ! cries Senhor L. ; and just as we seemed in the greatest 

 danger, the canoe wheels round in an eddy, and we are safe 

 under the shelter of a rock. We are in still water, but close 

 on each side of us it rages and bubbles, and we must cross 

 again. Now the Indians are rested ; and so off we go, — down 

 drops the canoe, — again the men strain at their paddles, — 

 again we are close on some foaming breakers : I see no escape, 

 but in a moment we are in an eddy caused by a sunken mass 

 above us ; again we go on, and reach at length our object, a 

 rocky island, round which we pull and push our canoe, and 

 from the upper point cross to another, and so make a zigzag 

 course, until, after some hours^ hard work, we at length reach 

 the bank, perhaps not fifty yards above the obstacle which had 

 obliged us to leave it. 



Thus we proceeded, till, reaching a good resting-place about 

 five in the afternoon, we stayed for the night to rest the Indians 

 well, against the further fatigues to be encountered the follow- 

 ing day. 



Most of the principal rapids and falls have names. There 

 are the " Furnos " (ovens), " Tabocal " (bamboo), and many 

 others. The next day we went on in a similar manner to the 

 day before, along a most picturesque part of the river. The 

 brilliant sun, the sparkling waters, the strange fantastic rocks, 

 and broken woody islands, were a constant source of interest 

 and enjoyment to me. Early in the afternoon we reached the 

 village of Sao Gabriel, where are the principal falls. Here the 

 river is narrower, and an island in the middle divides it into 

 two channels, along each of which rolls a tremendous flood of 

 water down an incline formed by submerged rocks. Below, 

 the water boils up in great rolling breakers, and, a little further 

 down, forms dangerous eddies and whirlpools. Here we could 

 only pass by unloading the canoe almost entirely, and then 

 pulling it up amidst the foaming water as near as possible to 

 the shore. This done, Senhor L. and myself dressed, and 

 proceeded up the hill to the house of the Commandante, who 

 must give permission before any one can pass above the fort. 

 He was a friend of Senhor L., and I brought him a letter of 

 introduction ; so he was pretty civil, gave us some coffee, 

 chatted of the news of the river and the city for an hour or 

 two, and invited us to breakfast with him before we left the 



