CURIOUS ROCKS. 



245 



we reached late in the evening, was fearful. The river makes 

 a sudden bend, and is confined in a very narrow channel, which 

 is one confused mass of rocks of every size and shape, piled on 

 one another, and heaped up in the greatest possible confusion. 

 Every stone which rises above high-water mark is covered 

 with vegetation ; and among the whole the river rushes and 

 foams, so as to make the task of pilot one of no ordinary 

 difficulty. Just as it was getting dark, we passed out of these 

 gloomy narrows into a wider and more cheerful part of the 

 river, and stayed at a rock to sup and sleep. 



On the nth, early, we reached Uarucapuri, where are a 

 village and several maloccas. The first which we entered was 

 inhabited by people of the Cobeu nation. There were about 

 a dozen handsome men, all clean-limbed and well painted, with 

 armlets and necklaces of white beads, and with the ears plugged 

 with a piece of wood the size of a common bottle-cork, to the 

 end of which was glued a piece of porcelain presenting a white 

 shining surface. We agreed with these men to help to pass 

 our canoe up the falls, and then proceeded on our walk 

 through the village. My old friend Senhor Chagas was here, 

 and with him I breakfasted off a fine pirahiba which his men 

 had caught that morning, and which was the first I had eaten 

 since my illness. 



With some difficulty I succeeded in buying two or three 

 baskets of farinha ; and being anxious to get to my journey's 

 end, which was now near at hand, about midday we proceeded. 

 Our pilot and his son left us, and we had now only six paddles ; 

 but four or five additional men came with us to pass the re- 

 maining caxoeiras, which were near. Close to the village we 

 passed the " Cururu " (a toad), and " Murucututu " (an owl) falls, 

 both rather bad ; and, soon after, arrived at the " Uacoroua " 

 (Goatsucker), the last great fall on the river below the " Juru- 

 panV which is many days further up. Here the river is 

 precipitated over a nearly vertical rock, about ten feet high, 

 and much broken in places. The canoe had to be entirely 

 unloaded, and then pulled up over the rocks on the margin 

 of the fall, a matter of considerable difficulty. To add to our 

 discomfort, a shower of rain came on while the canoe was 

 passing ; and the Indians, as usual, having scattered the cargo 

 about in great confusion, it had to be huddled together and 

 covered with mats and palm-leaves, till the shower, which was 



