AND JOURNEY TO THE RIO DOCE. 



177 



Carapiica (Cap.) Here our weary people took some rest, and we 

 found it absolutely impossible to reach Linhares this day. To secure 

 our vessel from the rapid current of the river, we ran up between the 

 main and an island, into a narrow channel, where a number of beau- 

 tiful birds, especially parrots, were flying about, and the fine red 

 maccaws produced a singularly striking effect as the setting sun illu- 

 mined their scarlet plumage. The banks of these islands and of the 

 channel M'ere for the most part thickly overgrown with the high fan- 

 like reed, the sheath of whose flower is used by the Botocudos for 

 their arrows. When evening approached, our soldiers deliberated 

 whether it would be better to pass the night on the Ilha Comprida 

 (long island), or on one of the others. The first was rejected, because 

 it is divided from the shore by only a narrow and shallow channel, 

 and we should not have been secure against a visit from the savages. 

 We therefore proceeded to the Ilha de Gambin, where the governors 

 used formerly to pass the night when they visited the colony on the 

 Rio Doce. The present governor has not contmued these visits, and 

 we found the bushes on the shore so thickly grown together, that one 

 of my hunters was obliged to clear a place with his wood-knife, before 

 we could set foot on shore. A large and cheerful fire was soon blazing 

 in an open spot, whence a large owl ( curuja) and a Muscovy-duck 

 flew away, affrighted at the unexpected guests. We suffered some 

 inconvenience from the swarms of mosquitoes, but slept quietly till 

 the morning. 



We left the island very early, proceeded up the river past several 

 other islands, and into a channel between the Ilha Comprida and the 

 north bank of the river. The current was by no means so strong 

 here, but then we met with many fallen trunks of trees and large 

 branches, which we had to clear away, before we could advance far- 

 ther. The bushes and lofty ancient trees, which border this channel, 

 present the most diversified and magnificent spectacle. Various kinds 



2 A 



