AND AMONG THE BOTOCUDOS. 



287 



When the storm had passed over we pursued our course. The 

 river is in this part broad and beautiful ; on the bank, there are at 

 intervals sandy flats, on which deserted huts of cocoa-leaves are here 

 and there met with ; these serve the inhabitants of Belmonte for a 

 shelter when they come up the river for the purposes of fishing or 

 hunting. We frequently observed in this part the darter, (plot us, J 

 and the great wild or Muscovy duck ; and of the latter, especially 

 early in the morning, we sometimes saw whole flocks. In the evening 

 we landed on a coroa, in the part called As Barrier as, which is an 

 extremely good place for hunting, and almost the only spot on the 

 lower part of the Belmonte where the large yellowish-grey monkey, 

 called here by the name of the miriqui ( atehs), is met with. 



Before day-break on the 22d we left the coroa, and had already 

 proceeded some distance, when the morning saluted us with its cheer- 

 ful beams. The dashing of our oars and the voices of our boatmen, 

 M^io were contending for the reward which I had promised to the 

 most diligent of them, animated and disturbed the whole country : 

 flocks of Muscovy ducks, frightened at the noise, flew up before us. 

 On the preceding day we had already perceived before us in the dis- 

 tance a chain of mountains, which we could now distinguish more 

 clearly ; it bears the name of Serra das Guaribas. This chain in- 

 tersects the great forests, from north to south ; it did not seem to be 

 remarkably high, though it was not far distant from us. 



At the place where we now were, the banks of the river began 

 gradually to rise ; mountains covered with dark forests appear on its 

 sides ; fragments of stone and rock announce the neighbourhood of 

 primitive mountains, and the coroas or sand-banks become more rare, 

 in proportion as the bed of the river grows narrower, and the water 

 deeper. The dark shining surface of the river is often contracted be- 

 tween steep mountains, yet it still retains a considerable breadth. We 

 heard and saw on the banks the beautiful araras, and observed to-day 



