314 STAY ON THE RIO GRANDE DE BELMONTE, 



similar claims on our provisions ; we had no inclination however to 

 enter into any parley with them, and the more so, as we had no time 

 to lose. Towards evening, when our canoe was gliding down the 

 Cachoeirinha, it struck against a rock, and immediately stuck fast. I 

 had before got out, and clambered on foot along the bank, because, 

 not being a good swimmer, I would not expose myself to a ducking 

 against my inclination. I was now very glad that I was only a dis- 

 tant spectator of the shock, which threw all my people in the canoe 

 over one another. The water had got into the boat, and my little 

 Botocudo again began to cry bitterly ; however the canoe was ex- 

 tricated without farther accident, and we reached the Quartel dos 

 Arcos before sunset. 



On my arrival at the island, I found one of my people ill of the 

 ague, which obliged me to stop some days ; being provided with good 

 Peruvian bark, I soon cured him. I then proceeded M'ith some 

 hunters to the Ilha do Chave, which is several leagues down the river, 

 where, according to the accounts we had received, we were likely to 

 find many anhumas, ( Brazilian crane,) and abundance of game in 

 general. In our passage down we killed some araras, and found 

 several beautiful flowering shrubs on the bank; among the thickly 

 interwoven summits of the forest we particularly distinguished the 

 young rose-coloured leaves of the sapucaya tree, and the petrcea 

 volubi/is, with its long bunches of sky-blue flowers. 



During a heavy rain we reached towards evening the end of our 

 day's journey, and landed on the sandy island. Towards night the 

 rain abated a little, but a dry and quiet lodging for the night was 

 totally out of the question ; we crept completely drenched into some 

 old ruinous fishermen's huts, the leafy roofs of which had been long 

 gone to decay. We endeavoured to protect ourselves from the rain 

 by some blankets and ox,-hides, and kindled a fire to warm and dry 

 ourselves ; but as the rain poured down without ceasing, we could 



