CHAP. II VOYAGE TO SANTAREM 59 
houses at Breves and in the scattered sitios were 
mostly thatched with its fronds, which are almost 
unique among palms in consisting of a single piece, 
like those of the plantain (Musa), and not of dis- 
tinct leaflets ; so that each frond forms a long tile 
reaching from ridge to eaves. 
We were at length fairly in the Amazon, whose 
muddy waters, varying from a dull yellow colour to 
that of weak chocolate, according to the light in 
which they were viewed, ran too deep and strong 
to be turned back by any tide, so that we must 
thenceforth depend entirely on our sails. We were, 
however, in only one of the channels, or parana- 
min's, of the King of Rivers, not exceeding two 
miles in breadth. The land on our right was a 
long island, beyond which lay another channel, and 
another (or perhaps other two) beyond this before 
reaching the true northern shore of the Amazon. All 
through the 20th we were sailing with a fair wind up 
the parana-mirf, which kept about the same average 
width ; and having passed the first island we came 
to a second, from which it was separated by a narrow 
furo. The wind failed us before sunset, but after 
dark got up again in strength, and about midnight 
brought us round the point of the second island 
into a wider channel. Throughout the dry season 
the easterly wind — a continuation of the trade-wind 
of the ocean — blows up the Amazon, at least for 
several hours every day, and sometimes day and 
night without remission, especially in the months 
of September and October. Early in the morning 
we passed Gurupa, a village on the right bank 
where there is a strong fort, generally attributed 
