Chap. 11. 
ALTAK DO CHAO. 
77 
managed to get out of this difficulty, clearing the 
rocky point at a close shave with our jib-sail. Soon 
after we drifted into the smooth water of a sheltered 
bay which leads to the charmingly situated village of 
Altar do Chao; and we were obliged to give up our 
attempt to recover the montaria. 
The little settlement, Altar do Chao — altar of the 
ground, or Earth altar — owes its singular name to the 
existence at the entrance to the harbour of one of 
those strange flat-topped hills which are so common in 
this part of the Amazons country, shaped like the high 
altar in Roman Catholic churches. It is an isolated 
one and much lower in height than the similarly 
truncated hills and ridges near Almeyrim, being elevated 
probably not more than 300 feet above the level of the 
river. It is bare of trees, but covered in places with 
a species of fern. At the head of the bay is an inner 
harbour which communicates by a channel with a 
series of lakes lying in the valleys between hills and 
stretching far into the interior of the land. The 
village is peopled almost entirely by semi-civilised 
Indians to the number of sixty or seventy families, 
and the scattered houses are arranged in broad streets 
on a strip of green sward at the foot of a high, glo- 
riously-wooded ridge. 
We stayed here nine days. As soon as we anchored 
I went ashore and persuaded, by tljie offer of a hand- 
some reward, two young half-breeds to go in search of 
my missing boat. The head man of the place, Captain 
Thomas, a sleepy-looking mameluco, whom I found in 
his mud-walled cottage in loose shirt and drawers, with 
