Chap. 11. WESTERN SIDE OF THE TAPAJOS. 
sons in all, and the boat was an old ricketty affair with 
the gaping seams rudely stuffed with tow and pitch. 
In addition to the human freight we took three sheep 
with us, which Captain Antonio had just received from 
Santarem and was going to add to his new cattle farm 
on the other side. Ten Indian paddlers carried us 
quickly across. The breadth of the river could not be 
less than three miles, and the current was scarcely 
perceptible. When a boat has to cross the main 
Amazons, it is obliged to ascend along the banks for 
half a mile or more to allow for drifting by the current ; 
in this lower part of the Tapajos this is not necessary. 
When about half-way, the sheep, in moving about, 
kicked a hole in the bottom of the boat. The passen- 
gers took the matter very coolly, although the water 
spouted up alarmingly, and I thought we should inevit- 
ably be swamped. Captain Antonio took off his socks 
to stop the leak, inviting me and the Juiz de paz, who 
was one of the party, to do the same, whilst two In- 
dians baled out the water with large cuyas. We thus 
managed to keep afloat until we reached our destina- 
tion, when the men patched up the leak for our return 
journey. 
The landing-place lay a short distance within the 
mouth of a shady inlet, orf whose banks, hidden amongst 
the dense woods, were the houses of a few Indian and 
mameluco settlers. The path to the cattle farm led 
first through a tract of swampy forest ; it then ascended 
a slope and emerged on a fine sweep of prairie, varied 
with patches of timber. The wooded portion occupied 
the hollows where the soil was of a rich chocolate- 
H 2 
