108 
VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. 
Chap. II. 
taken ; there being sufficient for the whole party, includ- 
ing several children, two old men from a neighbouring- 
hut, and my Indians. I made our good-natured enter- 
tainers a small present of needles and sewing-cotton, 
articles very much prized, and soon after we re-em- 
barked, and again crossed the river to Aveyros. 
August 2nd. — Left Aveyros; having resolved to 
ascend a branch river, the Cupari, which enters the Tapa- 
jos about eight miles above this village, instead of going 
forward along the main stream. I should have liked 
to visit the settlements of the Mundurucu tribe which 
lie beyond the first cataract of the Tapajos, if it had 
been compatible with the other objects I had in view. 
But to perform this journey a lighter canoe than mine 
would have been necessary, and six or eight Indian 
paddlers, which in my case it was utterly impossible 
to obtain. There would be, however, an opportunity of 
seeing this fin,e race of people on the Cupari, as a horde 
was located towards the head waters of this stream. The 
distance from Aveyros to the last civilised settlement 
on the Tapajos, Itaituba, is about forty miles. The 
falls commence a short distance beyond this place. Ten 
formidable cataracts or rapids then succeed each other 
at intervals of a few miles : the chief of which are 
the Coaita, the Bubure, the Salto Grande about thirty 
feet high, and the Montanha. The canoes of Cuyaba 
tradesmen which descend annually to Santarem are 
obliged to be unloaded at each of these, and the cargoes 
carried by land on the backs of Indians, whilst the 
empty vessels are dragged by ropes over the obstruc- 
tions. The Cupari was described to me as flowing 
