146 
VOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. 
Chap. IT. 
we met a shrewd Santarem trader, wliom I knew, 
Senhor Chico Honorio, who had a larger and much 
better provided canoe than om^ own. The wind was 
strong from below all day, so we remained at this place 
in his company. He had his wife with him, and a 
number of Indians, male and female. We slung our 
hammocks under the trees, and breakfasted and dined 
together, our cloth being spread on the sandy beach 
in the shade ; after killing a large quantity of fish with 
Umbo, of which we had obtained a supply at Itapuama. 
At night we were again under way with the land 
breeze. The water was shoaly to a great distance off the 
coast, and our canoe having the lighter draught went 
ahead, our leadsman crying out the soundings to our 
companion : the depth was only one fathom, half a mile 
from the coast. We spent the next day (25th) at the 
mouth of a creek called Pini, which is exactly opposite 
the village of Boim, and on the following night ad- 
vanced about twelve miles. Every point of land had a 
long spit of sand stretching one or two miles towards 
the middle of the river, which it was necessary to double 
by a wide circuit. The terral failed us at midnight 
when we were near an espera, called Marai, the mouth 
of a shallow creek. 
Sept. 26th. — I did not like the prospect of spending the 
whole dreary day at Marai*, where it was impossible to 
ramble ashore, the forest being utterly impervious, and 
the land still partly under water. Besides, we had used 
up our last stick of firewood to boil our coffee at sun- 
rise, and could not get a fresh supply at this place. 
So there being a dead calm on the river in the morning, 
