Chap. III. 
WEATHER. 
163 
were travelling encircled the whole earth, and that the 
land was an island like those seen in the stream, but 
larger. Here a gleam of curiosity and imagination in 
the Indian mind is revealed : the necessity of a theory 
of the earth and water has been felt, and a theory has 
been suggested. In all other matters not concerning 
the common wants of life the mind of Vicente was a 
blank, and such I always found to be the case with 
the Indian in his natural state. Would a community 
of any race of men be otherwise, were they isolated 
for centuries in a wilderness like the Amazonian 
Indians, associated in small numbers wholly occu- 
pied in procuring a mere subsistence, and without 
a written language, or a leisured class to hand 
down acquired knowledge from generation to gene- 
ration ? 
One day a smart squall gave us a good lift onward ; 
it came with a cold, fine, driving rain, which enveloped 
the desolate landscape as with a mist : the forest 
swayed and roared with the force of the gale, and flocks 
of birds were driven about in alarm over the tree-tops. 
On another occasion a similar squall came from an 
unfavourable quarter : it fell upon us quite unawares 
when we had all our sails out to dry, and blew us broad- 
side foremost on the shore. The vessel was fairly lifted 
on to the tall bushes which lined the banks, but we sus- 
tained no injury beyond the entanglement of our rigging 
in the branches. The days and nights usually passed 
in a dead calm, or with light intermittent winds from 
up river and consequently full against us. We landed 
twice a day to give ourselves and the Indians a little 
M 2 
