Chap. HI. 
CUDAJA. 
173 
which it caused returned on the crumbly bank with 
tremendous force, and caused the fall of other masses by 
undermining them. The line of coast over which the 
landslip extended was a mile or two in length ; the end 
of it, however, was hid from our view by an intervening 
island. It was a grand sight : each downfall created a 
cloud of spray ; the concussion in one place causing other 
masses to give way a long distance from it, and thus the 
crashes continued, swaying to and fro, with little pro- 
spect of a termination. When we glided out of sight, 
two hours after sunrise, the destruction was still 
going on. • 
On the 9th of April we passed the mouth of a narrow 
channel which leads to an extensive lake called Anuri ; 
it lies at the bottom of a long enseada or bay, on the 
north or left side of the river, around which sets the 
whole force of the current. The steamboat company 
have since established a station near this for supplying 
their vessels with firewood. A few miles beyond, on the 
opposite side, we saw the principal mouth of the Purus, 
a very large stream, whose sources are still unknown. 
Salsaparilla and Copaiiba collectors, the only travellers 
on its waters, have ascended it in small boats a distance 
of two months' journey without meeting with any 
obstruction to navigation. This shows that its course 
lies to a very great extent within the level plain of the 
Upper Amazons. The mouth is not more than a quarter 
of a mile broad, and the water is of an olive-green 
colour. 
We passed Cudaja on the 12th. This is a channel 
