Chap. III. 
SEASONS. 
223 
and thoroughly enjoying themselves. The inhabitants 
pray always for a " vasante grande/' or great ebb. 
From the middle of October to the beginning of 
January, the second wet season prevails. The rise is 
sometimes not more than about fifteen feet, but it is, 
in some years, much more considerable, laying the large 
sand islands under water before the turtle eggs are 
hatched. In one year, whilst I resided at Ega, this 
second annual inundation reached to within ten feet 
of the highest water point as marked by the stains on 
the trunks of trees by the river side. 
The second dry season comes on in January, and 
lasts throughout February. The river sinks sometimes 
to the extent of a few feet only, but one year (1856) I 
saw it ebb to within about five feet of its lowest point 
in September. This is called the summer of the 
Umari, "Verad do Umari," after the fruit of this 
name already described, which ripens at this season. 
When the fall is great, this is the best time to catch 
turtles. In the year above mentioned, nearly all the 
residents who had a canoe, and could work a paddle, 
went out after them in the month of February, and about 
2000 were caught in the course of a few days. It appears 
that they had been arrested in their migration towards 
the interior pools of the forest by the sudden drying 
up of the water-courses, and so had become easy prey. 
Thus the Ega year is divided into four seasons ; two 
of dry weather and falling waters, and two of the 
reverse. Besides this variety, there is, in the month of 
May, a short season of very cold weather, a most sur- 
prising circumstance in this otherwise uniformly swel- 
