Chap. IV. 
A FLOODED DELL. 
229 
On the 23rd of May, 1850, 1 visited, in company with 
Antonio Cardozo, the Delegado, a family of the Passe 
tribe, who live near the head waters of the igarape, 
which flows from the south into the Teffe, entering it 
at Ega. The creek is more than a quarter of a mile 
broad near the town, but a few miles inland it gradually 
contracts, until it becomes a mere rivulet flowing 
through a broad dell in the forest. When the river 
rises it fills this dell ; the trunks of the lofty trees then 
stand many feet deep in the water, and small canoes are 
able to travel the distance of a day's journey under the 
shade, regular paths or alleys being cut through the 
branches and lower trees. This is the general character 
of the country of the Upper Amazons ; a land of small 
elevation and abruptly undulated, the hollows forming 
narrow valleys in the dry months, and deep navigable 
creeks in the wet months. In retired nooks on the 
margins of these shady rivulets, a few families or small 
hordes of aborigines still linger in nearly their primitive 
state, the relicts of their once numerous tribes. The 
family we intended to visit on this trip was that of 
Pedro-uassti (Peter the Great, or Tall Peter), an old 
chieftain or Tushaua of the Passes. 
We set out at sunrise, in a small igarite, manned by 
six young Indian paddlers. After travelling about three 
miles along the broad portion of the creek — which, being 
surrounded by woods, had the appearance of a large 
pool — we came to a part where our course seemed 
to be stopped by an impenetrable hedge of trees and 
bushes. We were some time before finding the en- 
trance, but when fairly within the shades, a remarkable 
