230 
EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IY. 
scene presented itself. It was my first introduction to 
these singular water-paths. A narrow and tolerably 
straight alley stretched away for a long distance before 
us ; on each side were the tops of bushes and young 
trees, forming a kind of border to the path, and the 
trunks of the tall forest trees rose at irregular intervals 
from the water, their crowns interlocking far over our 
heads, and forming a thick shade. Slender air roots hung 
down in clusters, and looping sipos dangled from the 
lower branches ; bunches of grass, tillandsise, and ferns, 
sat in the forks of the larger boughs, and the trunks of 
trees near the water had adhering to them round dried 
masses of freshwater sponges. There was no current 
perceptible, and the water was stained of a dark olive- 
brown hue, but the submerged stems could be seen 
through it to a great depth. We travelled at good 
speed for three hours along this shady road ; the dis- 
tance of Pedro's house from Ega being about twenty 
miles. When the paddlers rested for a time, the still- 
ness and gloom of the place became almost painful : 
our voices waked dull echoes as we conversed, and the 
noise made by fishes occasionally whipping the surface 
of the water was quite startling. A cool, moist, clammy 
air pervaded the sunless shade. 
The breadth of the wooded valley, at the commence- 
ment, is probably more than half a mile, and there 
is a tolerably clear view for a considerable distance on 
each side of the water-path through the irregular 
colonnade of trees : other paths also, in this part, branch 
off right and left from the principal road, leading to 
the scattered houses of Indians on the mainland. The 
