258 
EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. 
Chap. IY. 
shipped a great deal of water. On passing the lower 
end of Shimum, a long reach of the river was before us, 
undivided by islands ; a magnificent expanse of water 
stretching away to the south-east. The country on the 
left bank is not, however, terra firma, but a portion of 
the alluvial land which forms the extensive and complex 
delta region of the Japura. It is flooded every year at 
the time of high water, and is traversed by many narrow 
and deep channels which serve as outlets to the Japura, 
or, at feast, are connected with that river by means of 
the interior water-system of the Cupiyo. This inhos- 
pitable tract of country extends for several hundred 
miles, and contains in its midst an endless number of 
pools and lakes tenanted by multitudes of turtles, fishes, 
alligators, and water serpents. Our destination was a 
point on this coast situated about twenty miles below 
Shimuni, and a short distance from the mouth of the 
Anana, one of the channels just alluded to as connected 
with the Japura. After travelling for three hours in 
mid-stream we steered for the land and brought to 
under a steeply-inclined bank of crumbly earth, shaped 
into a succession of steps or terraces, marking the 
various halts which the waters of the river make in the 
course of subsidence. The coast line was nearly straight 
for many miles, and the bank averaged about thirty 
feet in height above the present level of the river : at 
the top rose the unbroken hedge of forest. No one 
could have divined that pools of water existed on that 
elevated land. A narrow level space extended at the 
foot of the bank. On landing the first business was to 
get breakfast. Whilst a couple of Indian lads were 
