I 
72 
THE AMAZON AND MADEIRA RIVERS. 
V(>ry precise instrvictious, and the advanced season, did not allow ns 
either on tlie ascent or on the descent to mount the Beni for any 
considerable distance. A inimitc exploration of this powerful and, as 
yet, totally unknown stream would he of the greater interest, in that 
the soil on its .shores must he of excellent quality, judging from the 
size of the drifting trunks of codai', rvhich grows to such perfection only 
oii very rich eaidh. Besides which, it Avould he the very best way, 
under existing circumstances at least, to bring the Peruvian hark, which 
is gathered near its sources, to the Madeira and Amazon. The reduced 
quantity of water above the mouth of the Beni (about half) is denoted 
less by the bed’s narrowed width than by the liver’s decreasing depth. 
The next rapid, the Caciiowra bas Lacks (that is, of the slabs of 
rock), though dangerous at high water, did not oppose to us any serious 
obstacle, the river liaving been low when we passed it, in the middle of 
August. 
The prosi)cct was charming ; the broad stream being broken up into 
pays by several small islands, densely clad with rich virgin forest, over 
whi(ii slender palms were waving their graceful leaflets. 
On the gigantic slabs of the left shore we came up with more of the 
buzzling incised figures ; but they are so obliterated bj' time and ivater 
tlmt I had some difficulty in copying them. 
Low hills greeting the river on the right proclaimed the vicinity of 
the Seek a ba Paca Nova, a -wooded chain whose extension forms the 
chief water-shed between the basin of the Amazon and that of the 
]ja Plata, and whose steep, projetdiug buttress wo sighted presently, 
above the next rapid, the Cachoeiea no Pio Giuvxbe. To pass this 
fall, whose declivity is of C| feet at the river’s mid height, ivas easy 
work compared with the fatigues of the Cachoeiea bas Baxaneieas, the 
last great fall of the Madeira. As we had to avoid tlie deep channel, 
on account of its breakers and powerful euiTents, and as the large bed 
is broken into an infinity of small, shallow arms, we had immense trouble 
even in getting the barques near the real faB, where we had to unload. 
Alter fom- hours’ hard labour, we adAanoed no more than 220 yards. 
At sc\eral points the boats had to be partly unload('d, one of the smaller 
canoes serving for lighter, and carrying, by several tiips to and fro, the 
cargo of the heavier barques, till we had got beyond the obstruction. 
At last wo rcaclu'd the principal full of Baxaxkiuas, -which has a height 
of 20 feet, and where we had to transport both cargo and boats over- 
