84 
THE AMAZON AND >IA1)EIKA ItlVERS. 
iire uniii)pvoa(;hrtblc, the traiiS[)orting uf tlio frtaght and vessels ovca- 
stone and roc'ks, tlie frequent breaking and cracking of ribs (ot tlie 
vessels, 1 itioan), and their hurried re]»iiir, are just the same as in 
the ascent. Suffice it then to say that at last we saw with relieved 
hearts our boats floating again on the smooth surface of the Amazon, 
and at Manaos the warmth of the greeting extended to us by friends 
and acquaintance Avas intensified by the circumstance that only a IcAV 
days before the newspapers had stated most positively that one and 
all of us had been killed and eaten by the Caripunas. On the 14th 
of December, 1808, wo ari'ived safely at Para by the same Belem 
which had first brought ns to Manaos; and on the 4th of January, 
1869, at Eio de Janeiro, which we had left fourteen months before, a 
