1848.] 
PATOS. 
65 
Proceeding on our way, we still passed innumerable 
islan4s, the river being four or five miles wide. About 
four in the afternoon, we came in sight of the first 
rocks we met with on the river, on a projecting point, 
rugged and volcanic in appearance, with little de- 
tached islands in the stream, and great blocks lying along 
the shore. After so much flat alluvial country, it had 
quite a picturesque effect. A mile further, we reached 
Patos, a small village, were we hoped to get men, and 
anchored for the night. I took a walk along the shore 
to examine the rocks, and found them to be decidedly 
volcanic, of a dark colour, and often as rugged as the 
scorise of an iron-furnace. There was also a coarse con- 
glomerate, containing blackened quartz pebbles, and in 
the hollows a very fine white quartz sand. 
We remained here two days ; Mr. Leavens going up 
the igaripe to look for cedar, while we remained hunt- 
ing for birds, insects, and shells. I shot several pretty 
birds, and saw, for the first time, the beautiful blue 
macaws, which we had been told we should meet with up 
the Tocantins. They are entirely of a fine indigo-blue, 
with a whitish beak ; but they flew very high, and we 
could not find their feeding-place. The insects most 
abundant were the yellow butterflies, which often settled 
in great numbers on the beach, and when disturbed 
rose in a body, forming a complete yellow and orange 
fluttering cloud. Shells were tolerably plentiful, and 
we added some new ones to our small stock. Since 
leaving Baiao, a small fly, with curiously marked black 
and white wings, had much annoyed us, settling on our 
hands and faces in the quietest manner, and then sud- 
