72 
TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. \September, 
wooded. There was a house near the river, with nume- 
rous orange-trees, and on the top of the hill were man- 
diocca and coffee plantations. We dined here; and when 
we had finished, the mistress handed round a basin of 
water and a clean napkin to wash our hands,— a refine- 
ment we had hardly expected in a room without walls, 
and at such a distance from civilization. 
After dinner we went on to see the Tails. The river 
was still about a mile wide, and more wild and rocky than 
before. Near the Tails are vast masses of volcanic rock ; 
one in particular, of a cubical form, thirty feet on the 
side and twenty feet high, we passed close under in the 
montaria. There are also small islands composed en- 
tirely of scoria-like rocks, heaped up and containing 
caves and hollows of a most picturesque appearance, 
affording evident proofs of violent volcanic action at 
some former period. On both sides of the river, and as 
far as the sight extends, is an undulating country, from 
four to five hundred feet high, covered with forest, the 
commencement of the elevated plains of Brazil. 
On arriving at the Tails we found the central channel 
about a quarter of a mile wide, bounded by rocks, with 
a deep and very powerful stream rushing down in an 
unbroken sweep of dark green waters, and producing 
eddies and whirlpools below more dangerous to canoes 
than the fall itself. When the river is full they are 
much more perilous, the force of the current being 
almost irresistible, and much skill is required to avoid 
the eddies and sunken rocks. The great cubical block I 
have mentioned is then just under water, and has caused 
the loss of many canoes. The strata were much twisted 
