1849.] ASPECT OF THE AMAZON, 137 
We now felt the influence of the easterly wind, which 
during the whole of the summer months blows pretty 
steadily up the Amazon, and enables vessels to make 
way against its powerful current. Sometimes we had 
thunder-storms, with violent squalls, which, as they were 
generally in the right direction, helped us along the 
faster ; and twice we ran aground on shoals, which 
caused us some trouble and delay. We had partly to 
unload the canoe into the montaria, and then, by getting 
out anchors in the deep water, managed after some hard 
pulling to extricate ourselves. Sometimes we caught 
fish, which were a great luxury for us, or went on shore, 
to piuchase fruit at some Indian's cottage. 
The most striking features of the Amazon are — its 
vast expanse of smooth water, generally from three to 
six miles wide ; its pale yellovdsh-olive colour ; the great 
beds of aquatic grass which line its shores, large masses 
of which are often detached, and form floating islands " 
the quantity of fruits and leaves and great trunks of 
trees which it carries down, and its level banks clad with 
lofty unbroken forest. In places the white stems and 
leaves of the Cecropias give a peculiar aspect, and in 
others the straight dark trunks of lofty forest-trees form 
a living wall along the water’s edge. There is much 
animation, too, on this giant stream. Numerous flocks 
of parrots, and the great red and yellow macaws, fly 
across every morning and evening, uttering their hoarse 
cries. Many kinds of herons and rails frequent the 
marshes on its banks, and the large handsome duck 
{Clienalohex juhatd) is often seen swimming about the 
bays and inlets. But perhaps the most characteristic 
