1850.] 
THE RAINY SEASON. 
175 
of a Portuguese or Brazilian would always write down 
on his slate, “ Very fond of the ladies which on being 
translated, would invariably elicit, He verdade” (that’s 
very true), and signs of astonishment at his penetration. 
He was a great smoker, and would drink wine and 
spirits so freely as sometimes to make him carry his 
antics to a great length ; still he was much liked, and 
will be long remembered by the people of Barra. But, 
poor^feUow ! he was never to see his native land again : 
he died a few months after, at the fortress of Sao 
Joaquim, on the Bio Branco, — it was said, of jaundice. 
Notwithstanding all this, the time passed heavily 
enough ; and though Mr. Hauxwell soon after arrived to 
add to our party, still nothing coidd make up for the 
desolation and death which the incessant rains appeared 
to have produced in all animated nature. Between two 
and three months passed away in this unexciting mono- 
tony, when, the river having nearly risen to its height, 
and there being some appearance of the weather improv- 
ing, I determined on taking a journey to the Solimoes 
(as the Amazon is called above the entrance of the Rio 
Negro), to the estate of Senhor Brandao, my kind host’s 
father-in-law. 
The river was now so high that a great portion of the 
lowlands between the Rio Negro and the Amazon was 
flooded, being what is called Gapo.” This is one of the 
most singular features of the Amazon. It extends from 
a little above Santarem up to the confines of Peru — a 
distance of about seventeen hundred miles — and varies 
in width on each side of the river from one to ten or 
twenty miles. Prom Santarem to Coari, a little town 
