1850.] 
MANAQUERY. 
179 
grass near the side, and on it, with the assistance of a 
few dead twigs, we soon made a fire, roasted our fish, 
and boiled some coffee. But we had intruded on a 
colony of stinging ants, who, not liking the vicinity of 
fire, and not choosing to take to the water, swarmed into 
our canoe and made us pay for our supper in a very un- 
pleasant manner. Dusk soon came on, and we had to 
stay for the night ; but the mosquitoes made their pre- 
sence known, and we lay uncomfortable and feverish till 
the morning. By the next night we had reached the 
mouth of the small stream that leads up to Manaquery, 
and had few mosquitoes to annoy us. In the morning 
we went on, and soon plunged again into the Gapo, 
passing through some small lakes so choked up with 
grass that the canoe could hardly be forced over it. Again 
we emerged into the igaripe — here about a quarter of a 
mile wide — and at ten in the morning reached Manaquery. 
The estate is situated on the south side of the Soli- 
moes, about a hundred miles above its junction with the 
Rio Negro. The whole tract of country round it consists 
of igaripes, or small streams, lakes, gapo, and patches of 
high and dry land, so scattered and mixed together that 
it is very difficult to tell whether any particular portion 
is an island or not. The land, for a short distance on 
the banks of the stream, rises in an abrupt, rocky cliff, 
thirty or forty feet above high-water mark : the rocks 
are of a volcanic nature, being a coarse and often vitreous 
scoria. On ascending by some rude steps, I found my- 
self in a flat grassy meadow, scattered over with orange- 
trees, mangoes, and some noble tamarind and calabash 
trees, and at the back a thicket of guavas. 
N 2 
