1850.] 
THE FALLS. 
205 
I granite about three thousand feet high. They are much 
jagged and peaked, clothed with forest in all the sloping 
! parts, but with numerous bare precipices, on which shine 
I huge white veins and masses of quartz, putting me in 
mind of what must be the appearance of the snow-capped 
Andes. Lower down, near St. Isabel, we had passed 
several conical peaks, but none more than a thousand 
feet high : these all rise abruptly from a perfectly level 
plain, and are not part of any connected range of hills. 
On the same day, the 1 9th of October, we reached the 
celebrated Falls of the Rio Negro. Small rocky islands 
and masses of bare rock now began to fill the river in 
every part. The stream flowed rapidly round projecting 
points, and the main channel was full of foam and eddies. 
We soon arrived at the commencement of the actual 
rapids. Beds and ledges of rock spread all acro^ the 
river, while through the openings between them the water 
rushed with terrific violence, forming dangerous whirl- 
pools and breakers below. Here it was necessary to cross 
to the other side, in order to get up. We dashed into 
the current, were rapidly carried down, got among the 
boiling waves, then passed suddenly into still water 
under shelter of an island; whence starting again, we 
at length reached the other side, about a mile across. 
Here we found ourselves at the foot of a great rush of 
water, and we all got out upon the rocks, while the In- 
dians, with a strong rope, partly in the water, and partly 
on land, pulled the canoe up, and we again proceeded. 
As we went on we constantly encountered fresh diffi- 
culties. Sometimes we had to cross into the middle of 
the stream, to avoid some impassable mass of rocks ; at 
