1850.] 
ASCENT OF THE RAPIDS. 
207 
the greatest danger, the canoe wheels round in an eddy, 
and we are safe under the shelter of a rock. We are in 
still water, but close on each side of ns it rages and 
bubbles, and we must cross again. Now the Indians 
are rested ; and so off we go, — down drops the canoe, — ■ 
again the men strain at their paddles, — again we are 
close on some foaming breakers : I see no escape, but in 
a moment we are in an eddy caused by a sunken mass 
above us ; again we go on, and reach at length our 
object, a rocky island, round which we pull and push 
our canoe, and from the upper point cross to another, 
and so make a zigzag course, until, after some hours’ 
hard work, we at length reach the bank, perhaps not 
fifty yards above the obstacle which had obliged us to 
leave it. 
Thus we proceeded, till, reaching a good resting-place 
about five in the afternoon, we staid for the night, to 
rest the Indians well, against the further fatigues to be 
encountered the following day. 
Most of the principal rapids and falls have names. 
There are the Turnos” (ovens), “ Tabocal” (bamboo), 
and many others. The next day we went on in a similar 
manner to the day before, along a most picturesque part 
of the river. The brilliant sun, the sparkling waters, 
the strange fantastic rocks, and broken woody islands, 
were a constant source of interest and enjoyment to me. 
Early in the afternoon we reached the village of Sao 
Gabriel, where are the principal falls. Here the river is 
narrower, and an island in the middle divides it into two 
channels, along each of which rolls a tremendous flood 
of water down an incline formed by submerged rocks. 
