SOUTH AMERICA. 
43 
and those who did not stay with it, had stopped here first 
on their return. - 
The soldier who commanded the rest, said, he 
durst not, upon any account, convey a stranger to 
the fort; but he added, as there were two canoes, one 
of them might be despatched with a letter, and then 
w r e could proceed slowly on in the other. 
About three hours from this settlement, there is a 
river called Pirarara; and here the soldiers had left 
their canoes while they were making the new one. 
From the Pirarara you get into the river Maou, and 
then into the Tacatou ; and just where the Tacatou 
falls into the Rio Branco, there stands the Portu¬ 
guese frontier fort, called Fort St. Joachim. From 
the time of embarking in the river Pirarara, it takes 
you four days before you reach this fort. 
There was nothing very remarkable in passing 
down these rivers. It is an open country, producing a 
coarse grass, and interspersed with clumps of trees. 
The banks have some wood on them, but it appears 
stinted and crooked, like that on the bleak hills in 
England. 
The tapir frequently plunged into the river; he 
w r as by no means shy, and it was easy to get a shot 
at him on land. The kessi-kessi paroquets were in 
great abundance; and the fine scarlet aras innume¬ 
rable in the coucourite trees at a distance from the 
river’s bank. In the Tacatou was seen the troupiale. 
It w r as charming to hear the sweet and plaintive 
notes of this pretty songster of the wilds. The 
Portuguese call it the nightingale of Guiana. 
