THE MANGABEL RAPID 
together with his great charm and thoughtfulness when 
not at work. His men were in mortal fear of him, and 
trembled all over when he spoke to them. 
No serious obstacle to navigation was encountered as 
we proceeded on our journey, although rocks were plen¬ 
tiful, great red domes and boulders galore showing 
through the water and along the coast-line. Whitish 
vertical cliffs were noticeable along the higher hills. The 
most impressive things I saw in that part of the river 
were the extensive beaches of beautiful reddish sand, ex¬ 
tending for hundreds and hundreds of metres at a time. 
Those beaches were often ten to twenty feet high. 
The river was most interesting, especially near the 
beach of Curassa, with Crato in the distance; then the 
great meadow of “ Mission Nova,” extended in a north¬ 
westerly direction on the left bank, along the tributary 
of the same name. In the same direction extended also 
the rocky barrier at the beginning of the Mangabel rapid. 
The rapid was formed by a rocky barrier extending from 
northwest to southeast. We had hilly and undulating 
country all the way along, and the river wound about a 
great deal. 
Colonel Brazil was steering the first boat of the fleet 
carefully as we went through the tortuous channel, the 
entire fleet following us in good order. Picturesque 
islands of truly tropical appearance were to be seen, cov¬ 
ered with tall burity palms, thirty to forty feet high, with 
narrow channels between. 
The heavy clouds which had collected to the north 
suggested an approaching storm, but, as luck would have 
it, the sky cleared at sunset. As we wound our way 
among the many rocks reflected in the now still waters 
of that vast river, the scene was really beautiful. 
The channel through which Colonel Brazil navigated 
his boat was only ten metres wide, with dangerous sub¬ 
merged rocks. Mangabel, taken as a whole, was an im- 
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