ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
now changed colour altogether, and had become of a deep 
green. Islets could be seen far, far away to the left side 
of the river, mere white dots and lines along the water¬ 
line, most of them having white sand beaches around 
them; while on the right bank the great red walls in sec¬ 
tions continued for many miles. As we neared the mouth 
of the Tapajoz, the river had the immense width of four¬ 
teen kilometres. On the right, after going through the 
Passagem dos Surucue, we passed the mountain of Jagu¬ 
arary, which stood prominent along a flat elevation on 
the right bank. 
We halted in the afternoon at a picturesque little 
place called Prainha — prettier than any I had seen so 
far, because of its frontage battlement, with its numerous 
staircases to allow the people of the various houses to go 
down to the water. A tiny church stood farther back 
on a prominence. 
Late at night we arrived at Santarem, at the junction 
of the Tapajoz River with the Amazon. At that spot 
the man X and poor Benedicto insisted on leaving me, 
so they received their full pay, and Benedicto a very 
handsome present of money; after which they disem¬ 
barked. As the sum I paid Benedicto was a considerable 
one, so that he might be well off for the rest of his days, 
I warned him not to waste it in buying absurd things. 
We halted at Santarem for several hours. What was 
my astonishment, just before we departed, to find that 
Benedicto had gone into a store and had spent over £25 
sterling in buying innumerable tins of jam; in fact, he 
had bought up the entire supply of the store! When I 
asked him what he did that for, he said he was very fond 
of jam. With his friends and a number of people he had 
quickly collected round him, they opened tin after tin, 
ravenously devouring the contents, so that within a short 
time he would have none left. 
Brazilians of all classes are hopelessly improvident. 
332 
