The reaches became again tortuous, but we still made some progress. The
mangroves were no longer to be seen fringing the banks with their garden
shrubbery appearance. In a broad easterly reach, some natives were
burning the country close to the west bank, but they did not show
themselves. At the end of it the river expanded into a beautiful sheet of
water a quarter of a mile in width, though only three feet deep.

ACCIDENT TO THE BOAT.

Some low grassy islets were scattered here and there, reposing in emerald
verdure on the surface of the stream, which was reverting under the
influence of the tide, towards its source, and now hurried the boat so
rapidly through a narrow channel between the west side of a large island
and a low line of earthy cliffs, as to carry her foul of a submerged tree
and half fill and almost capsize her. In order to ascertain the extent of
the damage, we landed on a small sandy beach, in which was the fresh
print of a native's foot; but we neither heard nor saw him or his
companions, although columns of smoke from their fires stole upwards
through the calm still air on all sides. A fine sheet of water now lay
before us, trending southwards for upwards of two miles, with a width of
about a quarter; and it was with increasing interest and anxiety that we
pulled up it.

APPEARANCE OF THE RIVER.

Passing a line of cliffs, twenty feet high, the banks became green and
grassy, descending with an almost imperceptible slope into the stream,
and blending with their vivid reflections so as to render it difficult to
determine where was the point of contact. It seemed as if we were gliding
through an indefinite expanse of limpid water reposing between two vast