awoke and set the sails. We glided all day through channels
between islands with long, white, sandy beaches, over which, now
and then, aquatic and wading birds were seen running. The forest
was low, and had a harsh, dry aspect. Several palm trees grew
here which we had not before seen. On low bushes, near the water,
pretty, red-headed tanagers (Tanagra gularis) were numerous,
flitting about and chirping like sparrows. About half-past four
p.m., we brought to at the mouth of a creek or channel, where
there was a great extent of sandy beach. The sand had been blown
by the wind into ridges and undulations, and over the more moist
parts, large flocks of sandpipers were running about. Alexandro
and I had a long ramble over the rolling plain, which came as an
agreeable change after the monotonous forest scenery amid which
we had been so long travelling. He pointed out to me the tracks
of a huge jaguar on the sand. We found here, also, our first
turtle's nest, and obtained 120 eggs from it, which were laid at
a depth of nearly two feet from the surface-- the mother first
excavating a hole and afterwards, covering it up with sand. The
place is discoverable only by following the tracks of the turtle
from the water. I saw here an alligator for the first time, which
reared its head and shoulders above the water just after I had
taken a bath near the spot. The night was calm and cloudless, and
we employed the hours before bedtime in angling by moonlight.

On the 10th, we reached a small settlement called Patos,
consisting of about a dozen houses, and built on a high, rocky
bank, on the eastern shore. The rock is the same nodular
conglomerate which is found at so many places, from the seacoast
to a distance of 600 miles up the Amazons. Mr. Leavens made a
last attempt here to engage men to accompany us to the Araguaya,