themselves with a plateful of rice. One of the apprentices stood
behind with a bowl of water and a towel, with which each guest
washed his fingers and rinsed his mouth after the meal. They
stayed all night-- the large open shed was filled with hammocks,
which were slung from pole to pole; and upon retiring, Raimundo
gave orders for their breakfast in the morning.

Raimundo called me at two o'clock, when we embarked (he, his
older apprentice Joaquim, and myself) in a shady place where it
was so dark that I could see neither canoe nor water, taking with
us five dogs. We glided down a winding creek where huge trunks of
trees slanted across close overhead, and presently emerged into
the Murucupi. A few yards further on we entered the broader
channel of the Aitituba. This we crossed, and entered another
narrow creek on the opposite side. Here the ebb-tide was against
us, and we had great difficulty in making progress. After we had
struggled against the powerful current a distance of two miles,
we came to a part where the ebb-tide ran in the opposite
direction, showing that we had crossed the watershed. The tide
flows into this channel or creek at both ends simultaneously, and
meets in the middle, although there is apparently no difference
of level, and the breadth of the water is the same. The tides are
extremely intricate throughout all the infinite channels and
creeks which intersect the lands of the Amazons delta.

The moon now broke forth and lighted up the trunks of colossal
trees, the leaves of monstrous Jupati palms which arched over the
creek, and revealed groups of arborescent arums standing like
rows of spectres on its banks. We had a glimpse now and then into
the black depths of the forest, where all was silent except the