two miles in width: the total breadth at this point is more than
twenty miles, but the stream is divided into three parts by a
series of large islands. The river, notwithstanding this
limitation of its breadth, had a most majestic appearance. It did
not present that lake-like aspect which the waters of the Para
and Tocantins affect, but had all the swing, so to speak, of a
vast flowing stream. The ochre-coloured turbid waters offered
also a great contrast to the rivers belonging to the Para system.
The channel formed a splendid reach, sweeping from southwest to
northeast, with a horizon of water and sky both upstream and
down. At 11 a.m. we arrived at Gurupa, a small village situated
on a rocky bank thirty or forty feet high. Here we landed, and I
had an opportunity of rambling in the neighbouring woods, which
are intersected by numerous pathways, and carpeted with Lycopodia
growing to a height of eight or ten inches, and enlivened by
numbers of glossy blue butterflies of the Theclidae or hairstreak
family. At 5 p.m. we were again under way. Soon after sunset, as
we were crossing the mouth of the Xingu, the first of the great
tributaries of the Amazons, 1200 miles in length, a black cloud
arose suddenly in the northeast. Joao da Cunha ordered all sails
to be taken in, and immediately afterwards a furious squall burst
forth, tearing the waters into foam, and producing a frightful
uproar in the neighbouring forests. A drenching rain followed,
but in half an hour all was again calm and the full moon appeared
sailing in a cloudless sky.

From the mouth of the Xingu the route followed by vessels leads
straight across the river, here ten miles broad. Towards midnight
the wind failed us, when we were close to a large shoal called
the Baixo Grande. We lay here becalmed in the sickening heat for