two days, and when the trade-wind recommenced with the rising
moon at 10 p.m. on the 6th, we found ourselves on a ice-shore.
Notwithstanding all the efforts of our pilot to avoid it, we ran
aground. Fortunately the bottom consisted only of soft mud, so
that by casting anchor to windward, and hauling in with the whole
strength of crew and passengers, we got off after spending an
uncomfortable night. We rounded the point of the shoal in two
fathoms' water; the head of the vessel was then put westward, and
by sunrise we were bounding forward before a steady breeze, all
sail set and everybody in good humour.

The weather was now delightful for several days in succession,
the air transparently clear, and the breeze cool and
invigorating. At daylight, on the 6th, a chain of blue hills, the
Serra de Almeyrim, appeared in the distance on the north bank of
the river. The sight was most exhilarating after so long a
sojourn in a flat country. We kept to the southern shore, passing
in the course of the day the mouths of the Urucuricaya and the
Aquiqui, two channels which communicate with the Xingu. The whole
of this southern coast hence to near Santarem, a distance of 130
miles, is lowland and quite uninhabited. It is intersected by
short arms or back waters of the Amazons, which are called in the
Tupi language Paranamirims, or little rivers. By keeping to
these, small canoes can travel a great part of the distance
without being much exposed to the heavy seas of the main river.
The coast throughout has a most desolate aspect; the forest is
not so varied as on the higher land; and the water-frontage,
which is destitute of the green mantle of climbing plants that
form so rich a decoration in other parts, is encumbered at every
step with piles of fallen trees; and peopled by white egrets,