The Naturalist on the River Amazons [40]
have been threading our way through a labyrinth of narrow channels, their banks all clothed with the same magnificent forest, but agreeably varied by houses of planters and settlers. We passed many quite large establishments, besides one pretty little village called Santa Anna. All these channels are washed through by the tides--the ebb, contrary to what takes place in the short canal, setting towards the Tocantins. The water is almost tepid (77 Fahr.), and the rank vegetation all around seems reeking with moisture. The country however, as we were told, is perfectly healthy. Some of the houses are built on wooden piles driven into the mud of the swamp.
In the afternoon we reached the end of the last channel, called the Murut Ipucu, which runs for several miles between two unbroken lines of fan-leaved palms, forming colossal palisades with their straight stems . On rounding a point of land, we came in full view of the Tocantins. The event was announced by one of our Indians, who was on the lookout at the prow, shouting: "La esta o Parana-uassu!" "Behold, the great river!" It was a grand sight- -a broad expanse of dark waters dancing merrily to the breeze; the opposite shore, a narrow blue line, miles away.
We went ashore on an island covered with palm trees, to make a fire and boil our kettle for tea. I wandered a short way inland, and was astounded at the prospect. The land lay below the upper level of the daily tides, so that there was no underwood, and the ground was bare. The trees were almost all of one species of Palm, the gigantic fan-leaved Mauritia flexuosa; only on the borders was there a small number of a second kind, the equally remarkable Ubussu palm, Manicaria saccifera. The Ubussu has erect, uncut leaves, twenty-five feet long, and six feet wide, all arranged round the top of a four-foot high stem, so as to form a figure like that of a colossal shuttlecock. The fan-leaved palms, which clothed nearly the entire islet, had huge cylindrical smooth stems, three feet in diameter, and about a hundred feet high. The crowns were formed of enormous clusters of fan-shaped leaves, the stalks alone of which measured seven to ten feet in length. Nothing in the vegetable world could be more imposing than this grove of palms. There was no underwood to obstruct the view of the long perspective of towering columns. The crowns, which were densely packed together at an immense height overhead, shut out the rays of the sun; and the gloomy solitude beneath, through which the sound of our voices seemed to reverberate, could be compared to nothing so well as a solemn temple. The fruits of the two palms were scattered over the ground; those of the Ubussu adhere together by twos and threes, and have a rough, brown-coloured shell; the fruit of the Mauritia, on the contrary, is of a bright red hue, and the skin is impressed with deep-crossing lines, which give it a resemblance to a quilted cricket-ball.
About midnight, the tide being favourable and the breeze strong, we crossed the river, taking it in a slanting direction a distance of sixteen miles, and arrived at eight o'clock the following morning at Cameta. This is a town of some importance, pleasantly situated on the somewhat high terra firma of the left bank of the Tocantins. I will defer giving an account of the place till the end of this narrative of our Tocantins voyage. We lost here another of our men, who got drinking with some old companions ashore, and were obliged to start on the difficult journey up the river with two hands only, and they in a very dissatisfied humour with the prospect.
The river view from Cameta is magnificent. The town is situated, as already mentioned, on a high bank, which forms quite a considerable elevation for this flat country, and the broad expanse of dark-green waters is studded with low, palm-clad islands-- the prospect down river, however, being clear, or bounded only by a sea-like horizon of water and sky. The shores are washed by the breeze-tossed waters into little bays and creeks, fringed with sandy beaches. The Tocantins has
In the afternoon we reached the end of the last channel, called the Murut Ipucu, which runs for several miles between two unbroken lines of fan-leaved palms, forming colossal palisades with their straight stems . On rounding a point of land, we came in full view of the Tocantins. The event was announced by one of our Indians, who was on the lookout at the prow, shouting: "La esta o Parana-uassu!" "Behold, the great river!" It was a grand sight- -a broad expanse of dark waters dancing merrily to the breeze; the opposite shore, a narrow blue line, miles away.
We went ashore on an island covered with palm trees, to make a fire and boil our kettle for tea. I wandered a short way inland, and was astounded at the prospect. The land lay below the upper level of the daily tides, so that there was no underwood, and the ground was bare. The trees were almost all of one species of Palm, the gigantic fan-leaved Mauritia flexuosa; only on the borders was there a small number of a second kind, the equally remarkable Ubussu palm, Manicaria saccifera. The Ubussu has erect, uncut leaves, twenty-five feet long, and six feet wide, all arranged round the top of a four-foot high stem, so as to form a figure like that of a colossal shuttlecock. The fan-leaved palms, which clothed nearly the entire islet, had huge cylindrical smooth stems, three feet in diameter, and about a hundred feet high. The crowns were formed of enormous clusters of fan-shaped leaves, the stalks alone of which measured seven to ten feet in length. Nothing in the vegetable world could be more imposing than this grove of palms. There was no underwood to obstruct the view of the long perspective of towering columns. The crowns, which were densely packed together at an immense height overhead, shut out the rays of the sun; and the gloomy solitude beneath, through which the sound of our voices seemed to reverberate, could be compared to nothing so well as a solemn temple. The fruits of the two palms were scattered over the ground; those of the Ubussu adhere together by twos and threes, and have a rough, brown-coloured shell; the fruit of the Mauritia, on the contrary, is of a bright red hue, and the skin is impressed with deep-crossing lines, which give it a resemblance to a quilted cricket-ball.
About midnight, the tide being favourable and the breeze strong, we crossed the river, taking it in a slanting direction a distance of sixteen miles, and arrived at eight o'clock the following morning at Cameta. This is a town of some importance, pleasantly situated on the somewhat high terra firma of the left bank of the Tocantins. I will defer giving an account of the place till the end of this narrative of our Tocantins voyage. We lost here another of our men, who got drinking with some old companions ashore, and were obliged to start on the difficult journey up the river with two hands only, and they in a very dissatisfied humour with the prospect.
The river view from Cameta is magnificent. The town is situated, as already mentioned, on a high bank, which forms quite a considerable elevation for this flat country, and the broad expanse of dark-green waters is studded with low, palm-clad islands-- the prospect down river, however, being clear, or bounded only by a sea-like horizon of water and sky. The shores are washed by the breeze-tossed waters into little bays and creeks, fringed with sandy beaches. The Tocantins has