Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/227

 1851.3 FALLS ON THE UAUPES. 197

canoe was entirely unloaded, all the cargo carried along a rugged path through the forest, and the canoe taken round a projecting point, where the violence of the current and the heaving waves of the fall render it impossible for anything but a small empty oba to pass, and even that with great difficulty,

The path terminated at a narrow channel, through which a part of the river in the wet season flows, but which in the summer is completely dry. Were it not for this stream, the passage of the rapids in the wet season would be quite impossible ; for though the actual fall of the water is trifling, its violence is inconceivable. The average width of the river may be stated at near three times that of the Thames at London ; and it is in the wet season very deep and rapid. At the fall it is enclosed in a narrow sloping rocky gorge, about the width of the middle arch of London Bridge, or even less. I need say no more to prove the impossibility of ascending such a channel. There are immense whirlpools which engulf large canoes. The waters roll like ocean waves, and leap up at intervals, forty or fifty feet into the air, as if great subaqueous explosions were taking place.

Presently the Indians appeared with our canoe, and, assisted by a dozen more who came to help us, pulled it up through the shallows, where the water was less violent. Then came another difficult point ; and we plunged again into the forest with half the Indians carrying our cargo, while the remainder went with the canoe. There were several other dangerous places, and two more disembarkations and land carriages, the last for a considerable distance. Above the main fall the river is suddenly widened out into a kind of a lake, filled with rocky islands, among which are a confusion of minor falls and rapids. However, having plenty of Indians to assist us, we passed all these dangers by a little after midday, and reached a malocca, where we stayed for the afternoon repairing the wear and tear of the palm-mats and toldas, and cleaning our canoe and arranging our cargo, ready to start the next morning.

In two days more we reached another village, called Jukeira Picoma, or Salt Point, where we stayed a day. I was well satisfied to find myself here considerably better, owing, I believe, to my having tried fasting as a last resource : for two