Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/100

 daytime as a long thin line of forest, with dim gray hills in the back ground.

June 18th and 19th.—Senhor Jeronymo promised to sell me a montaria, so I waited for three hours after sunrise the next morning, expecting it to be forthcoming, but in vain. I sent Pinto and afterwards José to enquire about it, but they, instead of performing the errand, joined the easy-natured master of the house in a morning carousal. I was obliged, when my patience was exhausted, to go after them, having to clamber down a projecting bough, in the absence of a boat, to get ashore; and then found my two men, their host, and two or three neighbours, lolling in hammocks, tinkling wire guitars, and drinking cashaça. I mention this as a sample of a very common class of incidents in Brazilian travelling. Master Jeronymo backed out of his promise regarding the montaria. José and Pinto, who seemed to think they had done nothing wrong, sulkily obeyed my order to go on board, and we again got under way. The wind failed us on the 18th towards three p.m. About six miles above Aramána-í we rounded a rocky point, called Acarátingarí, the distance travelled being altogether not more than twelve miles. The greater part of the day was thus lost: we passed the night in a snug little harbour sheltered by trees.

To-day (19th) we had a good wind, which carried us to the mouth of a creek, called Paquiatúba, where the "inspector" of the district lived, Senhor Cypriano, for whom I had brought an order from Captain Thomás to supply me with another hand. We had great difficulty in finding a place to land. The coast in this part