146 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [November,
below the village we turned into the river Isanna, a fine stream, about half a mile wide, and in the afternoon reached the mouth of the small river Cobati (fish), on the south side, which we entered. We had hitherto seen the banks clothed with thick virgin forest, and here and there were some low hills covered entirely with lofty trees. Now the country became very bushy and scrubby ; in parts sandy and almost open ; perfectly flat, and apparently inundated at the high floods. The water was of a more inky blackness ; and the little stream, not more than fifty yards wide, flowed with a rapid current, and turned and doubled in a manner that made our progress both difficult and tedious. At night we stopped at a little piece of open sandy ground, where we drove stakes in the earth to hang our hammocks. The next morning at daybreak we continued our journey. The whole day long we wound about, the stream keeping up exactly the same bleak character as before ; — not a tree of any size visible, and the vegetation of a most monotonous and dreary character, At night we stayed near a lake, where the Indians caught some fine fish, and we made a good supper. The next day we wound about more than ever; often, after an hour's hard rowing, returning to within fifty yards of a point we had started from. At length, however, early in the afternoon, the aspect of the country suddenly changed; lofty trees sprang up on the banks, the characteristic creepers hung in festoons over them ; moss-covered rocks appeared ; and from the river gradually rose up a slope of luxuriant virgin forest, whose varied shades of green and glistening foliage were most grateful to the eye and the imagination, after the dull, monotonous vegetation of the previous days.
In half an hour more we were at the village, which consisted of five or six miserable little huts imbedded in the forest. Here I was introduced to my conductor's house. It contained two rooms, with a floor of earth, and smoky thatch overhead. There were three doors, but no windows. Near one of these I placed my bird-box, to serve as a table, and on the other side swung my hammock. We then took a little walk to look about us. Paths led to the different cottages, in which were large families of naked children, and their almost naked parents. Most of the houses had no walls, but were mere thatched sheds supported on posts, and with sometimes a small
