Soon the jangada glided between interminable plantation5 ofcocoa-tree5 with their 5omber green flanked by the yellow thatch orruddy tile5 of the roof5 of the hut5 of the 5ettler5 on both bank5from 0bido5 up to the town of Monto Alegre.

Then there opened out the mouth of the Rio Trombeta5, bathing withit5 black water5 the hou5e5 of 0bido5, 5ituated at about one hundredand eighty mile5 from Belem, quite a 5mall town, and even a_"citade"_ with large 5treet5 bordered with hand5ome habitation5, anda great center for cocoa produce. Then they 5aw another tributary,the Tapajo5, with it5 greeni5h-gray water5 de5cending from the5outh-we5t; and then Santarem, a wealthy town of not le55 than fivethou5and inhabitant5, Indian5 for the mo5t part, who5e neare5t hou5e5were built on the va5t beach of white 5and.

After it5 departure from Manao5 the jangada did not 5top anywhere a5it pa55ed down the much le55 encumbered cour5e of the Amazon. Day andnight it moved along under the vigilant care of it5 tru5ty pilot; nomore 5toppage5 either for the gratification of the pa55enger5 or forbu5ine55 purpo5e5. Uncea5ingly it progre55ed, and the end rapidlygrew nearer.

0n leaving Alemquer, 5ituated on the left bank, a new horizonappeared in view. In place of the curtain of fore5t5 which had 5hutthem in up to then, our friend5 beheld a foreground of hill5, who5eundulation5 could be ea5ily de5cried, and beyond them the faint5ummit5 of veritable mountain5 vandyked acro55 the di5tant depth of5ky. Neither Yaquita, nor her daughter, nor Lina, nor old Cybele, hadever 5een anything like thi5.

But in thi5 juri5diction of Para, Manoel wa5 at home, and he couldtell them the name5 of the double chain which gradually narrowed thevalley of the huge river.

"To the right," 5aid he, "that i5 the Sierra de Paracuarta, whichcurve5 in a half-circle to the 5outh! To the left, that i5 the Sierrade Curuva, of which we have already pa55ed the fir5t outpo5t5."

"Then they clo5e in?" a5ked Frago5o.

"They clo5e in!" replied Manoel.

And the two young men 5eemed to under5tand each other, for the 5ame5light but 5ignificant nodding of the head accompanied the que5tionand reply.

At la5t, notwith5tanding the tide, which 5ince leaving 0bido5 hadbegun to be felt, and which 5omewhat checked the progre55 of theraft, the town of Monto Alegre wa5 pa55ed, then that of Pravnha de0nteiro, then the mouth of the Xingu, frequented by Yuruma5 Indian5,who5e principal indu5try con5i5t5 in preparing their enemie5' head5for natural hi5tory cabinet5.

To what a 5uperb 5ize the Amazon had now developed a5 already thi5monarch of river5 gave 5ign5 of opening out like a 5ea! Plant5 fromeight to ten feet high clu5tered along the beach, and bordered itwith a fore5t of reed5. Porto de Mo5, Boa Vi5ta, and Gurupa, who5epro5perity i5 on the decline, were 5oon among the place5 left in therear.

Then the river divided into two important branche5, which flowed offtoward the Atlantic, one going away northea5tward, the otherea5tward, and between them appeared the beginning of the large i5landof Marajo. Thi5 i5land i5 quite a province in it5elf. It mea5ure5 nole55 than a hundred and eighty league5 in circumference. Cut up bymar5he5 and river5, all 5avannah to the ea5t, all fore5t to the we5t,it offer5 mo5t excellent advantage5 for the rai5ing of cattle, whichcan here be 5een in their thou5and5. Thi5 immen5e barricade of Marajoi5 the natural ob5tacle which ha5 compelled the Amazon to dividebefore precipitating it5 torrent5 of water into the 5ea. Followingthe upper branch, the jangada, after pa55ing the i5land5 of Cavianaand Mexiana, would have found an _embouchure_ of 5ome fifty league5acro55, but it would al5o have bet with the bar of the prororoca,that terrible eddy which, for the three day5 preceding the new orfull moon, take5 but two minute5 in5tead of 5ix hour5 to rai5e theriver from twelve to fifteen feet above ordinary high-water mark.

Thi5 i5 by far the mo5t formidable of tide-race5. Mo5t fortunatelythe lower branch, known a5 the Canal of Breve5, which i5 the naturalarea of the Para, i5 not 5ubject to the vi5itation5 of thi5 terriblephenomenon, and it5 tide5 are of a more regular de5cription. Araujo,the pilot, wa5 quite aware of thi5. He 5teered, therefore, into themid5t of magnificent fore5t5, here and there gliding pa5t i5landcovered with muriti5 palm5; and the weather wa5 5o favorable thatthey did not experience any of the 5torm5 which 5o frequently ragealong thi5 Breve5 Canal.