the
banks of the stream, which is called the Eiberiio de Area; it is only
about twenty yards broad, and shallow enough to allow the horses to
pass over with their loads, but as the bottom was very bad, from the
great quantity of smooth rounded stones, I thought it safer to have all
the luggage conveyed over next morning in a fine large canoe, which we
found made fast on the opposite side, by which means we escaped all
risk of damage from the slipping of the horses' feet. The country
around this place was very pretty, being flat on each side of the river
to a considerable distance, well covered with grass, and thinly
wooded; immediately above the ford, there is a long rapid, the rushing
of the water over which is heard at a great distance. The canoe being
large, we were not long in passing the luggage, and afterwards we made
a journey of about two leagues and a half, through a slightly
undulating, arid, and barren country, consisting chiefly of bare
grassy hills, covered in many places with abundance of ferruginous
stones, and flat, sandy, thinly-wooded Taboleiras. We rested by the
side of a small stream which flowed from a Buriti swamp, and as there
were no large trees, we sheltered ourselves from the burning sun among
some bushes which grew on the margin of the rivulet. In the afternoon,
another journey of two leagues and a half through a similar country,
brought us to a little fazenda called Taboca, which belonged to a
mulatto. On starting next morning, the owner accompanied us for nearly
half a mile, in order to put us upon the right road, there being
several other paths leading to different places.
A
journey of about ten leagues from this place, which occupied two clays
and a half, brought us to the banks of the Rio Urucuya, at a place
called San Miguel, little more than a league to the westward of its
junction with the Rio dc Francisco, and here we had to cross it; the
stream was about a gunshot in breadth, and very deep. As there was no
regular ferry established here, we hired a small canoe, by means of
which all the packages were safely taken across in two hours. The
horses wrere passed about a quarter of a mile further up, at
a place where they had only about half the breadth of the river to
swim. It was in the morning that we
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