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The sky was cloudless; the just-risen sun was hidden behind the dark mass of woods on Shimuni, but the long line of forest to the west, on Baria, with its plumy decorations of palms, was lighted up with his yellow, horizontal rays.
The north-easterly channel of the river lying between the sands and the further shore of the river is at least two miles in breadth; the middle one, between the two islands, Shimuni and Baria, is not much less than a mile.
The universal opinion of the settlers on the Upper Amazons is, that the turtle has very greatly decreased in numbers, and is still annually decreasing. We left Shimuni on the 20th with quite a flotilla of canoes, and descended the river to Catua, an eleven hours' journey by paddle and current. Catua is about six miles long, and almost entirely encircled by its praia.
Our destination was a point on this coast situated about twenty miles below Shimuni, and a short distance from the mouth of the Anana, one of the channels just alluded to as connected with the Japura.
Some half-dozen full-grown ones were in attendance off the praia, floating about on the lazily-flowing, muddy water. The dryness of the weather had increased since we had left Shimuni, the currents had slackened, and the heat in the middle part of the day was almost insupportable. But no one could descend to bathe without being advanced upon by one or other of these hungry monsters.
I spent the morning of the 27th collecting insects in the woods of Shimuni; and assisted my friend in the afternoon to beat a large pool for Tracajas Cardozo wishing to obtain a supply for his table at home. The pool was nearly a mile long, and lay on one side of the island between the forest and the sand-bank.
Placards were posted on the church doors at Ega, announcing that the excavation on Shimuni would commence on the 17th of October, and on Catua, sixty miles below Shimuni, on the 25th. We set out on the 16th, and passed on the road, in our well-manned igarite, a large number of people men, women, and children in canoes of all sizes wending their way as if to a great holiday gathering.
The exact situation of these hidden sheets of water is known only to a few practised huntsmen; we took one of these men with us from Ega, a Mameluco named Pedro, and on our way called at Shimuni for Daniel to serve as an additional guide. We started from the praia at sunrise on the 7th in two canoes containing twenty-three persons, nineteen of whom were Indians.
The number of persons congregated on Catua was much greater than on Shimuni, as the population of the banks of several neighbouring lakes were here added. The line of huts and sheds extended half a mile, and several large sailing vessels were anchored at the place.
We then paddled across to Shimuni, which lies in the middle of the northeasterly channel, reaching the commencement of the praia an hour before sunset. The island proper is about three miles long and half a mile broad: the forest with which it is covered rises to an immense and uniform height, and presents all round a compact, impervious front.
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