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A short time after reaching Cayenne, he shipped in a schooner that was going to Para, or rather the island of Marajo, for a cargo of cattle. He had now fixed himself, after all his wanderings, in a healthy and fertile little nook on the banks of a rivulet near Caripi, built himself a log-hut, and planted a large patch of mandioca and Indian corn.
Opposite to Para is the large island of Marajo; and if Professor Agassiz is right in supposing that the continent once extended much further to the east than it now does, this island may properly be considered in the centre of the mouth of the river, and the River Para might then properly be called one of its true embouchures. But only a few of the streams which feed the Amazon have been named.
Emerging from it, we entered the Para river, and sailing on, were soon in a magnificent sea-like expanse, the only shore visible being that of the island of Marajo, presenting a narrow blue line far away on our left.
But to return to Marajo, and to the facts actually in our possession. The island is intersected, in its south-eastern end, by a considerable river called the Igarapé Grande. The cut made through the land by this stream seems intended to serve as a geological section, so perfectly does it display the three characteristic Amazonian formations above described.
John, of the valley of the Rio Guruguea and that of the Rio Paranahyba, show that the great basin of Piauhy is also identical in its geological structure with the lateral valleys of the Amazons. The same is true of the large island of Marajo, lying at the mouth of the Amazons.
Then the river divided into two important branches, which flowed off toward the Atlantic, one going away northeastward, the other eastward, and between them appeared the beginning of the large island of Marajo. This island is quite a province in itself. It measures no less than a hundred and eighty leagues in circumference.
I suppose the position of the island of Marajo at that time to have corresponded very nearly to the present position of the island of Tupinambaranas, just at the junction of the Madeira with the Amazons. It is a question among geographers whether the Tocantins is a branch of the Amazons, or should be considered as forming an independent river system.
At Curupa I found waiting for me, by order of the governor of Para, a large pirogue of fourteen oars, commanded by a serjeant of the garrison, and destined to carry me to Cayenne, whither I repaired by Macapa, coasting along the left of the Amazons to its mouth, without, like you, making tour of the great island of Joanes, or Marajo.
River Para and Bay of Marajo Journey to Caripi Negro Observance of Christmas A German Family Bats Ant-eaters Hummingbirds Excursion to the Murucupi Domestic Life of the Inhabitants Hunting Excursion with Indians White Ants
The Macaco sends off branches towards the northwest coast of Marajo. It is merely a passage amongst a cluster of islands, between which a glimpse is occasionally obtained of the broad waters of the main Amazons.
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