before the blast as if they were about to be torn from their
roots and carried bodily inland. My fear was, on seeing them thus
agitated, that should we get beneath them they might fall and crush us.
Still we had no choice. It seemed doubtful whether we should reach the
mouth of the igarape.

We redoubled our efforts, and just grazing by a point which projected
from the shore, on which, had we been thrown, we should have been upset,
we darted into the canal. Even there the water hissed and roared as it
was forced into the narrow channel. As an arrow flies through the
zarabatana, so we sped up the igarape. For a few seconds Domingos had
to exert himself to steer the canoe in mid-channel, to prevent her being
dashed against the roots of the tall trees which projected into it. At
first the roar of the wind among the trunks and branches was almost
deafening. Gradually it decreased, and in a short time we could hear
only the distant murmur of the tempest on the outside of the woody
boundary. We were not, however, to escape altogether from it, for down
came the rain in a pelting shower, to which, from the loss of our
awning, we were completely exposed. We quickly, however, rigged another
with our sail, which afforded shelter to Ellen and Maria. Having
secured the canoe, we all crept under it, and consulted what we should
next do. What with the mantle of clouds across the sky, and the thick
arch of boughs over our heads, so great was the darkness that we could
scarcely persuade ourselves that night was not coming on. We sat
patiently, hoping that the rain, which pattered down with so loud a
noise that it was necessary to raise our voices to make each other hear,
would at length cease. In about half an hour, the shower-bath to which
we had been exposed came to an end. But still drops fell thickly from
the boughs, and the darkness proved to us that the clouds had not yet
cleared away.

After our unsatisfactory meeting with the natives, we were anxious not
to remain longer on that part of the shore than necessary. Accordingly
we once more paddled down the igarape. We soon found, however, that the
wind was blowing too hard to allow us to venture out on the main stream.

On passing downwards we observed a somewhat open space on the north
side, and despairing of continuing our voyage that night, we determined
to encamp there. Securing our canoe, in which Ellen and Maria sat under
shelter, the rest of us, with axes