ey had got to some distance, the
much-enduring monkey, who had been holding the weight of all the others,
let go his hold, and now becoming the lowest in the chain, swung towards
the bank. As soon as he and his companions reached it, they caught hold
of the trunk either with their hands or tails. The whole troop thus got
safely across.

The shouts of laughter, to which Arthur and I could no longer resist
giving way, startled the monkeys. They looked about with inquisitive
glances, wondering probably what sort of strange creatures we could be
who had come into their territory. At length, espying us, off they set
at a great rate through the forest.

They had chosen the narrowest part of the igarape to cross. Going on
further, it widened considerably. We still continued making our way
along its margin; but the ground at length became so swampy, that we
were obliged to turn off to the left. After this we came to somewhat
more open ground, which had been cleared either by fire or by the hand
of man. It was, of course, overgrown with vegetation of all sorts; but
not sufficiently so to prevent us making our way through it. Our
intention was to go round the swamp or lake, and again reach the border
of the water-path. We proceeded on for some distance, when we saw
through an opening a high clay bank; it could scarcely be called a hill.
But few trees grew on it. We thought that, by getting to the top, we
could obtain a view of the country around. We accordingly made our way
towards it. It formed apparently the eastern edge of the high country
through which the Napo runs. We found, here and there, veins of that
curiously-coloured clay which we had before seen. Looking eastward, a
vast extent of forest was spread out before us, extending far as the eye
could reach. No opening was visible except the long line of the
Solimoens, at some distance from where we stood. We could look westward
towards its source in the Andes; and eastward as it flowed on towards
the far distant Atlantic, hundreds of miles away. The whole igarape was
entirely shut out from view. We thought, however, that by continuing
towards the north we might possibly again get sight of it, when we
purposed to continue our search for the canoe. We had faint hopes of
finding it, we could not but confess.

We had gone on some way, when, passing round a clump of trees, we saw
before us two natives seated on the top of a hill, looking out, it
seemed, ov