the south-east side 500
m.--Angela Island.

Where the river deviated to 30 deg. b.m. a perfectly straight stretch of
8,000 m. was before us--a most beautiful sight. Two parallel islands,
only 50 m. wide, one 400 m. the other 300 m. long, were on the right of
us, in the part of the river where George Rex Island, which was still to
the right of us, described a graceful semicircle. Fifteen hundred metres
farther down George Rex Island came to an end with a beautiful spit of
sand 200 m. long. Just beyond, still on our right, another island, 400 m.
long--Rosalinda Island--was passed, also with a lovely spit of sand 200
m. in extent. The river at this place had a total width of 500 m. At a
point 5,000 m. down the straight stretch due east we came to three
parallel elongated islands, two of them 300 m. long, the third 1,000 m.
in length, all three on the right of us as we floated down. A barrier of
rocks extended right across the stream from north-west to south-east, at
a spot where on our left side, at b.m. 330 deg., a hill range extended
northwards. With a slight deviation of 10 deg. eastward (40 deg. b.m.) another
beautiful stretch of 6,000 m. was before us. More islands, more clusters
of picturesque rocks were passed. First came a group of two islands, the
larger 350 m. long--Vanessa Island; then a beautiful clean sand-spit 150
m. long, almost in mid-stream, preceded a group of three parallel
islands--Philomela Island, 400 m. long, Portia Island, 300 m. and Psyche
Island, 4,500 m. Beyond these were two more islands, one triangular in
shape in the centre of the stream--Rhea Island--some 250 m. long, with a
strong _corrideira_ at its north-easterly terminus.

[Illustration: A Giant Sucuri Snake with Entire Deer contained in
its Digestive Organs.]

A most gorgeous sand-bank of great length now lay on our left, while on
the right we had two small islets, one 100 m. long, another, beyond it,
500 m. long. A tributary entered the Arinos-Juruena at that spot on the
right side. Where the river turned again due east for 3,000 m.,
another set of parallel islands with a chain of hills beyond them on the
right bank was to be seen. The hill range extended from north-west to
south-east. All these ranges, with a backbone of rock underneath, formed,
as it were, the ribs which held up the central plateau of Brazil. We were
now in a region of wonderful accumulations of sand; nearly all the
islands showed a sand-spit of great length on the