en a _"citade"_ with
large streets bordered with handsome habitations, and a great center for
cocoa produce. Then they saw another tributary, the Tapajos, with its
greenish-gray waters descending from the south-west; and then Santarem,
a wealthy town of not less than five thousand inhabitants, Indians for
the most part, whose nearest houses were built on the vast beach of
white sand.

After its departure from Manaos the jangada did not stop anywhere as it
passed down the much less encumbered course of the Amazon. Day and night
it moved along under the vigilant care of its trusty pilot; no more
stoppages either for the gratification of the passengers or for business
purposes. Unceasingly it progressed, and the end rapidly grew nearer.

On leaving Alemquer, situated on the left bank, a new horizon appeared
in view. In place of the curtain of forests which had shut them in up to
then, our friends beheld a foreground of hills, whose undulations could
be easily descried, and beyond them the faint summits of veritable
mountains vandyked across the distant depth of sky. Neither Yaquita,
nor her daughter, nor Lina, nor old Cybele, had ever seen anything like
this.

But in this jurisdiction of Para, Manoel was at home, and he could tell
them the names of the double chain which gradually narrowed the valley
of the huge river.

"To the right," said he, "that is the Sierra de Paracuarta, which
curves in a half-circle to the south! To the left, that is the Sierra de
Curuva, of which we have already passed the first outposts."

"Then they close in?" asked Fragoso.

"They close in!" replied Manoel.

And the two young men seemed to understand each other, for the same
slight but significant nodding of the head accompanied the question and
reply.

At last, notwithstanding the tide, which since leaving Obidos had begun
to be felt, and which somewhat checked the progress of the raft, the
town of Monto Alegre was passed, then that of Pravnha de Onteiro, then
the mouth of the Xingu, frequented by Yurumas Indians, whose principal
industry consists in preparing their enemies' heads for natural history
cabinets.

To what a superb size the Amazon had now developed as already this
monarch of rivers gave signs of opening out like a sea! Plants from
eight to ten feet high clustered along the beach, and bordered it with
a forest of reeds. Porto de Mos, Boa Vista, and Gurupa, whose prosperity
is on the decline, were soon among the places