The rain prevented our leaving Cachoeira on the following day till two o’clock in the afternoon, when after a journey of two leagues, we arrived at the house of the Juiz de Paz of Duro; on account of the bad state of the roads it was dusk before we accomplished this distance. The first league and a half of our journey was over a hilly rocky country, when we began to descend the Serra do Duro, and shortly afterwards entered upon a flat rather thickly-wooded tract. It is at the foot of the Serra that the mission of Duro terminates, and about half a mile from it stands the house in which the Juiz de Paz resided; it was exceedingly small, and as the outer room, that generally given to travellers, would not conveniently hold us, he told me we should find much better accommodation at the house of a relation of his, who lived about a gunshot distant, and he kindly accompanied us thither. On reaching it, we found half a dozen Indians, sitting round a fire under a verandah in front of the house, and superintending the cooking of their supper in a large pot. While we were arranging our trunks against the wall, the master of the house begged of us to wait till the men had taken out their beds, when each came and carried his away, which however consisted of nothing more than half a cow’s hide; they sleep here as in the Aldea, stretching the hide in a corner, on which they lie without taking off their clothes; I saw no one make use of a hammock. A journey of three leagues from the residence of the Juiz de Paz, through a flat thinly-wooded country, almost destitute of herbaceous vegetation, (no rains having as yet fallen in this quarter,) brought us to a fazenda, situated on the banks of the Rio de Manoel Alvez, a large stream which takes its rise in the Serra do Duro, to the north of the Aldea, and falls into the Rio Tocantins. At this fazenda we were informed, that as the river had risen considerably, it would be impossible for our horses to cross with their loads; and the canoe used for ferrying over passengers and luggage, had been carried away by the floods of the previous season, circumstances which rendered it necessary to have everything transported across the river on men’s heads. At the fazenda I engaged a negro and a mulatto, to assist my own men in this operation; the ferry was about a mile further down; here the river is about forty yards broad and the current very strong, in consequence of a rapid which exists a little further below. When the two men, who both were tall and strong, entered with the first loads, it was with difficulty they could keep their feet, as the water, during the greater part of the way, took them up to the shoulders; the recompense they asked, half a dollar each, was, however, very dearly earned, as they had each to cross the river backwards and forwards about twelve times, which occupied more than two hours. Mr. Walker and I attempted to cross a little above the ferry by swimming,