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Cornugaya Directory 10
Page 07
We left at 7.30 a.m. under a limpid sky of gorgeous cobalt blue. We
passed two islands--one 700 m. long (Leda Island), the other 2,000 m.
(Leander Island). When we had gone but 11,500 m. we arrived at one of the
most beautiful bits of river scenery I have ever gazed upon--the spot
where the immense S. Manoel River or Tres Barras or Paranatinga met the
Arinos-Juruena. The latter river at that spot described a sharp turn
from 20 deg. b.m. to 320 deg. b.m. We perceived a range of hills before us to the
north. Close to the bank gradually appeared a large shed with a clearing
near it on a high headland some 200 ft. above the level of the river
where the stream turned. On the left bank, before we arrived at the
meeting-place of those two giant streams, we found a tributary, the
Bararati, 30 m. broad.
My men were paddling away with great vigour and were making rapid
progress, the river flowing almost all the time northward, with
deviations of a few degrees toward the east, in stretches from 2,000 to
6,000 m. in length. We crossed an immense basin 1,500 m. broad with most
gorgeous sand beaches. Their formation in small dunes, occasionally with
an edge like the teeth of a double comb, was most interesting. Once or
twice we came to musical sands such as we had found before. Everywhere on
those beaches I noticed the wonderful miniature sand plants, of which I
made a complete collection.
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