Have there not been met with in these Amazonian forests reptiles from thirty to thirty-five feet long?
and even, according to M.Carrey, do not some exist whose length reaches forty-seven feet, and whose girth is that of a hogshead?
Had one of these sucurijus, indeed, got on to the raft he would have proved as formidable as an alligator.
Very fortunately the travelers had to contend with neither gymnotus nor sucuriju, and the passage across the submerged forest, which lasted about two hours, was effected without accident.
Three days passed.

They neared Manaos.

Twenty-four hours more and the raft would be off the mouth of the Rio Negro, before the capital of the province of Amazones.
In fact, on the 23d of August, at five o'clock in the evening, they stopped at the southern point of Muras Island, on the right bank of the stream.

They only had to cross obliquely for a few miles to arrive at the port, but the pilot Araujo very properly would not risk it on that day, as night was coming on.

The three miles which remained would take three hours to travel, and to keep to the course of the river it was necessary, above all things, to have a clear outlook.
This evening the dinner, which promised to be the last of this first part of the voyage, was not served without a certain amount of ceremony.
Half the journey on the Amazon had been accomplished, and the task was worthy of a jovial repast.