Slow Signal Fade ebooks

Our clothing, hammocks, and goods were
thoroughly soaked by the streams of water which trickled through
between the planks. In the morning all was quiet, but an opaque,
leaden mass of clouds overspread the sky, throwing a gloom over
the wild landscape that had a most dispiriting effect. These
squalls from the west are always expected about the time of the
breaking up of the dry season in these central parts of the Lower
Amazons. They generally take place about the beginning of
February, so that this year they had commenced much earlier than
usual. The soil and climate are much drier in this part of the
country than in the region lying farther to the west, where the
denser forests and more clayey, humid soil produce a considerably
cooler atmosphere. The storms may be, therefore, attributed to
the rush of cold moist air from up river, when the regular trade-
wind coming from the sea has slackened or ceased to blow.
On the 26th we arrived at a large sand bank connected with an
island in mid-river, in front of an inlet called Maraca-uassu.


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