These are Melissa, Mesocheira, Thalestria, etc.

geologist sufficient to pronounce on such questions. Mr. Wallace states that he found fragments of scorize, and believes the hill to be a volcanic cone. To the south and east of this isolated peak, the elongated ridges or table-topped hills attain a somewhat greater elevation.

The forest in the valley is limited to a tract a few hundred yards in width on each side the different streams: in places where these run along the bases of the hills, the hill-sides facing the water are also richly wooded, although their opposite declivities are bare or nearly so. The trees are lofty and of great variety;amongst them are colossal examples of the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), and the Pikid. This latter bears a large eatable fruit, curious in having a hollow chamber between the pulp and the kernel, beset with hard spines, which produce serious wounds if they enter the skin. The eatable part appeared to me not much more palatable than a raw potato; but the inhabitants of Santarem are very fond of it, and undertake the most toilsome journeys on foot to gather a basketful. The tree which yields the tonka bean (Dipteryx odorata), used in Europe for scenting snuff, is also of frequent occurrence here. It grows to an immense height, and the fruit, which, although a legume, is of a rounded shape, and has but one seed, can be gathered only when it falls to the ground. A considerable quantity (from 1000 to 3000 pounds) is exported annually from Santarem, the produce of the whole region of the Tapajos. An endless diversity of trees and shrubs, some beautiful in flower and foliage, others bearing curious fruits, grow in this matted wilderness. It would be tedious to enumerate many of them. I was much struck with the variety of trees with large and diversely-shaped fruits growing out of the trunk and branches, some within a few inches of the ground, like the cacao. Most of them are called by the natives Cupu, and the trees are of inconsiderable height. One of them, called Cupt-ai, bears a fruit of elliptical shape and ofa dingy earthen colour, six or seven inches long, the shell of which is woody and thin, and contains a small number of seeds loosely enveloped in a juicy pulp of very pleasant flavour. The fruits hang like clayey ants’-nests from the branches. Another kind more nearly resembles the cacao; this is shaped something like the cucumber, and has a green ribbed husk. It bears the name of Cacao de macaco, or monkey’s chocolate, but the seeds are smaller than those of the common cacao. I tried once or twice to make chocolate from them. They contain plenty of oil of similar fragrance to that of the ordinary cacao-nut, and make up very well into paste; but the beverage has a repulsive clayey colour and an inferior flavour. My excursions to the Irurd had always a picnic character. A few rude huts are scattered through the valley, but they are tenanted only for a few days in the year, when their owners come to gather and roast the mandioca of their small clearings. We used generally to take with us two boys—one negro, the other Indian—to carry our provisions for the day: a few pounds of beef or fried fish, farinha and bananas, with plates, and a kettle for cooking. José carried the guns, ammunition, and game-bags, and I the apparatus for entomologising—the insect net, a large leathern bag with compartments for corked boxes, phials, glass tubes and so forth. It was our custom to start soon after sunrise, when

the walk over the campos was cool and pleasant, the sky without a cloud, and the grass wet with dew. The paths are mere faint tracks; in our early excursions it was difficult to avoid missing our way. We were once completely lost, and wandered about for several hours over the scorching soil without recovering the road. A fine view is obtained of the country, from the rising ground about half way across the waste. Thence to the bottom of the valley is a long, gentle, grassy slope, bare of trees. The strangely-shaped hills, the forest at their feet, richly varied with palms; the bay of Mapiri on the right, with the dark waters of the Tapajos and its white glistening shores, are all spread out before one, as if depicted on canvas. The extreme transparency of the atmosphere gives to all parts of the landscape such clearness of outline that the idea of distance is destroyed, and one fancies the whole to be almost within reach of the hand. Descending into the valley, a small brook has to be crossed, and then half a mile of sandy plain, whose vegetation wears a peculiar aspect, owing to the predominance of a stemless palm, the Curud (Attalea spectabilis), whose large, beautifully pinnated, rigid leaves rise directly from the soil. The fruit of this species is similar to the coco-nut, containing milk in the interior of the kernel, but it is much inferior to it in size. Here, and indeed all along the road, we saw on most days in the wet season tracks of the jaguar. We never, however, met with the animal, although we sometimes heard his loud ‘‘ hough ” in the night, whilst lying in our hammocks at home, in Santarem, and knew he must be lurking somewhere near us.

My best hunting ground was a part of the valley sheltered on one side by a steep hill, whose declivity, like the swampy valley beneath, was clothed with magnificent forest. We used to make our halt ina small cleared place, tolerably free from ants and close to the water. Here we assembled after our toilsome morning’s hunt in different directions through the woods, took our well-earned meal on the ground—two broad leaves of the wild banana serving us for a tablecloth—and rested for a couple of hours during the great heat of the afternoon. The diversity of animal productions was as wonderful as that of the vegetable forms in this rich locality. I find by my register that it was not unusual to meet with thirty or forty new species of conspicuous insects during a day’s search, even after I had made a great number of trips to the same spot. It was pleasant to lie down during the hottest part of the day, when my people lay asleep, and watch the movements of animals. Sometimes a troop of Antis (Crotophaga), a glossy black-plumaged bird, which lives in small societies in grassy places, would come in from the campos, one by one, calling to each other as they moved from tree to tree. Ora Toucan (Rhamphastos ariel) silently hopped or ran along and up the branches, peeping into chinks and crevices. Notes of: solitary birds resounded from a distance through the wilderness. Occasionally a sulky Trogon would be seen, with its brilliant green back and rose-coloured breast, perched for an hour without moving, on a low branch. A number of large fat lizards, two feet long, of a kind called by the natives Jacuart (Teius teguexim) were always observed in the still hours of midday scampering with great clatter over the dead leaves, apparently in chase of each other. ‘The fat of this bulky lizard is much

prized by the natives, who apply it as a poultice to draw palm spines or even grains of shot from the flesh. Other lizards of repulsive aspect, about three feet in length when full grown, splashed about and swam in the water: sometimes emerging to crawl into hollow trees on the banks of the stream, where I once found a female and a nest of eggs. The lazy flapping flight of large blue and black morpho butterflies high in the air, the hum of insects, and many inanimate sounds, contributed

The Jacuart (Teius teguexim).

their share to the total impression this strange solitude produced. Heavy fruits from the crowns of trees, which were mingled together at a giddy height overhead, fell now and then with a startling “ plop” into the water. The breeze, not felt below, stirred in the topmost branches, setting the twisted and looped sipdés in motion, which creaked and groaned in a great variety of notes. To these noises was added the monotonous ripple of the brook, which had its little cascade at every score or two yards of its course.

We frequently fell in with an old Indian woman, named Cecilia, who had a small clearing in the woods. She had the reputation of being a witch (feiticeira), and I found, on talking with her, that she prided herself on her knowledge of the black art. Her slightly curled hair showed that she was not a pure-blood Indian: I was toid her father was a dark mulatto. She was always very civil to our party; showing us the best paths, explaining the virtues and uses of different plants, and so forth. I was much amused at the accounts she gave of the place. Her solitary life and the gloom of the woods seemed to have filled her with superstitious fancies. She said gold was contained in the bed of the brook, and that the murmur of the water over the little cascades was the voice of the ‘‘ water-mother” revealing the hidden treasure. A narrow pass between two hill sides was the portaO or gate; and all within, along the wooded banks of the stream, was enchanted ground. ‘The hill underneath which we were encamped was the enchanter’s abode, and she gravely told us she often had long conversations with him. These myths were of her own invention, and in the same way an endless number of other similar ones have originated in the childish imagina-tions of the poor Indian and half-breed inhabitants of different parts of

the country. It is to be remarked, however, that the Indian men all become sceptics after a little intercourse with the whites. The witchcraft of poor Cecilia was of a very weak quality. It consisted in throwing pinches of powdered bark of a certain tree and other substances into the fire whilst muttering a spell—a prayer repeated backwards-and adding the name of the person on whom she wished the incantation to operate. Some of the feiticeiras, however, play more dangerous tricks than this harmless mummery. They are acquainted with many poisonous plants, and although they seldom have the courage to administer a fatal dose, sometimes contrive to convey to their victim sufficient to cause serious illness. The motive by which they are actuated is usually jealousy of other women in love matters. Whilst I resided in Santarem a case of what was called witchcraft was tried by the sub-delegado, in which a highly respectable white lady was the complainant. It appeared that some feiticeira had sprinkled a quantity of the acrid juice of a large arum on her linen as it was hanging out to dry, and it was thought this had caused a serious eruption under which the lady suffered. I seldom met with any of the larger animals in these excursions. We never saw a mammal of any kind on the campos; but tracks of three species were seen occasionally, besides those of the jaguar; these belonged to a small tiger-cat, a deer, and an opossum, all of which animals must\ have been very rare, and probably nocturnal in° their. habits,. with. the exception of the deer. I saw in the woods, on one occasion, a small flock of monkeys, and once had an opportunity of watching the movements of a sloth. The monkeys belonged to a very pretty and rare species, a kind of marmoset, I think the Hapale humeralifer described by Geoffroy St. Hilaire. I did not succeed in obtaining a specimen, but saw a living example afterwards in the possession of a shopkeeper at Santarem. It seems to occur nowhere else except in the dry woods bordering the campos in the interior parts of Brazil. The colours of its fur are beautifully varied; the fore part of the body is white, with the hands gray; the hind part black, with the rump and underside reddish-tawny; the tail is banded with gray and black. Its face is partly naked and flesh-coloured, and the ears are fringed with long white hairs. ‘The specimen was not more than eight inches in length, exclusive of the tail. Altogether I thought it the prettiest species of its family I had yet seen. One would mistake it, at first sight, for a kitten, from its small size, varied colours, and the softness of its fur. It was a most timid creature, screaming and biting when any one attempted to handle it; it became familiar, however, with the people of the house a few days after it came into their possession. When hungry or uneasy it uttered a weak querulous cry, a shrill note, which was sometimes prolonged so as to resemble the stridulation of a grasshopper. The sloth was of the kind called by Cuvier Bradypus tridactylus, which is clothed with shaggy gray hair. ‘The natives call it, in the Tupi language, Ai ybyreté (in Portuguese, Pregui¢a da terra firme), or sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the Bradypus infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny stripe between the shoulders, and is called Ai Ygapé (Pre-

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