S4pu-pira, of excessively hard texture, deep brown in colour, thickly speckled with yellow, is also a product of these forests. Captain Thomas showed me a mortar, four feet high, for pounding coffee, made of it. Many other kinds of ornamental and useful timber are met with, including a kind of box, which I saw made into carpenters’ planes; ebony and marup4; the last-mentioned a light whitish wood of the same texture as mahogany. Although the trees have been felled near the village, more of the same kinds are said to exist in the forest, which extends to an unknown distance in the interior. I heard here, also, of the Mururé, a lofty tree which yields a yellow milk of remarkable virtues, on making incisions in the bark. Itis called by the Portuguese Mercurio vegetal, or vegetable mercury, from the cures it effects when taken internally in syphilitic rheumatism. It is said to produce terrible pains in the limbs soon after it is taken, but the cure is certain. I was never able to get a sight of this tree. Captain Thomas said that the only specimen he knew of it, had been cutdown. Persons in Santarem had attempted to send samples of the milk to Europe for experiment, but they had failed on account of the stone bottles in which it was contained always bursting in transit.

We walked two or three miles along this dark and silent forest road, and then struck off through the thicket to another path running parallel to it, by which we returned to the village. About half way we passed through a tract of wood, densely overgrown with the Curua palm tree; the natives calla place of this kind a Pindobal. The rigid, elegantly pinnated leaves, twenty feet in length, grow, as I have before described, directly out of the ground. I had frequently occasion to notice in the virgin forests some one kind of palm, growing abundantly in society in one limited tract although scarce elsewhere, no difference of soil, altitude, or humidity being apparent to account for the phenomenon. The Pindobal covered an area of probably four or five acres, and the whole lay under the shade of the tall forest trees. The last half mile of our road led through a more humid part of the forest near the low shores of the lake. We here saw a Couxio monkey (Pithecia satanas), a large black species which, as I have before mentioned, has a thick cap of hair on the head parted at the crown. He was seated alone on a branch fingering a cluster of flowers that lay within his reach. My companion fired at him, but missed, and he then slowly moved away. The borders of the path were enlivened with troops of small and delicate butterflies. I succeeded in capturing, in about half an hour, no less than eight species of one genus, Mesosemia; a group remarkable for having the wings ornamented with central eye-like spots encircled by fine black and gray concentric lines arranged in different patterns according to the species.

I was so much pleased with the situaticn of this settlement, and the number of rare birds and insects which tenanted the forest, that I revisited it in the following year, and spent four months making collections. The village itself is a neglected, poverty-stricken place; the governor (Captain of Trabalhadores or Indian workmen) being an old, apathetic half-breed, who had spent all his life here. The priest

was a most profligate character; I seldom saw him sober; he was a white, however, and a man of good ability. I may as well mention here, that a moral and zealous priest is a great rarity in this province: the only ministers of religion in the whole country who appeared sincere in their calling being the Bishop of Para and the Vicars of Ega on the Upper Amazons and Obydos. The houses in the village swarmed with vermin; bats in the thatch; fire-ants (formiga de fogo) under the floors; cockroaches and spiders on the walls. Very few of them had wooden doors and locks. Altar do Chad was originally a settlement of the aborigines, and was called Burarf. The Indians were always hostile to the Portuguese, and during the disorders of 1835-6 joined the rebels in the attack on Santarem. Few of them escaped the subsequent slaughter, and for this reason there is now svarcely an old or middle-aged man in the place. As in all the semi-civllised villages where the original orderly and industrious habits of the Indian have been lost without anything being learnt from the whites to make amends, the inhabitants live in the greatest poverty. The scarcity of fish in the clear waters and rocky bays of the neighbourhood is no doubt partly the cause of the poverty and perennial hunger which reign here. When we arrived in the port our canoe was crowded with the half-naked villagers—men, women, and children, who came to beg each a piece of salt pirarucu “for the love of God.” They are not quite so badly off in the dry season. ‘The shallow lakes and bays then contain plenty of fish, and the boys and women go out at night to spear them by torchlight; the torches being made of thin strips of green bark from the leaf-stalks of palms, tied in bundles. Many excellent kinds of fish are thus obtained; amongst them the Pescada, whose white and flaky flesh, when boiled, has the appearance and flavour of cod-fish; and the Tucunaré (Cichla temensis), a handsome species, with a large, prettily-coloured, eye-like spot on its tail. Many small Salmonidz are also met with, and a kind of sole, called Aramassa, which moves along the clear sandy bottom of the bay. At these times a species of sting-ray is common on the sloping beach, and bathers are frequently stung most severely by it. The weapon of this fish is a strong blade with jagged edges, about three inches long, growing from the side of the long fleshy tail. I once saw a woman wounded by it whilst bathing; she shrieked frightfully, and was obliged to be carried to her hammock, where she lay for a week in great pain; I have known strong men to be lamed for many months by the sting. There was a mode of taking fish here which I had not before seen employed, but found afterwards to be very common on the Tapajos. This is by using a poisonous liana called Timbo (Paullinia pinnata). It will act only in the still waters of creeks and pools. A few rods, a yard in length, are mashed and soaked in the water, which quickly becomes discoloured with the milky deleterious juice of the plant. In about half an hour all the smaller fishes, over a rather wide space around the spot, rise to the surface floating on their sides, and with the gills wide open. The poison acts evidently by suffocating the fishes; it spreads slowly in the water, and a very slight mixture seems sufficient to stupefy them. I was surprised, on beating the water in places where no

fishes were visible in the clear depths for many yards round, to find sooner or later, sometimes 24 hours afterwards, a considerable number floating dead on the surface.

The people occupy themselves the greater part of the year with their smal] plantations of mandioca. All the heavy work, such as felling and burning the timber, planting and weeding, is done in the plantation of each family by a congregation of neighbours, which they call a “‘pucherum ”—a similar custom to the “bee” in the backwood settlements of North America. They make quite a holiday of each pucherum. When the invitation is issued, the family prepares a great quantity of fermented drink, called in this part Taroba, from soaked mandioca cakes, and porridge of Manicueira. This latter is a kind of sweet mandioca, very different from the Yuca of the Peruvians and Macasheira of the Brazilians (Manihot Aypi), having oblong juicy roots, which become very sweet a few days after they are gathered. With these simple provisions they regale their helpers. The work is certainly done, but after a very rude fashion; all become soddened with Taroba, and the day finishes often in a drunken brawl.

The climate is rather more humid than that of Santarem. I suppose this is to be attributed to the neighbouring country being densely wooded, instead of an open campo. In no part of the country did I enjoy more the moonlit nights than here in the dry season. After the day’s work was done I used to go down to the shores of the bay, and lie all my length on the cool sand for two or three hours before bedtime. The soft pale light, resting on the broad, sandy beaches and palm-thatched huts, reproduced the effect of a midwinter scene in the cold north when a coating of snow lies on the landscape. A heavy shower falls about once a week, and the shrubby vegetation never becomes parched up as at Santarem. Between the rains the heat and dryness increase from day to day: the weather on the first day after the rain is gleamy, with intervals of melting sunshine and passing clouds; the next day is rather drier, and the east wind begins to blow; then follow days of cloudless sky, with gradually increasing strength of breeze. When this has continued about a week, a light mistiness begins to gather about the horizon, clouds are formed, grumbling thunder is heard, and then, generally in the night-time, down falls the refreshing rain. ‘The sudden chill caused by the rains produces colds, which are accompanied by the same symptoms as in our own climate; with this exception the place is very healthy.

June 7th.—The two young men returned without meeting with my montaria, and I found it impossible here to buy a new one. Captain Thomas could find me only one hand. This was a blunt-spoken but willing young Indian, name Manoel. He came on board this morning at 8 o’clock, and we then got up our anchor and resumed our voyage.

The wind was light and variable all day, and we made only about fifteen miles by seven o’clock in the evening. The coast formed a succession of long shallow bays with sandy beaches, on which the waves broke in a long line of surf. Ten miles above Altar do Chad isa conspicuous headland, called Point Cajettiba. During a lull of the wind,

towards midday, we ran the cuberta aground in shallow water and waded ashore, but the woods were scarcely penetrable, and not a bird was to be seen. The only thing observed worthy of note was the quantity of drowned winged ants along the beach; they were all of one species, the terrible formigo de fogo (Myrmica szevissima); the dead or half-dead bodies of which were heaped up in a line an inch or two in height and breadth, the line continuing without interruption for miles at the edge of the water. The countless thousands had been doubtless cast into the river while flying during a sudden squall the night before, and afterwards cast ashore by the waves. We found ourselves at seven o’clock near the mouth of a creek leading to a small lake, called Aramdna-i; and the wind having died away we anchored, guided by the lights ashore, near the house of a settler, named Jeronymo, whom I knew, and who soon after showed us a snug little harbour, where we could remain in safety for the night. The river here cannot be less than ten miles broad; it is quite clear of islands, and free from shoals at this season of the year. The opposite coast appeared in the day-time as a long thin line of forest, with dim grey hills in the background.

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