ON THE AMAZON. 931 
seen at Parà, which proves that many palms have a wide distribution, 
at least in longitude. 
On the eastern side of the river we found a good number of Ferns 
and Orchidee in the trees, but of the latter only one species in flower— 
a tall Epidendrum, with panicles of dark orange flowers. This was 
growing in the top of a tree, laid over at a considerable angle, and 
consequently not difficult to ascend: I, therefore, immediately set to 
work, and, having nearly arrived at the plant, put forth my hand to 
pull away a large tuft of Tillandsia that grew in my way, when a 
tiger-cat bounded from behind it, reached the ground in a twinkling, 
and disappeared in the forest. On the western side, which was abrupt 
and rocky, we gathered some interesting Ferns, growing in the bed of 
a rivulet, on the soft sandstone above-mentioned. I was delighted to 
find the rocks at the cachoeiras clad with a very pretty Podostemacea, 
with pale violet flowers, and fronds resembling a deer’s horn, recalling 
some Lichens of the genera Cladonia and Cefraria. I should suppose 
it a Lacis, but that there is certainly an involucre present, of minute 
subulate scales. The filaments are connate in parcels of two or three, 
but free at the summit, and the anthers are sagittate. The most 
remarkable circumstance about this little plant is that» it actually eats 
holes into the hard rocks on which it grows, so that their surface appears 
like honeycomb. I send you fragments of rock thus corroded on the 
surface. It reminds one of the way in which the surface of chalk 
rock is dimpled by the minute plants of Weissia calcarea, and by certain 
Ferrucarie. lfound a second species, much more slender, but without 
flowers, in a rivulet in the forest. On the steep banks below the 
cachoeiras we got some fine plants, especially a Rubiaceous tree, fifty — 
feet high, with ample entire leaves and panicles of numerous yellow- 
and-red flowers. Our mulatto was very useful in procuring specimens | 
of this and several other things: the facility with which he ascended 
a tree and moved about among its branches was quite marvellous. 
Some rocks of the cachoeiras have a deposit on them like black 
varnish ;—does it contain manganese? I have some recollection of 
Humboldt’s finding a similar deposit at the cataracts of the Orinoco, 
but I have not his Travels to refer to. Some stones are similarly 
varnished with an ochry yellow. m 
In the middle of summer, animals are said to be very numerous, - e 
but we did not see many. They include Oncas, Tamanduás, Porcos 
