ON THE AMAZON. 141 
cluding Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul, Richard Ryan, Esq. The 
yellow fever had never before visited the shores of the Amazon, and 
great was the alarm it created, even at Santarem. The good people of 
Santarem are not ordinarily remarkable for attention to religious obser- 
vances, except at Christmas and other festivals, when there is a pious 
display of rockets, crackers, and balloons, and of processions of a very - 
dramatic character; but when we were in daily fear of the dreaded 
fever reaching us, we had vespers every night in the church, and those 
families who were happy enough to possess a rude daub of some saint, 
assembled round it on their knees at stated times, and recited a number 
of prayers taken ad libitum from the breviary. The most amusing pro- 
cess was the dragging a couple of field-pieces through the streets, and 
discharging them at short intervals, with the object of clearing the 
atmosphere, and so preventing the entrance of the threatened “pesta” ! 
With the same intention lumps of “ bréo branco” were fastened on 
poles, stuck up at the crossings of streets, and set fire to after sun- 
down; thus illuminating the whole town, and emitting a perfume by — 
no means disagreeable. But the most efficacious precaution of all was 
considered to be the kissing a small wooden figure of St. Sebastian, 
which was nightly exposed at the foot of the altar, during the “ novenas" 
of Whitsuntide, to receive the homage of such as feared the pest and 
trusted to secure the saint’s intercession against it; including every 
man, woman and child in the church, with the exception of the “ es- 
trangeiro,” whose neglect did not fail to be remarked on, though, as 
he added his mite to the contributions towards the expense of the festa, 
his crime was considered venial. _ 
At intervals during my illness, I was able to take short excursions, - 
sometimes on foot, at others in a canoe. Perhaps the most interesting 
was across the Tapajoz to the low meadows of the tongue of land | 
minating in the Ponta Negra, at the junction of the Tapajoz and Ama- _ 
zon. From the hill behind Santarem these meadows seem covered 
with a rich green herbage, but on approaching them they are seen to — 
be under water to the depth of from three to five feet, with nearly as — 
great a depth of mud below that. In summer they are traversable - 
on foot, though very muddy, and they contain two small lakes, in - 
which it was reported the “Forno” had been seen. To ascertain . 
if this report was correct was the principal object of my visit, and 
I was well pleased to find a plant of the Victoria in each lake. 
