242 MR. SPRUCE'S BOTANICAL EXCURSION 
logs are frequent in them, but I have in vain searched these for 
Podostemacee. 
The grasses which were so numerous in the months of February and 
March, are now withered up, and scarcely a grass is to be met with; 
but in their stead I have obtained the flowers of several fine trees, which 
will probably be more valuable in your eyes. I have now got most of 
the plants on the voleanie serras south of Santarem, but the scattered 
trees and shrubs on these hills comprise, when more closely examined, 
but very few species. The most abundant are a small Lythraceous 
tree (a Lafoensia ?) and a handsome Vochysiacea, probably a Salvertia, 
with white hexapetalous flowers. The last exhales a most delicious 
odour, and walking through a grove of these Salvertias reminds me of 
traversing large beds of Lily of the Valley, only the perfume is stronger : 
in drying they assume the still richer odour of the Violet. 
- Nearly south-west from Santarem, and communicating with the 
Tapajoz by a short channel, is a small lake called Maracauá-miré. In 
the height of the dry season it was a walk of an hour and a half to 
reach this lake, by the broad beach of the Tapajoz; but now, when 
the mouth of an intervening igarapé is swollen to half a mile in width, 
this is impracticable, and it is necessary to cross the igarapé about two 
- miles up, and then penetrate the mato extending along its banks, to a 
campo, which stretches beyond to the shores of the lake. We first 
undertook to reach it by this route on the 15th of August, and we 
were not very certain of the way. We crossed the igarapé, and then 
attempted to pierce the mato; but the track by which we entered the 
latter ceased after we had followed it for atime, and we had then to cut 
. our way through Sipós and Pindoba Palms, in the direction of the campo, 
steering by compass. While thus progressing slowly and with difficulty, 
I heard a distant roar, very much like that of an onça ; but as I knew 
there had been several cattle on the opposite side of the igarapé, I was 
willing to suppose it might be one of them. Shortly afterwards the 
same sound was repeated, and a little nearer; and in a few minutes 
more it was repeated, so loud and so near, that it brought us both to a 
stand-still. Mr. King had heard the two former growls, but, like 
myself, he had not spoken. We were armed only with trésados, and 
had barely arranged our plan of defence, when we heard a tremendous 
crash among the underwood at thirty paces from us, which I confess 
made the blood run cold in my veins, After this, however, we heard 
