340 MR. SPRUCE’S BOTANICAL EXCURSION 
to seek the advice and assistance of any of the neighbouring settlers. 
The last reach of the Ramos is nearly due north. 
The inhabitants of the numerous sitios on the Ramos are either 
Tapuyas or Mesticos, of various shades of colour. The only white man 
we met with was the Capitaô Pedro, and he could not be reckoned as : 
more than a visitor. Notwithstanding that the land is exceedingly 
fertile, and the lakes abound in fish and waterfowl, the people live ‘in a 
state of comparative destitution; their only care being to eat up all 
their provisions to-day and reserve nothing for the morrow. Money 
they rarely see, and when they have it they are unable to count it. 
Their sole article of commerce is piraructi, and even this is generally 
sold before it is caught. When we visited them there was great lack 
of farinha, their custom being to make it almost from day to day ; and 
they levied frequent contributions on my biscuits, coffee, salt, &c. 
Throughout the Amazon and its branches, I have found that the 
indigenous inhabitants have no idea of a country, save as of land 
bordering a great river. I am often asked, “ Is the river of your land 
large?” “Is there much campo?” “ Are the matos very extensive ?” 
They are filled with astonishment when I say that nearly all our forests 
are planted. ** Why, here," say they, ‘“ when one wants to plant a 
tree, one must first cut down a dozen to make room for it!" I have 
often had occasion to remark that people not born in, or not accustomed 
to, a romantie country, are slow to appreciate the picturesque. À 
Paraénse's idea of beautiful scenery supposes a land perfectly flat, with 
broad rivers, the stiller the better. The idea of mountains always 
suggests cachoeiras and rapids, impossible or dangerous to be traversed 
by canoes. When I make inquiries respecting an unvisited region, 
hoping to hear of “antres vast and deserts wild," they on their part 
expect to give me pleasure by describing it as a “terra bonita, plaina 
—lá naó ha lugares feios, nem serras nem cachoeiras.” One essential 
of a fine country to them, and not an object of indifference to any 
_ traveller, is that it contains ** muita caca, muito peixe.” 
On the 29th we passed Serpa, on the north shore. It is the exact 
. counterpart of Villa Nova, but rather more pleasantly situated. On 
the morning of the 2nd of December a montaria came up with us, in 
= which was an old man, who was bound for a sugar-engenho, which an 
Englishman, Mr. M‘Culloch, is forming on a Paraná-mirí, about a day's 
roa below the river and lake of Paraquecoara. I had made 
