BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 283 
larger than most that ascend to Sad Gabriel, yet in the cabin my bag- 
gage and paper took up so much room that there was only space for one 
person to work comfortably, and had I had with me a companion I could 
not have prepared perhaps half the number of specimens; but on land, 
where there is plenty of room to work, an active fearless fellow would 
be a great acquisition. 
I should like to ascend the Rio Negro again, because I was obliged 
to leave so many fine things on its banks. After passing Barcellos 
almost everything was new, and so many things were in flower that I 
was obliged to confine myself to those which presented the greatest 
novelty of structure. Nothing like this has ever happened to me 
before : I was obliged, for instance, to shut my eyes to Myrtles, Laurels, 
Ingas, and several others. Between the Barra and Uanauaca I counted 
no fewer than fourteen species of Lecythis in flower, and all but one 
new to me! Yet of these I only got a stock of four or five, for (to say 
nothing of the difficulty of preserving so many things) I found my 
Indians very difficult to set going again when stopped in the middle of 
their work. And when you consider the time that is lost in collecting 
trees—for your tree is rarely on the very river’s brink, but you have to 
cut your way to its base with cutlasses, and it has then to be climbed 
or cut down—you will understand why I generally contrived to make 
my collections when we stopped to cook our meals. 
I enclose you two flowers of a Leguminous tree which was in flower 
all the way up the river, and formed a great ornament to its banks. It 
is a Heterostemon (a most remarkable genus), but whether a described 
species I cannot say. The petals are a fine blue slightly tinged with 
purple, and the column of stamens is red; there are no pods ripe yet, 
but I will try and send you some. As it often flowers at ten feet high 
it is very suitable for cultivation. But the glory of the Rio Negro is a 
Bignoniaceous tree(apparently an undescribed genus) with whorled leaves 
and a profusion of pink flowers the size of those of the forges it 
grows ninety feet high! _ 
In Cryptogamia alone am I disappointed in the Rio Negro, pate I 
always had my eyes open for them. The following is my Cryptogamic 
summary thus far:—Ferns 0, Mosses 0, Hepaticæ 1, Lichens 3 or 4 
epiphyllous species ! 
Would you have expected this of the Rio Sape: I certainly hoped 
something better of it. In place of these tribes there are, however, 
