206 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
haunted by swarms of mosquitoes at night, and during 
the day by a little biting fly called Pium, no less annoy- 
ing. 
September ISf/i. Another pause last evening at the vil- 
lage of San Paolo, standing on a ridge which rises quite 
steeply from the river and sinks again into a ravine be- 
hind. Throughout all this region the banks are eaten away 
by the river, large portions falling into the water at a time, 
and carrying the trees with them. These land-slides are 
so frequent and so extensive as to make travelling along 
the banks in small boats quite dangerous. The scenery 
of the Solimoens is by no means so interesting as that of 
the Lower Amazons. The banks are ragged and broken, 
the forest lower, less luxuriant, and the palm growth very 
fitful. For a day or two past we have scarcely seen any 
palms. One kind seems common, however, namely, the 
Paxiuba Barriguda Pa-shee-oo-ba (Iriartea ventricosa), 
a species not unlike the Assai in dignity of port, but 
remarkable for the swelling of its stem at half height, 
giving it a sort of spindle shape. The cut of the foliage 
is peculiar also, each leaflet being wedge-shaped. The 
steamer is often now between the shores of the river itself 
instead of coasting along by the many lovely islands which 
make the voyage between Pard and Manaos so diversified ; 
what is thus gained in dimensions is lost in picturesqueness 
of detail. Then the element of human life and habitations 
is utterly wanting ; one often travels for a day without 
meeting even so much as a hut. But if men are not to 
be seen, animals are certainly plenty ; as our steamer puffs 
along, great flocks of birds rise up from the shore, turtles 
pop their black noses out of the water, alligators show 
themselves occasionally, and sometimes a troop of brown 
