EXCURSION ON THE RIO NEGRO. 325 
passed several large lakes ; but great sheets of water so 
abound here that they are nameless, and hardly attract 
attention. The vegetation also is different from that of 
the Amazons. As yet we have seen few palms ; and the 
forest is characterized by a great number of trees, the 
summits of which are evenly and gently arched, forming 
flattened domes. The most remarkable of these, on ac- 
count of its lofty height and spreading foliage, is the 
Sumaumera, to which I have alluded before. But this 
umbrella-like mode of growth is by no means confined 
to one tree, but, like the buttressed trunks, characterizes 
a number of Brazilian trees. It is, however, more frequent 
here than we have seen it elsewhere. The shores seem 
very scantily inhabited ; indeed, during our whole journey 
yesterday, we met but one canoe, which we hailed, in order 
to inquire our distance from the little hamlet of Taua 
Peassu, where we meant to drop anchor for the night. 
It was the boat of an Indian family going down the 
river. We were reminded that we were leaving inhab- 
ited regions, for the man who was rowing was quite 
naked ; his wife and children peeped out from under the 
tolda in the stern of the boat. We received from them 
the welcome intelligence that we were not far from our 
destination, where we accordingly arrived soon after night- 
fall. At this hour we could form but little idea of the ap- 
pearance of the place ; yet, by the moonlight, we could see 
that its few houses (some eight or ten, perhaps) stood on a 
crescent-shaped terrace, formed by the bank of a little bay 
which puts in just at this point. The gentlemen went on 
shore, and brought back the padre of the village to tea. 
He seems a man of a good deal of intelligence, and was 
eloquent upon the salubrity of the village, its freedom 
