DOWN THE AMAZONS. 351 
CHAPTER XII. 
DESCENDING THE RIVER TO PARA. EXCURSIONS ON THE COAST. 
FAREWELL VISIT TO THE GREAT CASCADE AT MANAOS. CHANGE IN ITS ASPECT. 
ARRIVAL AT VILLA BELLA. RETURN TO THE HOUSE OF THE FISHERMAN 
MAIA. EXCURSION TO THE LAGO MAXIMO. QUANTITY OF GAME AND 
WATERFOWL. VICTORIA REGIA. LEAVE VILLA BELLA. ARRIVE AT OBY- 
DOS. ITS SITUATION AND GEOLOGY. SANTAREM. VISIT TO THE CHURCH. 
ANECDOTE OF MARTIUS. A Row OVERLAND. MONTE ALEGRE. PIC- 
TURESQUE SCENERY. --'' BANHEIRAS." EXCURSION INTO THE COUNTRY. 
LEAVE MONTE ALEGRE. ANECDOTE OF INDIANS. ALMEYRIM. NEW 
GEOLOGICAL FACTS. PORTO DO Moz. COLLECTIONS. GURUPA'. TAJA- 
PURU. ARRIVE AT PARA. RELIGIOUS PROCESSION. EXCURSION TO MA- 
RA jo. SOURES. JESUIT MISSIONS. GEOLOGY OF MARAJO. BURIED FOR- 
EST. VIGIA. IGARAPE. VEGETATION AND ANIMAL LIFE. GEOLOGY. 
RETURN TO PARA. PHOTOGRAPHING PLANTS. EXTRACT FROM MR. AGAS- 
siz's NOTES ON THE VEGETATION OF THE AMAZONS. PREVALENCE OF 
LEPROSY. 
January ~Loth. To-day finds us on our way down the 
Amazons in the " Ibicuhy." The day before leaving Manaos 
we paid a last visit to the great cascade, bathed once more 
in its cool, delicious waters, and breakfasted by the side 
of the fall. Before many weeks are over, the cascade will 
have disappeared ; it will be drowned out, as it were, for 
the igarape is filling rapidly with the rise of the river, 
and will soon reach the level of the sandstone shelf over 
which the water is precipitated. Already the appearance 
of the spot is greatly changed since we were there before. 
The banks are overflowed ; the rocks and logs which stood 
out from the w r ater are wholly covered ; and where there 
was only a brawling stream, so shallow that it hardly 
afforded depth for the smallest canoe, there is now a not 
insignificant river. Indeed, everywhere we see signs of 
