866 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
and then disappearing again. Sometimes we startled a 
herd of capivaras, resting on the water's edge ; and once 
we saw a sloth, sitting upon the branch of an Imbauba 
tree (Cecropia), rolled up in its peculiar attitude, the 
very picture of indolence, with its head sunk between its 
arms. Much of the river-shore consisted of low, alluvial 
land, and was covered with that peculiar and beautiful 
grass known as Capim ; this grass makes an excellent 
pasturage for cattle, and the abundance of it in this 
region renders the district of Monte Alegre very favor- 
able for agricultural purposes. Here and there, where 
the red-clay soil rose above the level of the water, a 
palm-thatched cabin stood on the low bluff, with a few 
trees about it. Such a house was usually the centre of 
a cattle-farm, and large herds might be seen grazing in 
the adjoining fields. Along the river-banks, where the 
country is chiefly open, with extensive low, marshy 
grounds, the only palm to be seen is the Maraja (Geonoma). 
After keeping along the Rio Gurupatuba for some distance, 
we turned to the right into a narrow stream, which has 
the character of an igarape in its lower course, though 
higher up it drains the country between the serra of 
Erere and that of Tajury, and assumes the appearance 
of a small river. It is named after the serra, and is 
known as the Rio Erere*. This stream, narrow and pic- 
turesque, and often so overgrown with capim that the 
canoe pursued its course with difficulty, passed through 
a magnificent forest of the beautiful fan-palm, called the 
Miriti (Mauritia flexuosa). This forest stretched for miles, 
overshadowing, as a kind of underbrush, many smaller trees 
and innumerable shrubs, some of which bore bright, con- 
spicuous flowers. It seemed to me a strange spectacle, 
