THE "POBOBOCA," OB BO BE, OF THE AMAZON. 213 



Although the pororoca breaks as far up the Araguary as mid- 

 way between the Veados and the entrance to the Apureminho, its 

 violence seems to be checked by the narrowing of the stream be- 

 low the Veados, by the turns in the river, and by the vegetation 

 along the banks. 



This vegetation is of a kind against which it seems to be least 

 effective namely, bamboos. They grow next the stream from 

 near the mouth to the foot of the falls above the colony, and for 

 much of the distance form a fringe to the heavy, majestic forest 

 behind them, than which nothing could be more strikingly -beau- 

 tiful. The clusters next the stream droop over till their graceful 

 plumes touch the surface of the water, and, as the plants grow 

 older, they droop lower, until the stream is filled with a yielding 

 mesh of canes. I measured a number of these bamboos, and the 

 longer ones, taken at random, were from twenty to twenty-five 

 metres in length and from seven to ten centimetres in diameter. 

 A more effectual protection against the pororoca could hardly be 

 devised. 



On Bailique and Brigue I found the forests very different from 

 any I had hitherto seen in the tropics. These islands, like all the 

 others in this part of the country, are flooded at high tide during 

 part of the year, and, as a consequence, they are very like great 

 banks of mud covered with the rankest kind of vegetation. This 

 vegetation varies with the locality. All around the borders the 

 island of Brigue is fringed with tall assai palms, bamboos, and 

 various kinds of tall trees, all of which are hung with a dense 

 drapery of sipos (lianes) and vines, which form an almost im- 

 penetrable covering. Inside of these are several palms, the most 

 common being the ubussu (Manicaria saccifera). The next in 

 order are the rnurumuru (Astrocaryum murumuru), urucur^ 

 (Attelea excelsa, the nut of which is used for smoking rubber), 

 and ubim ( Geonoma). But, unlike most tropical forests, this one 

 has very little or no undergrowth, except upon the borders. Most 

 of the ground was under from one to six inches of water, while 

 the exposed places were covered with fine sediment deposited by 

 the standing muddy waters of the Amazon. I walked several 

 miles through this forest without finding any palms except the 

 ones mentioned. The little ground above water was covered with 

 the tracks of deer, pacas, cutias, and of many kinds of birds, 

 mostly waders; but the death-like stillness was unbroken, save 

 for the little crabs that climbed vacantly about the fallen palm 

 leaves or fished idly in the mud for a living. 



This half -land and half -water condition of the country is com- 

 mon not only in the immediate vicinity of the mouth of the river, 

 but through a very large part of the valley of the Amazon, and is 

 one of the most impressive features of this wonderful region. 



