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 Brere*. 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, 



