tho Breves district, ami trust to maps and the glimpses they got 

 of tlie mouth of the Toeantins, may set down tlie Para as simi)]y 

 the extension of that river, hut tliey are not correct. The Tapajos 

 and Toeantins are rivers of veiy nearly the same size, but the waters 

 of the former river, on issuing from its mouth, are crowded by the 

 mighty torrent of the Amazonas against its bank, as if they were a 

 mere brook. To attribute the fresh waters of the Para to the To- 

 eantins, is like referring a giant's work to a pigmy. The Toeantins, 

 Moju, Acara and all the true rivers emptying into the Para, taken 

 together, would not, during the dry season, funiish enough water to 

 make more than a respectable Amazonian parana-merim, and they 

 would be utterly insignificant, in comparison with the united Breves 

 furos. Of course the rivers just enumerated must he enormously 

 increased in volume during flood time, but even at t])at time 

 they cannot compare with the wide Amazonian flood which then 

 pours through channel and forest over the Breves lowlands. 



It must not be forgotten that these lowlands are bordered on the 

 east by the higher lands of Marajo and on the south-west by those 

 of the southern side of the Amazonian valley, and the traveler on 

 the lower Amazonas should remember that the flat, alluvial banks, 

 which so monotonously accompany the river, do not extend very far 

 into the interior. If we ascend tlie Toeantins, we shall enconnter 

 the higher grounds at Cameta, and the toAvn of Gurujm is built 

 on, what appears to be a low spur of these same lands. They reap- 

 pear again at the mouth of the Xingii, to the westward of wliicli, at 

 a greater or less distance from the river, they stretch in a line of 

 bluffs to the Tapajos. 



Ascending the Amazonas by the ordinary route, one sees no high 

 lands on the northern side of the river, until, having passed the 

 mouth of the Xingu, the table-topped serras of Paru rise before one, 

 stretching along the river in patches nearly to Prainha, beyond 

 which soon come into view the highlands of the Monte-Alegre dis- 

 trict. It is to the Geology and Physical Geography of these north- 

 ern Highlands and their vicinity that I now invite the attention of 

 the reader. 



The villa of Monte-Alegre is situated a few miles above the mouth 

 of the rio Curupatiiba,* one of the northern afiluents of the Ama- 



* From the Lingoa geral Kurup&, a port, and iy'ua, a place of. The name appears to have 

 been primarily applied to the village, because of its convenient landinir place. Kio Curupatuba 



