1879.] 15J [Derby. 



to side, now approaching one bank, now the other, but rarely reaching the 

 foot of the highlands, except at a few points in the vicinity of Santarem 

 and Obydos. 



Below the mouth of the Xingu, the varzea which, with rare interrup- 

 tions, forms the banks of the river, as well as the innumerable islands 

 (with the exception of the eastern portion of Marajo), is densely wooded, 

 the rubber tree being particularly abundant and characteristic. From the 

 same point to the mouth of the Rio Negro it is frequently open, and cov- 

 ered with coarse grasses and marsh plants. In certain parts, as in front of 

 Santarem and Obydos, it is sufficiently high along the margins of the river 

 and canals, to be above the reach of the ordinary annual floods, and in 

 these parts there are a few plantations of cacao, and some cattle farms ; but 

 for the most part the varzea is uninhabited, excepting for a few months 

 during the rubber season, in the wooded portions, and during the dry sea- 

 son, in the region of the open plains, when the herds are driven from the 

 highlands to take advantage of the pasturage. Besides margining the 

 main river, the varzea extends innumerable branches into every break in 

 the margin of the highlands, produced by the valleys of the tributaries, 

 whose own flood plains are so closely united to that of the Amazonas, that 

 it is often difficult to determine where the valley proper of a tributary ter- 

 minates and where that of the Amazonas begins. 



The highlands or terra firma are very variable in character and eleva- 

 tion, but may be classed in three divisions, viz : low plains, high plains, 

 and irregular or mountainous regions. The first, having only a few feet 

 of elevation above the varzea, are slightly developed in the lower Ama- 

 zonas region, above the mouth of the Xingu ; but from that point to the 

 sea, the low plains are of considerable extent and importance, forming the 

 campos of the island of Marajo and a wooded belt on each side of the river, 

 which belt, in the vicinity of Para, has a considerable extension towards the 

 south. The elevated plains lie on the southern side, at a considerable dis- 

 tance back from the river, behind the low plains just mentioned, in the 

 region about Para ; but to the westward they approach more and more 

 nearly to the river, until finally they appear on its banks, in the bluffs of Cu- 

 C,ury, a little below Santarem, and afterwards on the same side, in the Serra 

 dos Parintintins, near Villa Bella. On the northern side they form a series of 

 high table-topped hills, which, lying a few miles back from the river, com- 

 mence almost in front of the mouth of the Xingu, and, under the names of 

 Serras de Almeirim, Paru, Velha Pobre, Parauaquara, e f c, extend west- 

 ward behind Monte Alegre as far as, or beyond, the river Trombetas. The 

 same plains appear also in the lower highlands of Monte Alegre and 

 Obydos. 



Where they have not suffered denudation these plains form table-lands, 

 highest on the northern side of the river, where those just mentioned reach 

 an elevation of about 1,000 feet, while those of Santarem and others on the 

 southern side have less than half this elevation. In many regions they 

 have been reduced by denudation to low, gently undulated plains, like those 



