Cuap. XIII. FONTE BOA. 373 
houses are arranged round on a large square, which is sochoked up with 
tangled bushes that it is quite impassable, the lazy inhabitants having 
allowed the fine open space to relapse into jungle. The stiff clayey 
eminence is worn into deep gullies which slope towards the river, and 
the ascent from the port in rainy weather is so slippery that one is 
obliged to crawl up to the streets on all fours. A large tract of ground 
behind the place is clear of forest, but this, as well as the streets and 
gardens, is covered with a dense, tough carpet of shrubs, having the 
same wiry nature as our common heath. Beneath its deceitful covering 
the soil is always moist and soft, and in the wet season the whole is con- 
verted into a glutinous mud swamp. There is a very pretty church in 
one corner of the square, but in the rainy months of the year (nine out 
of twelve) the place of worship is almost inaccessible to the inhabitants 
on account of the mud, the only means of getting to it being by hugging 
closely the walls and palings, and so advancing sideways step by step. 
I remained in this delectable place until the 25th of January, 1857. 
Fonte Boa, in addition to its other amenities, has the reputation through- 
out the country of being the headquarters of mosquitoes, and it fully 
deserves the title. ‘They are more annoying in the houses by day than 
by night, for they swarm in the dark and damp rooms, keeping, in the 
daytime, near the floor, and settling by half-dozens together on the legs. 
At night the calico tent is a sufficient protection; but this is obliged 
to be folded every morning, and in letting it down before sunset, 
great care is required to prevent even any of the tormentors from 
stealing in beneath, their insatiable thirst for blood, and pungent sting, 
making these enough to spoil all comfort. In the forest the plague is 
much worse ; but the forest-mosquito belongs to a different species from 
that of the town, being much larger, and having transparent wings ; it 
is a little cloud that one carries about one’s person every step on a 
woodland ramble, and their hum is so loud that it prevents one hearing 
well the notes of birds. The town-mosquito has opaque speckled wings, 
a less severe sting, and a silent way of going to work; the inhabitants 
ought to be thankful the big noisy fellows never come out of the forest. 
In compensation for the abundance of mosquitoes, Fonte Boa has no 
piims ; there was, therefore, some comfort outside one’s door in the 
daytime ; the comfort, however, was lessened by there being scarcely any 
room in front of the house to sit down or walk about ; for, on our side 
of the square, the causeway, was only two feet broad, and to step over 
the boundary, formed by a line of slippery stems of palms, was to sink 
up to the knees in a sticky swamp. 
Notwithstanding damp and mosquitoes, I had capital health, and 
enjoyed myself much at Fonte Boa; swampy and weedy places being 
generally more healthy than drysones on the Amazons, probably owing 
to the absence of great radiation of heat from the ground, The forest 
was extremely rich and picturesque, although the soil was everywhere 
clayey and cold, and broad pathways threaded it for many a mile over 
hill and dale. In every hollow fiowed a sparkling brook, with perennial 
and crystal waters. The margins of these streams were paradises of 
leafiness and verdure ; the most striking feature being the variety of ferns, 
with immense leaves, some terrestrial, others climbing over trees, and 
