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spicuous element in the vegetation of the serra. It also occurs on 

 the campos. Armadillos and jabuti-tortoises abound in the serra, 

 and a pretty little species of deer occurs, but I could never succeed 

 in getting a shot at one. 



Before we leave the serra let us take a survey of the landscape. 

 The eye follows the sandy campo, with its scattered trees and patches 

 of bare sand, southward to the flat, insignificant-looking, rocky 

 serra of Paitiina, which, tied by the high campos to the serra of 

 Erere, forms a point projecting southward into the alluvial bottom 

 of the Amazonas. On the right, or west of Paitiina, the alluvial 

 lands form a sort of bay, bordered by sandy campos-land. Into this 

 region I made an excursion in 1870. From the Aroxi notch the 

 sandy and sparsely-wooded plain slopes gradually from the moun- 

 tains to the southward, for a few miles, to a little igarape, called, 

 I believe, Maxira; but this name I have also heard applied to 

 the serra of Aroxi. Crossing the stream, one finds on the ojjposite 

 side a line of terraces rising about 10-15 feet, if I rightly remem- 

 ber, above the general level, but considerably more above the Ama- 

 zonas. These terraces are composed of beds of variegated sands 

 and clays, in which I made an unsuccessful search for fossils. This 

 formation appears to occupy a large area to the westward, and the 

 terraces mark an old shore-line when the land stood at a somewhat 

 lower level than at present, and the Amazonas, still a broad arm of 

 the sea, had not yet passed into the riverine condition. Between 

 the terraces and Paitiina is the alluvial bay just alluded to, in which 

 is a small lake and a magnificent grove of miritis. The lake, I 

 suspect, disappears during the dry months, as I do not find it repre- 

 sented on one of my sketches. 



Eastward of the serra of Erere, a high, rounded, sandy plateau 

 stretches oif to the igarape, on the ojiposite side of which the 

 Monte- Alegre highlands run off obliquely to the villa, in a line of 

 steep slopes. Between these highlands and Paituna is the alluvial 

 bay traversed by the igarape of Erere. Across its mouth stretches 

 the Curupatiiba, and southward lie the beautiful, smiling plains, 

 beyond which is the Amazonas, with the long, level line of smoke 

 of a descending steamer. We trace to the northward the ridge of 

 Monte- Alegre, at first level-topped, then more and more irregular, 

 to the splendid, blue, mountain mass of Tauajuri, which, with pre- 



