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the Breves district, and trust to maps and the glimpses they get 

 of the mouth of the Tocantins, may set down the Para as simply 

 the extension of that river, but they are not correct. The Tapajos 

 and Tocantins are rivers of very 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- 

 cantins, is like referring a giant's work to a pigmy. The Tocantins, 

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

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

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

 Avould be utterly insignificant, in comparison with the united Breves 

 furos. Of course the rivers just enumerated must be enormously 

 increased in volume during flood time, but even at that time 

 they cannot compare with the w^ide Amazonian flood which then 

 pours through channel and forest over the Breves lowdands. 



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 the Tocantins, w'e shall encounter 

 the higher grounds at Cameta, and the town of Gurupa is built 

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

 pear again at the mouth of the Xingu, to the westward of which, 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 Xingii, the table-topped serras of Parii 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 affluents of the Ama- 



* From the Lingoa geral Kurupdi^ a port, and ty'ua, a place of. The name appears to have 

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



