THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



jaen spend mos^ of their time in fishing, sell- 

 ing what they do not require themselves, and 

 getting drunk with the most exemplary regu- 

 ritv on cusha^a, purchased with the pro- 



I made, in this second visit to Villa Nova, 

 Bn extensive collection of the natural pro- 

 ductions of the neighborhood. A few re- 

 marks on some of the more interesting of 

 these must suffice. The forests are very dif- 

 ferent in their general character from those 

 of Para, and in fact those of humid districts 

 generally throughout the Amazons. The 

 same scarcity of large-leaved Musaceous and 

 Marantaceous plants was. noticeable here as 

 at Obydos. The low-lying areas of forest or 

 Ygap6s, which alternate everywhere with 

 the more elevated districts, did not furnish 

 the same luxuriant vegetation as they do in 

 the Delta region of the Amazons. They are 

 flooded during three or four months in the 

 year, and when the waters retire, the soil to 

 which the very thin coating of alluvial de- 

 posit imparts little fertility remains bare, or 

 covered with a matted bed of dead leaves, 

 until the next flood season. These tracts 

 have then a barren appearance ; the trunks 

 and lower branches of the trees are coated 

 with dried slime, and disfigured by rounded 

 masses of fresh-water sponges, whose long 

 horny spicula3 and dingy colors give them 

 the appearance of hedgehogs. Dense bushes 

 of a harsh, cutting grass, called Tiririca, 

 form almost the only fresh vegetation in thu 

 dry season. Perhaps the dense shade, the 

 long period during which the land remains 

 under water, and the excessively rapid desic- 

 cation when the waters retire, all contribute 

 to the barrenness of these Ygap6s. The 

 higher and drier land is everywhere sandy, 

 and tall coarse grasses line the borders of the 

 broad alleys which have been cut through 

 the second-growth woods. These places 

 swarm with carapatos, ugly ticks belonging 

 to the genus Ixodes, which mount to the tips 

 of blades of grass, and attach themselves 

 to the clothes of passers-by. They are a 

 .tn-eat annoyance. It occupied me a full Hour 

 daily to pick them off my flesh after my diur- 

 nal ramble. There are two species ; both 

 are much flattened in shape, have four pairs 

 of legs, a thick, short proboscis, and a horny 

 integument. Their habit is to attach them- 

 selves to the skin by plunging their probos- 

 cides into it, and then suck the blood until 

 their flat bodies are distended into a globular 

 form. The whole proceeding, however, is 

 very slow, and it takes them several days to 

 pump their fill. No pain or itching is felt, 

 but serious sores are caused if care is not 

 taken in removing them, as the proboscis is 

 liable o break off and remain in the wound. 

 A little tobacco- juice is generally applied to 

 make them loosen their hold. They do not 

 cling firmly to the skin by their legs, although 

 each of these has a pair of sharp and fine 

 claws, connected with the tips of the mem- 

 ber by means of a flexible pedicle. When 

 they mount to the summits of slender blades 

 of grass, or the tips of leaves, thei' iiold utt. 



by their fore-legs only, the other three paira 

 bein stretched out so as to fasten on any 

 animal which comes in their way. The 

 smaller of the two species is of a yellowish 

 color ; it is much the most abundant, and 

 sometimes falls upon one by scores. When 

 distended, it is about the size of a No. 8- 

 shot; the larger kind, which fortunately 

 comes only singly to the work, swells to the- 

 size of a pea. 



In some parts of the interior the soil is 

 composed of very coarse sand and small frag 



or campos, as they are called, situated five; 

 miles from the village. The road thither led. 

 through a varied and beautiful forest, con- 

 taining manv gigantic trees. I missed the 

 Assai, Miriti, Paxiuba, and other paluia- 

 which are all found only on rich moist soils, 

 but the noble Bacaba was not uncommon, 

 and there was a great diversity of dwarf spe- 

 cies of Maraja palms (Bactris), one of which, 

 called the Peuririma, was very elegant, 

 growing to a height of twelve or fifteen feet,, 

 with astern no thicker than a man's finger.. 

 On arriving at the campo, all this beautiful 

 forest abruptly ceased, and we saw before us. 

 an oval tract of land, three or four miles in* 

 circumf ei ence, destitute even of the smallest 

 bush. The only vegetation was a crop of' 

 coarse hairy grass growing in patches. The- 

 forest formed a hedge all round the isolated, 

 field, and its borders were composed in great 

 part of trees which do not grow in the denser 

 virgin forest, such as a great variety of bushy 

 Melastomas, low Byrsomimt trees, myrtles, 

 and Lacre trees, whose berries exude globules, 

 of wax resembling gamboge. On the mar- 

 gins of the campo wild pineapples also gre^vr 

 in great quantity. The fruit was of the same.- 

 shape as out cultivated kind, but much., 

 smaller, the size being that of a moderately 

 large apple. We gathered several quite ripe ;. 

 they were pleasant to the taste, of the true 

 pineapple flavor, but had an abundance of 

 fully developed seeds, and only a small quan- 

 tity of eatable pulp. There was no path be- 

 yond this campo ; in fact, all beyond is terra, 

 incognita to the inhabitants of Villa Nova. 



The only interesting mammalian animal: 

 which I saw at Villa Nova was a monkey or 

 a species new to me : it was not, however, a. 

 native of the district, having been brought' 

 by a trader from the river Madeira, a. few 

 miles above Borba. It was a howler, proba 

 bly the Mycetes stramineus of Geoff roy Bt 

 Hilaire. The howlers are the only kinds o*, 

 monkey which the natives have uot succeed- 



' ed in taming. They are often caught, but- 

 they do not survive captivity many weeks. 

 The one of which I am speaking was not- 

 quite full grown. It measured sixteen inches* 

 in length, exclusive of the tail ; the whole,- 

 body was covered with rather long and shin- 

 ing dingy-white hair, the whiskers and beard 

 only being of a tawny hue. It was kept in a- 

 house, together with a Coaita and a Caiarara, 



- immkey (Cubus ulbifrons). Both these li 



