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THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



ing. The only recommendation of the dwell- 

 ing was its coolness. It was, in fact, de- 

 cidedly damp ; the plastered walls bore a 

 crop of green mould, and a slimy moisture 

 oozed through the black, dirty floor ; the 

 rooms were large, but lighted by miserable 

 little holes in place of windows The village 

 is built on a clayey plateau, and the ruinous 

 houses are arranged round a large square, 

 which is so choked up with tangled bushes 

 that it is quite impassable, the lazy iuhabit- 

 ,ants having allowed the fine open space to 

 relapse into jungle. The stiff, clayey emi- 

 nence is worn into deep gullies which slope 

 toward 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. Be- 

 neath its deceitful covering the soil is always 

 moist and soft, and in the wet season the 

 whole is converted 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 advanc- 

 ing sideways step by step. 



I remained in this delectable place until the 

 25th of January, 1857. Fonte Boa, in addi- 

 tion to its other amenities, has the reputation 

 throughout the country of being the head- 

 quarters 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 one or two 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 towu, being much 

 larger, and having transparent wings ; it is a 

 Jittle cloud that one carries about one's per- 

 son every step on a woodland rumble, and 

 their hum is so loud that it prevents one 

 hearing well the notes of birds. The town 

 mosquito has opaque speckled wings, a little 

 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 piums ; 

 there was, therefore, some comfort outside 

 one's door in the daytime ; the comfort, how- 

 ever, was lessened by there being scarcely 

 any room in front of the house to sit down 

 or walk about in, 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 dry ones ' 

 on the Amazons, probably owing to the ab- 

 sence of great radiation of heat from the 

 ground. The forest was extremely rich and 

 picturesque, although the soil was every- 

 where clayey and cold, and broad pathways 

 threaded it for many a mile over hill and 

 dale. In every hollow flowed a sparkling 

 brook, with perennial and crystal waters. 

 The margins of these streams were paradises 

 of leanness and verdure ; the most striking 

 feature being the variety of ferns, with im- 

 mense leaves, some terrestrial, others climb- 

 ing over trees, and two, at least, arborescent. 

 I saw here some of the largest trees I had yet 

 seen. There was one especially, a cedar, 

 whose colossal trunk towered up for more 

 than a hundred feet, straight as an arrow ; I 

 never saw its crown, which was lost to view, 

 from below, beyond the crowd of lesser 

 trees which surrounded it. Birds and mon- 

 keys in this glorious forest were very abun- 

 dant ; the bear like Pithecia hirsuta being 

 the most remarkable of the monkeys, and 

 the Umbrella Chatterer and Curl-crtsted 

 Toucans among the most beautiful of the 

 birds. The Indians and half-castes of the 

 village had made their little plantations, and 

 built huts for summer residence on the banks 

 of the rivulets, and my rambles generally ter- 

 minated at one or other of these places. The 

 people were always cheerful and friendly, 

 and seemed to be glad when I proposed to 

 join them at their meals, contributing the 

 contents of my provision-bag to the dinner, 

 and squatting down among them on the mat. 



The village was formerly a place of more 

 importance than it now is, a great number of 

 Indians belonging to the most industrious 

 tribes, Shumanas, Passes, and Cambevas, 

 having settled on the site and adopted civil- 

 ized habits, their industry being directed by 

 a few whites, who seem to have been men of 

 humane views as well as enterprising traders. 

 One of these old employers, Senhor Guer- 

 reiro, a well-educated Paraense. was still 

 trading on the Amazons when I left the 

 country, in 1859 ; he told me that forty years 

 previously Fonte Boa was a delightful place 

 to live in. The neighborhood was then well 

 cleared, and almost free from mosquitoes, 

 and the Indians were orderly, industrious, 

 and happy. What led to the ruin of the 

 settlement was the arrival of several Portu- 

 guese and Brazilian traders of a low class, 

 who, in their eagerness for business, taught 

 the easy-going Indians all kinds of trickery 

 and immorality. They enticed the men and 

 women away from their old employers, and 

 thus broke up the large establishments, com- 

 pelling the principals to take their capital to 

 other places. At the time of my visit there 

 were few pure- blood Indians at Fonte Boa, 

 and no true whites The inhabitants seemed 



