xv FROM MANAOS TO TARAPOTO 27 



the ever-varying forest-panorama the broad beaches 

 densely clad with Arrow-reeds growing 20 or 30 

 feet high, behind which extended beds of slender 

 and graceful willows (Salix Humboldtiana), their 

 yellow -green foliage relieved by the occasional 

 admixture of the broad white leaves of Cecropia 

 peltata (a tree of the Mulberry tribe), while beyond 

 rose abruptly the lofty virgin forest, composed of 

 trees of the most different types growing side by 

 side. Add to this the noble river, the innumerable 

 islands (fixed and floating), the cranes and herons, 

 the never-failing alligators, the fresh-water dolphins 

 chasing one another and turning " summersets," 

 besides numerous other sights and sounds which 1 

 cannot here enumerate the whole viewed leisurely 

 and ociosamente (" at one's ease "), free from any 

 tormenting recurrence of mosquitoes, and you will 

 understand that a voyage up the Amazon in a 

 steamer has enjoyments peculiar to itself, although 

 one's nerves may be occasionally shaken by the 

 vessel scraping on a snag, or by the sudden assault 

 of a violent thunderstorm. Oh that these had been. 

 the only troubles ! But as we were only about half 

 the time under way the other half being spent in 

 embarking firewood, a cargo of mosquitoes always 

 coming on board, uninvited, along with the latt T 

 (and I think the higher you ascend the Amaxon the 

 more numerous and voracious they become) you 

 may say that we were half the. voyage in paradise 

 and the other half in purgatory. 



The Monarca is a small but strongly-built iron 

 steamer, with low-pressure engines <>! ^5 horse- 

 power which occupy so much space as t<> leave 

 little for cargo. The firewood also look up 



