PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE AMAZONS. 405 



and also the valley ofPiauhy, gives the same account, with 

 the exception that he found no erratic boulders in these 

 more northern regions. The rarity of erratic boulders, not 

 only in the deposits of the Amazons proper, but in those of 

 the whole region which may be considered as the Ama 

 zonian basin, is accounted for, as we shall see hereafter, by 

 the mode of their formation. The observations of Mr. 

 Hartt and Mr. St. John are the more valuable, because I 

 had employed them both, on our first arrival in Rio, in 

 making geological surveys of different sections on the Dom 

 Pedro Railroad, so that they had a great familiarity with 

 those formations before starting on their separate journeys. 

 Recently, Mr. St. John and myself met in Para on our re 

 turn from our respective explorations, and I have had an 

 opportunity of comparing on the spot his geological sections 

 from the valley of the Piauhy with the Amazonian deposits. 

 There can be no doubt of the absolute identity of the for 

 mations in these valleys. 



Having arranged the work of my assistants, and sent 

 several of them to collect and make geological examinations 

 in other directions, I myself, with the rest of my compan 

 ions, proceeded up the coast to Para. I was surprised to 

 find at every step of my progress the same geological phe 

 nomena which had met me at Rio. It was my friend, 

 Major Coutinho, already an experienced Amazonian 

 traveller, who first told me that this formation continued 

 through the whole valley of the Amazons, and was also to 

 be found on all of its affluents which he had visited, 

 although he had never thought of referring it to so re 

 cent a period. And here let me say that the facts I now 

 state are by no means exclusively the result of my own 

 investigations. They are in great part due to Major 



