332 THE LOWER AMA20NS. Chap. VIL 



terra firma lying far in tlie interior, and the coast being 

 either low land or masked with islands of alluvial 

 formation. On the 14th we passed the upper mouth of 

 the Parana-mirim de Eva, an arm of the river of small 

 breadth, formed by a straggling island some ten miles 

 in length, lying parallel to the northern bank. On 

 passing the western end of this, the main land again 

 appeared ; a rather high rocky coast, clothed with a 

 magnificent forest of rounded outline, which continues 

 hence for twenty miles to the mouth of the Rio Negro, 

 and forms the eastern shore of that river. Many houses 

 of settlers, built at a considerable elevation on the 

 wooded heights, now enlivened the river banks. One 

 of the first objects which here greeted us was a beau- 

 tiful bird we had not hitherto met with, namely, the 

 scarlet and black tanager (Ramphocoelus nigrogularis), 

 flocks of which were seen sporting about the trees on 

 the edge of the water, their flame-coloured liveries light- 

 ing up the masses of dark-green foliage. 



The weather, from the 14th to the 18th, was 

 wretched ; it rained sometimes for twelve hours in suc- 

 cession, not heavily, but in a steady drizzle, such as we 

 are familiar with in our English climate. We landed at 

 several places on the coast, Penna to trade as usual, 

 and I to ramble in the forest in search of birds and 

 insects. In one spot the wooded slope enclosed a very 

 picturesque scene : a brook, flowing through a ravine in 

 the high bank, fell in many little cascades to the broad 

 river beneath, its margins decked out with an infinite 

 variety of beautiful plants. Wild bananas arched over 

 the watercourse, and the trunks of the trees in its 



