Chap. I. CAMPOS. 21 



foot. The patches of wood look like copses in the 

 middle of green meadows ; they are called by the 

 natives " ilhas de mato," or islands of jungle ; the name 

 being, no doubt, suggested by their compactness of 

 outline, neatly demarcated in insular form from the 

 smooth carpet of grass around them. They are com- 

 posed of a great variety of trees, loaded with succulent 

 parasites, and lashed together by woody climbers, like 

 the forest in other parts. A narrow belt of dense wood, 

 similar in character to these ilhas, and like them 

 sharply limited along its borders, runs everywhere 

 parallel and close to the river. In crossing the campo, 

 the path from the town ascends a little for a mile or 

 two, passing through this marginal strip of wood ; the 

 grassy land then slopes gradually to a broad valley, 

 watered by rivulets, whose banks are clothed with lofty 

 and luxuriant forest. Beyond this, a range of hills ex- 

 tends as far as the eye can reach towards the yet un- 

 trodden interior. Some of these hills are long ridges, 

 wooded or bare ; others are isolated conical peaks, rising 

 abruptly from the valley. The highest are probably not 

 more than a thousand feet above the level of the river. 

 One remarkable hill, the Serra de Muruaru, about fifteen 

 miles from Santarem, which terminates the prospect to 

 the south, is of the same truncated pyramidal form as 

 the range of hills near Almeyrim. Complete solitude 

 reigns over the whole of this stretch of beautiful country. 

 The inhabitants of Santarem know nothing of the in- 

 terior, and seem to feel little curiosity concerning it, 

 A few tracks from the town across the campo lead to 

 some small clearings four or five miles off, belonging 



