Chap. III. CLIMATE. 155 



lower lands were already under water, and the tearing 

 current, two or three miles in breadth, bore along a 

 continuous line of uprooted trees and islets of floating 

 plants. The prospect was most melancholy ; no sound 

 was heard but the dull murmur of the waters ; the 

 coast along which we travelled all day was encumbered 

 every step of the way with fallen trees, some of which 

 quivered in the currents which set around projecting 

 points of land. Our old pest, the Motuca, began to 

 torment us as soon as the sun gained power in the 

 morning. White egrets were plentiful at the edge of the 

 water, and humming-birds, in some places, were whirring 

 about the flowers overhead. The desolate appearance 

 of the landscape increased after sunset, when the moon 

 rose in mist. 



This upper river, the Alto-Amazonas or Solimoens, is 

 always spoken of by the Brazilians as a distinct stream. 

 This is partly owing, as before remarked, to the direc- 

 tion it seems to take at the fork of the Rio Negro ; the 

 inhabitants of the country, from their partial knowledge, 

 not being able to comprehend the whole river system 

 in one view. It has, however, many peculiarities to 

 distinguish it from the lower course of the river. The > 

 trade-wind or sea-breeze, which reaches, in the height I 

 of the dry season, as far as the mouth of the Rio Negro, 

 900 or 1000 miles from the Atlantic, never blows on 

 the upper river. The atmosphere is therefore more 

 stagnant and sultry, and the winds that do prevail are 

 of irregular direction and short duration. A great part 

 of the land on the borders of the Lower Amazons is 

 hilly ; there are extensive campos or open plains, and 



