384 EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. Chap. VI. 



with his wife and children, seemed by no means pleased 

 at being intruded on in their solitude. The family must 

 have been very industrious ; for the plantations were 

 very extensive, and included a little of almost all kinds 

 of cultivated tropical productions : fruit trees, vegetables, 

 and even flowers for ornament. The silent old man had 

 surely a fine appreciation of the beauties of nature : for 

 the site he had chosen commanded a view of surprising 

 magnificence over the summits of the forest ; and, to give 

 finish to the prospect, he had planted a large quantity 

 of banana trees in the foreground, thus concealing 

 the charred and dead stumps which would otherwise 

 have marred the effect of the rolling sea of greenery. 

 The only information I could get out of Manoel was, 

 that large flocks of richly-coloured birds came down in 

 the fruit season and despoiled his trees. I collected here 

 a great number of insects, including several new species. 

 The sun set over the tree-tops before we left this little 

 Eden, and the remainder of our journey was made 

 slowly and pleasantly, under the chequered shades of 

 the river banks, by the light of the moon. 



December 7th. — Arrived at Fonte Boa ; a wretched, 

 muddy, and dilapidated village, situated two or three 

 miles within the mouth of a narrow by-stream called 

 the Cayhiar-hy, which runs almost as straight as an 

 artificial canal between the village and the main Ama- 

 zons. The character of the vegetation and soil here was 

 different from that of all other localities I had hitherto 

 examined ; I had planned, therefore, to devote six 

 weeks to the place. Having written beforehand to one 



