Chap. VI. INHABITANTS. 387 



and weedy places being generally more healthy than 

 dry ones on the Amazons, probably owing to the absence 

 of great radiation of heat from the ground. The forest 

 was extremely rich and picturesque, although the soil 

 was everywhere clayey and cold, and broad pathways 

 threaded it for many a mile over hill and dale. In 

 every hollow flowed a sparkling brook, with perennial 

 and crystal waters. The margins of these streams were 

 paradises of leanness and verdure ; the most striking 

 feature being the variety of ferns, with immense leaves, 

 some terrestrial, others climbing over trees, and two, at 

 least, arborescent. I saw here some of the largest trees 

 I had yet seen ; there was one especially, a cedar, whose 

 colossal trunk towered up for more than a hundred 

 feet, straight as an arrow ; I never saw its crown, which 

 was lost to view, from below, beyond the crowd of lesser 

 trees which surrounded it. Birds and monkeys in 

 this glorious forest were very abundant ; the bear-like 

 Pithecia hirsuta being the most remarkable of the 

 monkeys, and the Umbrella Chatterer and Curl-crested 

 Toucans amongst the most beautiful of the birds. The 

 Indians and half-castes of the village have made their 

 little plantations, and built huts for summer residence 

 on the banks of the rivulets, and my rambles generally 

 terminated at one or other of these places. The people 

 were always cheerful and friendly, and seemed to be 

 glad when I proposed to join them at their meals, 

 contributing the contents of my provision-bag to the 

 dinner, and squatting down amongst them on the mat. 

 The village was formerly a place of more importance 

 than it now is, a great number of Indians belonging to 



c c 2 



