400 EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. Chap. VI. 



cold water flowing at the bottom. At midday the 

 vertical sun penetrates into the gloomy depths of this 

 romantic spot, lighting up the leafy banks of the 

 rivulet and its clean sandy margins, where numbers of 

 scarlet, green, and black tanagers and brightly-coloured 

 butterflies sport about in the stray beams. Sparkling 

 brooks, large and small, traverse the glorious forest 

 in almost every direction, and one is constantly meet- 

 ing, whilst rambling through the thickets, with trick- 

 ling rills and bubbling springs, so well-provided is the 

 country with moisture. Some of the rivulets flow over 

 a sandy and pebbly bed, and the banks of all are clothed 

 with the most magnificent vegetation conceivable. I 

 had the almost daily habit, in my solitary walks, of 

 resting on the clean banks of these swift-flowing 

 streams, and bathing for an hour at a time in their 

 bracing Waters ; hours which now remain amongst my 

 most pleasant memories. The broad forest roads con- 

 tinue, as I was told, a distance of several days' journey 

 into the interior, which is peopled by Tuctinas and 

 other Indians, living in scattered houses and villages 

 nearly in their primitive state, the nearest village lying 

 about six miles from St. Paulo. The banks of all the 

 streams are dotted with palm-thatched dwellings of 

 Tucunas, all half-buried in the leafy wilderness, the 

 scattered families having chosen the coolest and shadiest 

 nooks for their abodes. 



I frequently heard in the neighbourhood of these 

 huts, the "realejo" or organ bird (Cyphorhinus can- 

 tans), the most remarkable songster, by far, of the 

 Amazonian forests. When its singular notes strike the 



