224 



The Monte-Alegre campos are quite unfit for agricultural pur- 

 poses, but according to Sr. Yalente, who accompanied us for a part 

 of the Avay to Tauajuri, beans and even corn may be grown during the 

 wet months ; but mandioca cannot be raised on these lands, because 

 it requires at least six months to mature, and, during the rains, the 

 roots are apt to be washed out of the soil. The climate of the 

 Erere-Monte-Alegre district, during the dry season, is very pleasant. 

 Day after day, and week after Aveek passes without a storm. The days 

 are hot, the thermometer in the shade ranging about 90° in the 

 middle of the day; but the air is so dry and there is so constantly 

 a stifi" sea breeze bloAving, that the temperature in-doors is very 

 agreeable. On the plains, I have found the heat oppressive while in 

 exercise, though much more endurable than in the interior of New 

 York in the summer months; but the moment one stands still, even 

 on the open plains, he is apt to be chilled by the breeze. The 

 nights are very cool, and one is obliged to sleep wrapped in a 

 blanket and with closed doors. Late in the dry season and in the 

 rainy months, the mosquitoes are a veritable plague. Of the wet 

 season on the Amazonas I can say nothing from my own personal 

 acquaintance. 



As the plateauiiapproaches Tauajuri it becomes more broken, and 

 better wooded, but it soon gives way to hills, probably of a differ- 

 ent geological structure. The lowlands east of the ridge are well 

 wooded, but, except in marshy places, the forest is not luxuriant, 

 and the same seems to be the case with the higher plains of the 

 vicinity. 



We reached Jacare at the foot of the serra at 3 o'clock p. m., hav- 

 ing rested for dinner at Saudoso for perhaps a couple of hours, so 

 that the distance from Monte-Alegre to the base of the mountain 

 must be about 18 miles. At Jacare we found a ruined house, and 

 as we had outwalked our guides and were obliged to wait until late 

 in the afternoon for them to come up, we here spent the night, as 

 well as the carapanas and the white ants, that swarmed from the 

 rotten timbers of the house, would permit. 



On the banks of a little, clear-water igarape that runs through 

 the forest, bordered by beautiful palms, we found sandstones, and I 

 discovered a bed of dark-bluish limestone, that looked as though it 

 ought to contain fossils, but afforded us nothing recognizable. 

 Its strike was N. S.. and the dip 30° to the eastward. 



