228 



The taljle-toppecl hills of the Amazonas, so frequently described 

 by travelers consist of several isolated mountains or plateaus of cir- 

 cumdenudation composed of horizontal strata, which lie on the 

 northern side of the river between Prainha and Almeirim, and 

 known collectively as the serras of Paru. They are characterized 

 by their broad level tops and their very abrupt, sometimes precip- 

 itous sides. The western-most of these serras is that of Paraua- 

 quara, eastward of which is that of Velha Pobre, while still farther 

 east are the serras of Almeirim. The general appearance of these 

 mountains is represented in the accompanying sketch made from 

 the river. 



- "^ "^ d .. ' — I. bv y x — r — r 



Every traveler has felt it his duty to describe the table-topped 

 hills, and they have been represented, over and over again, by fancy 

 sketches that look no more like the serras of Parii* than they do like 

 any other fiat-topped hills, but, strange to say, until 1871, no explo- 

 rer except V. Martins has ever visited them. He landed at Almeirim 

 on his journey down the Amazonas and climbed the serra in the im- 

 mediate vicinity, which he estimated as scarcely 800 feet in height. 

 He, however says very little concerning its geological structure, but 

 his account of his visit is so important that I give a part of it 

 below.f 



* I cannot refrain from protesting against the admirably drawn but abominably inaccurate 

 sketclies that illustrate the magnificent volumes of Marcoy. The sketches of Santarem and 

 Para might just as well have been labeled Pernambuco and Bahia. As for the portraits that 

 adorn the volume they are, so far as I can judge, as inaccurate as they well can be. 



t "Der Berg von Almeirim liegt etwa eine Stunde nordlich vom Ufer des Stroma entfernt, 

 und seiu Gipfel mag kaum acht hundert Fuss iiber diesen erhoht seyn. Wir batten bald einen 

 dichten nicht hoheu Wald durchschnitten, und tratten nun in eine lichte Grasflur heraus, welche 

 in ihrer Physiognomic die giosste Achnlichkeit mit den campos agrestes von Piauhy darstellte. 

 Grosse, grau-grune, haarige Grasburchel, mit mancherlei bliithenreichen Krautern wechselnd, 

 stehen ziemlich weit aus aufgelosten brauneu Sandeisenstein. In den Niederungen der Flur 

 Bind hier Briiche von geringer Ausdehnung, ebenfalls mit Gras bedeckt, dort inselartige grup- 

 pen von Gebiische und eine eigenthiimliche Palme (Lyagous cocoides, Jlart. Palm, t. 89-90). 

 • * * * Der Berg selbst, welcher diese anmuthige Landschaft schliesst, indem er parallel 

 mit dem Strome von O. nach W. liiuft, ist an seinem untern Abhange mit gleicher wiesen vegeta- 



