BKEAKS IN THE GKEAT FOEEST. 315 



lislied themselves upon the coast of Bi-azil, and along the 

 hanks of the Amazons and its trihutaries. But, lacking 

 that energy and persistence indispensable in bringing this 

 new and undeveloped country under cultivation, they soon 

 became dissatisfied, and many abandoned the undertaking 

 and returned home. Besides, there ■were to them other 

 discouragements. Movements in Brazil point toward 

 a speedy emancipation of her slaves. The probability, 

 and, indeed, certainty, of such an event, deterred these 

 Southern slave-holders from investing largely in a property 

 which might any day be rendered valueless by govern- 

 mental enactment. They saw that the system was doomed, 

 and that the movement in our country was but a precursor 

 to that which promises speedily to give freedom to the last 

 slave upon both continents. We met some, who, having 

 Bpent thousands in prospecting tlie country for selecting 

 a site, were returning home, and who expressed their 

 determination to accept gracefully the situation. Their 

 short tour in the equatorial regions had done them good ; 

 it is only to be lamented that more did not make the 

 trip. 



Below Santarem the lovr forest frontage along the 

 northern bank of the river is broken by grassy plains, 

 and upon the south are also spread out quite extensive 

 carapos between the rivers Tapajos and Xingu. These 

 savannas are the first break in the great forest -which 

 otherwise covers the valley from the slope of the Andes 

 to the Atlantic. Humboldt, relying upon the information 

 of others, speaks of the savannas of the Itio IvTapo ; but 

 we found a dense forest to extend over all that portion of 

 tiie valley. Messrs. Smith and Lowe Avere unable to find 

 the Pampas del Sacramento, which we find laid do'wnupon 

 most maps as breaking the forest between the Ucayali and 

 the Huallaga. The eminent explorer Wallace lias shown, 

 by liis researches upon the TJaupc's, that the plains of Ca- 



