3596 Some Account of the Country 



some places in dense phalanxes, or spread themselves over large areas, 

 forming an appearance like Ranunculi in a meadow in England. As 

 the season advanced they disappeared, and during the months of ris- 

 ing water, namely, from November to March, none of the beautiful 

 creatures that enlivened the season of the ebb, were to be seen. 



The seasons and climate in the Solimoens offer some points of dif- 

 ference from those of the district of Para. The year in Ega is divided 

 according to the rises and falls of the river, with which accord also the 

 dry and wet periods. The fall commences generally about the mid- 

 dle of June (in 1850 on the 18th), and continues to the middle of 

 October, with the interruption of a partial rise (called repiquete) of a 

 few inches in September: The difference between high and low water 

 mark is from 40 to 50 feet. From the middle of October to the mid- 

 dle of January a larger repiquet occurs, with frequent rains. The rise 

 is probably about 15 feet. From the end of January to about the mid- 

 dle of February, it again falls partially, accompanied by fine dry wea- 

 ther. This latter season is called the summer of the Umare, a kind 

 of wild fruit, much esteemed, which ripens during that period of dry 

 weather. Thus the Ega year is divided into four seasons, two of dry 

 weather and falling waters, and two of the reverse. 



Besides these seasons, the month of May offers a curious meteoro- 

 logical phenomenon, peculiar also to the upper river. This is, the 

 duration of cold southerly winds, blowing regularly across the forests. 

 The temperature is sometimes so cooled, that the fish die in the river 

 Teffe. The period during which these winds prevail is called by the 

 inhabitants the " tempo da friagem," or cold weather, and is regularly 

 expected annually, though it varies much in intensity, and period of 

 duration. 



This vast region of the upper Amazons, of which I am giving you 

 so imperfect and brief a description, is certainly one of the most im- 

 perfectly known countries of the earth. There is perhaps no tract, of 

 equal fertility and habitableness, so thinly peopled. The greater part 

 is still in the possession of numerous tribes of utterly savage aborigi- 

 nes, — people who have rarely or never seen the face of the white man, 

 retired and isolated, the tribes only being acquainted with their 

 immediate neighbours, with whom they are generally at war. The 

 courses of the many branch rivers on whose banks lie the settlements 

 of the savages, are as yet unknown to Europeans, such as the Purus, 

 the Quary, the Jurua, the Japura, the lea, the Jutahe, and others, all 

 rivers little inferior in size to the Rhine in Europe. They are only 

 visited by petty traders of Ega, who exchange hatchets, knives, and 



