on the Upper Amazons. 5727 



the other parts; it is rounder in outline, more uniform in character, 

 palms are very much less numerous and of different species, and 

 animal life, too, which gives some little animation to the other parts 

 of the river, here is seldom apparent. 



AtTunantins I found T was expected, and one room of a dilapidated 

 house was ready for me : its appearance was not very cheering, as the 

 only window was covered over with calico, on account of the piums 

 (a small Muscidse, a terrible pest), and the walls were disfigured with 

 large mud patches,— wort of the Termites. I got all my baggage 

 stowed, hammocks and mosquito tents hung, in a short time, presented 

 my letters of introduction to the only white person in the village, all 

 on the day of arrival, so as to be able to begin work on the following 

 day. 



On the 12th of November I had a general survey of my ground, and 

 will give a short description of it. The village, consisting of about 

 twenty houses (four of which only really deserve that name) in a line 

 fronting the river, is situated about a mile within, and on the left bank 

 of, the river Tunantins. This is a small river here, but is probably 

 little inferior to the Thames in size; its waters are of the same black 

 colour as those of the Rio Negro. The population, and that of the 

 neighbourhood, is nearly wholly Indian, chiefly of the two nations 

 Shumana and Passe, which do not now exist in the purely savage 

 state ; there are also a few of the nation Caixana, which still exists in 

 the aboriginal state on the river, two days' journey above the village. 

 Like all the settlements on the Amazons, there is but a small tract of 

 cleared space beyond the houses; in this place, overrun with weeds 

 and impurities, and not offering the charming slopes of soft green- 

 sward as Ega does. The virgin forest rises as a tall hedge, about a 

 hundred paces behind the village, and thence inland no further sign 

 of the presence of man or the neighbourhood of human dwellings is 

 noticeable, except two narrow paths, leading two or three miles 

 towards the centre. The neighbourhood I found much cut up by 

 narrow valleys and creeks, which, at this season (the waters being as 

 yet low), have only a narrow breadth of water. Immediately below 

 the village enters a broad creek, which half encircles the place behind 

 and above, there is another narrower rivulet. These hollows, being 

 thinly wooded at this season, form deep dells, with tracts of moistened 

 soil towards the water, forming a fine locality for the many beautiful 

 species of Nymphalidse of the vicinity. These dells and the borders 

 of the forest, and the more humid of the two forest pathways, proved, 

 as I foresaw, the best working grounds to me during my stay. 



