ASPECTS OF THE FOREST. 573 



after being roasted, is pounded in a small quantity of water 

 till it becomes compact, and, when dry, is about the colour of 

 chocolate. It is then grated with the rough tongue of the 

 piraracu, and when mixed with sugar and water makes a 

 refreshing beverage. It is said to have an excellent effect 

 when administered in eases of diarrhoea. 



ASPECTS OF THE FOREST. 



Although at some times of the year the forests present only 

 varied tints of green and brown, unrelieved by brighter colours ; 

 at others, when, after the rains, nature has revived, the banks 

 of the streams are gay and beautiful in the extreme. Thou- 

 sands of brilliant blossoms of varied colours rise amid the 

 trunks of the trees, or hang in rich festoons from the branches, 

 while the air is laden with the almost overpowering perfume 

 of numberless flowers. 



" Wild flowers," says Mrs. Agassiz, " are abundant ; not 

 delicate small plants growing low among the moss and grass, 

 but lai-ge blossoms covering tall trees, and resembling ex- 

 otics at home by their rich colour and powerful odour — in- 

 deed, the flowers of the Amazonian forests reminded me of 

 hot-house plants — and there often comes a warm breath from 

 the depth of the woods laden with perfume, like the air from 

 the open door of a conservatory." 



" Beautiful as are the endless forests, however," she re- 

 marks in another place, " we could not but long, when skirt- 

 ing them day after day, without seeing a house or meeting a 

 canoe, for the sight of tilled soil, for pasture lands, for open 

 ground, for wheat-fields and hay -stacks ; for any sign, in short, 

 of the presence of man. As we sat at night in the stern of 

 the vessel, looking up the vast river stretching many hundred 



