PRIMEVAL FOREST 



43 



the dry season, which lasts from July to December, is 

 varied with showers, and the wet, from January to June, 

 with sunny days. It results from this, that the periodical 

 phenomena of plants and animals do not take place at 

 about the same time in all species, or in the individuals 

 of any given species, as they do in temperate countries. 

 Of course there is no hybernation ; nor, as the dry season 

 is not excessive, is there any aestivation as in some tropical 

 countries. Plants do not flower or shed their leaves, nor 

 do birds moult, pair, or breed simultaneously. In Europe, 

 a woodland scene has its spring, its summer, its autumnal, 

 and its winter aspects. In the equatorial forests the 

 aspect is the same or nearly so every day in the year : 

 budding, flowering, fruiting, and leaf shedding are always 

 going on in one species or other. The activity of birds 

 and insects proceeds without interruption, each species 

 having its own separate times ; the colonies of wasps, 

 for instance, do not die ofl annually, leaving only the 

 queens, as in cold climates ; but the succession of genera- 

 tions and colonies goes on incessantly. It is never either 

 spring, summer, or autumn, but each day is a combination 

 of all three. With the day and night always of ecfual 

 length, the atmospheric disturbances of each day neutral- 

 izing themselves before each succeeding morn ; with the 

 sun in its course proceeding mid-way across the sky and 

 the daily temperature the same within two or three de- 

 grees throughout the year — how grand in its perfect 

 equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under 

 the equator ! 



Our evenings were generally fully employed preserving 

 our collections, and making notes. We dined at four, 

 and took tea about seven o'clock. Sometimes we walked 

 to the city to see Brazilian life or enjoy the pleasures of 

 European and American society. And so the time passed 

 away from June 1 5 th to August 26th. During this period 

 we made two excursions of greater length to the rice 

 and saw-mills of Magoary, an establishment owned by 

 an American gentleman, Mr. Upton, situated on the 

 banks of a creek in the heart of the forest, about 12 miles 

 from Para. I will narrate some of the incidents of these 

 excursions, and give an account of the more interesting 

 observations made on the Natural History and inhabitants 

 of these interior creeks and forests. 



Our first trip to the mills was by land. The creek on 



