44 



PARA 



whose banks they stand, the Iritirl, communicates with the 

 river Para, through another larger creek, the Magoary ; 

 so that there is a passage by water ; but this is about 

 20 miles round. We started at sunrise, taking Isidoro 

 with us. The road plunged at once into the forest after 

 leaving Nazareth, so that in a few minutes we were en- 

 veloped in shade. For some distance the woods were of 

 second growth, the original forest near the town having 

 been formerly cleared or thinned. They were dense and 

 impenetrable on account of the close growth of the young 

 trees and the mass of thorny shrubs and creepers. These 

 thickets swarmed with ants and ant-thrushes ; they were 

 also frequented by a species of puff- throated manikin, a 

 little bird which flies occasionally across the road, emitting 

 a strange noise, made, I believe, with its wings, and re- 

 sembling the clatter of a small wooden rattle. 



A mile or a mile and a half further on, the character 

 of the woods began to change, and we then found our- 

 selves in the primaeval forest. The appearance was 

 greatly different from that of the swampy tract I have 

 already described. The land was rather more elevated 

 and undulating ; the many swamp plants with their 

 long and broad leaves were wanting, and there was less 

 underwood, although the trees were wider apart. Through 

 this wilderness the road continued for seven or eight 

 miles. The same unbroken forest extends all the way 

 to Maranham and in other directions, as we were told, 

 a distance of about 300 miles southward and eastward 

 of Para. In almost every hollow part the road was 

 crossed by a brook, whose cold, dark, leaf-stained waters 

 were bridged over by tree trunks. The ground was 

 carpeted, as usual, by Lycopodiums, but it was also en- 

 cumbered with masses of vegetable debris and a thick 

 coating of dead leaves. Fruits of many kinds were 

 scattered about, amongst which were many sorts of beans, 

 some of the pods a foot long, flat and leathery in texture, 

 others hard as stone. In one place there was a quantity 

 of large empty wooden vessels, which Isidoro told us fell 

 from the Sapucaya tree. They are called Monkey's 

 drinking-cups (Cuyas de Macaco), and are the capsules 

 which contain the nuts sold under the name just mentioned, 

 in Covent Garden Market. At the top of the vessel is 

 a circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly. When 

 the nuts are ripe this lid becomes loosened, and the heavy 



