104 



THE TOCANTINS 



Cameta was devastated by the cholera ; having stayed 

 behind with a few heroic spirits to succour invahds and 

 direct the burying of the dead, when nearly all the chief 

 citizens had fled from the place. After he had done what 

 he could, he embarked for Para, but was himself then 

 attacked with cholera and died on board the steamer 

 before he reached the capital. Dr. Angelo received me 

 with the usual kindness which he showed to all strangers. 

 He procured me, unsoUcited, a charming country house, 

 free of rent, hired a mulatto servant for me, and thus 

 relieved me of the many annoyances and delays attendant 

 on a first arrival in a country town where even the name 

 of an inn is unknown. The rocinha thus given up for my 

 residence belonged to a friend of his, Senhor Jose Rai- 

 mundo Furtado, a stout fLorid-complexioned gentleman, 

 such a one as might be met with any day in a country 

 town in England. To him also I was indebted for many 

 acts of kindness. 



The rocinha was situated near a broad grassy road 

 bordered by lofty woods, which leads from Cameta to 

 the Aldeia, a village two miles distant. My first walks 

 were along this road. From it branches another similar, 

 but still more picturesque road, which runs to Curima 

 and Pacaja, two small settlements, several miles distant, 

 in the heart of the forest. The Curima road is beautiful 

 in the extreme. About half a mile from the house where 

 I lived it crosses a brook flowing through a deep dell, 

 by means of a long rustic wooden bridge. The virgin 

 forest is here left untouched ; numerous groups of slender 

 palms, mingled with lofty trees overrun with creepers 

 and parasites, fill the shady glen and arch over the bridge, 

 forming one of the most picturesque scenes imaginable. 

 On the sunny slopes near this place, I found a great number 

 of new and curious insects. A little beyond the bridge 

 there was an extensive grove of orange and other trees, 

 which also yielded me a rich harvest. The Aldeia road 

 runs parallel to the river, the land from the border of the 

 road to the indented shore of the Tocantins forming a 

 long slope, which was also richly wooded ; this slope was 

 threaded by numerous shady paths and abounded in 

 beautiful insects and birds. At the opposite or southern 

 end of the town there was a broad road called the Estrada 

 da Vacaria ; this ran along the banks of the Tocantins 

 at some distance from the river, and continued over hill 



