2l6 



THE LOWER AMAZONS 



done only by men. The cords used for this purpose are 

 of very great strength. They are made of the inner bark 

 of a pecuHar Ught-wooded and slender tree, called Uais- 

 sima, which yields, when beaten out, a great quantity of 

 most beautiful silky fibre, many feet in length. I think 

 this might be turned to some use by English manufac- 

 turers, if they could obtain it in large quantity. The 

 tree is abundant on light soils on the southern side of 

 the Lower Amazons, and grows very rapidly. When 

 the rolls are sufficiently well pressed they are bound 

 round with narrow thongs of remarkable toughness, cut 

 from the bark of the climbing Jacitara palm tree (Des- 

 moncus macracanthus), and are then ready for sale or 

 use. 



A narrow channel runs close by this house, which 

 communicates at a distance of six hours' journey (about 

 eighteen miles) with the Urubu, a large and almost un- 

 known river, flowing through the interior of Guiana. 

 Our host told me the Urubu presented an expanse of 

 clear dark water, in some places a league in width, and 

 was surrounded by an undulating country, partly forest 

 and partly campo. Its banks are fringed with white 

 sandy beaches, and peopled only by a few families of 

 Mura savages. The family now in his employ, and who 

 were living gipsy fashion, the only way they can be in- 

 duced to live, under a wretched shed on his grounds, 

 were brought from this river six months previously. The 

 channel was navigable by montarias only in the rainy 

 season ; it was now a half-dry watercourse, the mouth 

 lying about eight feet above the present level of the 

 Amazons. The principal mouth of the Urubu lies be- 

 tween this place and Serpa. The river communicates 

 with the lake of Saraca, but I could make out nothing 

 clearly as to its precise geographical relations with that 

 large sheet of water, which is ten or twelve leagues in 

 length and one to two in breadth, and has an old-esta- 

 blished Brazilian settlement, called Silves, on its banks. 



It was very pleasant to roam in our host's cacaoal. 

 The ground was clear of underwood, the trees were about 

 thirty feet in height, and formed a dense shade. Two 

 species of monkey frequented the trees, and I was told 

 committed great depredations when the fruit was ripe. 

 One of these, the macaco prego (Cebus cirrhifer ?), is a 

 most impudent thief ; it destroys more than it eats by 



