268 



SANTAREM 



ascent is excessively fatiguing after the long walk from 

 Santarem over the campos. I tried it one day, but did 

 not reach the summit. A dense growth of coarse grasses 

 clothed the steep sides of the hill, with here and there a 

 stunted tree of kinds found in the plain beneath. In 

 bared places, a red crumbly soil is exposed ; and in one 

 part a mass of rock, which appeared to me, from its com- 

 pact texture and the absence of stratification, to be porphy- 

 ritic ; but I am not Geologist sufficient to pronounce on 

 such questions. Mr. Wallace states that he found frag- 

 ments of scoriae, and believes the hill to be a volcanic cone. 

 To the south and east of this isolated peak, the elongated 

 ridges or table-topped hills attain a somewhat greater 

 elevation. 



The forest in the valley is limited to a tract a few hundred 

 yards in width on each side the different streams : in 

 places where these run along the bases of the hills the hill- 

 sides facing the water are also richly wooded, although 

 their opposite declivities are bare or nearly so. The trees 

 are lofty and of great variety ; amongst them are colossal 

 examples of the Brazil nut tree (BerthoUetia excelsa), 

 and the Pikia. This latter bears a large eatable fruit, 

 curious in having a hollow chamber between the pulp 

 and the kernel, beset with hard spines which produce 

 serious wounds if they enter the skin. The eatable part 

 appeared to me not much more palatable than a raw 

 potato ; but the inhabitants of Santarem are very fond 

 of it, and undertake the most toilsome journeys on foot 

 to gather a basketful. The tree which yields the tonka 

 bean (Dipteryx odorata), used in Europe for scenting 

 snuff, is also of frequent occurrence here. It grows to an 

 immense height, and the fruit, which although a legume, 

 is of a rounded shape, and has but one seed, can be 

 gathered only when it falls to the ground. A considerable 

 quantity (from looo to 3000 pounds) is exported annually 

 from Santarem, the produce of the whole region of the 

 Tapajos. An endless diversity of trees and shrubs, some 

 beautiful in flower and foliage, others bearing curious 

 fruits, grow in this matted wilderness. It would be tedious 

 to enumerate many of them. I was much struck with the 

 variety of trees with large and diversely-shaped fruits 

 growing out of the trunk and branches, some within a 

 few inches of the ground, like the cacao. Most of them 

 are called by the natives Cupu, and the trees are of in- 



