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SANTAREM 



the hand. Descending into the valley, a small brook 

 has to be crossed, and then half a mile of sandy plain, 

 whose vegetation wears a peculiar aspect, owing to the 

 predominance of a stemless palm, the Curua (Attalea 

 spectabilis), whose large, beautifully pinnated, rigid leaves 

 rise directly from the soil. The fruit of this species is 

 similar to the coco-nut, containing milk in the interior 

 of the kernel, but it is much inferior to it in size. Here, 

 and indeed all along the road, we saw, on most days 

 in the wet season, tracks of the Jaguar. We never, how- 

 ever, met with the animal, although we sometimes heard 

 his loud ' hough ' in the night whilst lying in our ham- 

 mocks at home, in Santarem, and knew he must be lurking 

 somewhere near us. 



My best hunting ground was a part of the valley shel- 

 tered on one side by a steep hill whose declivity, like the 

 swampy valley beneath, was clothed with magnificent 

 forest. We used to make our halt in a small cleared 

 place, tolerably free from ants and close to the water. 

 Here we assembled after our toilsome morning's hunt in 

 different directions through the woods, took our well- 

 earned meal on the ground — two broad leaves of the wild 

 banana serving us for a tablecloth — and rested for a couple 

 of hours during the great heat of the afternoon. The 

 diversity of animal productions was as wonderful as that 

 of the vegetable forms in this rich locality. I find by 

 my register that it was not unusual to meet with thirty 

 or forty new species of conspicuous insects during a day's 

 search, even after I had made a great number of trips 

 to the same spot. It was pleasant to lie down during the 

 hottest part of the day, when my people lay asleep, and 

 watch the movements of animals. Sometimes a troop 

 of Anus (Crotophaga), a glossy black-plumaged bird, 

 which lives in small societies in grassy places, would come 

 in from the campos, one by one, calling to each other as 

 they moved from tree to tree. Or a Toucan (Rhamphastos 

 ariel) silently hopped or ran along and up the branches, 

 peeping into chinks and crevices. Notes of solitary birds 

 resounded from a distance through the wilderness. Oc- 

 casionally a sulky Trogon would be seen, with its brilliant 

 reen back and rose-coloured breast, perched for an houer 

 without moving on a low branch. A number of large, 

 fat lizards two feet long, of a kind called by the natives 

 Jacuaru (Teius teguexim) were always observed in the 



