YGAPO FOREST 



427 



The tract of forest through which we passed was Ygapo, 

 but the higher parts of the land formed areas which went 

 only a very few inches under water in the flood season. 

 It consisted of a most bewildering diversity of grand and 

 beautiful trees, draped, festooned, corded, matted, and 

 ribboned with climbing plants, woody and succulent, in 

 endless variety. The most prevalent palm was the tall 

 Astryocaryum Jauari, whose fallen spines made it neces- 

 sary to pick our way carefully over the ground, as we 

 were all barefoot. There was not much green under- 

 wood, except in places where Bamboos grew ; these 

 formed impenetrable thickets of plumy foliage and thorny, 

 jointed stems, which always compelled us to make a 

 circuit to avoid them. The earth elsewhere was encum- 

 bered with rotting fruits, gigantic bean-pods, leaves, 

 limbs, and trunks of trees, fixing the impression of its 

 being the cemetery as well as the birthplace of the great 

 world of vegetation overhead. Some of the trees were of 

 prodigious height. We passed many specimens of the 

 Moratinga, whose cylindrical trunks, I dare not say how 

 many feet in circumference, towered up and were lost 

 amidst the crowns of the lower trees, their lower branches, 

 in some cases, being hidden from our view. Another very 

 large and remarkable tree was the Assacu (Sapium aucu- 

 parium). A traveller on the Amazons, mingling with the 

 people, is sure to hear much of the poisonous qualities of 

 the juices of this tree. Its bark exudes, when hacked 

 with a knife, a milky sap, which is not only a fatal poison 

 when taken internally, but is said to cause incurable sores 

 if simply sprinkled on the skin. My companions always 

 gave the Assacu a wide berth when we passed one. The 

 tree looks ugly enough to merit a bad name, for the bark 

 is of a dingy olive colour, and is studded with short and 

 sharp, venomous-looking spines. 



After walking about half a mile we came upon a dry 

 watercourse, where we observed, first, the old footmarks 

 of a tapir, and, soon after, on the margins of a curious 

 circular hole full of muddy water, the fresh tracks of a 

 Jaguar. This latter discovery was hardly made, when a 

 rush was heard amidst the bushes on the top of a sloping 

 bank on the opposite side of the dried creek. We bounded 

 forward ; it was, however, too late, for the animal had 

 sped in a few moments far out of our reach. It was clear 

 we had disturbed, on our approach, the Jaguar, whilst 



