INHABITANTS 



493 



any room in front of the house to sit down or walk about, 

 for, on our side of the square, the causeway was only two 

 feet broad, and to step over the boundary, formed by a 

 line of slippery stems of palms, was to sink up to the 

 knees in a sticky swamp. 



Notwithstanding damp and mosquitoes, I had capital 

 health, and enjoyed myself much at Fonte Boa ; swampy 

 and weedy places being generally more healthy than dry 

 ones on the Amazons, probably owing to the absence of 

 great radiation of heat from the ground. The forest 

 was extremely rich and picturesque, although the soil 

 was everywhere clayey and cold, and broad pathways 

 threaded it for many a mile over hill and dale. In 

 every hollow flowed a sparkling brook, with perennial 

 and crystal waters. The margins of these streams were 

 paradises of leafiness and verdure ; the most striking 

 feature being the variety of ferns, with immense leaves, 

 some terrestrial, others climbing over trees, and two, at 

 least, arborescent. I saw here some of the largest trees 

 I had yet seen ; there was one especially, a cedar, whose 

 colossal trunk towered up for more than a hundred 

 feet, straight as an arrow ; I never saw its crown, which 

 was lost to view, from below, beyond the crowd of lesser 

 trees which surrounded it. Birds and monkeys in this 

 glorious forest were very abundant ; the bear-like Pithecia 

 hirsuta being the most remarkable of the monkeys, and 

 the Umbrella Chatterer and Curl-crested Toucans amongst 

 the most beautiful of the birds. The Indians and half- 

 castes of the village have made their little plantations, 

 and built huts for summer residence on the banks of the 

 rivulets, and my rambles generally terminated at one or 

 other of these places. The people were always cheerful 

 and friendly, and seemed to be glad when I proposed 

 to join them at their meals, contributing the contents 

 of my provision-bag to the dinner, and squatting down 

 amongst them on the mat. 



The village was formerly a place of more importance 

 than it now is, a great number of Indians belonging to 

 the most industrious tribes, Shumanas, Passes, and Cam- 

 bevas, having settled on the site and adopted civilized 

 habits, their industry being directed by a few whites, 

 who seem to have been men of humane views as well as 

 enterprising traders. One of these old employers, Senhor 

 Guerreiro, a well-educated Paraense, was still trading on 



