62 



TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON, [November, 



a few miles, are clumps of trees and bushes, some very small, 

 but others sufficiently extensive to form little forests. These 

 are generally known as " ilhas," or islands, and many of them 

 have separate names, as, " Ilha do Sao Pedro," " Ilha dos 

 Urubus." In the wet season a great part of the island appears 

 to be flooded, and dead crabs and fresh-water shells are found 

 a long way inland : these groves are then probably real islands, 

 though not perceptibly above the general level. 



A phenomenon, which is seen on the banks of the Mississippi 

 and most other rivers which overflow their banks, also occurs 

 here. The land is highest near the water's edge, and gradually 

 falls inland, caused by the heavier sediment being deposited 

 during floods at the shortest distance, while the lighter matter 

 only is carried inland, and spread over a larget area. The 

 surface of the campos is very uneven for walking, being in 

 little clumps or hillocks, so that it is equally tiresome and 

 fatiguing to walk on their summits or between them. The 

 stems of the palms were all covered with orchideous plants, 

 but they had now generally neither leaves nor flowers, and 

 seemed to be of very little variety of species. In the marshy 

 places shrubby convolvuli are abundant, and in others are large 

 beds of cassias and mimosas, while scattered among them are 

 many delicate little flowers. 



Long-tailed, light-coloured cuckoos were continually flying 

 about from tree to tree, uttering their peculiar note, not at all 

 like that of our cuckoo, but more like the creaking of a rusty 

 hinge, which the name given to them, Careric^ is intended to 

 resemble. Equally abundant are the black hornbill cuckoos, 

 called Anus ; and on almost every tree may be seen sitting a 

 hawk or buzzard, the variety of which is very great, as in a few 

 weeks I obtained eight different kinds. Pretty paroquets, with 

 white and orange bands on their wings, and others with an 

 orange-coloured crown, were very plentiful, and it was amusing 

 to watch the activity with which they climbed about over the 

 trees, and how suddenly and simultaneously they flew away 

 when alarmed. Their plumage is so near the colour of the 

 foliage, that it is sometimes impossible to see them, though 

 you may have watched a whole flock enter a tree, and can hear 

 them twittering overhead, when, after gazing until your patience 

 is exhausted they will suddenly fly ofl" with a scream of 

 triumph. 



