1849.] 



AN AGREEABLE PICNIC, 



97 



tarem, who had resided there many years, and were married to 

 Brazilian women. A day or two after our arrival they invited 

 'js to take a trip up to a pretty stream which forms a small 

 lake a mile or two above the town. We went in a neat canoe, 

 with several Indians and Negros, and plenty of provisions, to 

 make an agreeable picnic. The place was very picturesque, 

 with dry sands, old trees, and shady thickets, where we amused 

 ourselves shooting birds, catching insects, and examining the 

 new forms of vegetation which were everywhere abundant. 

 The clear, cool water invited us to a refreshing bathe, after 

 which we dined, and returned home by moonlight in the 

 evening. 



I was acquainted with the " Juiz de direito," having met him 

 in Para, and he now very kindly offered to lend me an excellent 

 canoe to go to Montealegre, and to give me introductions to 

 his friends there ; but he had no men to spare, so these I had 

 to obtain as I could. This was, as is always the case here, a 

 difficult matter. Captain H. went with me to the Command- 

 ante, who promised to give me three Indians, but after waiting 

 a whole week we got only two ; the Juiz, however, kindly lent 

 me one with his canoe, and with these we started. The first 

 night we stayed at a cacao-plantation, where we got some 

 excellent fresh fish. In the morning we took a w^alk among 

 the cacao-trees, and caught numbers of a butterfly {Didonis 

 hiblis)^ which, though a common South American species, we 

 had never found either at Santarem or Para ; nor did I ever 

 after see it until I reached Javita, near the sources of the Rio 

 Negro. As another instance of the peculiar distribution of 

 these insects, I may mention that during four years' collecting 

 I saw the beautiful Epicalia Numilius only twice, — once at 

 Para, and once at Javita, stations two thousand miles apart. 



In the afternoon, just as we reached the mouth of the little 

 river that flows by Montealegre, a violent storm came on 

 suddenly, producing a heavy sea, and nearly capsizing our 

 boat, which the men did not very well know how to manage ; 

 but, after being some time in considerable danger, we got 

 safely into smooth water, and, after about two hours' rowing 

 up a winding stream, reached the village. The banks were 

 mostly open, grassy, and half-flooded, with clumps of trees at 

 intervals. Near the village was a range of high rocks, of a fine 

 red and yellow colour, which we afterwards found to be merely 



