100 



TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON. 



[September, 



they very truly call them, it being the only thing that has any 

 effect. Having now got an Indian to cook for us, we every 

 afternoon sent him to gather a basket of this necessary article, 

 and just before sunset we lighted an old earthen pan full of it 

 at our bedroom door, in the verandah, so as to get as much 

 smoke as possible, by means of which we could, by walking 

 about, pass an hour pretty comfortably. In the evening every 

 house and cottage has its pan of burning dung, which gives 

 rather an agreeable odour ; and as there are plenty of cows 

 and cattle about, this necessary of life is always to be pro- 

 cured. 



We found the country here an undulating, sandy plain, in 

 some places thickly covered with bushes, in others with larger 

 scattered trees. Along the banks of the streams were some 

 flat places and steep banks, all thickly clothed with wood, 

 while at a distance of ten or twelve miles were several fine rocky 

 mountains, on one of which was a curious and conspicuous 

 pillar of rock, with a flat overhanging cap, something like a tall 

 mushroom. The cactus before mentioned was everywhere 

 abundant, and often in the most magnificent and lofty masses. 

 Pine-apples were found growing wild in large beds in the 

 thickets, and the cashew was also general. On the rocky 

 slopes above the river were numerous springs gushing out, 

 where on the moistened rock grew curious ferns and mosses 

 and pretty creeping plants. These shady groves formed our 

 best collecting-ground for insects. Here we first found the 

 beautiful indigo-blue butterfly, the Callithea Leprieurii^ sitting 

 on leaves in the shade, and afterwards more abundantly on 

 stems from which a black gummy sap was exuding. Here 

 were also many trogons and jacamars, and a curious creeper, 

 with a long sickle-shaped bill \Dendrocolaptes sp.). 



We much wished to visit the serras, which daily seemed 

 more inviting ; and the account we had heard of the Indian 

 picture-writings which exist there increased our curiosity. We 

 accordingly borrowed a small montaria of Senhor Nunez, as 

 we had to go five or six miles by water to a cattle estate 

 situated at the foot of the mountain. Our canoe was furnished 

 with a mat sail, made of strips of the bark of a large water- 

 plant, and as soon as we got away from the village we hoisted 

 it and were carried briskly along : it was rather nervous work 

 at times, as the sail was far too heavy for the canoe, and 



