i849.] 



SANTAREM. 



107 



expected to find more insects. We went on foot, carrying our 

 redes, guns, boxes, nets, and other necessaries for a week's 

 stay. On arriving, we found the only accommodation to 

 consist of a little low thatched hut, just large enough to hang 

 our hammocks in, and the only inhabitants four or five Negroes 

 belonging to the place. 



However, we soon made ourselves at home, and our little 

 coffee-pot supplied us with an unfailing and refreshing luxury. 

 We found in the forest several scarce butterflies pretty abun- 

 dant, and among them a new species of Catagra?nma, which 

 we had only met with very rarely at Para ; trogons and jacamars 

 were also plentiful, but there was not any great variety either 

 of birds or insects. There was no running stream here, but a 

 kind of moist, marshy flat, in which shallow holes were dug 

 and soon became filled with water, whence the only supply of 

 this necessary was obtained. 



On returning to the village my brother sprained his leg, 

 which swelled and formed an abscess above the knee, quite 

 preventing him from going out for a fortnight. After some 

 trouble I purchased a small canoe here, in which I intended 

 to return to Santarem, and afterwards proceed up the Amazon 

 to Barra, on the Rio Negro. 



A festa took place before we left. The church was decorated 

 with leaves and flowers, and sweetmeats were provided for all 

 visitors. Dancing and drinking then went on all night and 

 during the following day, and we were left to cook our own 

 meals, as our Indian was a performer on the violin, and did 

 not think it at all necessary to ask us in order to absent himself 

 two days. The Indians now came in from all the country 

 round, and I bought a number of the pretty painted calabashes 

 for which this place is celebrated. 



Soon after we returned to Santarem, where we found our 

 house occupied, but got another, consisting of two small mud- 

 floored rooms and a yard at the back, situated at the further 

 end of the town. We here engaged an old Negro woman to 

 cook for us, and soon got into a regular routine of living. 

 We rose at six, got ready our collecting-boxes, nets, etc., 

 while our old cook was preparing breakfast, which we took at 

 seven ; and having given her money to buy meat and vegetables 

 for dinner, started at eight for a walk of about three miles, to a 

 good collecting-ground we had found below the town. 



