206 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



haunted by swarms of mosquitoes at night, and during 

 the day by a little biting fly called Pium, no less annoy- 

 ing. 



September V^th. — Another pause last evening at the vil- 

 lage of San Paolo, standing on a ridge which rises quite 

 steeply from the river and sinks again into a ravine be- 

 • hind. Throughout all this region the banks are eaten away 

 by the river, large portions falling into the water at a time, 

 and carrying the trees with them. These land-slides are 

 so frequent and so extensive as to make travelling along 

 the banks in small boats quite dangerous. The scenery 

 of the Solimoens is by no means so interesting as that of 

 the Lower Amazons. The banks are ragged and broken, 

 the forest lower, less luxuriant, and the palm growth very 

 fitful. For a day or two past we have scarcely seen any 

 palms. One kind seems common, however, namely, the 

 Paxiuba Barriguda — Pa-shee-oo-ba (Iriartea ventricosa), 

 a species not unlike the Assai in dignity of port, but 

 remarkable for the swelling of its stem at half height, 

 giving it a sort of spindle shape. The cut of the foliage 

 is peculiar also, each leaflet being wedge-shaped. The 

 steamer is often now between' the shores of the river itself 

 instead of coasting along by the many lovely islands which 

 make the voyage between Par4 and Manaos so diversified ; 

 what is thus gained in dimensions is lost in picturesqueness 

 of detail. Then the element of human life and habitations 

 is utterly wanting ; one often travels for a day without 

 meeting even so much as a hut. But if men are not to 

 be seen, animals are certainly plenty ; as our steamer puffs 

 along, great flocks of birds rise up from the shore, turtles 

 pop their black noses out of the water, alligators show 

 themselves occasionally, and sometimes a troop of brown 



