308 STAY ON THE RIO GRANDE DE BELMONTE, 



distinguishable among the grey rocks : hence these savages can very 

 easily approach unperceived, and the soldiers, in other places, who 

 are at war with them, must therefore be extremely cautious. We de- 

 sired this savage, who was sitting there alone, to swim over to us ; 

 but he gave us to understand that the river was too rapid, and that 

 he would return to the Quartel do Salto, which was not far off, and 

 there wait for us. On the north bank also we perceived some Boto- 

 cudos, who were going out a-huntmg with one of the soldiers of the 

 Quartel : they too refused to come down to us. We rowed past a 

 high rocky cliff of a blackish colour, traversed with veins of yellow 

 quartz, and soon arrived at the landing-place of the Quartel do Salto. 



A considerable cataract near this military post rendering the river 

 wholly unnavigable, it is necessary to go on shore at this place, and to 

 proceed by land over a mountain ; beyond the Quartel, you may em- 

 bark again in other canoes. I had my baggage landed and carried to 

 the Quartel. The way leads up a steep cliff, where a small shed has 

 been built for the goods going to Minas, which are landed here. On 

 the summit you enter a forest, where hromelia plants covering the 

 ground form an impenetrable thicket : begonias, five or six feet high, 

 with their large leaves*, grow in abundance. Here stood, of colossal 

 circumference, the homhax ventricosa of Arruda, the stem of which 

 is smaller towards the ground, and under the crown, but bellying out 

 in the middle, on which account the Portuguese have given it the name 

 of barrigudo. There are several kinds of this protuberant bombax ; 

 one has a smooth bark, only a little channelled ; in another, the stem 

 is covered with short, strong, blunt thorns ; the leaves, which stand 

 singly on the thin, and not very branching crown, are palmated. 

 The flowers are large and beautiful, of a whitish colour; as soon as 



* The begonia genus has very numerous species in Brazil, some of which grow to a con- 

 siderable height and size. 



