441 



large assemblages, which the Spanish Americans 

 cali guadales, or forests of bamboos. 



Our first resting place above Vasiva was 

 easily arranged. We found a little nook of 

 dry ground^ free from shrubs, to the south of 

 the Canno Curamuni, in a spot where we saw 

 some capuchin monkeys*, recognizable by their 

 black beard, and their gloomy and sullen air, 

 walking slowly on the horizontal branches of a 

 genipa. The five following nights were so 

 much the more troublesome, as we approached 

 the bifurcation of the Oroonoko. The luxuri- 

 ousness of the vegetation increases in a manner, 

 of which it is difficult even for those, who are 

 accustomed to the aspect of the forests between 

 the tropics, to form an idea. There is no longer 

 a beach : a palisade of tufted trees forms the 

 bank of the river. You see a canal two hun- 

 dred toises broad, bordered by two enormous 

 walls, clothed with lianas and foliage. We often 

 tried to land, but without being able to step out 

 of the boat. Toward sunset we sailed along the 

 bank for an hour, to discover, not an opening 

 (since none exists), but a spot less wooded, where 

 our Indians by means of the hatchet and ma- 

 nual labour, could gain space enough for a 

 resting place for twelve or thirteen persons. It 



* Simia chiropotes, a new species. (Sec my Rcc. d'Obs. 

 Zool., vol. i, [h 312, 315, 358.) 



