XV FROM MANAOS to TARAPOTO 27 
the ever-varying forest-panorama — the broad beaches 
densely clad with Arrow-reeds growing 20 or 30 
feet high, behind which extended beds of slender 
and graceful willows [Salix Huinboldtiana), their 
yellow - green foliage relieved by the occasional 
admixture of the broad white leaves of Cecropia 
peltata (a tree of the Mulberry tribe), while beyond 
rose abruptly the lofty virgin forest, composed of 
trees of the most different types growing side by 
side. Add to this the noble river, the innumerable 
islands (fixed and floating), the cranes and herons, 
the never-failing alligators, the fresh-water dolphins 
chasing one another and turning summersets," 
besides numerous other sights and sounds which I 
cannot here enumerate — the whole viewed leisurely 
and ociosamente at one's ease "), free from any 
tormenting recurrence of mosquitoes, and you will 
understand that a voyage up the Amazon in a 
steamer has enjoyments peculiar to itself, although 
one's nerves may be occasionally shaken by the 
vessel scraping on a snag, or by the sudden assault 
of a violent thunderstorm. Oh that these had been 
the only troubles ! But as we were only about half 
the time under way — the other half being spent in 
embarking firewood, a cargo of mosquitoes always 
coming on board, uninvited, along with the latter 
(and I think the higher you ascend the Amazon the 
more numerous and voracious they become) — you 
may say that we were half the voyage in paradise 
and the other half in purgatory. 
The Monarca is a small but strongly-built iron 
steamer, with low-pressure engines of 35 horse- 
power which occupy so much space as to leave very 
little for cargo. The firewood also took up a deal 
