2 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
than half full, and the current is strong. There 
are numerous floating trunks and small grass-islands. 
At night it was very dark, and we frequently struck 
against these trunks, sometimes with a considerable 
shock which made us all run on deck, but no damage 
was done. On the afternoon of the 17th we passed 
the mouth of the large river Purus, which enters 
from the south. It is not wide but brings down 
a large volume of white water. 
Between Coary and Ega there is a long range 
of cliffs, which are much bored by kingfishers and 
by a small white-bellied sand-martin, scarcely larger 
than a humming-bird. . . . 
On the 25th we reached Sao Paulo d' Olivenca 
about noon. It stands on very high land, rising 
abruptly from the river about a hundred feet, but 
the site is fiat and the village contains several 
regular streets, though the houses are mostly 
miserable. The great concourse of people here 
is owing to its being the residence of a padre 
who suits them excellently and conforms in every- 
thing to their way of life, i.e. he is a gambler and 
indulges in every other vice of the country. 
I took a turn in the forest. The soil is a deep 
clay, in hollows scarcely passable in rainy weather. 
The valleys are all traversed by streams of clear 
water, and abound in tree-ferns, but apparently all 
of one common species. The caapoera vegetation 
is very luxuriant and comprised much that was 
new to me, especially a shrubby papilionaceous 
climber with delicate pinnate leaves (resembling 
Abrus te7iuifolius) and largish scarlet flowers, which 
hung in large masses from the lower trees and 
bushes. Also a low Nonatelia (Cinchonaceae) with 
