VII 
AT MANAOS 
genus Schizaea — one preferring the most exposed 
situations, the other nestling under bushes, and 
both in considerable quantity — looking so very 
tropical as at once to disperse the illusion, if it had 
entered my head to fancy myself at home. Besides 
two grasses — one very minute, the other tall and 
leafy — and a single grass-like sedge, the only other 
herbaceous plants were an Asclepiadea with narrow 
leaves and drooping lurid flowers, and an orchid 
9 feet high, with broad fleshy distichous leaves but 
not in flower. 
The spot where we landed in order to reach the 
Umirisal was rocky, and afforded me several plants 
quite different from those on the campo. The 
whole of this northern coast above the Barra, so 
far as I have ascended it, is rocky, and forms my 
most profitable herborising ground. 
To Sir William Hooker 
Barra do Rio Negro, April i8, 185 1. 
Here, for three weeks together, I have not once 
gone out without returning completely soaked. 
Perhaps in consequence of the continued rains, the 
average temperature is lower, and therefore more 
agreeable than at Santarem. During the month of 
March, many days passed in which the thermometer 
never reached 80°, and the highest temperature I 
have registered for that month is only 84°. The 
maximum temperature for February is 88\ When 
the thermometer is low, that is, from 71° to 75 ', in 
a morning before sunrise, with a tolerably clear sky, 
I have found it a pretty sure indication of a fine 
