264 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
Short walks near the house afforded me several 
Melastomae and other interesting plants. 
[Before proceeding with the description of the 
perilous ascent of the cataracts between Uanauaca 
and Sao Gabriel, I will insert two letters giving 
very picturesque descriptions of the voyage so far, 
the first to Mr. John Smith, at that time Curator 
of the Kew Gardens, giving a familiar sketch of the 
botanical aspects of the voyage, and the novelties 
he was able to collect ; the second to his old friend 
and neighbour, Mr. John Teasdale, with a more 
general account of the voyage, written with much 
of the freedom and vivacity of familiar conversation, 
and constituting together a supplement to the rather 
formal and meagre narrative given in the Journal] 
To Mr. John Smith, Royal Gardens, Kew 
SiTio DE Uanauaca, 
Below the Falls of Sao Gabriel, 
Rio Negro, Dec. 28, 185 1. 
Thus far have I advanced into the bowels of 
the land without impediment " ; and before adven- 
turing the falls (where I may possibly get a duck- 
ing) I seize an opportunity of sending you the 
seeds of a beautiful Lythraceous tree which I 
collected on my way up. It grows on a sandy 
shore about 20 miles above the Barra, and I had 
gathered flowers of it on the ist of October. Its 
habit is almost that of Lagerstroemia indica, but 
the flowers are still more showy ; and as I saw no 
tree above 25 feet high, and all were clad with 
flowers almost to the ground, I have no doubt you 
will be able to flower it at 4 or 5 feet high. It 
