XIV 
DOWN THE RIO NEGRO 
497 
feet high. The upper stratum of the cHff is of hard 
whitish sandstone, and projects considerably beyond 
the lower, which are of softer stone with thin 
alternating layers of vermilion strong-smelling 
earth. It is thus easy to walk under the cataract 
without being wetted, though the rocks drip here 
and there and are everywhere thickly clad with 
ferns and Hepatic^, but especially with Selaginellae, 
of which I gathered four species not found in the 
adjacent forests. The water falls into a deep 
trough, from which spray dashes out and is borne 
downward by the violent wind caused by the rush 
of the cataract. The water winds away among 
mossy blocks and then is lost beneath them for a 
considerable distance. From among these blocks 
springs a tree to the height of some lOO feet, the 
spreading sapopemas (buttresses) at its base clad 
by Mic7^opterygiu77i leiophylhL7n and a Plagiochila 
(Hepatics), the trunk rough with termites' nests, on 
which Philodendrons (Araceae) and a Carludovica 
(Pandaneae) have established themselves. This tree 
bore numerous grey fruits the size of an orange, 
but I could not distinguish the form of the leaves, 
and my guide could not give me a name for the 
tree, as, he said, the fruit was not edible. It was 
probably a Caryocar (Rhizobolese). From top to 
bottom of the cataract hangs a thick rough rope of 
tangled black rootlets proceeding from a tree on its 
edge. 
The whole aspect of this mossy cirque, with its 
broad riband of falling water, embosomed in dense 
luxuriant forest, in which was visible no palm, was 
something of an admixture of tropical scenery with 
that of temperate climes. - - -- 
VOL. I 2 K 
