498 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
In the adjacent forest, however, there were 
several palms, including some smallish ones new to 
me, such as a small Bacaba (CEnocarpus) of 15 
feet with equidistant pinnae. Above the cataract 
the forest became dwarfer — more of a caatinga 
in character — containing several Assai'-zinhas and 
Bussiis ; and at some distance up begins a caranasal 
where Indians are accustomed to cut fronds of 
Mauritia Carand for thatch. 
Several fruits strewed the ground, but these 
were difficult to dry at this rainy season, besides 
that the leaves of the trees from which they had 
fallen were inaccessible. One fruit the size and 
shape of a hen's egg, with thin greyish-green cover- 
ing peeling off, and a thick woody endocarp with 
many radiating fibres, has a kernel tasting quite 
like that of Caryocars, yet the leaves were simple. 
The Indians call it Castanha-rana (wild chestnut). 
The bed of the Taruma is so level that in the 
season of flood the water of the Rio Negro enters 
it and flows up to the base of the fall, but a day's 
heavy rain produces a downward current, while 
during dry intervals the water remains almost 
motionless. 
To Sir William Hooker 
Barra do Rio Negro, /z/t?^ 5, 1855. 
I reached San Carlos on the 28th of August. 
This was a good time for descending the Rio Negro, 
and I had an opportunity of making the voyage 
along with Senhor Antonio Diaz (the manufacturer 
of the feather hammocks), who shortly afterwards 
went down to the Barra with two large vessels ; 
