Chap. I. 
CAMPOS. 
21 
foot. The patches of wood look like copses m the 
middle of green meadows ; they are called by the 
natives ''ilhas de mato/' or islands of jungle ; the name 
being, no doubt, suggested by their compactness of 
outline, neatly demarcated in insular form from the 
smooth carpet of grass around them. They are com- 
posed of a great variety of trees, loaded with succulent 
parasites, and lashed together by woody climbers, like 
the forest in other parts. A narrow belt of dense wood, 
similar in character to these ilhas, and like them 
sharply limited along its borders, runs everywhere 
parallel and close to the river. In crossing the campo, 
the path from the town ascends a little for a mile or 
two, passing through this marginal strip of wood ; the 
grassy land then slopes gradually to a broad valley, 
watered by rivulets, whose banks are clothed with lofty 
and luxuriant forest. Beyond this, a range of hills ex- 
tends as far as the eye can reach towards the yet un- 
trodden interior. Some of these hills are long ridges, 
wooded or bare ; others are isolated conical peaks, rising 
abruptly from the valley. The highest are probably not 
more than a thousand feet above the level of the river. 
One remarkable hill, the Serra de Muruaru, about fifteen 
miles from Santarem, which terminates the prospect to 
the south, is of the same truncated pyramidal form as 
the range of hills near Almeyrim. Complete solitude 
reigns over the whole of this stretch of beautiful country. 
The inhabitants of Santarem know nothing of the in- 
terior, and seem to feel little curiosity concerning it. 
A few tracks from the town across the campo lead to 
some small clearings four or five miles off, belonging 
