78 
yOYAGE UP THE TAPAJOS. 
Chap. IL 
a large black rosary round his neck, promised me two 
Indians to complete my crew, if I would wait a few 
days until they had finished felling trees for a new 
plantation. Meantime my men had to make a new 
sail and repair the rigging, and I explored the rich 
woods of the vicinity. 
Captain Thomas sent his son one day to show me the 
best paths. A few steps behind the houses we found 
ourselves in the virgin forest. The soil was sandy, and 
the broad path sloped gently up towards the high ridge 
which forms so beautiful a back-ground to the village. 
From the top of the hill a glimpse of the bay is ob- 
tained through the crowns of the trees. The road then 
descends, and so continues for many miles over hill 
and dale. There are no habitations, however, in this 
direction ; the road having been made by people for- 
merly employed in felling timber. The forest at Altar 
do Chao is noted for its riches in choice woods, and 
its large laurel and Itauba trees, which are used in 
building river schooners. The beautiful tortoise-shell 
wood, Moira pinima, minutely barred and spotted 
with red and black, which is made into walking- 
sticks by Brazilian carpenters, and exported as such 
in some numbers to Portugal, was formerly abundant 
here ; it is the heart- wood of a tree I believe unknown 
to science, and is obtainable only in logs a few inches 
in diameter. The Moira coatiara (striped wood), a 
most beautiful material for cabinet work, being close- 
grained and richly streaked with chocolate-brown on a 
yellow ground, is another of these, and is * also the 
heart-wood of a tree, but obtainable in logs a foot or 
