384 EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. Chap. VI. 
with his wife and children, seemed by no means pleased 
at being intruded on in their solitude. The family must 
have been very industrious ; for the plantations were 
very extensive, and included a little of almost all kinds 
of cultivated tropical productions : fruit trees, vegetables, 
and even flowers for ornament. ^ The silent old man had 
surely a fine appreciation of the beauties of nature : for 
the site he had chosen commanded a view of surprising 
magnificence over the summits of the forest ; and, to give 
finish to the prospect, he had planted a large quantity 
of banana trees in the foreground, thus concealing 
the charred and dead stumps which would otherwise 
have marred the effect of the rolling sea of greenery. 
The only information I could get out of Manoel was, 
that large flocks of richly-coloured birds came down in 
the fruit season and despoiled his trees. I collected here 
a great number of insects, including several new species. 
The sun set over the tree-tops before we left this little 
Eden, and the remainder of our journey was made 
slowly and pleasantly, under the chequered shades of 
the river banks, by the light of the moon. 
December 7th. — Arrived at Fonte Boa ; a wretched, 
muddy, and dilapidated village, situated two or three 
miles within the mouth of a narrow by-stream called 
the Cayhiar-hy, which runs almost as straight as an 
artificial canal between the village and the main Ama- 
zons. The character of the vegetation and soil here was 
different from that of all other localities I had hitherto 
examined ; I had planned, therefore, to devote six 
weeks to the place. Having written beforehand to one 
