1848.] 
MEXIANA. 
89 
perfect flat, the greatest elevations being a very few feet. 
Along the shore in most places, and extending along the 
banks of the creeks inland, is a belt of forest, varying in 
width from a hundred yards to half a mile, containing a 
few palms and lofty trees, and abundance of bamboos 
and climbers, rendering it almost impassable. The whole 
of the interior is campo, or open plain, covered with a 
coarse herbage, and in places sprinkled with round- 
headed palms, and with low branching trees bearing a 
profusion of yellow flowers. Scattered about, at inter- 
vals of a few miles, are clumps of trees and bushes, some 
very small, but others sufficiently extensive to form little 
forests. These are generally known as '' ilhas,” or islands, 
and many of them have separate names, as, “ Ilha do Sao 
Pedro,’' “ Ilha dos Urubus.” In the wet season a great 
part of the island appears to be flooded, and dead crabs 
and fresh-water shells are found a long way inland : 
these groves are then probably real islands, though not 
perceptibly above the general level. 
A phenomenon, which is seen on the banks of the 
Mississippi and most other rivers^ which overflow their 
banks, also occurs here. The land is highest near the 
water’s edge, and gradually falls inland, caused by the 
heavier sediment being deposited during floods at the 
shortest distance, while the lighter matter only is carried 
inland, and spread over a larger area. The surface of 
the campos is very uneven for walking, being in little 
clumps or hillocks, so that it is equally tiresome and 
fatiguing to walk on their summits or between them. 
The stems of the palms were all covered with orchideous 
plants, but they had now generally neither leaves nor 
