138 
TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON, [AuffUSt, 
birds of the Amazon are the gulls and terns, which are 
in great abundance : all night long their cries are heard 
over the sand-banks, where they deposit their eggs, and 
during the day they constantly attracted our attention by 
their habit of sitting in a row on a floating log, some- 
times a dozen or twenty side by side, and going for 
miles down the stream as grave and motionless as if 
they were on some very important business. These 
birds deposit their eggs in little hollows in the sand, and 
the Indians say that during the heat of the day they 
carry water in their beaks to moisten them and prevent 
their being roasted by the glowing rays of the sun. 
Besides these there are divers and darters in abundance, 
porpoises are constantly blowing in every direction, and 
alligators are often seen slowly swimming across the 
river. 
On the north bank of the Amazon, for about two 
hundred miles, are ranges of low hills, which, as well as 
the country between them, are partly bare and partly 
covered with brush and thickets. They vary from 300 
to 1000 feet high, and extend inland, being probably 
connected with the mountains o^ Cayenne and Guiana. 
After passing them there are no more hills visible from 
the river for more than two thousand miles, till we reach 
the lowest ranges of the Andes : they are called the 
Serras de Paru, and terminate in the Serras de Monte- 
alegre, near the little village of Montealegre, about one 
hundred miles below Santarem. A few other small vil- 
lages were passed, and here and there some Brazilian’s 
country-house or Indian’s cottage, often completely bu- 
ried in the forest. Pishermen were sometimes seen in 
