SANTAREM. 
157 
1849 .] 
old Negro woman to cook for us, and soon got into a 
regular routine of living. We rose at six, got ready our 
collecting-boxes, nets, etc., while our old cook was pre- 
paring breakfast, which we took at seven ; and having 
given her money to buy meat and vegetables for dinner, 
started at eight for a walk of about three miles, to a good 
collecting-ground we had found below the town. 
We staid hard at work till about two or three in the 
afternoon, generally procuring some new and interesting 
insects. Here was the haunt of the beautiful CallitJiea 
sapphira, one of the most lovely of butterflies, and of 
numerous curious and brilliant little Erycinida. As we 
returned we staid to bathe in the Tapajoz, and on ar- 
riving at home immediately ate a water-melon, which 
was always ready for us, and which at that time we 
found most grateful and refreshing. We then changed 
our clothes, dined, set out our insects, and in the cool of 
the evening took tea, and called on, or received visits 
from, our Brazilian or English friends — among whom was 
now Mr. Spruce, the botanist, who arrived here from 
Para shortly after we had returned from Montealegre. 
The constant hard exercise, pure air, and good living, 
notwithstanding the intense heat, kept us in the most 
perfect health, and I have never altogether enjoyed my- 
self so much. In Santarem there is an abundance of 
beef, fish, milk, and fruits, a dry soil, and clear water, — a 
conjunction of advantages seldom to be met with in this 
country. There were some boggy meadows here, more 
like those of Europe than one often sees so near the 
equator, on which were growing pretty small Melastcmas 
and other flowers. The paths and campos were covered 
