178 
TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 
{May, j 
But wliat lovely yellow flower is that suspended in | 
the air between two trunks, yet far from either? It ■ ™ 
shines in the gloom as if its petals were of gold. Now 
we pass close by it, and see its stalk, like a slender wire ^ ' 
a yard and a half long, springing from a cluster of thick 
leaves on the bark of a tree. It is an Oncidium, one of ^ 
the lovely orchis tribe, making these gloomy shades gay ^ 
with its airy and brilliant flowers. Presently there are 
more of them, and then others appear, with white and 
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spotted and purple blossoms, some growing on rotten i; 
logs floating in the water, but most on moss and decay- | 
ing bark just above it. There is one magnificent species, - , 
four inches across, called by the natives St. Ann’s flower f 
(Plor de Santa Anna), of a brilliant purple colour, and ; 
emitting a most delightful odour ; it is a new species, | 
and the most magnificent flower of its kind in these re- 
gions ; even the natives will sometimes deign to admire I 
it, and to wonder how such a beautiful flower grows 
“atoa” (uselessly) in the Gapo. 
At length, after about eight hours’ paddling, we came | 
out again into the broad waters of the Solimoes. How 
bright shone the sun ! how gay flowed the stream ! how 
pleasant it was again to see the floating grass islands, 
and the huge logs and trees, with their cargoes of gulls 
sitting gravely upon them ! These, with the white-leaved 
and straggling umboobas {Cecropias), give an aspect to " 
the Amazon quite distinct from that of the Bio Negro, ® 
independently of their differently-coloured waters. Now \ 
however there was no land to be reached, and we feared T ] 
we should have to sup on farinha and water, but luckily ! 
'I 
found a huge floating trunk fast moored amongst some 
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