VARIETY OF TREES 
the kind locally called seringa preta, a black rubber which 
was coagulated with the smoke of the coco de palmeira. 
He calculated that 150 rubber trees gave about fourteen 
kilos of rubber a day. The seringa preta exuded latex 
all the year round, even during the rainy season. 
There was in that region also another kind of rubber 
tree — the itauba — but it was of inferior quality, as the 
latex was too liquid, like reddish milk, quite weak, and 
with little elasticity. 
A few trees of the castanha do Para were also found 
in that region, producing the well-known nut which has 
rendered Brazil famous in England. 
Solveira trees were also plentiful all over that district, 
and gave latex which was good to drink; while another 
tree, called the amapa, exuded latex somewhat thinner 
than that of the solveira } which was supposed to be bene¬ 
ficial in cases of consumption or tuberculosis. 
Very interesting were the different liane in the forest 
there, particularly the cepa de agua, which when cut gave 
most delicious fresh water to drink. The Utica was a 
smaller liane, which was most troublesome when you went 
through the forest, as it generally caught you and twisted 
round your feet, as it lay for long distances along the 
ground. 
Another wild fruit which was abundant there was the 
pajurd; dark in colour, soft-skinned, most palatable and 
quite nourishing, but which gave an insatiable thirst after 
you had eaten it. 
We resumed our journey among a lot of islands, 
traversing the Cabeceira de Piquarana. The main rapid 
was formidable enough, although nothing in comparison 
with the rapids we had gone over on the Arinos-Juruena 
River. There was a barrier of rock extending from west- 
southwest to east-northeast across the river, which was 
there 1,500 metres broad and of great beauty, with hillocks 
on either side and some small islets in mid-stream. 
319 
