t, with Professor
Agassiz. Passing into its narrow entrance, the lofty trees arching
overhead shelter the voyager in his light canoe from the glaring heat of
the noonday sun. The air is cool and refreshing. Not a ripple stirs
the water, save that caused by the paddles of the Indian crew. Clumps
of the light and exquisitely graceful assai-palm shoot up everywhere on
either side from the denser forest. Here and there the drooping bamboo
dips its feathery branches into the water, covered sometimes to their
very tips with the purple of convolvuli; yellow bignonias carry their
golden clusters to the very summits of some of the more lofty trees;
while white-flowering myrtles and orange-coloured mallows border the
stream. Life abounds in this quiet retreat. Birds and butterflies are
numerous on the margin of the water. Crabs of every variety of colour
and size sit on the trunks of decaying logs, watching for their prey,--
to make their escape, however, with nimble feet, when pursued.

Or let us start before daylight, on a calm morning, along the banks of a
larger tributary, to proceed towards the heights of the Sierra Erere.
As dawn begins to redden the sky, large flocks of ducks and of a small
Amazonian goose may be seen flying towards the lake. Here and there we
see a cormorant, seated alone on the branch of a dead tree; or a
kingfisher poises himself over the water, watching for his prey.
Numerous gulls are gathered in large companies on the trees along the
river-shore. Alligators lie on its surface, diving with a sudden splash
at the approach of the canoe. Occasionally a porpoise emerges from the
water, showing himself for a moment, and then disappearing. Sometimes a
herd of capybaras, resting on the water's edge, are startled at our
approach.

There sits, on the branch of an imbauba, rolled-up in its peculiar
attitude, a sloth, the very picture of indolence, with its head sunk
between its arms. The banks, covered in many places with the beautiful
capim-grass, afford excellent pasturage for cattle.

Now we turn into an inner stream, or igarape, often having to make our
way with difficulty amid islands of capim-grass. Now we pass through a
magnificent forest of the beautiful fan-palm--the miriti--overshadowing
many smaller trees and innumerable shrubs, bearing light conspicuous
flowers. Among them are numerous Leguminosae--one of the most striking,
the fava, having a colossal pod.

The whole mass of veget