ge
white buildings, and some temporary constructions of mud with palm-leaf
roofs, all of them situated on a high bank. The place was at the entrance
of a wide channel, dry and sandy. When this was filled by the stream at
high water a long island was formed.

Bella Vista was a great point for us, for there we should meet steam
navigation again, Col. Brazil having purchased a handsome steamer which
performed the service between that place and Belem (Para).

[Illustration: A Street in Iquitos.]

[Illustration: The Launch "Rimac" on the Ucayalli River.]

I broke down altogether while there, and was nursed with the tenderest
care by the family of Mr. Lage, who was in charge of that trading
station. It is difficult to imagine more kind-hearted, generous people
than these exiles in those deadly regions. All the employes at the
station were in a pitiable condition, suffering from malarial fever.

When the steamer _Commandante Macedo_ arrived--she only came once a month
in order to bring down the rubber--I went in her to the first town we had
seen since leaving Diamantino, a place called Itaituba. It seemed to us
as if we had dropped into London or Paris again, although the place
merely consisted of a few red-roofed houses, the walls of which were
gaily coloured, bright yellow, green, or white. Palm trees of great size
showed here and there beyond the row of buildings as we approached the
place on its high site.

Prominent along the river front were magnificently vigorous mango trees,
with luxuriant foliage. A brick and stone church, unfinished, was
visible, with a great pile of bricks in front waiting in vain for money
and labour to complete it. The grand square, with its pretty
_Intendencia_ coloured bright blue, formed the end, on the west, of that
most important "town" on the Tapajoz. In the centre of the square was a
well-executed bust of Correa.

The most prominent feature of the place, however, was the elevated
landing-stage, some 30 ft. above the level of the river at low water,
erected there for loading and unloading when the river rose. The town was
divided by three longitudinal avenues, the central one also with rows of
magnificent mango trees, which indeed seemed to flourish at that place. I
was particularly struck by the wonderful tidiness and cleanliness, the
good drainage of the streets, and the upkeep of the different houses, of
which the people seemed proud. Everybody was well off, owing to the
rubber in