Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/134

 We continued 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 Ca//thea safphira, one of the most lovely of butterflies, and of numerous curious and brilliant little Erycinedæ. As we returned we stayed to bathe in the Tapajoz, and on arriving at home immediately ate a watermelon, 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 Pará 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 myself so much. In Santarem there is an abundance of beef, fish, milk, and fruits, a dry soil, and clear water,—a conjunction of advantages scldom 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 Melastomas and other flowers. ‘The paths and campcs were covered with flowering myrtles, tall Melastomas, and numbers of passion-flowers, convolvuluses, and bignonias. At the back of the town, a mile or two off, were some bare conical hills, to which I paid some visits. They were entirely formed of scorize, and were as barren and uninviting as can possibly be imagined. A curious tidal phenomenon was to be seen here : the tide rises in the Amazon to considerably above Santarem, but it never flows up, the water merely rising and falling. The river Tapajoz had now very little water, and its surface was below the level of the Amazon at high water, so that the tide was every day seen to flow up the Tapajoz, while a hundred yards out in the stream of the Amazon it was still flowing rapidly down.

It was now November, and as some rain had fallen, and gloomy weather had set in, we determined to start for the Rio Negro as soon as we could. Our canoe was at length ready, having taken us a long time to repair the bottom, which was quite rotten. After much delay the Commandante had procured us three Indians, who were to go with us only to Obydos,