Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/176

 town in England. To him also I was indebted for many acts of kindness.

The rocinha was situated near a broad grassy road bordered by lofty woods, which leads from Cametá to the Aldeia, a village two miles distant. My first walks were along this road. From it branches another similar, but still more picturesque road, which runs to Curimá and Pacajá, two small settlements, several miles distant, in the heart of the forest. The Curimá road is beautiful in the extreme. About half a mile from the house where I lived it crosses a brook flowing through a deep dell, by means of a long rustic wooden bridge. The virgin forest is here left untouched; numerous groups of slender palms, mingled with lofty trees overrun with creepers and parasites, fill the shady glen and arch over the bridge, forming one of the most picturesque scenes imaginable. On the sunny slopes near this place, I found a great number of new and curious insects. A little beyond the bridge there was an extensive grove of orange and other trees, which also yielded me a rich harvest. The Aldeia road runs parallel to the river, the land from the border of the road to the indented shore of the Tocantins forming a long slope, which was also richly wooded; this slope was threaded by numerous shady paths and abounded in beautiful insects and birds. At the opposite or southern end of the town there was a broad road called the Estrada da Vacaria; this ran along the banks of the Tocantins at some distance from the river, and continued over hill and dale, through bamboo thickets and palm swamps, for about fifteen miles.