Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/36

 to the poorer inhabitants of the place; but, excepting these, there are no roads, or signs of the proximity of a civilised settlement.

The sandy soil and scanty clothing of trees are probably the causes of the great dryness of the climate. In some years no rain falls from August to February; whilst in other parts of the Amazons plains, both above and below this middle part of the river, heavy showers are frequent throughout the dry season. I have often watched the rain-clouds in November and December, when the shrubby vegetation is parched up by the glowing sun of the preceding three months, rise as they approached the hot air over the campos, or diverge from it to discharge their contents on the low forest-clad islands of the opposite shore. The trade-wind, however, blows with great force during the dry months; the hotter the weather the stronger is the breeze, until towards the end of the season it amounts to a gale, stopping the progress of downward-bound vessels.

Some of the trees which grow singly on the campos are very curious. The caju is very abundant; indeed, some parts of the district might be called orchards of this tree, which seems to prefer sandy or gravelly soils. There appear to be several distinct species of it growing in company, to judge by the differences in the colour, flavour, and size of the fruit. This, when ripe, has the colour and figure of a codlin apple, but it has a singular appearance owing to the large kidney-shaped kernel growing outside the pulpy portion of the fruit. It ripens in January, and the poorer classes of Santarem then resort to the campos and gather immense quan-