Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/92

 a large black rosary round his neck, promised me two Indians to complete my crew, if I would wait a few days until they had finished felling trees for a new plantation. Meantime my men had to make a new sail and repair the rigging, and I explored the rich woods of the vicinity.

Captain Thomas sent his son one day to show me the best paths. A few steps behind the houses we found ourselves in the virgin forest. The soil was sandy, and the broad path sloped gently up towards the high ridge which forms so beautiful a back-ground to the village. From the top of the hill a glimpse of the bay is obtained through the crowns of the trees. The road then descends, and so continues for many miles over hill and dale. There are no habitations, however, in this direction; the road having been made by people formerly employed in felling timber. The forest at Altar do Chaõ is noted for its riches in choice woods, and its large laurel and Itauba trees, which are used in building river schooners. The beautiful tortoise-shell wood, Moira piníma, minutely barred and spotted with red and black, which is made into walking-sticks by Brazilian carpenters, and exported as such in some numbers to Portugal, was formerly abundant here; it is the heart-wood of a tree I believe unknown to science, and is obtainable only in logs a few inches in diameter. The Moira coatiára (striped wood), a most beautiful material for cabinet work, being close-grained and richly streaked with chocolate-brown on a yellow ground, is another of these, and is also the heart-wood of a tree, but obtainable in logs a foot or