Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/62

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CHAPTER II.

PARÁ—continued.

The Swampy forests of Pará—A Portuguese landed proprietor—Country house at Nazareth—Life of a Naturalist under the equator—The drier virgin forests—Magoary—Retired creeks—Aborigines.


After having resided about a fortnight at Mr. Miller's rocinha we heard of another similar country-house to be let, much better situated for our purpose, in the village of Nazareth, a mile and a half from the city and close to the forest. The owner was an old Portuguese gentleman named Danin, who lived at his tile manufactory at the mouth of the Una, a small river lying two miles below Pará. We resolved to walk to his place through the forest, a distance of three miles, although the road was said to be scarcely passable at this season of the year, and the Una much more easily accessible by boat. We were glad, however, of this early opportunity of traversing the rich swampy forest which we had admired so much from the deck of the ship; so, about eleven o'clock one sunny morning, after procuring the necessary information about the road, we set off in that direction. This part of the forest afterwards became one of my best hunting-grounds. I will narrate the incidents of the walk, giving my first impressions and