Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/61

To the south my rambles never extended further than the banks of the Irurá, a stream which rises amongst the hills already spoken of, and running through a broad valley, wooded along the margins of the water-courses, falls into the Tapajos, at the head of the bay of Mapirí. All beyond, as before remarked, is terra incognita to the inhabitants of Santarem. The Brazilian settlers on the banks of the Amazons seem to have no taste for explorations by land, and I could find no person willing to accompany me on an excursion further towards the interior. Such a journey would be exceedingly difficult in this country, even if men could be obtained willing to undertake it. Besides, there were reports of a settlement of fierce runaway negroes on the Serra de Mururarú, and it was considered unsafe to go far in that direction, except with a large armed party. I visited the banks of the Irurá and the rich woods accompanying it, and two other streams in the same neighbourhood, one called the Panéma, and the other the Urumarí, once or twice a week during the whole time of my residence in Santarem, and made large collections of their natural productions. These forest brooks, with their clear cold waters brawling over their sandy or pebbly beds through wild tropical glens, always had a great charm for me. The beauty of the moist, cool, and luxuriant glades was heightened by the contrast they afforded to the sterile country around them. The bare or scantily wooded hills which surround the valley are parched by the rays of the vertical sun. One of them, the Pico do Irurá, forms a nearly perfect cone, rising from a small grassy plain to a height