extends all the way to Maranham and in other directions, as we
were told, a distance of about 300 miles southward and eastward
of Para. In almost every hollow part the road was crossed by a
brook, whose cold, dark, leaf-stained waters were bridged over by
tree trunks. The ground was carpeted, as usual, by Lycopodiums,
but it was also encumbered with masses of vegetable debris and a
thick coating of dead leaves. Fruits of many kinds were scattered
about, amongst which were many sorts of beans, some of the pods a
foot long, flat and leathery in texture, others hard as stone. In
one place there was a quantity of large empty wooden vessels,
which Isidoro told us fell from the Sapucaya tree. They are
called Monkey's drinking-cups (Cuyas de Macaco), and are the
capsules which contain the nuts sold under the name just
mentioned, in Covent Garden Market. At the top of the vessel is a
circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly. When the nuts
are ripe this lid becomes loosened and the heavy cup falls with a
crash, scattering the nuts over the ground. The tree which yields
the nut (Lecythis ollaria), is of immense height. It is closely
allied to the Brazil-nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), whose seeds
are also enclosed in large woody vessels; but these have no lid,
and fall to the ground intact. This is the reason why the one
kind of nut is so much dearer than the other. The Sapucaya is not
less abundant, probably, than the Bertholletia, but its nuts in
falling are scattered about and eaten by wild animals; whilst the
full, whole capsules of Brazil-nuts are collected by the natives.

What attracted us chiefly were the colossal trees. The general
run of trees had not remarkably thick stems; the great and
uniform height to which they grow without emitting a branch, was
a much more noticeable feature than their thickness; but at