In one spot the wooded slope enclosed a very picturesque
scene: a brook, flowing through a ravine in the high bank, fell
in many little cascades to the broad river beneath, its margins
decked out with an infinite variety of beautiful plants. Wild
bananas arched over the watercourse, and the trunks of the trees
in its vicinity were clothed with ferns, large-leaved species
belonging to the genus Lygodium, which, like Osmunda, have their
spore-cases collected together on contracted leaves. On the 18th,
we arrived at a large fazenda (plantation and cattle farm),
called Jatuarana. A rocky point here projects into the stream,
and as we found it impossible to stem the strong current which
whirled around it, we crossed over to the southern shore. Canoes,
in approaching the Rio Negro, generally prefer the southern side
on account of the slackness of the current near the banks. Our
progress, however, was most tediously slow, for the regular east
wind had now entirely ceased, and the vento de cima or wind from
up river, having taken its place, blew daily for a few hours dead
against us.
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