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In Bolivia, since 1878, according to the report of the Netherlands Consul, private individuals and land owners have taken up the question with great earnestness, and at the present time on the banks of the Mapiri, in the department of La Paz, there are over a million of young trees growing.
Situation of Santarem Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants Climate Grassy Campos and Woods Excursions to Mapiri, Mahica, and Irura, with Sketches of their Natural History Palms, Wild Fruit Trees, Mining Wasps, Mason Wasps, Bees, and Sloths I have already given a short account of the size, situation, and general appearance of Santarem.
To this it adds the other materials required from the neighbouring bushes, and when laden flies off to its nest. To the south my rambles never extended further than the banks of the Irura, a stream which rises amongst the hills already spoken of, and running through a broad valley, wooded along the margins of the watercourses, falls into the Tapajos, at the head of the bay of Mapiri.
The following is given as the cost of the Mapiri River plantation of an area from 60 or more miles in extent: Till the plants are above two years of age, they are liable to die from drought or the attacks of ants, and during 1878 many thousands died from these causes. At the end of the fourth year some proprietors begin to collect the quill bark by the method of coppicing.
This Mapiri excursion was most pleasant and profitable in the months from January to March, before the rains became too continuous. The sandy beach beyond the town is very irregular, in some places forming long spits on which, when the east wind is blowing, the waves break in a line of foam at others, receding to shape out quiet little bays and pools.
It seizes the fly not with its jaws, but with its fore and middle feet, and carries it off tightly held to its breast. Wherever the traveller lands on the Upper Amazons in the neighbourhood of a sand-bank he is sure to be attended by one or more of these useful vermin-killers. The bay of Mapiri was the limit of my day excursions by the river-side to the west of Santarem.
The charming little bay of Mapiri was soon left behind; we then doubled Point Maria Josepha, a headland formed of high cliffs of Tabatinga clay, capped with forest. This forms the limit of the river view from Santarem, and here we had our last glimpse, at a distance of seven or eight miles, of the city, a bright line of tiny white buildings resting on the dark water.
At length, after rounding a projecting bluff, the bay at Mapiri is reached. The river view is characteristic of the Tapajos; the shores are wooded, and on the opposite side is a line of clay cliffs with hills in the background clothed with a rolling forest.
I will now give an account of some of my favourite collecting places in the neighbourhood of Santarem, incorporating with the description a few of the more interesting observations made on the Natural History of the localities. To the west of the town there was a pleasant path along the beach to a little bay, called Mapiri, about five miles within the mouth of the Tapajos.
The strangely-shaped hills; the forest at their feet, richly varied with palms; the bay of Mapiri on the right, with the dark waters of the Tapajos and its white glistening shores, are all spread out before one, as if depicted on canvas.
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