Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . t, so as to show the white shell beneath. Thepainted specimens are of various colors and patterns. Cer-tain bright clays are used for the yellow and gray tints ; an-natto gives the red, and indigo the blue ; frequently, bits ofgold-leaf and tinsel are fixed to the varnish, with gaudyeffect. Besides the native designs, natural objects are some-times imitated, and a common pattern is the Brazilian coat-of-arms. Baskets, spoons and closed jars are made of thecalabashes. Some of the more elaborate ones are sold fortwo or three milreis (one dollar to one dollar a
Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . t, so as to show the white shell beneath. Thepainted specimens are of various colors and patterns. Cer-tain bright clays are used for the yellow and gray tints ; an-natto gives the red, and indigo the blue ; frequently, bits ofgold-leaf and tinsel are fixed to the varnish, with gaudyeffect. Besides the native designs, natural objects are some-times imitated, and a common pattern is the Brazilian coat-of-arms. Baskets, spoons and closed jars are made of thecalabashes. Some of the more elaborate ones are sold fortwo or three milreis (one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents),and even more ; the common ones can be obtained for a fewcents. Leaving Surubiju, we turn away from the highland ; the * Crescentia cujete. t Apocynea follicularis. 348 BRAZIL. river is now a typical lowland channel, two or three hundredyards wide, and deep enough for any of the river tide is felt here, strongly : for an hour at a time the cur-rent sets in from the Amazons. It is said that, in the dry. season, the water flowsback for days the evapora-tion from the great lakeabove, and the wind, ^^blowing westward overit, cause this phenome-non, which has alreadybeen noticed by Brownand Lidstone.* Three or four milesabove Monte Alegre, we leave the main river and turn intothe Paituna. At the mouth, this side-channel is rather morethan a hundred yards broad, flowing, with a considerable cur- Calabash-tree, * Bifteen Thousand Miles on the Amazon, p. 24. THE MAECURU. 349 rent, between broad meadows, with low banks at the watersedge. There is no continued forest here ; clumps of treesgrow on either side, among thickets of mimosas and and javary palms nod at the waters edge ; beyond,on either side, there are small lakes and numberless pools,occupying half the surface ; but we can see only the movinggrass, interrupted occasionally by the mouth of a little igarape. The white herons * have gathered here in great flocks; aswe
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