The magnitude and variety of the trees of the forest were very striking; and the imposing character of the scenery, in these vast solitudes, was a source of constant enjoyment, and lightened the fatigues of the journey. Among the wonders of the forest there were enormous trees with great buttressed trunks, others sending down rope-like tendrils from the branches in every direction, the gigantic balsam-tree, the india-rubber tree, and many others. A list of the ferns or mosses, endless in the variety of their shape and size, would fill volumes. Of palms, also, there were many kinds. The tall _chonta_, with its hard serviceable wood; the slender beautiful _chinilla_ (_Euterpe?_); the towering _muruna_ (_Iriartea?_), with its roots shooting out in every direction from eight feet above the ground, and triangular-notched leaflets; the _chaquisapa_ (_Astrocaryum?_), with its lofty stem thickly set with alternate rings of spines, and thorny leaves; the _sumballu_ (_Giulielma?_), a beautiful palm with a slender stem covered with long sharp spines, numerous graceful leaves, and an edible fruit; and above all the _sayal_, the monarch of the palms of these forests, with a rather short thick stem, inner fibres of the stalks like black wool, but with enormous leaves growing rather erect from the stem to a length of at least forty feet--I should think they must be the largest leaves in the whole vegetable kingdom. Among the bright flowers there were crimson _Melastomaceæ_, called _ccesuara_, a scarlet _Justitia_, the _Manetia coccinea_, and many beautiful orchids in the branches of the trees. At length, after a very hard day's work, we reached the mouth of the Yana-mayu[334] or Black river; and attempted to wade across the Tambopata, but found it too powerful. I was particularly anxious to effect this, as Martinez assured me that chinchona-trees were most abundant on the right or eastern bank. We, however, managed to get upon an island, near the left bank, and encamped for the night on a shingly beach. After sunset it came on to rain very heavily, and the waters foamed furiously around us in the inky darkness. The rain continued to pour down, and the waters to rise through the night, and I hourly expected the island to be submerged; but, fortunately, we escaped this danger, though the river came up to within a very few feet of the tent-door. I served out a dram of brandy to all hands.