horses, only cost 2 s. Gd. per head. Yet the host of this
vénda, being asked if he knew any thing of a whip which one
of the party had lost, gruffly answered, “ How should I know ?
why did you not take care of it ?■—I suppose the dogs have
eat it.”
Leaving Mandetiha, we continued to pass through an intricate
wilderness of lakes ; in some of which were fresh, in
others salt water shells. Of the former kind I found a Lim-
naea in great numbers in a lake, into which, the inhabitants
assured me, the sea annually, and sometimes oftener, entered,
and made the water quite salt. I have no doubt many interesting
facts, in relation to marine and fresh water animals,
might he observed in this chain of lagoons, which skirt the
coast of Brazil. M. Gay* has stated that he found in the
neighbourhood of Rio, shells of the marine genera solen
and mytilus, and fresh water ampullarim, living together in
brackish water. I also frequently observed in the lagoon
near the Botanic Garden, where the water is only a little less
salt than in the sea, a species of hydrophilus, very similar to
a species common in the ditches of England : in the same
lake the only shell belonged to a genus generally found in
estuaries.
Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest.
The trees were very lofty, and remarkable, compared to those
of Europe, from the whiteness of their trunks. I see by my
note-book, “ wonderful and beautiful, flowering parasites,”
invariably struck me as the most novel object in these grand
scenes. Travelling onwards we passed through tracts of
pasturage, much injured by the enormous conical ants’ nests,
which were nearly twelve feet high. They gave to the plain
exactly the appearance of the mud volcanoes at Jorullo, as
figured by Humboldt. AVe arrived at Engenhodo after it
was dark, having been ten hours on horseback. I never
ceased, during the whole journey, to be surprised at the
amount of labour which the horses were capable of enduring ;
A im a le s dc s S c ien c e s N a tu ic llc s for 1833.
they appeared also to recover from any injury much sooner
than those of our English breed. The Vampire bat is often the
cause of much trouble, by biting the horses on their withers.
The injury is generally not so much owing to the loss of
blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the
saddle afterwards produces. The whole circumstance has
lately been doubted in England ; I was therefore fortunate
in being present when one* was actually caught on a
horse’s back. AVe were bivouacking late one evening near
Coquimbo, in Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of
the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter,
and fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly put
his hand on the beast’s withers, and secured the vampire.
In the morning, the spot, where the bite had been inflicted,
was easily distinguished from being slightly swollen and
bloody. The third day afterwards we rode the horse, without
any ill effects.
A p r i l 1 3 t i i .—After three days’ travelling we arrived at
Socego, the estate of Senhor Manuel Figuireda, a relation of
one of our party. The house was simple, and, though like a
barn in form, was well suited to the climate. In the sitting-
room gilded chairs and sofas were oddly contrasted with the
whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and windows without
glass. The house, together with the granaries, the stables,
and workshops for the blacks, who had been taught various
trades, formed a rude kind of quadrangle; in the centre of
which a large pile of coffee was drying. These buildings
stand on a little hill, overlooking the cultivated ground, and
surrounded on every side by a wall of dark green luxuriant
forest. The chief produce of this part of the country is
coffee. Each tree is supposed to yield annually, on an
average, two pounds; but some give as much as eifflit.
Mandioca or cassada is likewise cultivated in great quantity!
Every part of this plant is useful: the leaves and stalks are
* Th is b a t b e lo n g s to th e g e n u s E d o s tom a o f D 'O rb ig n y . b u t is a n ew
sp ecies.