496 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



the beginning of all things, is said to have constructed a 

 lofty house, rising to Heaven, from whose ruins proceeded 

 all kinds of animals, and the various nations of mankind. 

 Marcellino further asserts, that they have an idea, though 

 very indistinct, of an infinitely exalted Being, on whom 

 they call in times of distress and danger, clasping and up- 

 lifting their hands, and kneeling or throwing themselves 

 along upon the ground. They also admit the existence 

 of an evil spirit, or demon. It was impossible for us to 

 ascertain how far our informant introduced the statements 

 of the Old Testament in these his descriptions. 



At San Gongalo d'Amarante, a traveller on foot came 

 up to us, begging leave to make the journey to Cachias 

 under the protection of our caravan. He was a man, as 

 it appeared to us, of pure European extraction, and advanced 

 in years, whose aspect, as he carried his little baggage, and 

 pursued his lonely way in this inhospitable land, struck 

 us as extremely singular. In his mute gestures lay the 

 expression of uncontrollable terror, and our close observa- 

 tion, with combining together the disjointed words that 

 dropped, as it were, from his unconscious lips, enabled 

 us, finally, to ascertain that this unhappy being was a citizen 

 of Bahia, who had suffered shipwreck on a voyage to Ma- 

 ranhSo. During this calamity, his wife had been drowned 

 in his sight, and his daughter was carried off by a devouring 

 shark. He had himself lost his way, how he knew not, 

 and wandered from the coast to this place. The horrible 

 catastrophe had so engrossed the poor creature's mind and 

 affected his intellects, that he often woke us at midnight 

 with his fearful outcries. This mournful companion, whose 

 presence our humanity made us willing to endure, was an 

 appropriate omen of the misery that increasing malady 

 would soon bring upon us. 



On the 16'th of May, I made a deviation from our route, 

 and struck into the adjoining primitive forest. Here I oD ~ 

 served a yellow sandstone rock, thickly coated with saline 

 matter, which proved, on chemical examination, to consist 



