302 HECOLLEOTIONS OF BRAZIL. 



tion, and only six months afterwards, was wandering amid the virgin 

 -forests of Brazil : in that short space of time I had travelled back 

 from the culminating points to the first line in the scale of civili- 

 zation. With this point few of my readers are .probably acquainted ; 

 a short description, therefore, of the magnificence of a tropical forest, 

 and an account of its wild inhabitants, may not be uninteresting. 



Those primeval forests, which stand in all their original wildness, 

 still unprofaned by the hands of man, are called in Brazil, virgin 

 forests. In them, European coolness refreshes the wanderer, and at 

 the same time presents him with the spectacle of the most luxuriant 

 profusion ; the never-ceasing power of vegetation makes the trees 

 shoot up to a majestic height, while on every tem a new creation of 

 the brightest garlands of the most beautiful parasite climbing plants 

 are seen gracefully festooned. Instead of the uniform poverty of 

 species in the forests of Europe, there is here an infinite diversity in 

 the forms of stems, leaves, and blossoms. Every one of these sove- 

 reigns of the forests is contradistinguished from its neighbour. First, 

 the jacaranda tree attracts the eye by the brightness of its feathered 

 leaves ; the large gold coloured flowers of this tree, and the ipe, 

 dazzle by their splendour, and form a splendid contrast with the 

 dark green foliage. Next comes the silk cotton tree, which spreads 

 out its long arms at a great height from the ground. The anda, on 

 the other hand, shoots out its branches, profusely covered with 

 leaves, but which unite to form a verdant arcade. The lofty trumpet 

 tree, the smooth grey stem of which rises, slightly bending, to a con- 

 siderable height, and spreads out at the top like the mouth of that 

 warlike instrument; the flowering cesalpina, the airy laurel, the 

 lofty geoffrea, the soap trees, with their shining leaves, the graceful 

 cedar, the beautiful palm, the garlic pear tree, and a thousand others 

 not yet described, are mingled confusedly together, forming groups 

 contrasted by the diversity of their forms and tints. Here and there 

 the dark crown of the fir among the lighter green, appears like a 

 stranger amid the natives of the tropics, while the beautiful cocoa- 

 nut tree towers above them all, and high in the clear blue sky, forms 

 an incomparable ornament to the forest, unrivalled for its majesty 

 and beauty. 



If the eye of the traveller turns from the proud forms of those 

 ancient denizens of the forest, to the more humble and lower, 

 which clothe the ground with a rich verdure, it is delighted with 

 the splendour and gay variety of the flowers, and his mind is 

 filled with delight and astonishment at the majestic sight. The 

 repose and silence of these woods, interrupted only by the buzz 

 of the gay beja flor, and the singular notes of unknown birds and 

 insects, produces an effect impossible to describe. 



But the animal kingdom which people these ancient forests, are 

 no less distinguished than the vegetable world. Except at noon, 

 when all living creatures in the torrid zone seek shade and repose, 

 and when a solemn silence is diffused over the scene, illumined by 

 the dazzling rays of the sun, every hour of the day calls into action 

 a different race of animals. The morning is ushered in by the 

 chattering of monkeys, the shrill cry of the pi-py-o, the deep notes 



