202: BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
_ “For the next nine days, our journey was of the most fatigu- 
ing description, through an uninhabited country ; it was also 
attended with much danger, owing to a tribe of Indians from 
the Rio Tocantins, whose hordes infest the neighbourhood 
of Santa Maria, where they have lately committed many 1 
serious outrages. On one occasion lately, shortly before our 
arrival, these brigands attacked a Fazenda in the absence of 
the men, burned the building, killed three women, and 
took away alive three children. We were, however, well 
armed: I carried a pair of large holster pistols, and a brace 
of pocket ones. Mr Walker, my assistant, was provided 
with a small sword, one of my men had a carabine, and d 
another my double-barrelled gun. Happily we had. no oc- x 
casion to make use of our weapons. For five days we con- P 
tinued our route westward along the banks of the Rio Preto — 
and after leaving it we crossed the Chepada da Mangabeira, 
which is eight leagues broad, as level as the ocean, and for 
several leagues entirely destitute of either shrubby or arbores- 
cent vegetation. The setting of the sun, which I witnessed 
while crossing this dreary tract, reminded me of being outat 1 
sea. After we had passed the Chepada, the following day —— 
we entered on the Serra do Domo, and on the 29th of Sep- E 
tember reached an Indian mission of the same name. On this no 
journey I made another splendid collection, consisting of up- A 
wards of 250 species. Among them I may mention numer- — 
ous beautiful Melastomacee, one of which belongs to the 
curious genus Tococa (Aubl.); many fine Composite ; of these — E 
one in particular, an herbaceous plant with yellow blossoms - 3 
like a sun-flower, about nine inches in diameter, seems to form — 
a new genus of the division Galinsogea, DC. I also found 
nearly twenty species of Eriocaulon, one of them is a splendid - P 
branched species, from three to five feet high; two or three of 
Peltodon, a few -Gentianea, a Krameria, a new procumbent : 
| wm, and some new and very curious Hyptides & 
` Lobelia, Isoetes lacustris, (Linn.), several fine Guttifere; ^ 
beautiful Vaccinium, about six feet high, with racemes  — 
scarlet flowers, numerous Leguminose and Myrtacee, a lovely 
