92 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER/ 



three birds came and settled in a low bush in the middle of the 

 path. I shot one, and it proved to be a very large toucan 

 (Ramphasios arid). The bird was not quite dead when I picked 

 it up, and it bit me severely with its huge bill. Most of the 

 plumage of the bird is of a jet black colour, but the throat is of 

 a brilliant orange, and the breast has a bright- scarlet patch. 

 The bill is brightly coloured yellow at its base, and has a light 

 blue streak along its upper crest, but these colours soon fade 

 after the bird is skinned. The skin round the eye is coloured 

 scarlet. 



Into the wide bay of Bahia, which is twenty miles across in 

 the broadest part, open several navigable rivers, on two of which 

 steamers ply regularly. The Peruaguacu is the largest of these 

 rivers, and it is navigable for 54 miles up to a town called 

 Caxoeira. At Caxoeira a railway was in process of construc- 

 tion. The English engineer of the line, a Mr. Watson, most 

 hospitably provided me with a free pass by the steamer to 

 Caxoeira, and one of his own mules, and a guide for a trip up 

 country thence. 



The river steamers are small paddle-boats, old and dirty. 

 The Caxoeira boat was crowded with passengers, mostly Brazi- 

 lians and negroes, but amongst them several German Jews going 

 up to buy diamonds. 



The bay has all the appearance of an inland lake, there 

 being several islands scattered about in it covered with green to 

 the water's edge. Near its mouth the banks of the river are 

 somewhat low but backed by hills, and here and there are 

 mangrove swamps. As the river was ascended the hills and 

 cliffs on either hand soon became higher. They are thickly 

 covered with vegetation, but with cliffs and occasional rock 

 masses showing out bare amongst it. 



The scenery on the whole is not so unlike that of the Ehine, 

 excepting that there are no castles : but the white buildings 

 of sugar estates perched here and there on the tops of the lower 

 hills take their place. The far-off hills appear of the usual 

 blueish green due to distance, and successive ranges become 

 gradually yellower as they lie nearer to the eye of the observer 

 and show more and more plainly the forms of the vegetation 



