A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



cashew-bush. Now and again birds flit through the tangle of boughs, 

 or a locust, as long as one's finger, suddenly takes his rustling 

 flight. It is delightfiil to watch the glittering humming-birds if one 

 takes one's stand before a tree which is enveloped in the strands of 

 a passion-flower and hung with the lovely blossoms, with their 

 delicate white and violet veining ; for, as we shall read in Chapter V, 

 the passion-flower or Maracuja is fertilized by these beautiful little 

 birds. 



The Paternoster pea provides another lovely spectacle. It blazes 

 in the shadows of the bush like a fiery red eye with a black pupil ; 

 the bright peas glitter in the open pods of the creepers, and falling 

 to the ground, gleam like beads of coral. These beautifiil peas are 

 threaded into rosaries, or glued upon shell-covered boxes. Handling 

 them, however, is a dangerous occupation, for the peas contain a 

 poison (abrin) of which a small dose is fatal if injected under 

 the skin. 



One may wander for hours through the cashew-bush of the coast 

 of north-eastern Brazil without encountering a sign of the presence 

 of man. Then, perhaps, one comes to a track which has been 

 trodden by horses or cattle. One follows it, and suddenly one comes 

 to the dead body of a horse, lying on the sand, and with a rustling 

 of wings a number of black Urubii vultures rise into the air, which 

 have literally flayed the carcase. Now the ground sinks, and a 

 water-course, running through green meadows, collects in a basin. 

 In the centre there is a glitter of water, but elsewhere the basin is 

 filled with a dense vegetation. The plant whose light-blue spires 

 of blossom nod above the tangle of leaves is the "Water-foot," or 

 Eichhornia. Water-fowl, orange and hyacinth-blue coots, go about 

 their business in the thicket of leaves. 



Behind the pond is a meadow. Here is a path, enclosed by 

 barbed-wire fencing, whose wooden posts are perforated by the 

 steely-blue Carpenter-bee. Along the fences are dense clumps of 

 the great Brazilian nettle. One must be careftil not to touch the 

 three-lobed leaves. Compared with the burning irritation which 

 they cause the sting of our nettle is a mere tickling. 



Now a negro hut appears, thatched with straw ; before it a black, 

 naked little boy is playing, Macaiba-palms, whose trunks are 

 dilated like spindles, and whose great fronds have a grass-like 

 appearance, overshadow the hut, and a few oil-palms stretch their 

 spiky leaves into the air, revealing, under their crowns, their clusters 

 of glowing orange fruit (Plate 9) , We pass the hut, and again the 

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