A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



In the plains bordering on the sea, which are overgrown with 

 mangrove-thickets, and are flooded at high tide, but at ebb tide 

 show patches of black, slimy mud, these crabs are at home. If one 

 travels from Recife to Olinda by the electric tramway, for the 

 greater part of the half-hour's journey one passes through such 

 a mangrove-swamp. The glossy green thickets extend in all direc- 

 tions, and between them are gleaming channels and occasional 

 pools. Here and there, on islands which are joined to the road by 

 causeways, are negro cabins of mud, thatched with palm-straw, 

 before which girls or naked black little boys are playing, or black 

 pigs and fowls are rooting or scratching in the mire. Behind them 

 is the long, blue-green line of the sea ; at one point an old Dutch 

 fort rises out of the bush, with picturesque half-ruined bastions. 

 The whole makes a beautiful picture, of which I was never weary, 

 and the sea-breeze, blowing across the open benches of the tram, 

 was always refreshing. 



In the air hovered the black vultures, or they sat huddled on the 

 black muddy islands. But these had other inhabitants also. There, 

 before their holes, sat crabs of all sizes, cautiously looking about 

 them with their black stalked eyes ; for the negroes hunt them, and 

 often offer the "carangeijos" for sale in the streets, when the unfor- 

 tunate creatures are tied together in a long string. 



For a long time I kept one of these swamp-crabs in my room. 

 His colour was a splendid sky-blue, passing into yellow on the 

 sides and the claws. He had one large and one small claw; the 

 large right-hand claw was his weapon, and if I drove him into a 

 corner in order to catch him, he struck at me so fiercely with this 

 claw that his whole body was jerked forward by the movement. 

 I believe this crab could easily have crushed one of my fingers 

 with his pincers. I fed him with bananas, bread, or large insects 

 and sand-crabs, which he promptly seized, pulling off all their 

 legs in order to prevent their escape. Then, with vigorous tugs, he 

 tore his prey to pieces, and ate the whole. If a crab or insect took 

 refuge under his body, he groped under his belly until he had 

 recovered his victim. 



The swamp-crab soon knew his way about my room, and when 

 I left him free to run about I had always to keep the door shut. 

 If he found a little pool of water under the wash-stand, he dabbed 

 at it with his small claw, which he used as a hand, and conveyed 

 it to his mouth; if I poured water over him, he gurgled loudly, and 

 lashed his feelers to and fro, in order to direct the water into the 

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