IN vaeious parts of the globe. 161 



It was once thought that the forests of Eio would some day 

 lose their primitive character, which a few of them, in spite of 

 the inroads of civilized men, still retain. Tliis fear is but too 

 well grounded ; large tracts are continually laid low by lire, 

 and in a few years the Mandioc, Plantain, and Maize will no 

 doubt replace the wild Cecropia, Lecythis, and arborescent 

 Fern. 



Every place I visited in the neighbourhood of Rio was a 

 source of great interest ; but none \\a.s, surpassed by the inex- 

 haustible Moiuit Corcovado, to which every botanist first directs 

 his steps. Never, when I think of my wanderings on this 

 mountain, shall I forget the great attention which I, in common 

 with my predecessors, experienced at the hands of the kind and 

 hosjiitable Ildefonso Gomez. Had it not been for him I should 

 have had no information about the various places which I visited 

 duiing my stay at llio, such as, for example, the mountain- 

 chain of Tijuca, which is tlie highest of any in the neighbour- 

 hood. Mount Babylone, the Hestingas of Copa-Cabana, San 

 Bento, Marica, and Taipu. The Restingas have a peculiar 

 vegetation which deserves especial notice. They are plains 

 very little above the level of the sea, and shut in between it and 

 the mountains behind. The soil is sandy, and sometimes a little 

 like peat: it seems to have been once the sea-shore, and to have 

 been left dry by the receiling of the waters. The streams which 

 come down from the mountains often form little lakes and 

 marshes. Not a tree is to be seen in these plains ; but large 

 Cacti are abundant, sometimes erect, sometimes lying over the 

 rocks, or upon the burning sand amidst bushes of Eugenia, 

 Feliciana, Andromeda, Gaylussacia, Sophora, Idea, Cassia, 

 &c., which form small copses or thickets. I found there, for 

 the first time in Brazil, several specimens of JEriocauIon growing 

 in the sandy peat, in the midst of a carpet of Utricularias. 

 Several dwarf Palms, of the genus Diplothemium , add to the 

 i^^ecial character of the vegetation of the Restingas. 



In the middle of October we left Rio and proceeded to the 

 bottom of tlie bay to a village called Porto d'Estrella, on the 

 Rio Iidiomirim, about three leagues from the Sena d'Estrella, 

 or the Orgues Mountains (Seira dos Orgaos), which we had to 

 pass to get into the province of Minas-Geraes. These moun- 

 tains are richer in botanical curiosities than perhaps any other 

 place in Brazil ; and, although many naturalists have visited 

 theiu, their riches are very far from being exhausted. The 

 highest tops are 2500 yards above the level of the sea, that is 

 more than double in height of any mountain near Rio : they are 

 covered to their very summit with dense forests, and nature has 

 been more bounteous than even on the sides of Corcovado. 



