MISSION. OP COLLECTOE TO BRAZIL. 53 



tion at home. The leaves are netted with beautifully clear, 

 broad silver markings. The flowers are produced in long slender 

 spikes ; they are white or lilac. - This plant and Nos. 11, 12, 34, 

 and 39 all belong, I believe, to the same genus, all have more or 

 less beautiful foliage.* 



Returned to Belem in the evening and have put a few plants 

 of Nos. 49 [Oxalis mandioccand) and 5 1 [Chameranthemuvi 

 Beyrichii) into the cases in the best manner I could. 



Aug, UQtIi, — Walked up the unfinished line of railway to where 

 the first tunnel enters the side of one of the wooded ridges of the 

 Serra, This railway is said to be one of the most difficult ever 

 attempted to be made, and I believe when finished it will be one 

 of the most dangerous to work- The gradient in many places is 

 very steep, and from a few miles beyond Belem to Brandao, a 

 distance of 14 or 16 miles, it is one continuous series of tunnels, 

 only issuing from one to run a few hundred yards along the verge 

 of a precipice and to enter another. 



The low hills at the bottom of the Serra where the railway 

 begins to rise have nearly all been cleared of the forest once, but 

 are not under crop now, and nature is gradually reasserting her 

 right to reign there. Higher up, however, the forest still remains 

 in all its pristine wildness, and by means of the many paths cut 

 through it for the transport of wood to the railway^ I was 

 enabled to go over a large surface of ground to-day, meeting, how- 

 ever, with nothing particular. I collected a few bulbs of a plant, 

 apparently an Amaryllis, the leaves having a midrib of pure white 

 looking like a strip of ivory running down the centre of the leaf. 

 It was not in flower. Returned to Belem in the evening. 



Aug, dOth, — Made a short excursion in the neighbourhood of 

 Belem. Collected seeds of No, 32 (Stiftia chrysantha), and 

 specimens of No. 52 {Duranta, sp.), [Petrea volubilis), which is 

 just coming into full bloom. 



Sept. Ist — This being Sunday, the only day it is possible to 

 hire a man at Belem (slaves are allowed to work on their own 

 account on Sundays and holidays), I hired . four blacks to carry 

 the cases to the railway station in the afternoon, so that they 

 might be ready to be sent ofi" by goods train to-morrow morning. 

 I would have preferred taking them with me by passenger 

 train, but the rate charged for baggage is too high to admit of this, 

 and no baggage is allowed free on the Pedro Segundo Railway. 



* All except No. 12 {Eranthemum verlenaceum) belong to the osime specks, 

 viz., Chameranthemtim Beyrichiu 



