CHAP. in. J BAHIA TO THE CAPE. 125 



of tlio highest forest trees hopelessly out of shot ; the ear is 

 pierced by the strange, wild screeches of a little band of macaws 

 which fly past you like the rapj)ed-up ghosts of the birds on 

 some gaudy old brocade. There is no warbling, no song, only 

 harsh noises — abrupt calls which those who haunt the forest 

 soon learn to translate by two or three familiar words in Portu- 

 guese or English. N^ow and then a set of cries more varied and 

 dissonant than usual tell us that a troop of monkeys are passing 

 across from tree to tree among the higher branches ; and lower 

 sounds, to which one's attention is called by the guide, indicate 

 to his practiced ear the neighborhood of a sloth or some other 

 of the few mammals which inhabit the forests of Brazil. And 

 the insects are now all awake, and add their various notes to 

 swell the general din. A butterfly of the gorgeous genus Mor- 

 pho comes fluttering along the path like a loosely folded sheet 

 of intensely blue tinsel, flashing brilliant reflections in the sun ; 

 great dark -blue shining bees fly past with a loud hum; tree- 

 bugs of a splendid metallic lustre, and in the most extraordinary 

 harlequin coloring of scarlet and blue and yellow, cluster round 

 a branch so thickly as to weigh it down, and make their pres- 

 ence perceptible yards off by their peculiar and sometimes not 

 unpleasant odor. But how weak it is to say that that excpiisite 

 little being, whirring and fluttering in the air over that branch 

 of Bignonia bells, and sucking the nectar from them with its 

 long curved bill, has a head of ruby, and a throat of emerald, 

 and wings of sapphire — as if any triumph of the jeweler's art 

 could ever vie in brilliancy with that sparkling ejiitome of life 

 and light ! 



It was broad day when we passed into the dense forest 

 through which the greater part of the way now lay. The path, 

 which had been cut through the vegetation, was just wide 

 enough for us to ride in Indian file and with some care to pre- 

 vent our horses from bruising our legs against the tree-trunks, 

 and we could not leave the path for a single foot on either side, 



II.— 9 



