8o BAHIA. 



path. I shot one, and it proved to be a very large toucan 

 {Ramphnstfls arid). The bird was not quite dead when I 

 picked it up, and it bit me severely with its huge bill. Most 

 of the plumage of the bird is of a jet black colour, but the 

 throat is of a brilliant orange, and the breast has a bright scarlet 

 patch. The bill is brightly coloured yellow at its base, and has 

 a light blue streak along its upper crest, but these colours soon 

 fade after the bird is skinned. The skin round the eye is 

 coloured scarlet. 



Into the wide bay of Bahia, which is twenty miles across in 

 the broadest part, open several navigable rivers, on two of 

 which steamers ply regularly. The Peruaguacu is the largest 

 of these rivers, and it is navigable for 54 miles up to a town 

 called Caxoeira. At Caxoeira a railway was in process of 

 construction. The English engineer of the line, a Mr. Hugh 

 Wilson, most hospitably provided me with a free pass by the 

 steamer to Caxoeira, and one of his own mules, and a guide 

 for a trip up country thence. 



The river steamers are small paddle-boats, old and dirty. 

 The Caxoeira boat was crowded with passengers, mostly Brazi- 

 lians and negroes, but amongst them several German Jews 

 going up to buy diamonds. 



The bay has all the appearance of an inland lake, there 

 being several islands scattered about in it covered with green to 

 the water's edge. Near its mouth the banks of the river are 

 somewhat low but backed by hills, and here and there are 

 mangrove swamps. As the river was ascended the hills and 

 cliffs on either hand soon became higher. They are thickly 

 covered with vegetation, but with cliffs and occasional rock 

 masses showing out bare amongst it. 



The scenery on the whole is not unlike that of the Rhine, 

 excepting that there are no castles : but the white buildings 

 of sugar estates perched here and there on the tops of the 

 lower hills take their place. The far-off hills appear of the 

 usual bluish green due to distance, and successive ranges 

 become gradually yellower as they lie nearer to the eye of the 

 observer and show more and more plainly the forms of the 

 vegetation clothing them ; only in the actual foreground do the 

 palms and feathery bamlioos, planted in long lines as bound- 

 aries, distinguish the scenery as tropical. The bamboos are 

 especially conspicuous, from the bright yellow green of their 

 foliage. The steamer left Bahia at 10 .^.M. and reached 

 Caxoeira at 4 p.m. 



There are two towns at Caxoeira, one on each side of the 

 river. These consist of the usual whitewashed houses and two 

 or three churches, one broad street and several narrow ones, 



