ANECDOTE OF THE AUTHOR. 129 



meal purveyors to bring on board bundles of other 

 plants ; so that, confined to the ship, and incapable 

 of procuring a simple specimen by their own exer- 

 tion, they were yet enabled, by this simple yet 

 ingenious method, to secure a comparatively large 

 collection of Brazilian plants. I may be par- 

 doned, perhaps, for adverting to my own experience 

 on this subject. While exploring that almost inter- 

 minable line of virgin forests which run parallel 

 with the coast of the Capitancies of Bahia and Per- 

 nambuco, I was attacked by a cutaneous disease of 

 the country, and incapacitated from walking. Yet 

 this mortification, great as it was, caused but a par- 

 tial suspension of my zoological researches. Two 

 of the Indians who accompanied me had been trained 

 as entomologists, and another was a crafty hunter. All 

 three were despatched every morning in different 

 directions, and in the evening returned with their 

 zoological spoils. Never shall I forget with what 

 exquisite sensations of anticipating hope I watched 

 the declension of the sun, and looked to the return 

 of my people, for whom a warm supper had been 

 partially prepared by myself. Every day brought 

 something new to my collections, and provided us 

 with food for the next : the morning was spent in 

 preparing the skins of birds, and finally arranging 

 die insects ; while the evening was occupied in ex- 

 amining and rejoicing over new acquisitions. It 

 wa« only in the intervals which occurred between 

 the accomplishment of the one, and the near ap- 

 proach of the other, that the spirits were sometimes 

 depressed, and the ailments of the body severely felt. 



