314 Scientific Researches in Brasil. 
in the first instance to Pernambuco, where he was detained by 
the insurrection which broke out there the following year. On 
tranquillity being again restored, he proceeded (partly by land) 
to Bahia, where he remained till the beginning of this year, 
chiefly occupied in visiting different parts of that province, and 
in a journey towards the interior, in the desert tracts of which, 
besides many other unknown birds, he was fortunate in discover- 
ing the superb Psittacus augustus, the hyacinthine Macaw *, 
At Bahia Mr. 8. fell in with the two Prussian naturalists sent 
out by that government, Mr. Freyeries and Dr. Sellow, the latter 
a young but able botanist ; they had just completed an arduous 
journey along the coast from Rio de Janeiro, and which had 
taken them eighteen months. During part of this time they 
had lived with the Bootocoodi Indians, a tribe possessing customs 
the most singular, and of whom little hitherto is known. While 
Mr. S. staid in this province, these naturalists did not go beyond 
the shores of the bay. Among other unknown animals, Mr. 
Freyeries had discovered a species of bat, perfectly white, with 
an appendage at its tail resembling the two last joints of a small 
rattle-snake. From Bahia Mr.S. proceeded to Rio de Janeiro, 
where he met with an assemblage of scientific men sent out by 
almost every continental sovereign, though by none with such 
munificence as the Emperor of Austria, whose daughter the 
Princess Leopoldina is united to the heir of the Portuguese and 
Brasilian crowns. The scientific mission which accompanied her 
to Brasil consisted of no fewer than seven persons, viz. Professor 
Micken, botanist ; M. Schott, gardener ; Dr. Pohl, mineralogist; 
M. Buckberger, botanical painter; and M. Enter, landscape 
painter; M. Natterer, zoologist, with an assistant. It is la- 
mentable however to add, that with means so liberal and en- 
lightened, little, comparatively, has been done ; for, from various 
causes, not one of the party had been more than forty miles from 
the capital; all had embarked for Europe this spring, with the 
exception of the two latter, who are preparing for a journey into 
the vast province of Matto Grosso, situated in the centre of South 
America, and which, in every sense, may be considered as al- 
most unknown. France has to boast of M. Augr. de St. Hilaire, 
who, as a botanist, has ably explored the province of Minas, and 
the banks of the Rio St. Francesco, and who is meditating an- 
other journey; and Dr. Langsdorff, the Russian Minister, is 
supplying the Imperial Museum with a multitude of objects in 
every branch of natural history. Even the principality of Tus- 
cany has sent out an experienced botanist, Professor Raddi, of 
* The only specimen ever seen of this bird was purchased alive by the 
then Lord Orford, for 200 guineas. See also Shaw’s General Zoology, 
vol. vill. p. 393. 
Florence 5 
