16 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n. 



Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to pass through an intricate 

 wilderness of lakes ; in some of which were fresh, in others salt water 

 shells. Of the former kind, I found a Limnoea in great numbers in a 

 lake, into which, the -inhabitants assured me, that the sea enters once a 

 year, and sometimes oftener, and makes the water quite salt. I have 

 no doubt many interesting facts, in relation to marine and fresh-water 

 animals, might be observed in this chain of lagoons, which skirt the 

 coast of Brazil. M. Gay * has stated that he found in the neighbourhood 

 of Rio, shells of the marine genera solen and mytilus, and fresh-water 

 ampullariae, living together in brackish water. I also frequently 

 observed in the lagoon near the Botanic Garden, where the water is 

 only a little less salt than in the sea, a species of hydrophilus, very 

 similar to a water-beetle common in the ditches of England : in the 

 same lake the only shell belonged to a genus generally found in 

 estuaries. 



Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest. The trees 

 were very lofty, and remarkable, compared with those of Europe, from 

 the whiteness of their trunks. I see by my note-book, " wonderful and 

 beautiful, flowering parasites," invariably struck me as the most novel 

 object in these grand scenes. Travelling onwards we passed through 

 tracts of pasturage, much injured by the enormous conical ants' nests, 

 which were nearly twelve feet high. They gave to the plain exactly the 

 appearance of the mud volcanos at Jorullo, as figured by Humboldt. 

 We arrived at Engenhodo after it was dark, having been ten hours on 

 horseback. I never ceased, during the whole journey, to be surprised 

 at the amount of labour which the horses were capable of enduring ; 

 they appeared also to recover from any injury much sooner than those 

 of our English breed. The Vampire bat is often the cause of much 

 trouble, by biting the horses on their withers. The injury is generally 

 not so much owing to the loss of blood, as to the inflammation which 

 the pressure of the saddle afterwards produces. The whole circumstance 

 has lately been doubted in England ; I was therefore fortunate in being 

 present when one (Desmodus d'orbignyi, Wat.) was actually caught on 

 a horse's back. We were bivouacking late one evening near Coquiinbo, 

 in Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of the horses was very 

 restive, went to see what was the matter, and fancying he could 

 distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the beast's withers, 

 and secured the vampire. In the morning the spot where the bite had 

 been inflicted was easily distinguished from being slightly swollen and 

 bloody. The third day afterwards we rode the horse without any ill 

 effects. 



April i^th. After three days' travelling we arrived at Socego, the 

 estate of Senhor Manuel Figuireda, a relation of one of our party. The 

 house was simple, and, though like a barn in form, was well suited to 

 the climate. In the sitting-room gilded chairs and sofas were oddly 

 contrasted with the whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and windows 

 without glass. The house, together with the granaries, the stables, and 

 workshops for the blacks, who had been taught various trades, formed 

 * Anna Its tits Scitncts Naturtllts for 1833, 



